Artwalk Downtown Cadillac 2014

Artwalk is an annual event in the city of Cadillac, Michigan, held in May.  Local artists are matched with downtown businesses and display their work for two weeks.  Artwalk is sponsored by the Downtown Cadillac Association, and is meant to encourage people to explore the downtown area and businesses, and also to showcase the talents of the local artists.  This year's event is May 1 to May 16, with a "meet the artist" reception at each venue on May 9, from 3-8 pm.
Quilts by Elsie (that's me) was paired with Country Cottage Decor.  Gloria, the owner, has gone above and beyond to create a space for me to display a lot of items, moving stuff around, pounding nails, etc.  We set up this morning (it's ok to set up early).
 I had intended to get there earlier, but my van wouldn't start!  I had loaded it last night, because rain was forecast for today.  Evidently I didn't get the back hatch closed tightly, and the light being on all night ran the battery down.  So I had to put in a call to my grandson to come and give me a jump-start.  Aaah, such is life.
Anyway, after we finished setting up, lacking any material for this week's blog, I snapped a bunch of photos, both of my quilty stuff, and of Gloria's shop.  She has "country" items, and is in the process of opening another room for antiques.
Enjoy!

We hung this quilt, "It's Been a Long Winter" right behind the cash register.  The store is in an old building, and the wall behind the quilt is a faded pink color brick, which really adds to the ambiance of the store.

Gloria really has a knack for arranging stuff and decorating. 

If you 're in the Cadillac area during the first two weeks of May, stop in and say Hi.  I will only be there the evening of the reception, unless I just pop in a couple of times to check on things.  There's lots to look at in Country Cottage Decor.  Oh, it's located at 113 N. Mitchell Street, the heart of downtown Cadillac.

Garden Maze Tutorial

Garden Maze Setting

I like to use a setting called Garden Maze for a little extra interest in a quilt where the blocks are rather simple.  Here’s how I do it.  My cousin brought me eighteen embroidered blocks which her mother had done years ago.  Her mother died recently, and Kathy wanted these re-done as a keepsake, and she trusted me with them.  We decided to make two small 9-block wall hangings with them.

 

The first step was to square them up.  She had taken apart the quilt they were in, and neatly pressed them, but they were not all the same size, and some were a bit wonky.  

Once we had the blocks arranged in the desired order, it was on to the sashing.  Though Garden Maze looks complicated, it is really a pieced sashing which is not difficult to do.  The first step was to cut the red strips.  Since these were 8” blocks, I used a ½” finished (cut 1”) strip.  These were sewn first to the sides, and then to the top and bottom of the blocks.

The white sashing strips were cut 2” wide and the length of the bordered blocks.  Then I cut small squares 1 ¼” (4 per sashing strip).   Also I cut 2” squares of the red to use as cornerstones, and set them aside for now.

The 1 ¼” squares were stitched to each corner of the sashing strip across the diagonal of the square. (I really did not need to mark the diagonal before stitching because of the small size.  On a larger piece, I would have marked the stitching line on the diagonal.)  If you are familiar with making flying geese, the process is the same.

 

Excess fabric trimmed back to a ¼” seam allowance. 

Once I had the sashing strips made, it was onto the design wall with them.  

Then the cornerstones were placed on the design wall as well. 

 

Here it is all stitched together.

The quilt top was completed with the addition of a ½” white border and a 2” red border.

The quilting was rather simple, meandering around the embroidered motifs, and one of my favorite motifs for the borders and sashing, a heart vine.

 

 

Kathy loved the quilts, by the way.