Monday Memories #14

Sorry, missed a week, something came up..............

...so, 2007 - since I started teaching P & Q, I have experienced a teeny bit of what people in the fashion industry must experience, always thinking of the next year. As I begin a new session and a fresh project, I invariably start having seeds of thought about the next year. This is necessary because a new project needs a new sample.
Back in 2007 my daughter was getting married. Now when you are a quilter there's more to a wedding than venue and a new frock  isn't there? I asked Jenny if she would like a quilt and happily (she knows better) she said yes. She requested one along the lines of my "Sweet Land of Liberty" quilt. So I thought, stars...........

Her chosen colours for home dec were browns and teals, a fashion that lasted a few years and did indeed spill over into quilting fabrics.I had a notion that I wanted to try and grade the shading of my quilt from top to bottom and play about a bit with the colours. I researched and picked out star blocks that I hadn't used before, and I kept all the blocks to one size.

Well, that kept me busy and it has become a quilt in use,always a compliment in my book.
However, if I was busy making this, what about a class project for 2007?? Brainwave - I'll make it up as I go along run a Mystery Quilt!! Bloomin' brilliant and a testimony to the trust and loyalty of the lovely ladies who came to my classes.
I based my Mystery Stars also on my Sweet Land of Liberty and gave out fabric requirements. I advised on choosing a neutral, plainish background. Remember, the students didn't know they were going to be making stars but I wanted them to get good contrast into their quilts.
This is my own version - apologies to Hadley for the amount of brown in this blog post.

There were lots of beautiful versions made of Mystery Stars - I have added them all to my flickr photostream here. If you have time go on over and have a look. But I will leave you with just one of the quilts - made by lovely Sheena, sadly no longer with us. Sheena was quite traditional in her choice of fabrics but for this project she chose a bright batik as her background - hmm, thought I, how shall we play this? Sheena was choosing her fabrics in our shop and I was assisting - so I suggested for all other requirements, she choose solids. Her quilt was being made for her daughter, an art teacher, and I know it hit the spot, beautifully. It's the middle one in this next pic, so vibrant, so different.

I hope you have enjoyed this Mystery tour - as many of you know it led to me repeating the project last year  thro my blog and I have a flickr group for those who participated, I hope these photos inspire those who are still to complete theirs. And for anyone who would like to begin the tour, all the patterns and instructions can be found here.