Cultural Cross Roads Quilt Show

Here is the certificate for my winning entry! I was very pleased to receive second place. There were so many lovely small quilts and I am honored to have participated. If you are interested in viewing their site the address is: www.msculturalcrossroads.org

Gone with the Wind

 Here is the finished project.  Unfortunately I had problems.  I believe in an earlier post I explained the "me" factor in everything I do.  I pieced my background, machine quilted it and then formed the tree using the twisted branches technique.  I cut strips of batik in to tiny little pieces with a rotary cutter and placed them on my branches. I then placed a black tulle layer over the entire wall hanging and stippled the leaves in place.  It looked marvelous.   After choosing the black for the binding, I sewed it in place, blocked the quilt and let it dry overnight. I was on target to finish before the deadline for a local quilt show today.  All night I thought of what I might do different if I had a little more time.

This morning I awoke unpinned the quilt and decided to press the binding once more before attaching a label and trotting off to the show.  Here is the me factor....I touched the tulle with the hot iron and it melted!!!! Just the corner but enough to be a disaster. A tornado couldn't have caused more damage to my tree, and my beautiful project was gone with the wind.  I was heart sick. At 7AM this little wall hanging was a beauty, at 8AM I was near tears and by 9AM I was ready to throw it away.  I wanted to add some beads and my husband kept saying no..it would distract from the tree. So I rounded the corners re-bound the quilt...did I mention I was out of the binding fabric so I had to make do with the pieces I had. (I should have added the beads.)   As you can see the binding and not the wind, fell this tree,  I have never been very good with binding and this is a display of my inadequacy.  I am still heart sick but I am taking it to the show.  I will make another, I will learn a lesson, and with God as my witness I will never touch tulle with an iron again.

Twisted Branches

I have been thinking about making one of these beautiful wall hangings for over a year.  I first saw twisted branches at the MQA meeting and I thought it was lovely. I decided to get started because I may finish it in time for a local quilt show.
I pieced the background and quilted it and then placed the tree. After I finish sewing the tree in place I will add leaves and perhaps some beads. We will have to see where the wind blows me.


Trees have always played a part in my life.  An odd comment perhaps, but there are people who live in cities and neighborhoods where trees are few.  I have always lived in the woods.  My family spends our time under the canopy of towering oak trees. We picnic, play games, read, swim, live in the dappled sunlight.   The swing hangs beneath the branches, where a breeze stirs each time we sit with a glass of tea.  Here in the south the shade of a familiar tree is like a hug from a friend.  We are refreshed and ready to begin anew.

On cool nights we cook our dinner over a campfire, enjoying the night sounds. The rustling leaves sooth and the breeze lulls us to sleep.

When I was a girl in school,  I remember this phrase in Literature but I do not recall to whom I should attribute these words, "Trees are monuments of peace".  The phrase expressed my feelings quite well.