More from the Saanich Fair, 2018

 I joined members of the Victoria Quilters' Guild at the Saanich Fair last Monday to share quilts, talk to the fair visitors about quilting and sew a few pieces for the upcoming 

Border Quilt Quilt Along.  

Our display this year included quilts from the 1920's to 2010's.

This is the quilt I showed to represent the 1950's.

Pictures of my Grandmother and
my Grandfather and me in their garden in Vancouver, BC

Clamshells Quilt – 1950's

About this quilt:

This quilt was made by my Grandmother, Mahrie Jean Dunbar in Vancouver, BC. Or should I say, the quilt TOP was made by her. It was intended for me, her only granddaughter. My grandmother died before completing the quilt and the top, extra cut pieces came to me as an inheritance.

In the bag with the extra pieces was the original template drafted by my grandfather, a Dominion Land Surveyor. The template was cut from a heavy cardstock file folder.

Fabrics in the quilt are from dresses and aprons made for my Great Aunt Sandra, my mother (Jean), her cousin (Isobel) and various other family and friends.

In 1973 I had the top quilted by the Oak Bay Seniors group in Victoria, before I became a quilter.

I sometimes display the quilt on the bed my grandfather had made for me when I was about 3 years old - from the 1950s too!

I also showed this quilt to represent the 2000's.

This quilt was started in a workshop with Ricky Tims in January 2006. It is my own design based on some basic principles shared by Ricky. The base for this quilt is entirely machine pieced and the appliqué designs are applied by machine and sewn with a double blanket stitch with thick threads.

The top was completed fairly quickly and sat for some time as I contemplated how to quilt it. Once I decided on a name for the piece, the quilting designs began to flow.

Arabesque relates to the decorative melodies of classical music. My ornate quilting designs incorporate curves, swirls and intricate geometric patterns. The quilting was done on my domestic Bernina sewing machine with cotton and polyester threads and it was also 'bobbin quilted' with sparkling thick threads.

This quilt was featured in Ricky's book, Rhapsody Quilts, published in 2007.

It was also displayed at the International Quilt Association's 'Quilts – A World of Beauty' quilt competition in Houston, Texas in Fall 2006.