gladiquilts

Greetings dear readers! My heart aches for the deaths and suffering ICE has caused in Minnesota and elsewhere and I am ashamed of my government. I have mixed feelings about posting photos of my work with so much cruelty and chaos out there, but I also know that many of you need some beauty and delight to help you get through, so maybe sharing what helps me get through will help you too. There’s a quote from the book I just finished, “Still Life” by Sarah Winman: “…as counterpoint to our suffering, we have beauty….Art is the antidote.” Or at least part of the antidote! I’d add love, friendship, nature, compassion…

I started a new project! It’s going to be a donation baby quilt and was inspired by Elizabeth at “Occasional Piece”. She made a small wall quilt and published a free pattern if you’re interested. I was smitten by the block, which finishes 6 inches. Here are my first nine blocks:

These are fun and easy to make! I’ll need 36 plus a border for a baby quilt.

I also have a new challenge for what will likely be a wall quilt. Wendy at “The Constant Quilter” made a quilt using this beautiful fruit panel from an antique fabric:

Go to Wendy’s blog or Instagram site to see what she made. The textile contained 4 of these and when I admired it, she sent me one! I’ll use it as a center medallion for something and I hope to get started this winter.

Now back to my older projects! For the House Quilt, I was thinking of adding a strip of indigo across the top to represent the night sky and applique some cheddar stars. Here’s a mock up just to see what it would look like:

I started with larger stars but they looked too big. These smaller stars would be very difficult to appliqué with all those little points. Also, I’m just not sure I like the look that much. So…I’m thinking of just adding a red strip (the indigo without stars looked too dark) – in the mock up the border isn’t cut yet so appears sideways:

Anyways, that’s where it stands for now!

I’ve made great headway on the Whimsical Vases border. The way I chose fabrics is by pinning the quilt to my design wall and the border up next to it and the pattern next to that. Then I was able to hold fabrics up to their designated places and make sure the colors were right. Then I pinned a chunk of that fabric in place until all pieces were chosen:

Then I cut out the pieces after ironing on the templates and basted them to the background. Here’s the beginning:

I stitched some pink embroidery embellishment around the vase to make it stand out a bit more. Many more hours of stitching ahead!

I’ve made a few new hexagon flowers:

Earthly Delights: The snow is just beginning here, but we already have a fair amount of snow on the ground!

I’ve talked about how austere things look here in winter buds hold, but we do get some lovely sunrises and sunsets:

I love how the buds in winter hold the promise of new life to come:

In addition to quiltmaking, music is another art that helps me get through these troubled times. I am still enjoying daily music in this book:

The piece featured on 1/20 seems so appropriate for now – “a meditation on violence and its repercussions “ and it is gorgeous. I know you can listen on YouTube or ofthe music programs:

I’m learning this beautiful Irish air on the accordion! You can also listen online if you want:

The snow here has begun to fall. Stay warm , stay safe, stay caring and compassionate!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! Let me start this post with a follow up to my crazy story about the needle in my left great toe! I saw the orthopedist late last week to ostensibly schedule surgical removal, but repeat x-rays showed another surprise – the needle is gone!!! Somehow, it managed to work itself out – how it did that without me being aware is something no one can explain! I was assured it could not have traveled to any other part of my body. A mystery! I had noticed that the discomfort had mostly resolved the week before the appointment. Of course, I am happy not to have to have surgery! My main lesson – don’t go barefoot in the house!!😊

I’ve been working on the House quilt. When you don’t use a pattern you have to make all the design and measurement decisions. My decision to stagger the houses required decisions on sashing fabrics and width and how widely to space the houses, both horizontally and vertically. I wanted to try to use fabrics on hand if at all possible. I chose a slightly darker fabric an inch wide for the horizontal sashing between each house:

I didn’t have enough of any one fabric for the vertical strips separating the rows, but, luckily, the local quilt shop near the orthopedist I went to last week had ONE fabric in the shop that works!:

Here’s what it looks like on my design wall with 4 of those vertical seams still needing to be sewn:

I think the spacing came out aesthetically pleasing! I have another idea for the center before adding the border – more on that to come!

I have finished all of my squircles for January!:

These are so much fun and easy and relaxing to make! Here are some closeups which show off the beautiful silk fabrics:

I decided it was time to get started on the border for Whimsical Vases. Luckily, I already had the border background pieces cut!

I had to mark the vines and put all the short pieces that the long vine covers on first:

And make templates for all the flowers and leaves:

54 pieces! Since the photo above, I’ve got the entire vine hand appliqued on and am ready to start choosing fabrics for all those templates.

I managed to “win” a really nice gift at my quilt Bee’s holiday party Yankee Swap – a hand made pincushion and beautiful pair of scissors:

I also want to share a gift my future daughter-in-law (my son and long time partner finally got engaged!) gave me – a really cute and perfectly functional mini vacuum! It’s great for the sewing room surfaces!,:

Earthly Delights: Winter can be so austere here that I have to be extra observant to observe some of the loveliness it offers. Lichens have their moment when they don’t have to compete with the colorful flora of the other seasons:

Ice coating branches:

Ice on the river:

Snow on the pond:

And caught here:

I haven’t shared books I’ve read for a while! Here are 4.:

This was published in 1778. Burney was a favorite author of Jane Austen and influenced her writing. It’s not as good as Austen’s work, but still good and I recommend it if you like classics from that era.

“The Kites” was published in France in 1980 and I’m pretty sure available in paperback. It was an excellent read and I recommend it! Here’s info from the back cover – notice the kudos by Sartre and deGaulle!!

This next one, “The Land in Winter”, was a finalist for the Booker Prize for 2025. I read the whole thing, but would NOT recommend it. As I read it, I was thinking about how 3 things are important for me to like a book – good writing, good story, and characters that I like or are at least interesting. This book was well written, but I didn’t like the story or the characters.

Finally, my next book group book:

This book is not great literature, but it’s pretty good writing, a decent story, and has some fun characters. It is a somewhat “light”, but quite enjoyable read and in these dark days for our country, sometimes we need that!

Hope your year is off to a good start!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! 2025 turned out to be quite a year for me re quilting! I completed 8 quilts, added 3 more completed tops to the “to be quilted” pile, make good progress on a few other projects, and started some new things. I love this quote from a Carolina Oneto Instagram post as it fits my situation too: “These quilts represent months (in my case, sometimes years!) of thinking, adjusting, questioning, and trusting intuition. They are not perfect – and that’s exactly why I love them.”

I finished 2 “long journey” projects. Maple Leaf Rag:

And Dutch Sunflowers:

I finished hand quilting Remembering Rosemary, my tribute to my quilting buddy who passed away in 2024:

And I completed my online Tiny Nine Patch Challenge:

I finished a NYB small wall quilt from a Linda Hahn class:

And made 2 of these hand quilted doll quilts for Yankee Swap holiday gifts:

Finally, I completed my Tomie Nagano inspired “ Spirit of Japan #7: Treasure Trove” with hand quilting:

The tops I completed that are awaiting quilting are 1. Southwestern String Quilt:

2. Here Comes The Sun (this year’s “scrappy meets thrift” online sewalong):

(I decided not to add the floral, or any other additional border to the above.)

3. Autumn Cheddar wall quilt:

I made excellent progress on Whimsical Vases, completing the center applique blocks:

And I had Winterberries basted and have started hand quilting it:

I started 4 new projects in 2025. One was Here Comes The Sun. The other 3 are: 1. Hexagon Flowers:

2. Squircles – Elizabeth’s (at “Occasional Piece” blog) online sewalong. 20 per month for 9 months, through May of 2026. I have all my blocks prepped for January hand appliqué! Here are the new ones I just basted:

I am using 60 wt. Mettler for the hand appliqué because that’s what I have on hand:

3. House quilt. This was inspired by the gorgeous Paula Barnes print I’m using for the border:

I decided to add hand embroidered window panes and really like the extra detail!

Here you can see the difference, with and without:

I will add sashing so the houses are not touching, but I’m also thinking of possibility adding another little design element – stay tuned!😊.

2025 also saw me exhibiting “Time of Plenty” at the New England Quilt Museum” – very exciting!

I went on 2 quilt retreats, one in Arizona!, and went to QuiltCon in Phoenix. Whew! What a year!!!! I hope I am as productive and enjoy the process and the quilting community as much in 2026 as I did in 2025!!!
To finish out 2025 and take us into 2026, I am going to quote writer, teacher, and author Sarah Sentilles (I saw this on Sulieka Jaouad’s Substack, The Isolation Journals):

”Now is the time to recommit to what matters most to us. To put whatever it is that we call sacred at the center of our lives, of our days. To commit to the kind of world in which we want to live – and to decide who and how we want to be in that world. To take back our focus. Art can help us practice this…The impulse to make art is ancient and sacred. Your art matters. It’s needed, essential. We are all artists here, painters and cooks, sculptors and farmers, parents and writers, scientists and poets, teachers and musicians, and the muscles of our visionary minds are growing stronger and stronger. With every word, every piece of clay, every brushstroke, every stitch, we create a reimagined world and we choose to live there, now.”

Thank you for reading! Wishing you all a wonderful, peaceful, art- filled 2026!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! I’ve neglected my blog because it’s been a busy time of year, but am trying for a quick update before Christmas. First, I have managed to fit in some sewing here and there. The house quilt told me it wanted to be bigger and a rectangle. I looked at 36 houses set straight horizontally and vertically:

I decided I preferred the houses staggered with some space between and decided to go with 6 rows across and 7 down:

In the above photo I have 40 of the 42 houses needed complete! Next I need to decide what I’m going to use for sashing and how to best place the houses.

After I started making the houses, I remembered I had in my library a lovely book about houses in folk art:

It’s a beautiful book with sections about houses in embroidery, quilting, painting, rug hooking, etc. and lovely illustrations. In the quilt section they talk about pieced houses:

and applique houses:

And:

So inspirational and fun to peruse!

I’ve been hand appliquéing my hexie flowers to their backgrounds:

I need 98 blocks, have 75 made, and 44 appliqued to backgrounds- one by one, they get done!

I also am knitting another scrarf just like the cream one I finished a few months ago, only this one is a luscious teal color:

For decades Al and I have hosted a Christmas party/dinner with several couples who are close friends and with whom we love to play music. We are so blessed to be able to keep doing this! It’s a lot of prep but totally worth it! I’m sharing a few photos you might enjoy:

Skip’s famous mussels🙂:

I can’t believe I forgot to get a photo of Sarah’s incredible chocolate Yule Log dessert! Wonderful music before and after the meal:

The gals:

And the guys:

Me🙂with our tree:

So, here’s my crazy story! This past August I stepped on something small on the rug in my upstairs hallway just outside my sewing room that gave me a small cut on the bottom of my left great toe. I never could find what made the cut and I definitely couldn’t feel anything in there. I had some intermittent sharp pains for a while which I attributed to the cut. For a while, though, I had some brief episodes of discomfort on the other side of the toe, even after the cut healed. Then I was fine without any discomfort for a couple months until about 3 weeks ago I noticed tender lump – not anywhere close to where the cut had been. I made an appointment to see a podiatrist yesterday, thinking it might be a corn. Some of you may have guessed where this is going…. An x-ray shows I have a needle (or part of a needle) lodged in my toe! It actually migrated to the other side from where the cut had been! I am going to need surgery to have it removed 😧. I’ll keep you updated, but it’s not interfering with walking so it’s not an emergency. I will never go barefoot in this house again!😊

I’ll close with a wish for a beautiful holiday season for all my readers and a huge thank you to you all for reading! I sincerely wish for a world with much more good will, love, compassion, and tolerance and respect for differences in each other and far less cruelty and meanness and ill will. 🤞🤞🤞🤞

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! We had a lovely Thanksgiving, but, unfortunately, the grandkids brought a nasty virus with them and my husband and I have both been sick with respiratory infections for over a week🙁. In spite of that, I’ve still managed to accomplish some things. “Spirit of Japan #7: Treasure Trove is finished!

This quilt, the 7th in my “Spirit of Japan” series, featuring authentic Japanese fabrics, including taupes and indigos, was inspired by an exhibit of quilts by Tommie Nagano at the New England Quilt Museum that I saw in December 2022.

It is hand quilted because I wanted to keep it in the spirit of Nagano’s work which is all hand quilted. Although the top was done in late 2023, it had to wait its turn for hand quilting and I finally got started on it in March this year. Here are a couple photos of the back where the hand quilting is best seen:

I finished the last square last week and got the brown binding on this weekend:

I call it Treasure Trove because it consists of a “treasure trove” of hundreds of different

Sorry – glitch occurred while trying to write the above and the computer won’t let me go back so I have to start that sentence again: I call the quilt Treasure Trove because it consists of a “treasure trove “ of hundreds of different authentic Japanese fabrics that I collected over the years. It’s really a joy to look at the quilt and see all that wonderful variety!

The final size is about 58 inches by 68 inches, so a large “throw” size. Because of the hand quilting, it is soft and cuddly and I look forward to snuggling under it in my living room chair this winter.

I also finished my autumn cheddar half square triangle quilt top!

I enjoyed hand appliquéing and embellishing the border leaves:

This is a “crib quilt” or small wall quilt size. It now goes into the “to be quilted” pile and I suspect it may get sent out for machine quilting. I ‘d also like to come up with a better name for it. So, what am I hand quilting now that Treasure Trove is done? Remember “Winterberries”, the Jo Morton design?

I had it professionally basted and picked it up the day after finishing the hand quilting on Treasure Trove so was able to get started right away! The top was completed about a year ago.

I love that I’ll be working on a red and green quilt during the holidays!

I’m continuing to make house blocks and playing around with some setting possibilities. Here they are staggered rather than set in straight horizontal rows, with spaces for maybe some sashing.

As I make these houses, I find myself thinking about the concepts of houses, homes, neighborhoods, and communities and how they have evolved over the centuries and what it means to have houses and communities. Lots to dwell on in these divided times…

Here are more quilts from the Cocheco Show for you to enjoy! I like that our guild has members who make both traditional and modern quilts. This was an excellent modern style one:

Really nice composition and color use:

I loved the bold graphic nature of this one:

Excellent quilting:

This one was really bold in terms of color use:

This one exhibits great use of different blues with the simple economy block:

This appealed to me because I have long wanted to try making the lone star block and have thought starting with this smaller size would be the way to begin. Maybe this will inspire me to try a block in 2026:

This was our raffle quilt this year (which I did not win!):

It was fun to see the African fabrics in this one:

I still have a few more quilts to share, but I think that enough for today!
Earthly Delights are far more muted in color and perhaps more focused on shape, texture, and fine detail. All three of these leaf photos show them to be quite sculptural, with tiny closeup lines and textures; the browns and grays are lovely in the same way some of the authentic Japanese taupe fabrics are:

A different texture- each of these is no bigger than a fingernail:

A young buck!:

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! Family is about to descend here, arriving tomorrow and staying till Friday through Thanksgiving. It will likely be relatively chaotic, so I’m squeezing in a post now before that happens!😊. I’ve been busy, working on 4 quilt projects. See the end of my last post for the photo of the inspiration fabric for my “house” quilt. I scoured the internet and my book collection for just the right block and found this pattern:

in this book:

I tweaked the pattern, moving one of the chimneys a bit and making them taller. The house is made via FPP in 4 parts – easy! Houses are all red, blue, or brown, the colors dictated by the inspiration fabric.
I’m surprised at how quickly these are coming together! Pretty soon I’ll need to take some time to figure out an overall design. Very much enjoying choosing fabrics, cutting, and sewing!!

I’m using a variety of tan background fabrics and different cheddars for the windows/door.

I completed my 20 squircles for November and now there are 60!

Here are a few closeups of these luscious silk fabrics:

If you are on Instagram, you can go to #backtosquircle to see what folks are making. I’ve been adding embroidered veins to the leaves and stems for the berries on the autumn cheddar HST quilt and am 3/4 done!:

I started hand quilting Treasure Trove in March and I now have 116 of 120 blocks done – almost there!

Here are some more wonderful quilts from my guild’s show last month. First, a beautifully constructed and quilted blue and white by our quilt show chair:

I love this Halloween quilt!:

This is a wonderful rendition of The Quilt Show’s Block of the month for 2024:

This next one is very traditional and I love it!

Don’t forget you can click on any photos to enlarge and better see details if you want. I love the dramatic geometrical effect of the next one:

Still more quilts from the show to share in a future post!

EARTHLY DELIGHTS: Right after my last post, about 10 days ago, there was still some beautiful autumn color outside and just in the last week it has all disappeared. Here are some photos of the last glowing golds and reds:

Beautiful closeup of bittersweet:

Recently the first ice appeared on the pond:

Yesterday we awoke to the first dusting of snow on the ground:

The last of the milkweed pods:

I took a lovely walk along the Squamscott River in Exeter, NH over the weekend and enjoyed the beautiful cloud reflections:

Just this morning I found the pitcher plants in the bog, still thriving. Their ruffled tops and colors are so striking and each one is different:

Happy stitching and wishing everyone in the US a good Thanksgiving! It’s good to be grateful!!

Be kind, BE GRATEFUL, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! Today I’m sharing several more quilts from the Cocheco Guild show. Also, if you’re interested, there are many more photos and videos as well of the show on my guild’s (Cocheco Quilters Guild) Facebook page. Let’s start with the Best of Show:

The scalloped edge and the embroidery were lovely!

Great use of vintage linens!

This next one had a modern feel and was beautifully constructed:

Lovely quilting:

I was really excited to see another tiny nine patch quilt! Susan chose to replicate the cream colored alternate blocks and the same border as the original antique quilt that inspired the sewalong we both participated in and it came out great!! It won the “President’s Choice” award:

I think you’ll enjoy the humor of the quilter’s description of the next quilt!😊:

The next one, by my “bee mate” Susan, makes one smile as well:

Next is a beautiful traditional blue and white sampler quilt:

That border print is perfect!!:

My friend Jean make a wonderful hand embroidered hexagon piece, brimming with personal meaning and memories:

I could have spent much more time than I had looking at the individual blocks!

I loved the use of color and the curved piecing in this one:

A nice use of Kaffe fabrics in my favorite color, red, and I love the pairing with black and white:

I have more quilts from the show to share in future posts! What a talented and diverse membership we have!
Over the past week, the majority of leaves have fallen from our trees. Just before that happened, I had a nice walk along the Oyster River, which eventually flows into the Great Bay and the Atlantic Ocean a few miles away. I was able to capture some of the lovely late autumn scenery:

The late afternoon light was lovely:

Golden glow:

Spots of color remain here and there – I’ll take them anywhere I can find them!🙂:

As you all know, I love hand appliqué and quilting, but I also really enjoy machine piecing. I haven’t had a piecing project going since I finished my “scrappy meets thrift” economy block sewalong top a while ago and I’ve been missing it! I have had 3 yards of this fabric in my stash for 4-5 years:

I bought it because I thought it would make a great border for something. I love the madder and indigo along with the tan and cheddar colors. I knew it required reproduction style fabrics to go with it so I started pulling fabrics from my stash and looking at design ideas. I’ve been wanting to make a “house” quilt for a long time and here’s a peak at what I’ve got so far:

I’m not sure exactly where this is going, but I’m having a lot of fun making these blocks!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! One of the highlights of my year is my guild’s annual show and this year it, once again, lived up to expectations. We are 200 members strong (with a waiting list), energetic, and creative, and manage to put on a wonderful show every year thanks to all our great volunteers. I had 5 quilts in the show, 3 judged. I’m proud to say that “Maple Leaf Rag” won 4 ribbons! – Blue, Exceptional Merit, one of 3 Judge’s Choice ribbons, and one of 3 Viewer’s Choice ribbons!

Dutch Sunflowers scored a Blue ribbon and one of the Judge’s Choice ribbons:

“Remembering Rosemary” won a Blue ribbon:

The Tiny Nine Patch quilt was in the show (not judged – members were limited to only being able to have 3 quilts judged because of the time and cost of judging):

My recent small New York Beauty quilt hung in the special exhibit of quilts started in guild sponsored workshops:

One of my favorite features in our show is 3 “Meet the Quilter” exhibits where 3 members of the guild have a space to show their work and introduce themselves to show attendees. My friend Sally, who is in my bee, was one of the chosen participants this year. Her work tends to the modern and she loves to knit socks!

Marie had a lovely display; that elephant is a real attention getter!

I got a couple photos of the 3rd “meet the quilter”, Greta, but didn’t get a photo of her. The fox is amazing:

I also really enjoyed seeing her Bird quilt. She started out with patterns by Jo Avery, then she and family members created some of their own imaginary birds:

The birds are beautifully embellished:

Click on any of the photos to enlarge and see details! A highlight of the show was meeting up with and having lunch with Wendy Reed of Bath, ME and her guest, Linda Collin’s of Australia!!

Wendy, on the right, is on Instagram at #the constant quilter and is known for her potholder quilts, lovely hand quilting, and use of feedbacks. Linda is at #quiltsinthebarn on Instagram, makes and promotes traditional style quilts, and has a huge following in Australia. What fun and what a privilege!!!! One of my top favorite quilts in the show was this one:

Every detail of this wonderful quilt was beautifully done!

Mostly wool:

I loved this little caterpillar:

And the hummingbird and bird with nest:

Beautifully executed stitches throughout and then she designed and added the basket of tools:

Kudos to Carole for a stunning quilt – she deservedly won one of the Viewer’s Choice ribbons.

Our guild always has a great Penny Sale at the show, which raises quite a bit of money for the guild. We had 60 items this year and I won 2 of them! One was a huge basket full of everything quilters love – fabric, rulers, scissors, needles you name it!

This pack of fat eights that was in the basket looks fun!

My second win was this little sewing box:

Guild member, Deborah, took an old case and decorated it to create what you see in the above photos. What a great idea! At the show she gave a demo on how to make these, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to see it.

I have many, many more photos from the show (also a backlog of photos from the museum) to share in my next post, which I hope to do within the next week. Here are some Earthly Delights! The pitcher plants are still visible at the bog and have taken on a reddish fall glow:

The burning bush is at its best as other colors fade. Pinks:

And red:

Also red, especially with the sun shining on it, is our Japanese Maple:

Plenty of gold, though since this photo was taken about a week ago, these are mostly gone now:

I put my 4 “Christmas Cacti” outside all summer and after I brought them in a few weeks ago, the bloomed – more like “Halloween” Cacti😊:

I’ve been working on my “autumn cheddar” quilt – starting to embellish the leaves with red thread veins:

Judy Martin, a textile artist whose blog “Judy’s Journal” I keep up with, recently showed her piece, “Red Sky/Red Water. She said “The time that my hand quilted work requires gives me a quiet place where I can gain perspective on what is happening each day in this uncertain world. The slow touching of the cloth and thread gives me sustenance. Each piece I create is a message of care and hope. RED THREAD, A WORLDWIDE SYMBOL OF PROTECTION, IS USED IN NEARLY EVERY PIECE.”

I have A LOT of red thread and also use it in many of my pieces, including this one now:

Wishing you all soul nourishing creating and peaceful days!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! I saw an amazing exhibit at the NEQM recently of the work of Salley Mavor. She does not make quilts, but her creations- she calls them bas-relief embroideries – include large amounts of beautiful stitching. The details are incredible!! I have photos and details of 5 of the pieces to share today – feel free to click on the photos to enlarge them.

The first piece:

Another detail:

Yes, those are kazillions of French knots towards the bottom of that photo! The second one:

Detail:

Another detail:

The third piece:

Detail:

Another detail:

The fourth piece:

Detail:

The fifth piece:

Detail:

Detail:

The above was only a small portion of the exhibit, but enough to give you a good idea of what she does. I highly recommend, highly recommend that you try to see this exhibit if you live within driving distance of Lowell, MA! I have more to share from other exhibits currently at the museum in future posts, so I hope you keep reading!

Meanwhile, I moved ahead with my crib/wall quilt size Autumn Cheddar QST quilt. I made all the leaves using the prepared edge technique and all the berries using the gathered edge technique and they are all basted onto the border:

A bit closer:

In the above photos, the vines were already hand stitched down and since those were taken, I’ve hand appliqued half of the leaves and berries, so this is moving along quickly towards being a finished top!

I also have all 20 squircles done for October:

We finally got some beautiful foliage here last week and into the middle of this week. Here are some photos of the loveliness that I captured to share with you. I am lucky to live amongst all this beauty, but I wish it weren’t so fleeting!

Down by the pond:

Cheddar! – no wonder I’m inspired to sew with this color!:

Last, but not least:

We had a heavy rain 2 days ago that caused a lot of leaves to drop – the “peak” color is passed. Every year I need to relearn how to appreciate the subtle and muted beauty of late fall and winter here in the northeast. My guild’s annual quilt show is this weekend! We put on a great show, so if you are in the area, please come – Cocheco Quilter’s Guild (see our web site for details) – Rochester Community Center in Rochester, NH, 10 AM – 4PM Saturday, the 25th and Sunday, the 26th. Hope to see you there!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! I trimmed all the Whimsical Vases blocks, sewed them together, and now the top’s center is complete!

I had a grand time over the past 18 months choosing fabrics for each block.

Some fussy cutting was done and I especially enjoyed choosing fabrics for the animals.

The ox face was fussy cut and I like the fabric for the horse’s coat.

The plaid was a fun selection for the squirrel’s tail:

I’ll take a little break, now, from this project before tackling the borders! I’ve actually taken an autumn project out of hibernation because the season’s colors are calling to me. If you are a long time reader, you may (or may not 🙂) recall that 2 years ago, I sewed a bunch of small quarter square triangle blocks in cheddar, red, dark green, brown, and black reproduction style fabrics then put them away in a box until last fall when I finally sewed them together. I knew this crib/wall size quilt needed a border, but had other things I wanted to work on so put the project away for another year! At my guild’s recent yard sale, I found the fabric for the border! I had been thinking brown, but I really like this black!

It’s got a subtle gold vine and tiny dots in the background which I hope shows up in the next photo:

I am going to add red vines and cheddar leaves. This photo should give you an idea where I’m going:

Making leaves and vines like this is definitely my happy place! I am working on October’s squircles and have 16 of the 20 done. Here are a few:

A friend gave me some left over silk from a piece her son brought her from Thailand and she had made into a jacket:

Two more hexagons for that project:

Of course I have to post some fall foliage photos!! Because we are in a severe drought the foliage in general has been a lot more muted than usual. We are especially missing the brilliant reds and oranges that we get from the sugar maples. However, there is still lovely color here and there and I’m grateful for it. I love to see the brilliance of the colors when I can catch the sun shining through the leaves:

Another area that looked like an impressionist painting:

That same tree from further back:

The brilliance of individual leaves:

I walked on a nearby rail trail:

And I walked along the shore near where my daughter lives on the Massachusetts north shore:

On that walk I saw this wonderful weathervane:

Down by the pond the cattails are all puffed out:

A friend and I went to the Quilt Museum last week to see the new exhibits and they are spectacular!! I’ll be showing photos over my next several posts and here are 2 pieces to whet your appetite. One exhibit is A Walk in the Woods:

The thread painting on this piece is spectacular!!!:

This next piece was so beautifully done:

More from this exhibit and 2 other wonderful, but unusual, exhibits to come so stay tuned!

One last autumn foliage photo to end this post!

Wishing you all a beautiful season and wonderful stitching or creating, whatever your passion is!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi