Surreal Serenity

Today was a travel day.  We left Tyndall AFB near Panama City for Old Town, FL.  We could not have asked for a better day.  Weather and traffic was wonderful not to mention a lot of great views of the Gulf along the way..  As we drove through Apalachicola on East Hwy. 98 .  People were out enjoying the weather in the downtown area.  Some were shopping while others were having a yard sale.  Yet it wasn’t crowded.  Two boys holding a sign we could not read gave Dan the “Blow Your Horn” motion and Dan obliged.  We could hear the two cheering over our motorhome’s engine!  Okay, on to quilting.........

My top is finally done! I had to make myself stop adding more appliqué. I started this top over 2 years ago. Not because the quilt was giving me a hard time – no, no, it was because I was enjoying the growth and the process. Working with batik is a real joy. It is easy to manipulate and it easily forgives my mistakes.

For the longest time, I could not come up with a name for my quilt. I tried several but none fit: “My Pond” (too plain), “We Are Not Being Koi” (they are goldfish), “Lanai Memories” (nah!), Serenity Pond” (yep, so calm it will put you to sleep)….nothing fit. I wanted people to know that this quilt was not a lot of work, but the opposite. This quilt relaxed me, challenged my imagination, and brought me many hours of peaceful moments. Then a friend and a great photographer posted on Facebook a photo of some beautiful lilies. I told her they looked surreal. That’s when my quilt’s name came to me! My pond is surreal and serene! Surreal Serenity! I have never had such a hard time naming a quilt.

 

Everything is hand sewn including the border.  I was using the freezer paper method.  I had talked to a friend once about using the turn-under-as-you-go.  She seemed to like it, so I switched methods when I started working on the small lotus petals.  I find I do like that method a lot better.

I added ginkgo leaves to give the water a little more motion.

The blue batik started my idea for a water design, but it was my pictures of the purple lotus that inspired the Japanese garden pond.  I added bamboo to give the sense that the garden continued beyond the border.

My Yin Yang goldfish.

This is the book that inspired me to use the mosaic style instead of making the plants and fish more solid.

Here's my old post of the top:  http://quiltincats.blogspot.com/2010/05/little-hand-quilting-little-applique.html

Well, for now, I have to put the top away.  I want to finish my granddaughter's quilt before she outgrows it!  Good incentive, don't you think?

RENO IS QUILTOWN (Quilt Show)

Last weekend, I finally got Dan to go with me to a quilt show. Well, sort of. Actually, someone came up with the brilliant idea of holding a quilt show inside the National Automobile Museum. What a genius!! Quilters and their spouses were happy to go together to a quilt show. And that included Dan and I. Dan took lots of pictures of cars and I took lots of pictures of quilts. I wish more quilt shows were teamed up with car or motorcycle shows. It was a lot of fun.

The Truckee Meadows Quilters put on a fabulous display of quilts throughout the museum among the vintage automobiles. I enjoyed both the quilts on display as well as the automobiles.

I have put together some of the quilts in WebShots. Mainly the ones that jumped out at me or spoke to me. I just could not do upload all of them. There were so many and all were wonderful! I added the name of the quilt and the quilter’s name in the album this time. I had someone compliment me once on a quilt I did not make even though the album was clearly marked Quilt Show. I did explain that I could not take the credit for the quilt.

You will probably notice that a lot of the quilts are by Mildred Dort. I will admit I did not look at the program when I started looking around. I was too excited to see the quilts then to read about them. Why read when I can spend the time admiring the beautiful artwork on display, listening to others quilt discussions, and do a little shopping with the vendors. I loved all the quilts, but my favorite quilts are the ones with hand-appliqué work or ones with cats or flowers.

It wasn’t until I got home and started going through the program to match photos with names that I realized I had taken a lot of pictures of Mildred Dort’s quilts. I can see why she was picked as the featured quilter. She does some excellent appliqué handwork. My friends know that I really love my appliqué handwork.

Oh, and I will be uploading photos of the vintage automobiles as well…a little later and in a separate folder. Enjoy!