Thursday, November 7, 2013

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 

21 comments:

  1. What a wonderful week you've had! Thanks for telling us all about it. You've really settled in well at The Villages!! Sounds like a wonderful place.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congratulations to the cover girls. Thanks for sharing Edith's visit with us, that circular decorative stitch looks like fun. Try as hard as I could I could not see where the circle stared and ended!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love to see that quilting is front and center on the catalog cover! That should generate even more interest. And your table display looked inviting, too. Edith's demo is great! Enjoy the rest of her visit.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You have been pretty busy, what great fun to have a friend visit!
    Love your cover shot!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well be sure to soak up some rays for me!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Was so excited when I saw the cover - what a great, colorful picture. I hope you have one to frame for your sewing room. Great meeting Edith and I wish her safe travels back home.

    ReplyDelete
  7. How fun, and what great stitching! I'm going to forward this post to a friend who has been making similar bags - she'll love it! The new layout, (if it IS new - I've been neglecting my blog friends) looks very nice, Linda.

    ReplyDelete
  8. You are having a great time with Edith. She is so clever to have crested that embroidered fabric! Enjoy your time together!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm so happy that you and Edith have been having so much fun. She really knows how to make the Bernina's sing, doesn't she. Love that "made" fabric to be used in a bag later. Your blocks look cute. I guess it's a bit warmer there than here in MO - today it started out at 39 degrees - brrrr.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your group looks wonderful on that cover, how cool! It is so neat to see the fun, creative sewing at your class with Edith, and what a special project you were doing! Learning new talents on the machine will lead to other crafty fun, I'm sure. Keep making those memories ~
    :-}pokey

    ReplyDelete
  11. How cool is it that those quilts are all the way in Japan now??

    This post is a great example of why quilters and artists need to share knowledge through blogging or teaching, visiting or otherwise... The things we learn through each other are fantastic. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  12. It seems that Edith and you have a very busy time together and that she is enjoying her visit a lot. I love the "Edith bag" made with her "own" fabric. I always wanted to buy one of these circle attachments for my Bernina and after seeing what interesting things one can make with them I will definitely get one. Enjoy the last few days together.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Sounds like you had a wonderful time with Edith! Will you get to go visit her soon?

    I'm in awe of the circle attachment. I can see a lot of fun projects being made with it!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Tell Edith hello from Iowa! (and that I'm enjoying a cup of coffee while I read your blog!!!) M

    ReplyDelete
  15. Busy, busy, busy! Congrats on the cover girl photo. I'm sure you're next few new quilter classes are going to be full.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Looks so fun!!! And check you guys out on the cover. :D OK - I really am super intrigued by that circle-stitching thingamabob. . .

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'm fascinated by the circular embroidery....I've never even heard of that foot! Your baby quilt is going to be so great...I'll be working on mine over the weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Wonderful post Linda - loved seeing your pictures and hearing about all that's going on with you. I don't have an embroidery machine but I assume the attachment you mentioned would only work on that type machine? I'm going to check out the link for the bag. :) blessings, marlene

    ReplyDelete
  19. What a fun post, so glad you and Edith are having so much fun. And so neat about the cover!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. What a lovely story about your "Edith Week". So nice that she fitted in, and how neat to find out about your sewing machine doing all those fancy stitches

    ReplyDelete

I reply to comments! If you are a no-reply commenter, or your profile appears as anonymous, I will reply to you directly on this blog post. Please check back!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Widget for Blogs by LinkWithin