Let’s just call this Smithsonian week..

I’ve chosen the other four fabrics as part of my anniversary giveaway…

This time I have chosen fabrics which are directly reproduced from the quilts whose name they bear.

Oak Leaf #2210-1 in Black/Sage appears in the pieced diamonds of Betsy Totten’s Rising Sun Quilt.

Maze #2304-1 in Green Grass is taken from the leaf and stem forms found in the Little Sister’s Quilt

Queen Anne’s Lace #2402-2 in Crimson appears in applique blocks in The Groom’s Quilt

Harvest Stripe #2507–2 in Muslin Ground appears in some of the unpieced blocks in The Copp Quilt.

So the four American fat 1/4s make up the second prize as explained in the previous post and that’s where you should leave your comments to be in the running.

Ok that’s that, now on to normal blogging.

I’ve been wanting to introduce you to a fantastic quilt designer and teacher for weeks but things kept getting in the way of this intended blog post.

Her name is Margaret McDonald and I’ve had the pleasure of knowing her (and learning from her) for many years.

A month of Sundays ago she invited me round to her place to look at her stash,

I’d hinted I’d like to come because whilst I was quilting one of Margaret’s quilts I had spotted a tiny scrap of …Smithsonian Fabric.

We had a lot of fun playing in her studio-pulling out fabrics/going through selvages/she showed me WIPs and UFOs.

She has recently got her website up and running and is worth a look.

www.margaretmcdonald.com.au

She kindly loaned me a table runner she had on the table, while we were having a cup of tea I spotted several Smithsonian pieces in it and she was happy for me to put it up here to show you.

This was an exercise in showing students what a terrific and diverse colour Brown is.

I hope you get the chance to pop over to her website and have a look, her work is stunning and varied.

I thought while on the theme I would grab another quilt of my own which uses a fair bit of  Smithsonian.

This one was finished back in Sept. 1998, but hand quilted so started a year or two before then I think.

I named it Allbrook after the birthplace of my maternal Grandmother.

It reminds me of a faded English eiderdown.

Allbrook was once a village but the city of Eastleigh in Hampshire has grown around it.

It still has its own sign though and as my mother always wanted to see where her mother came from, we visited it in 2006.

Maybe I should make another quilt and call it Otterbourne which is where Nana went to school.

I only had to grab the quilt off the back of the armchair, it always makes me think of Nana so I like to have it around where I can see it.

The Smithosnian fabric is from the Copp Quilt range released in 1996 (I suspect that is when I started Allbrook)

It’s the lighter print, Sweetpea #2504-2 in Muslin/Chestnut.

Interestingly, the tone on tone pink, which came in a couple of similar designs/colourways, was reproduced about a year ago.

I picked up a piece locally. I’ll probably never use it, I just recognised the pattern and had to have a piece out of interest.

This one is marginally larger in scale than my original piece. Mine did have a blue colourway back in 1996 but it was softer looking than this.

Til soon…