More Costumes!

 

I've not done any quilt sewing in the past few months, but I have been busy making costumes! My daughter sings in a homeschool choir, and she is also part of the small group ensemble. This smaller choir was invited to sing at an area Victorian Country Christmas; they needed to be in full Victorian costumes. I volunteered to help out...

 

Here is my daughter, all dressed and ready to sing! Her costume is made out of a beautiful piece of wool that I purchased at a garage sale for $4!  

 

For this next outfit, I purchased the skirt with the trim already in place. I made the bonnet, the cape, and the muff, using sheepskin (fake) for trim.

 

This singer had her skirt and bonnet; I made the cranberry velvet cape and added the trim on the skirt.

 

 

I absolutely loved making this one...a deep blue velvet jacket with capelet, using lace and pearl trim, and the muff.

 

 

Here are the men, wearing vests and cravats that I made, plus top hats purchased during Halloween at Goodwill!

 

And here is the whole ensemble in full costume. They looked as great as they sounded!

 

I am so happy to have had this opportunity to sew for a good cause. I needed a break from quilting! Now I am ready to pull out a piecing project again, perhaps something Christmassy!

Costumes

 

I made the costumes for Vacation Bible School at my church. The theme was Kingdom Chronicles, emphasizing the armor of God. The setting was a castle; let me introduce you to the characters in the daily skits...

King Karl



Prince Phillip



Prince Phillip in the full armor of God



Sir Stephen, Knight

Queen Camilla, evil sister of the king

The Queen's Dragon



Jester



The whole cast

I came up with the ideas for the costumes. The queen's dress was made by her mother; the prince's shirt was a combined effort with a friend of mine. The rest I made on my own. My husband built the set of armor and the dragon's head.

It was a lot of work! I am satisfied with the look of each costume, and I have a sense of accomplishment as well.

A Farewell Quilt

Recently the associate pastor at my church accepted  a position in another church...in Hawaii! The quilters sent his family off in style with a double-sided quilt. I called it the Coming and Going Quilt.

 

The going side is the Swoon pattern, using the fabric line "Safari Moon". It represents where the family is going to...islands of bright colors surrounded by a sea of blue.

 

The coming side is a signature quilt made with disappearing four patch blocks. It represents where the family is coming from, and it is signed by all the families in my church. The sentiments were so special, from how this family made an impact on different people, to light-hearted comments, such as "save me a spot on the beach"!

 

This family was sent off with much love and a special quilt!

 

I'm linking up with http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.ca/ 

for a Whoop Whoop finish!

Graduation Quilts

My church has three students graduating from high school this year. Here are the quilts that were made for them, to be presented in church on June 1.

 

This first one is for the girl; the pattern is from the book Transparency Quilts by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr.

 

The other two quilts are for the two boys. It is always a challenge to make quilts for the boys; the church stash is built on donated fabrics, and by far the majority of the fabrics are suited for girlish quilts! I supplemented a bit from my stash for both of these...

I am not sure what pattern this is as I saw a picture of one like it and basically planned it out on my own. It sure is a striking quilt!

 

This next quilt is from a pattern called "Buckle Up", designed by Natalia Bonner and Kathleen Whiting. We used all solids for the greens and blues; the dark fabrics are all black on black.

Travels...

I took a trip with my family to Europe! I insisted on finding at least one fabric shop in The Netherlands!

Quiltkelder in Putten



I found the distinctively Dutch fabrics in a basement corner.

 A few fabrics came home with me!

 

The top row are fabrics for costumes,
while the bottom row just tickled my fancy!

And I wanted a few Dutch themed fabrics as well;
I wonder if Dutch women ever use such fabrics in their quilts?

"Tiles"--I had to have this print too!

 

In the city of Urk I saw a display window with some Dutch quilt projects...

 

I was particularly fascinated with the cobblestone roads and walkways throughout the country. The bricks are all shapes and sizes, laid out in designs that can change abruptly!

 

This was the floor in a restaurant!

I am excited to get busy with those fabrics, maybe incorporating some of the cobblestone designs into a memory quilt of Holland. 

Superbowl Mystery Quilt Sew-along

The Seattle Seahawks go to the Superbowl, and I spent the day sewing a quilt top! I am not a 12th Man Fan, so the game did not interest me. Well, I stumbled upon a blog that was hosting a mystery quilt-along for those quilters who would rather be sewing during the big game!

 

I had to choose colors. Hmmm...I belong to a non-guild quilting group, and we were challenged to make a monochromatic quilt, using paint chip cards as a guide. I drew this chip, a bluish purple. 

 

So I dug through my stash of purple fabrics; most of them are on the red-ish purple side...

 
...but I did find a few that matched the chip and that met the fabric requirements of one dark, two mediums, a light, a border fabric and a zinger.

My lightest fabric (second from the right) was not light enough so I used the wrong side and it worked! For the zinger, I used white as it was allowed by the monochromatic rules.

And here is the finished quilt top; it measures 49" square. I think it will need some special quilting in the blank spots, or maybe I could add some applique!

This was my first mystery quilt and it was a lot of fun!

 

To see more mystery quilt finishes, check them out at

http://quiltbug.com/free/appian-way.htm

 

 

Linked up today with WIP Wednesday at http://www.freshlypieced.com/

Can't decide what to do....

I picked up an unfinished quilt at Goodwill a while back. Basically it is just squares...

It was in a bag that contained the leftover fabrics. While I think it is a cute little quilt, I felt it was not terrible exciting. So I fancied it up a bit.

I will put some applique in the wide white stripe. I could just leave it like this, perhaps add a white border on the outside.

I thought it might be cute to add a pieced border like this:

 

Or I could turn those pieced borders the other way so the white is on the outer edge.

Maybe the first pieced border is too much. So I tried to cover it up.

And here it is with the outer border turned again with the white on the outside.

 

I can't quite decide which I like best. Does anyone out there have any ideas?

I've linked up with Lee at http://www.freshlypieced.com/
Head over there to see what others have been working on this week!

No More Dining Room

I got the black border put on this quilt. I really like it!

Not much else going on because we decided to assemble the quilt frame. Husband put it all together, and now I must figure out how to load my Juki onto it and how to load a quilt and batting on.

 

It has taken up the formal dining room. I am not very excited about that, but this is temporary. I want to get a number of quilt tops quilted, then take the frame down again.

Meanwhile, the dining table is now in the living room. It is really crowded in there!

Happy New Year!

Before I put the Christmas fabrics away for the year, I wanted to make a table runner using extra blocks from this quilt:

My good friend Wendy gave me this quilt a couple of years ago. It is the result of a block exchange.

She had three extra blocks and gave those to me as well.

I had an idea of how to use them, and I really needed to sew it up before I forgot the idea!   I added triangles,

then turned and trimmed the block.

 I sewed them together...

 ...and added borders. What a festive match for the quilt!

 

I think it will be lovely on the coffee table with three candles!