It’s time to break up the vacation posts with a quilt! This is Jackie Hillman’s Whimsical Quilt Garden — isn’t it lovely!
It’s a quilt you could stand in front of and savor for a long time. So many cute details!
FYI: If this is a pattern you want, order it soon. The pattern is going out of print and I still have some in stock. Once those are gone, it will only be available as a digital ebook.
Thank you, Jackie, for sharing your quilt with us!
After our food tour, we went to the Palau De la Musica Catalana. It is a beautiful space where choirs sing. Not just any choirs… magnificent choirs. And not just classical music, but all kinds of amazing music.
I wish I knew more about music, but I don’t. We are here because it is a famous, wonderful space. I want to come back to hear choirs sing right here.
Side note: Since I’ve been in Spain, when I google something, it is in Spanish. I don’t want to link to a site you may not be able to read so, if you want to know more, google Palau De la Musica Catalana. You’ll be glad you did.
Mosaics are everywhere. This space was designed by a contemporary of Gaudi, Lluís Domènech i Montaner,
There are muses that surround the stage, to inspire the musicians. Honestly, doesn’t that sound wonderful? To be surrounded by muses?
And then there is the stained glass, on the outside of the building…
But the best piece is inside, above the stage. It is not flat, but dips down in the center. The space if lit by lovely, colored light…
After this, we went to see the inside of the Sagrada Familia. That visit deserves its very own post!
We visited Christ Church Cathedral this morning.
It’s a beautiful, old Anglican Cathedral that occupies a high point of the city of Newcastle and it was open this morning.
I was surprised to find a church filled with needlework! The banners are collage quilts!
As was the altar piece.
These quilts fit the space so very well. It’s impressive! But wait… there’s more!
There are needle pointed kneeling cushions in every pew! There may be repeating designs, but I didn’t see any.
These lovely fiber quilts and cushions, made by hand, make this space feel warmer, more comforting. I am impressed.
Registration for next year’s Empty Spools Seminars has begun and I would love to see your smiling face in my class! I’ll be teaching a colorful independent study.
‘Independent’ means that you can work on any project you like. It can be one of my patterns or someone else’s design. It can be any style from traditional to modern to art, pieced or appliqued, by hand or machine.
‘Colorful’ means that I’ll share lots of information about color for an hour on set-up day. The next morning we will spend some no-sew time playing with color before you jump into your project. This is a simple, yet powerful, exercise that my students always love. What you learn will help you make fabric choices during the rest of the class.
If you’ve never been to an Empty Spools class, it is definitely time to treat yourself!
Click here for more information.
You all are finishing things right and left! Judie Fleming made a Magical Unicorn 18” pillow for her granddaughter. Judie reports that her granddaughter really likes it, as do I!
I have to admit that I never thought of making the block into a pillow, but that is a fantastic idea! I asked Judie how she got the pattern that small and it turns out that she enlarged the color photo and traced the pattern from that. Quilters are such creative thinkers!
Thank you, Judie, for sharing!
Laurie Schierer took my Pick-Up Sticks class at the Hands All Around Quilt Guild a couple of weeks ago in Normal, IL. Not only is her quilt amazing, it is also quilted and bound! Way to go, Laurie! (The Pick-Up Sticks pattern is in my book, The Quilter’s Practical Guide to Color.)
During the design part of this class, we put together student blocks in a variety of sets. It occurred to me that you could add triangles to the blocks to form a center (wonky) square. Laurie ran with that idea and I’m so glad she did!
Here are just a few of the other settings, combining student blocks, that we played with:
Piece O Cake Blog 