More Purple Samplers Finished

Kris R. made small quilts and gave them to friends.

A link:

http://quiltingismything.wordpress.com/2013/10/02/mini-grandmothers-choice-quilts-finished/

Purple is a color with a wide range of shades and tints. Here are some versions of the Grandmother's Choice Samplers done in the signature color of the British suffragettes.

Nene's Royal by Doniene

Here's a link to her blog:
http://quilts-bordercollies.blogspot.com/2013/09/grandmothers-choice-is-wrap.html

Pezzia di Fantasia: Sophie 

Sophie mixed many of the symbolic colors: red for the UK, violet and green for the UK, Gold for the U.S....

Here's Sophie's Photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophiebbdp/9711085092/in/set-72157631704063501/

And ColvinKiwi's:

violet, green and white

Here's her Photostream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/84035082@N02/9452150277/in/photostream/

Leonie's Medallion

Grandmother's Choice

By Leonie at JustcrusingMBK

6" Blocks

62" Square

Some people like to applique. Some don't. Leonie likes it so much she made four of the Heroine's Crown blocks for the corners and added a central applique from Jo Morton's book Prairie Flowers Encore. Using the same flowers she designed an appliqued floral vine border.

Her color choices were reproductions from the mid 19th-century.

In some blocks she mixed reds and blues

Pinks and browns

Nice echoes of double pinks and madder florals.

The blues tended to be bright like the old Prussian blues.

So the whole top has a traditional look.

Beautiful blocks.

Great set.

The Kiwis: Sisterhood and Loss

Grandmother' Choice top

Blocks by KayelleKiwi

Finished by ColvinKiwi

Those of us you who read our Flickr Discussion Group comments know of the recent loss of Keyelle Kiwi, a member of our worldwide digital group.

Centennial for New Zealand

Sisters ColvinKiwi and KayelleKiwi worked on the Grandmother's Choice blocks together although CK lived in the U.S. and KK in New Zealand. The internet and Skype made collaboration across the Pacific possible.

 KK (Kerry) made all the blocks but she became too ill to finish her top so her sister put on the borders while saying goodbye in New Zealand.

ColvinKiwi wrote this lovely tribute:

"I'm hoping that you will remember my sister KayelleKiwi who had made her blocks with a bright and breezy colorway.

With a very heavy heart I want to tell you that she passed away on Tuesday, October 29, 2013.

When she received her cancer diagnosis in September 2012 I encouraged her to work on the Grandmother's Choice project as something to do to distract her from all the medical business. It gave the two of us something to share (often using skype) despite the fact that she lived in New Zealand and I live in the USA.

On Friday Oct 25 when I arrived in NZ she asked me if I would please make the borders for her quilt top and then get it to the longarm quilter as she wanted it to be a Christmas gift for a family member. I am immensely grateful that I was able to do this before I came home again. 

A special thank you goes to Dawn Copp the longarm quilter who quilted and machine stitched on the binding for me within a 36 hour period so I could see it was almost done before I had to come home. It is now with our non-quilter sister to do the final handstitching of the binding and label.

Quiltmaking is a great form of therapy and I know my sister got a lot of joy out of reading your comments about her blocks. Maybe you'll think of her when you see a flash of lime green paired with black."

The color theme was Kiwi greens and black.

Do browse through Kayelle Kiwi's photostream to see her lively blocks and how they reflect her home.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/84917913@N04/

Our sympathies to ColvinKiwi.

Cheryl's Quilt is Finished

RCCheryl has posted photos of her finished quilt

"Vicki Welsh's custom Green and Yellow hand-dyed fabrics were perfect for the setting of this Grandmothers Choice sampler made for my niece, a William and Mary graduate."

Notice how she used the graded shades of Vicki's

fabric, light at the top to dark at the bottom

And her quilting is pretty spectacular too.

See her photostream here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29982690@N05/with/10697668235/

Red & White Quilt Auction

Grandmother's Choice Sampler

by Georgann Eglinski

75" Square, 2013

Georgann's finished her sampler and she says she has too many quilts. So we are auctioning off this red and white quilt to raise money for women's health issues. You may recall she made the red and white sample blocks for the block-of-the-week blog here. We thought this would be a good end to the historical journey we took through the fight for women's rights.

The BIDDING IS OVER. EBW won it with a $250 bid.

Georgann used the same speckled red print in every block contrasted with a plain white cotton.

She made 36 blocks, 8" square.

The top.

It is set with four-patch cornerstones in white sashing 

and framed by 

a red strip border.

It's 75" x 75". Here it is as a topper over a white

quilt on a queen-sized bed.

 Kelly Cline quilted it on her long arm machine.

Here's the back.

It would make a lovely gift.