Denyse Schimdt Here I Come!

Pretty flower from our garden.. Its hard to focus on quilting when there is so much pretty good ness.
In other news:

I finished Mom's ZigZag Quilt. Backed it with bright pinky/orange to give it zing and MAN! its zingy! Mom doesn't like busy patterns and designs. For years( err, decades) , she had one of those hudson trading post striped blankets on her bed. I had that loosely in mind when I made this one.

Here is a shot of her hand. holdng tissue like always. I asked her to put it on the bed to get a picture. So universally an old lady hand.. I wanted to capture it.

I finally got this bound and finished. I'm pretty happy with it. It's my own design and used my own simplified construction technique to make the blocks. Hooray! I was gonna sell it on Etsy but I think I am going to use it as a class sample. Darn, I will have to make it again. :)
My machine binding on this one is really good - if I do say so myself. So check out the photos on flickr.com to see it up close.





Not all my projects come together to make a great quilt. I think the fabric here is a loser. I should have been more focused and used tighter standards for fabric placement, instead of just using my current favorites.
On the other hand I think the quilting compliments the design in a way that I rarely can acomplish. I kind of love traditional quilting but it can be a bit static and "oldtimey". I try to do a modern freehand that pays homage to traditional quilting without being stuffy and too formal. I want the quality to be there, the craftmanship, but I also want a certain casual, of the moment, breath of fresh air feeling in it as well.

Okay, lots of folks have asked and I just heard today.
I got into the Denyse Schmidt class!! Here in Portland! Hooray. I'm thrilled! I am grateful! I am not gonna be happy getting up that early in the morning!
If you too are going, drop me a line and we will talk.
Quilter's Rock!