Other Perspectives

I had a lovely day last Saturday.  A friend and I attended a lecture at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts and viewed the current exhibit.

The exhibit is Quilt Nihon, Treasures of Japan, and is so worth seeing.  There is a wonderful variety--traditional applique, collage, pieced quilts, textured hangings, etc.   Check out the museum's web page here.  The exhibit runs through November 13, 2016.

The lecture was even better.

The presenter was Sarah Nishiura, an art quilter of Japanese descent  (that's her on the left).  She showed us a slide show about her heritage and influences, including family members detained at a camp in Wyoming during World War II.  After the slide show, we got to see many of her quilts.

Her quilts are amazing!  She plans them out carefully on graph paper, machine pieces them, and HAND QUILTS them.  It was so thought-provoking to see someone else's way of designing and making quilts.  I need to do this more often.
Sarah gives classes, and sells some of her quilts.  You can find details and much better photos on her web site here.

After all the quilty fun, my friend and I went out to dinner in Cedarburg.  It was warm enough to sit outside.
A couple of years ago, this friend had given me a quilt top she was unhappy with.  She's an art quilter, and apparently this particular top just wasn't doing it for her.

 She likes to think out of the box, and do the unexpected.  Here's what the top looked like.

At the time she gave it to me, she was frustrated with it, and just wanted it out of her house.

So she gave it to me, to do something with it for charity.

These blocks are really intriguing.  Hmm...to the seam ripper!

Here's the pile of fabric I had left after taking the quilt apart.   I've taken quilts apart before, but they usually deserved it.  It was sad to take this one apart, because it was perfectly pieced.  All of this fabric will be used in other quilts for people in need.

I had constructed the top of a baby-sized quilt from the blocks in my friend's quilt.  The top, backing, and batting were all hanging on a hanger in my sewing room closet.  So it was easy to just give everything a quick press, pin baste, and get quilting.  I wanted to show it to her on that Saturday.

Here's what I ended up with.  As you can see, I'm not an art quilter.  Thinking out of the box is not for me.  (I LIKE this box.  It's really comfy in here.)   This should make a nice quilt for a little girl who likes pink and bold prints.

I did simple ditch and outline quilting using my Pfaff with the built in walking foot.

Here's the back.  I had to add strips to make it wide enough.

So that's a finish!  It's small, but it's something.

In spite of my busy schedule babysitting, I try to sew something every week.  This week I'm putting my granny squares together in rows.
Sometimes I think I'm too tired to sew.  But then I realize sewing GIVES me energy.

What gives you energy?
Have a lovely week.

I'm linking up with Myra at Busy Hands Quilts and Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts today.