The Frosting On The Cake

Today was my last lecture presentation for the year. It has been a busy and exhilarating Fall sharing my silk quilts with guilds in PA, NJ and MD. The Needlechasers of Chevy Chase was such a warm and friendly guild with a bent towards art quilts. There was only one traditional quilt shared during Show & Tell, and it was a beauty. Here are a couple of photos of their raffle quilt. 

And the back

It was quilted by one of their members with lots of different leaf motifs. 

They asked tons of questions during my talk. I love that. It shows they weren't sleeping (Ha!) and they were actually interested in what I was talking about. 

We had quite a discussion about my wonky Midsummers Night Dream quilt. 

It was also wonderful to reconnect with my friend Josephine. She was a member of my current guild until she moved to Maryland to be near her kids and grandkids. It has been years since we talked and it seemed like yesterday. She sends her regards to all her friends at Calico Cutters and misses us and we miss her too. 

She is heading to Holland, her home country, and whipped up this gorgeous quilt in no time to bring as a gift. 

It feels so good to be done traveling for the year and awesome to be ending it on such a high note with a vibrant and active group of quilters! Thank you Needlechasers. 

Twins

I shared my twins a couple of weeks ago.

 

I created two identical "Elegantly Amish" quilts (39"x39") to determine if silk dupioni quilts can be washed.  Up to this point I was telling my students that silk quilts needed to be dry cleaned.  Washing would ruin them.  Once a scientist, always a scientist, so I needed to do an experiment.  What would happen if I washed a silk quilt?  Would it lose its sheen? Would it get distorted?  Would it shrink?  Would it bleed?

But before I share the results of my experiment, I want to introduce Midnight Quilter aka Ashley Malinowski.  She quilted "The Twins".

Ashley is a young woman who recently graduated from college. She purchased a long arm at the end of her senior year of high school.  She put herself through college by quilting for others.  Although she graduated with a very employable degree, she decided she wanted to keep on longarming to keep in touch with her customers!  If you want to read more about her or get in touch to hire her, 

visit her website: www.MidnightQuilter.weebly.com

So what happened to The Twins when I gently washed one of the twins in a low suds detergent?

The quilt on the right was the one that was washed.  It shrunk 2.5%.  It did not lose its sheen, that is so important when sewing with silk dupioni.  It did not bleed.  What happened because of the shrinkage is that the colors became a bit more vibrant, which is hard to see in this photo.  I like the increase in vibrancy. Maybe I'll wash all of my silk quilts.  Maybe.

I have presented my newest lecture "Sensational Silk" a couple of times.  I am happy to share with other quilters my silk quilts and  my tips for  quilting with silk.  I can now tell them that the quilts can be washed. If you want to read my other tips, check out this LINK.

A Busy Week Ahead

"Elegantly Amish" Twins- 39"x39"  - Silk Dupioni

The next 12 days will be crazy busy for me.  I will be traveling from Malvern, PA to the Pocono Mountains to Warwick, NY.  Here's my list of presentations, just in case you will be in the area.  You know I'd love to see old friends and meet new friends.

•  Penn Oaks Quilt Guild on Monday 11/10.  I will be debuting my "Sensational Silk" lecture
• Calico Cutters Quilt Guild on Tuesday 11/11.  I will be teaching my newest pattern, "Beachalicious"
• Mountain Quiltworks  in Honesdale, PA on Saturday 11/15, "Sensational Silk" and a Curvalicious demo
• Warwick Valley Quilt Guild on Tueday 11/18.  A Curvalicious workshop

 Check the websites by clicking the highlighted links, or call ahead to get the particulars.

So are you wondering why I made identical twin silk quilts? You will find out if you attend my lecture at Penn Oaks.  If you can't make it, I know lots of you live too far away, I'll share the story next week, right here.  Sign up with Bloglovin' to make sure you don't miss it.

Where Did The Summer Go?

 

It seems like forever since I posted. I thought it might have been the entire summer, but when I checked the date of my last post it turns out it has only been a month. But a month in bloggerland js a long time.

I have been quilting, but 2 of the quilts I finished are gifts. Can't share those yet. I have also been working on my silk opus.

I need to finish it by November 10th. That will be the debut of my "Sensational Silk" lecture at Penn Oaks Quilt Guild. I want to share all the different ways that dupioni silk can be used for quilting. The guild meets in Malvern at The Frazier Mennonite Church. It's a very friendly group so if you're in the area, come out and see my quilts. For more info, check out their website: www.PennOaksQuiltGuild.org

I have also been having a lot of fun getting dirty rehabbing a property that my son and DIL bought. I'm the fixer of odds and ends. It's a house with lots of character that was built in 1875. It's in Wilmington, DE. If you're familiar with the area, it's near Rodney Square.

 

 

Front foyer.

Does anyone know anything about this tile?

It was used to seal off a fireplace.

 

 

 

And believe it or or, it was Henry's first birthday. Where did the year go? My DIL made him a fish themed party. She gave me a couple of tie dyed t shirts with directions on how to decorate them.

Does the fish look familiar? It's a baby shower quilt left over.

If you want to see the fish quilt, click HERE.

And one more t shirt, just in case the first one gets dirty.

And of course that is going to happen when there is a smash cake!

So what motivated me to blog today of all days? Our annual Fall vacation. I want to make sure I can share the photos with you.

Where are we going, you ask?

Bali!

It's a Textile Tour with lots of learning about batiks, making of batiks and buying of batiks. What could be better?

I will definitely share photos.