Pooh Quilt: Then and Now

Look what I found!   I was looking through a box of files from my parent's house and discovered photos of two early quilts. I posted about this quilt in February 2014 when I first started blogging.  But I couldn't find my original photo for that post. 

The owner of this quilt is celebrating a birthday this week.  So it seems like a fun time to revisit it.  Above is the quilt, brand new, in 1974.  And below, much beloved, in a photo taken in 2014!

For a quilter who makes quilts to be used, it doesn't get any better than this!  

Pooh Quilt 2014!

Quilt Show JP Knit and Stitch: Joyce Adams, quilter

Last evening I spent a couple hours at JP Knit and Stitch in Jamaica Plain, MA at a one woman quilt show featuring the work of Joyce Adams.  It was like no other quilt show I've ever attended!

Because there isn't a lot of space in the shop at JP Knit and Stitch, only a few of Joyce's quilts could to be put up on display.  That left a stack of great quilts which were all folded up. Joyce was happy to have folks touch her quilts so we had a quilt showing!

A wonderful group of Joyce's family, friends, and visitors all gathered around the semi-circle of window seats in the shop.  Each quilt was unfolded one at a time, rested on the coffee table but also held by the hands of the women in the circle of viewers.  Joyce talked about each quilt and answered our questions about fabric, construction and quilting.  We were really able to share her quilts with her. It was so much fun!

Polka dot diamond half square triangles

Joyce told us that she remembers that as a little girl, she watched her Mother, Essie, make a quilt with lots of wonderful colors. It is in her honor that Joyce started quilting about 10 years ago.  Each quilt Joyce makes is dedicated to someone special! 

Joyce is a self-taught quilter.  She uses purchased quilting cotton solids and prints, cottons saved from special clothing and white or cream muslin. Her quilts are entirely hand-pieced and hand-quilted.  They are so soft and drape beautifully.  Each quilt design is her own creation.  Her husband, Ed, a retired printer, is her color consultant.  Ed was there last night, and we enjoyed talking to him too!

Here are a few photos of some of Joyce's quilts.  The photos only show a small portion of each quilt but they will give you an idea about these bright and delightful quilts. (The photos are in a slide show and should change every 3 seconds.  You may also use the arrows to manually scroll through the gallery).

The quilts are only at JP Knit and Stitch for a couple days.  I hope you get a chance to stop by and see them.  Most of the quilts are folded up.  Touching is permitted--just make sure your hands are squeaky clean!  

Joyce Adams gave me permission to photograph her quilts and write this blog post on October 2, 2014.

Please note:  At the request of the quilter, Joyce Adams, please do not photograph her quilts.  You may not copy or otherwise reproduce or transmit any of the photos in this blog post without her express permission.  Thanks for honoring this request.  

Bulls-Eye, a Carolyn Freidlander Pattern: Part 2

This pattern, Bulls-Eye, presented me with a number of challenges.  The hand appliqué discussed in my post last week on September 12, 2014 was the first one.  That went beautifully. 

Carolyn Freidlander has three Bulls-Eye quilts in her book, Savor Each Stitch. One is quilted with vertical lines and the other have some radiating quilting a linear quilting in grids.  She does a bit of echo quilting of the bulls-eye next to a portion of each semi-circle in one quilt.  

I thought this was the perfect quilt to finally get a handle on the art of circular quilting. I discussed that in a post in August, "Skills: Quilting Circles". This quilt gave me ample opportunity to practice!   I really like the final result!

I did a bit of tight radiating quilting in one circle.  And I outlined some of the very pale green sections using Sashiko hand quilting with a purple pearl cotton thread, seen in the photo above and again in the photo below.

Detail, Bulls' Eye to show the circular quilting

This quadrant has a more open radiate quilting pattern in the upper left part of the inner circle and a grid pattern in the lower right section.  That grid is randomly following a pale blue graph paper grid--the fabric is from Carolyn's Architexture fabric line.

There is nothing speedy about doing circular quilting with the lines 1/2 inch apart.  It took me days to quilt this little lap quilt!  I was able to turn the quilt for the innermost circle around the qpplique, but after that, each line had to stop 2-4 times before the full circle was completed.  That left lots of threads to bury.  Clover's self-threading needles are the only thing that made the task of burying threads do-able.  I highly recommend them for this! 

This has been such a great design to learn new skills and learn new ways to improve old skills.  I thought I'd never make any of the quilts in Carolyn Freidlander's book, Savor Each Stitch.  But I am so happy I made this one!

Bulls' Eye Quilt

Addendum:  Found this comment from Carolyn Freidlander on my Instagram @sleepingdogquilts feed this morning:

"Whoa, this looks amazing!! And the quilting is fabulous!!"

I'm floating on Cloud 9 right now!!