Seeing Red...

Please meet Freddy LeRouge. Freddy is a noted lepidopterist as you can see from his shirt and his fluttering friends that surround him wherever he goes. He also moonlights as a model for headache medicine. Perhaps you can tell by his general droopiness that he is the "before" model. Freddy is just one of the LeRouge Family that came into being at the recent birthday celebration for Quilters of Alachua County Day Guild. 

We were definitely seeing red. Oh, but there was a lot of red! All over the work tables. Once again, our challenge was to work in groups of 8 to create a small quilt of a person while working monochromatically and applying our skills with contrast and scale. You may recall we did this activity in another quilting group awhile back, but with purple fabric scraps and trims that time. Here's the link for that gathering. 

We began with a square of batting in front of us. Working in rounds and with a timer, we cut and layered the required elements, starting with the background and moving to the head, neck, shoulders, facial features and hair. The pile of fabrics in the middle of the table were for all to use. And the twist was that when the timer rang, we had to pass the piece to the person on our left.

Once all of the elements were added, the piece that landed in front of us is the one we took home to finish. We could add embellishments and stitch the whole thing down, and then bring our completed quilt back for show-and-tell. It was great fun. 

 Here is Freddy once he made the rounds and got pinned together to travel home. I reshaped a few elements and added fabric to create some contrast with his ears. If you compare this photo to the finished Freddy, you'll notice that he also got eyelids, cheeks and a nose job. And a story. This was great fun and the LeRouge Family grew in great numbers that day!

This is Freddy's Aunty Flora. She's quite a fashion plate. Love her earrings.



The Sharp Dressed Man might be interested in meeting Aunty Flora!

A Little Heap 'O History...

Oh, it might not look like much now, but just wait! This sweet Dresden Plate quilt top was a freebie offered at our Florida Quilt Study Group meeting held at Miss D's Quilt Shop in Palatka. I love the Dresden Plate pattern, so I knew this uniquely made one had to come home with me. It's rough and could use a bath, but I have plans for it.

While quilters love to debate whether to clean an antique quilt or not, I'm always ready to risk giving them a bath. Noted quilt appraiser and quilt historian Brenda Grampsas was at our meeting to present her Rubba Dub Dub! lecture on how to clean and brighten old quilts safely and economically. She had a laundry basket of tips and tricks along with recipes for making our own cleaning products. Very helpful info! And Brenda is the donor of my quilt top, so her expertise will help me bring new life to it.

She and our leader, quilt historian and collector Kathy Metalica Cray, showed some quilts that Brenda had worked her magic on, and the results were impressive. This applique wreath quilt had one stubborn stain (upper left) that would not disappear, but it was considerably lightened, while others were removed. The quilt on the table belongs to member Debra Johnston who displayed it as part of Brenda's lecture. Debra followed Brenda's tips and her Courthouse Steps quilt looks freshened up and way cleaner than it was.

And this Dresden Plate quilt was one of a pair that Brenda cleaned and brightened with no ill effects on the old textiles. Lovely!

Here we are- some of the members of Florida Quilt Study Group. Vintage quilt fans, one and all. Photo credit to Brenda's husband John Grampsas. Well done getting a large group all in the photo!

While walking to the quilt shop from my parking spot, I saw this interesting mural and recognized the depiction of Billy Graham. I walked over to read the info badge at the side to find out his connection to Palatka and Putnam County. There was a scan icon to use with a phone camera, which I did. It took me to a site with a narrator who explained his time spent in the early years in the area. So interesting, and this is just one of many murals on buildings throughout the city. I'll visit more of them on upcoming meeting dates. A location map is provided at the website, too.

I enjoyed my lunch in the park along the beautiful St. John's River that served as an historically important transportation "highway" as well as recreational boating and fishing destination. What an enjoyable and history-filled day!

From The Back Shelf...

Finally and at last! This table runner has languished in the "unfinished project area" of the sewing room for a long time. I've always liked it, but didn't really have a plan for it. When I needed a thank-you gift for someone, I decided to finish and present it to them. A plan! That's how it is with a lot of my ongoing projects- they wait, and wait, and wait a little longer. Eventually they find their way to completion. So I'm not too hard on myself for having lots of projects in the works.

This one was so old that I had to have a quilting friend remind me of some of the details. We took a fusible applique class on a quilting cruise. And it's old enough that we hand cut all those fussy pieces. Die cutters were not yet trending when we did the project. So that's a lot of cutting! Longarmer Debra Johnston quilted it after I free-motion stitched all the edges of the design elements to prevent fraying. That's a lot of stitching!

And I received a gift from quilting friend Joanne Nolt who made this handy cross-body bag. I love the colors, and it's just the right size to carry what I need.

The back view shows the outside pocket, which is also convenient. I love these colors- did I mention that already? I recognized the Jane Sassaman fabric print she used. It's a favorite and I even have some of this in another color.

And yet another gift, this one from my daughter Joanna. It's "The Thinker". She makes me smile when I glance at her. She's an air plant that needs very little care- just a sunny window and a spritz of water from time to time. If you look closely in the photo at the upper left, you'll see Frosty the horse happily grazing in his paddock.