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Monday, July 20, 2015

Quilts at the Creek - Pioneer Spirit

Hello people! I survived the weekend and had an absolute blast sharing my work with people who visited Quilts at the Creek at Black Creek Pioneer Village. It was a beastly hot and humid weekend but the sun was shining and the quilts were absolutely glorious!

My talks were in the Town Hall. It was a lovely old building. It was nice and cool inside when I first entered but you pack a bunch of excited quilt makers into the space and things heated up pretty quickly!


Hanging in front were two gorgeous quilts. Both were made as part of a mystery quilt challenge. The name of the challenge was Pioneer Spirit Mystery and the quilt was designed by Sherri Hisey of Border Creek Station. Thirty quilters made and showed their versions of this quilt at the show. If you want to make your own the full instructions are available free of charge here.



Here I am standing at the front with my quilt Chop's Pick hanging on the right side.


I don't have pictures of my trunk show but I do have pictures of the quit show. Look at the quilts moving in the breeze! And right up front is yet another Pioneer Spirit quilt.


There were so many quilts to see but today I thought I would share pictures of many of the Pioneer Spirit quilts. Although it is a single pattern there were options: the blocks could be straight set or set on point. Backgrounds could be squares of a single fabric or pieced squares of four fabrics. Corners could be finished in several ways. To give you an idea take a look at these fabulous quilts!

Here the blocks were straight set. The colours in this one were so pretty and soft.


This fresh blue and white Pioneer Spirit was made by a member of my Guild and her blocks are set on point. Most of the quilts were borderless but she added a nice dark border and corner blocks. What a summery quilt this is!


Love the greens - it reminds me of 7 Up bottles!


The next two quilts are full of juicy goodness. Clearly these quilt makers are not afraid of colour.



A very soft colour palette - this one has a wintery look and feel to it.


This reminds me of old Roman glass or sea glass. 


Love, love, love the drama of this one. It reminds me of my friend Babs' hexagon quilts Yellow Bird and Yellow Bird's Sister.

Another quilt made with muted caramel colours with the blocks set on point. There isn't a strong contrast between the colours so it give the quilt a very soft look. This would be a great quilt to snuggle under!


Another fresh and delicate quilt. This is one I can envision on an old cast iron bed with the frame painted a fresh, crisp white!

The little red nine patches really pop on this one. The photograph just doesn't do this quilt (or any of them) justice!


Here we see dark nine patches set with pastels and once again the star is the nine patch.


Drama, drama, drama! There is strong contrast and and a varied colour palette makes for a very interesting quilt.


Again there is strong contrast but this time the maker chose to work with a limited colour palette and it created a very different quilt.


Another limited colour palette was used in this quilt. To my eye the nine patches appear to recede and this creates a totally different look.


Yellow, black, grey and white make for a honey of a quilt! Notice the corner treatment.


This one is loaded with grapey goodness. The makers fabric choices are so interesting. I see circles around most of the nine patches and that makes this quilt look very different from the others.


This is a another fresh summery quilt in cool greens.


This one really caught my eye. The combination of soft greens and caramels make for an all seasons quilt.

This would make a great quilt for a boy. The browns against the background are so fresh and crisp.


This is another quilt that was very attractive but just didn't photograph well.


This is another one where I can see circles surrounding the nine patches. A very interesting visual effect!


 Browns of similar value on a dark cream background give the quilt an entirely different feel.


Careful colour placement resulted in a quit that has a look that is all its own. The dark nine patches add drama.


There were more Pioneer Spirit quilts but unfortunately my pictures didn't turn out well. I'll have more show pictures to share with you in the coming days.


Until I post again keep cool and happy sewing!
Karen H

17 comments:

  1. Oh what fun! A quilt show from the comfort of my home. Thanks so much, Karen. My favorites were the black, white and gray; the blue and orange and the yellow and black. Wow! Bet they loved your quilts!

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  2. Yes what fun indeed. I was hoping for a post about your trunk show!! Thanks...and I can't pick a favorite, I found my self oohing as I scrolled through your post:)

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  3. So good to see you Karen! I was looking forward to the trunk show too but I loved all the photos you shared and your descriptions were perfect for each one. what an amazing group of quilters!

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  4. It's so nice to see you, Karen! Your Chop's Pick is gorgeous. It would be really hard to pick a favorite among the mystery quilts. It's amazing how a different setting and color change makes each one look so different. I'd love to see the quilts that you showed at your trunk show. I know we've seen some in your posts, but I never tire of seeing your work.

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  5. How lovely to see the same quilt in so many different colours. Like when everyone showed their Soupcon quilts.
    I was pleased to be able to put a face to the lady I have been "talking" to for the last 2 years, or could it be more?

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  6. Wow, visual proof that the choice of colors can make such a huge difference in how a quilt turns out. Dramatic differences ... you have to look twice sometimes to realize that they were all the same quilt. ;-)

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  7. Oh what gorgeous quilts. Thank you for giving us a tour of all the beauties! Loved looking at the scenery in the background too. It is soooo pretty.

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  8. Thank you for the wonderful quilt show. Loved all of the quilt, beautiful show. Do I need permission from the designer to share this mystery quilt with my guild's mystery quilt chairman? I think it would be a wonderful mystery to follow and make.

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  9. How fun to see all the different version of such a glorious scrappy pattern--love them all! Looks like your lecture was enjoyable and you had a good time too!

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  10. Wow! This was a really fun share. Thanks for showing us so many of the Pioneer Spirit mystery quilts. I love the wide range of effects!

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  11. Thanks for the photos of quilts love the difference in the colour make. Great photo of you nice to put a beautiful face to a name. Sorry I missed your show.
    Bunny

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  12. My sentiments are the same as above. Thanks so much for sharing all these wonderful quilts! I also agree that is was especially nice to put a face to the kind and generous person behind this wonderful blog. I am looking forward to seeing more pictures from the show, if you have more to share. I would have loved to have been there in person. It must have been beautiful!

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  13. Wow, I am one of the organizers of Q@C, and LOVE your post. I will link to your site from our blog to share your Pioneer Spirit photos with others. More photos from Quilts at the Creek are on Flickr .. enjoy!
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/republic_of_me/sets/72157653786561524

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  14. What a difference by using other fabrics for the same pattern. I think you had a nice weekend. Groetjes, Dientje

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  15. Thank you for the link. I've just done a new post today and I've linked to the Flickr page so everyone can enjoy the show from the comfort of home. Sorry I couldn't sent you a personal thank you but you are a no reply blogger. :-(

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  16. Love seeing all those variations!! Thanks!!

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  17. Karen, both you and your quilt are gorgeous!

    There were some stunning quilts to see. Damn, it was hot and humid that weekend; glad to see you survived it.

    I have read your post on your Juki and Superior Bottom Line Thread and I find it so odd that the Juki person told you the machine doesn't like 60 weight thread. I am taking Cindy Needham's Crafty class on Free Motion Quilting Design and while she has the Juki model prior to ours, she uses Bottom Line all the time. I quite like technical challenges, so have bought some Bottom Line to try. I hope to give it a go this weekend. Even the Juki 2010Q manual lists thread weights in which 60 weight is referenced. Anyhow, shall see how it goes.

    Take care,

    Charlotte

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