Randomness and "Edith Week"

Here's a picture of a couple visitors to a Christian camp in Kinshuko, Iwate, Japan. A group of us made 101 quilts that were delivered to the camp for use on camp beds. The photo my friend sent just happens to include, in the background, two of the quilts I made! They're obviously not on beds, but I'm tickled to see they're being appreciated.

The green quilt on the left is all about my favorite Bible verse - the one from which I chose my blog name - with Psalm 92:12-13 hand-embroidered around a palm tree. "The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, planted in the house of the Lord."

The quilt on the right centers on the church logo (Lutheran Church of Hope, West Des Moines, Iowa) hand-stitched in Sashiko. It's great to see these quilts in their environment.

My nephew was thoughtful to take a picture of his new baby girl, Reese, wrapped in the hexagon quilt I made for her. Looks like big brother, Tripp, is getting along well.

With Edith visiting from Switzerland, it's been a jam-packed "Edith Week." We've been on the go - most places by golf cart! 

Thankfully, she's been amenable to accompanying me to several commitments. One of those was the Lifelong Learning College Expo, an annual outdoor event to introduce the winter term catalog and give folks a chance to meet instructors. For five hours I sat at my First Time Quiltmaking table and happily answered questions from a steady stream of interested women. Afterward, we learned this was the largest turnout ever for the LLC Expo. The College even ran out of catalogs and had to send someone to get more!

It was really fun to talk to everyone who came past the table, but the best part was pointing out this.

We're cover girls! The photo I submitted from my first class of First Time Quiltmaking students was selected for the cover of the winter term catalog! Several of those students came by to say how excited they were, and I couldn't be happier. Now I'm really glad I admonished them to smile! I told them we were gunning to be cover girls, and it happened!

Edith has settled into our household like she's been here before, even though she's never visited me in Florida, and it's been five years since we've seen one another. Hogan is certainly comfortable with her, and likes the extra attention.

At an all day meeting of Bradenton Quilters, a chapter of Quilting Guild of The Villages, Edith shared  how she creates unique fabric for bags and wall hangings using scraps, threads, couched yarn, ribbon and other embellishments. Everyone was really receptive to her demonstration. 

Edith lives in a city not far from Steckborn, where Bernina sewing machines are built, and owns several models herself. So she had no difficulties figuring out what to do on my Bernina Aurora 440. In fact, she made it do things I've never done before! 

One particular item really intrigued everyone. This Bernina circular embroidery attachment that works on nearly any brand sewing machine, creating circular designs using only a sewing machine's decorative stitches. 

Confession here: I purchased this attachment when I visited Edith in Switzerland, in 2002... and I've never used it! But Edith did. Isn't this fabric pretty? It was made simply with scrap fabrics, quilted, and then embellished with decorative stitches in a variety of thread colors. This will make such a neat bag.

Edith's piece

I had a go with with good results too. With 180 decorative stitch options on my Bernina 440, (and the attachment works on my old Bernina 830 too!) I will definitely be using it again. 

my piece

As you can see, everyone at Bradenton Quilters was interested in her creativity. 

After learning how to create fabric, we taught everyone how to turn it into The Edith Bag. Here's where to find the tutorial. 

Check out Edith's blog post here, for her impressions of her day with Bradenton Quilters.

Edith and me

Other than this sewing day, not much is happening in my sewing room. But, in a couple evenings I've managed to make some blocks...

... and get them sewn together. 

Check back Monday to see more and take your chance at a giveaway!

As for me... well, in the vein of sticking with celebrating "Edith Week," we're off to spend a day at the beach before she heads back home! Linda