Two secret sewing reveals

I can now show you two of the secret projects that I worked on earlier in the year.  The first one is a wedding quilt that was gifted to my nephew and his bride-to-be.  It went from Halifax to Vancouver.  I would have loved to present it to the happy couple in person but it just wasn't in the cards for us to be present at the wedding in July.😞  We were already committed to another nephew's wedding the first of September and two trips out West in one year was just not doable financially for us.  I just made up the design of this quilt as I went.  I just started cutting strips and squares using my Accuquilt cutter. The quilt was made with batiks and hand-dyed fabrics in shades of pink and blue, the bride-to-be's favourite colours.   A tone-on-tone off white was used for alternating rows.  I free motion quilted loop-de-loops using white thread.  I forgot to take a pic of the back which I pieced using leftover squares and strips from the front. 
  

"Pink and Blue for You"

The second secret project that I worked on was designing the 2017
Row x Row quilt for my local modern fabric shop, Patch Halifax.  I was very honoured to be asked and I must say, I was a bit intimidated.  What a challenge for me!  I set to work with the official theme of "On the Go" in mind and decided on showing how our harbour ferries work so hard, going back and forth between Halifax and Dartmouth, bringing people to work, school and play on both sides of the harbour.   In case you don't recognize the landmarks, the striped smoke stacks on the left are located at Tuft's Cove generating station, Dartmouth and are seen from all around. In the centre is my rendition of one of our ferries and the buildings on the right are Purdy's Wharf , iconic Halifax waterfront office towers.  My first job, when I was 17, was located in the original wharf/pier where it was filled with barrels and boxes of salted fish.  I worked for a fish exporter and had an office there where I prepared shipping documents for the salted fish that was shipped to the West Indies. I spent 7 years doing that job.  Loved it!   

"Back and Forth"

I drew up a paper-pieced pattern for the smokestacks and made applique templates for the remainder of the shapes.  The applique is applied with a fusible and then stitched around the edges.  For the background I free motion quilted lots of swirls (the stitching design is called Jester's Hats) and some waves at the bottom and then my sweet, talented friend, Karen Chase of Sugar Free Quilted Designs, came to my rescue again and wrote up the official pattern that will be a free pattern at Patch Halifax from June 21 to September 5 as part of the Row x Row Experience. 
Check out this link for all the rules and participating shops. 

I have one more secret project but that is really a long-term secret.
Another wedding quilt but probably won't be ready to show you until later this year.  

I hope you had time to get something quilty done today.