Monday, December 5, 2011

Women's Work in Stitches winner


The winner of Embroidery from A - Z will have "one of the great reference books of all time" in her possession very soon. Perhaps she will want to start on a women's remembrance quilt of stitchery for her daughters.

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I was absolutely smitten by this collage-style quilt of family hankies, stitched together with notable quotes from women (that one above from the undeniably brave Canadian woman Nellie McClung). I saw this quilt at a recent meeting of the Needle Arts Guild that I attended as a guest. It was made by Jeri Engen for her daughter who was heading off to university. Jeri and her mother in law stitched the hankies "crazy quilting" style to a linen tablecloth. This piece represents the needlework of four generations of women in their family. Embroidered profiles of each woman with her name below appear randomly over the quilt (you can see one in the lower left corner below).

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Quotes are scattered about the quilt, some light-hearted, some dead serious....

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...and some containing valuable advice for a first year student, like "no woman ever achieved orgasm mopping the floor".

And now, the next great embroiderer will be the person responsible for comment number 16!


C'est Kirsty! Felicitations! This is exciting. Kirsty is a new friend I've recently met in blogland who I hope will become an invaluable resource in our summer vacation planning. You see, she's a super talented crafty Aussie actually living in the south of France. You must visit her blog. Despite having 4 children in a foreign country, she manages to visit a new town almost every weekend, then returns home with amazing photos and stories of delicious French cuisine to share. Plus, she's hilarious. A quality I just love in bloggers. This post actually made me guffaw out loud at the end. Go have a look, seriously I'm sure she could publish a coffee table book with her photos.

Happy week everyone. I am almost finished stitching my Christmas gifts, which is great news because it's time to start baking! Neighbourhood Cookie Exchange is on Thursday night and I need to show up with 12 dozen delicious somethings.

12 comments:

Gill said...

Congratulations Kirsty!

PinkGranny said...

Congratulations Kirsty, I know you will enjoy your book!

Mrs Flying Blind... said...

Well done Kirsty!
And good luck with the 12 dozen - thank goodness for the anti-social stiff-upper-lip don't-talk-to-strangers attitude we have over here!!

Suzanne said...

I love the crazy quilt you shared photos of. What am amazing piece of work! My mom and I have a crazy quilt top (made from old ties) that my grandmother pieced, and we have wanted to add a little more decorative stitching and then quilt it. We've been looking for little images to stich, but quotations are an idea that never occurred to me.

Aliceart said...

Wow! That is so amazing! Congratulations, Kirsty.

Susan said...

Oh well done to my dear friend Kirsty! She will LOVE that book! And she is hilarious in real life too!

Katy Cameron said...

Congrats to Kirsty. That was really interesting reading about Nellie McClung, not least because I lived further up the Souris river valley for a year as a high school exchange student.

Kirsty @ Bonjour Quilts said...

Wheeee! Thank you so much Mr Random Generator, you have made my week! And thank you Krista for dipping into your library for me. I can only do better with this book in my hands. Love the quilt you show, such a fantastic heirloom for a young woman. I agree that it would be very hard to achieve orgasm while mopping the floor. Better to do a Betty Draper and lean against the washing machine for a spell.

Holly said...

Wow, this quilt is amazing! I love all the quotes. I hadn't heard of the Needle Arts Guild before; sounds intriguing!

pinksuedeshoe said...

Wooooowwwwwww. I really hope she doesn't eat cheetos sitting on that thing! (the girl it's for, Kirsty is far too sophisticated to eat cheetos on her quilt. Well, this quilt).

Kimberly said...

As a friend of the incredible woman who spent far too many hours to count stitching the above quilt, I can only say that it was done with so much love for that amazing young woman that she calls her daughter. I too have seen it first hand and it is beyond incredible with all of it's beautiful details and quotes. A treasure indeed~

Angela said...

This quilt makes me smile and sniffle at the same time, every time I see it. Jeri, you are so amazing. This is what love looks like :) Glad to see the quilt up for others to admire/ be inspired!