Quilts at the NEQM! and new kitchen!

Last weekend David and I went to Massachusetts for a brief overnight to see a few old friends and visit my Medallion with Sashiko quilt hanging at the New England Quilt Museum;).  Many thanks to Barb Vedder for including this quilt!  It was a thrill to see it within such a wonderful exhibit of creative, quirky quilts.  We sort of dashed through because somehow I didn't realize the museum closed at 4:00!  We then went on to NYC for a couple of days.  It is very easy to fly between Raleigh and New York City, happily.  

This one of Barb's was my FAVORITE in the show, so timely - 

In other news, my brother makes fine cabinetry, and he has re-done our little kitchen.  It was so fun to plan this with him in terms of the cabinetry.   We kept the footprint, flooring, and lighting, but replaced cabinetry and appliances.  The cabinets are painted Sherwin Williams' "Alabaster."   The counters are quartz Miraggio Gold. The electrician's assistant took the old appliances, and the plumber took all the old cabinetry, so that was a win-win for everyone. 

I absolutely love having my cookbooks close at hand, but behind glass.  My recipe binders are in the little cubby.  New white KitchenAid, coming full circle to the white KitchenAid I inherited from my Mom and later gave to my daughter.  

The green of the island and backsplash was color matched from an old floorboard found in the 1740's home we had in Massachusetts.  "Hartwell Green" we are calling it.  It is very moody and I love it. 

I'm so happy with the slightly deeper hightop counter my brother made, in such a lovely Cinnamon stained oak. 

There are a couple of little things to finish with the kitchen but it is all but done, and such a pleasure.  

The day my brother finished, our step-mother Denise visited for a week from Denver.  Noelle came over from Raleigh to see her one day.  

Back to quilting...  I've come to a sort of deflating decision to stop with the Mathilde Mystery quilt.  I adore the quilt, but some of the choices I have made are just..... no.   I'm going to put all these pieces into the "parts department" and challenge myself to use some or all of them... someday.... maybe in some baby quilts, who knows.  

And so very happily... I am going to continue making scrappy Ohio stars.  I will either set them in red like this, or do my favorite setting, a split square for a diagonal stripe-y vibe.   I'm looking to make it a wintery quilt appropriate for December - February (or anytime really).   I love this kind of scrappy piecing because I know eventually the quilt will be so "wabi sabi".   

I am loving the cooler, sunny days!  Where did October go? 

xo

Cynthia 

Medallion with Sashiko - finished at last

Ta-da!  Gwennie (Gwen Marston) Inspired Medallion Quilt finished at last!  We were challenged to interpret the following themes:

Basket (center) chosen by Lori at Humble Quilts
Childhood chosen by... me
Log Cabin as chosen by Cathy at Big Lake Quilter
Stars as chosen by Katy at KatyQuilts
"Something fishy"  as chosen by Wendy at The Constant Quilter

I do think if I had to do it all over again, I would have made my "something fishy" border much narrower, and added a very dark or very bright outer border.   And if not for this challenge, I would have stopped after the narrow log cabin border after the sashiko and called it all good as a wall hanging!



All that said,  I am SO THRILLED with the custom machine quilting by Hannah's Longarm Quilting in NH.  I looked at this quilt as a collaboration and so asked Hannah to quilt it however she wanted to quilt it and WOW... the results are fabulous!  Way beyond anything I would have thought to do or have the skill to do!

In so many places, the quilting echoed elements of the piecing/applique/sashiko.  I found it quite touching!  

And then the borders!!  Whoa!!!! 

For the backing, I used what I happened to have on hand from my quickly dwindling stash of Japanese fabrics: 

Thank you again Lori (Humble Quilts) for organizing us for this fun challenge!  

x

Cynthia