Tuesday, July 19, 2011

RYBW ~ Red Yellow Black and White




This quilt began in December, 2004 as a mystery quilt from The Cotton Patch in Keiser, Oregon. Judith Locke was the owner then and my daughter was working part time there while her husband was in the Middle East with the Oregon National Guard. I made the journey once a month to the shop to pick up the next clue, and attempted to finish each step as prescribed. By the third month, I was so far behind and so bored with piecing hundreds of tiny bow ties and strips, I gave up and just stashed it away. A couple of years ago, my cousin and I spent a week at her mountain condo and I took this project hoping to maybe stimulate a revival. She helped me by pressing and clipping as I sewed them together. We didn't finish it, but after two more mountain retreats, finally the inner quilt was done. What an accomplishment! This summer, 2011, I managed to add the borders and piece the backing. I took Deb Geissler's Cherry Meander, made it into a non-directional meander and quilted it in Holiday Red thread. I also took the time to hand finish the binding. Now it will hang in Carlton's Walk in the Park, 2011 this weekend, July 23-24. I'm asking $500 because I really don't want to sell it. If someone sees it as a bargain, or falls in love with it, or for whatever reason is willing to pay the price, I will let it go. There is so much labor and memories wrapped in this quilt, you'd think that's a small price to ask. So goes the way of starving artists and quilt makers.

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I am Bonnie Russell, owner and quilter, and my business is making beautiful quilts and making quilts beautiful. NABQC came about as a partnership between the love of sewing and hazelnut farming. That's how the name was chosen. My husband, Fred, is the nut farmer, and I do the sewing using many bolts of fabulous fabric. My studio is located in Dundee, Oregon, the beautiful Willamette Valley, in the center of a hazelnut orchard. Experience came with 42 years of dress making, 40 years of marriage to my wonderful, loving, supportive husband (34 years of nut farming), 25 years of raising three daughters, and now we have seven grandchildren to mentor in Future Quilters of America!

With a Statler Stitcher and Gammill Optimum Plus longarm quilting machine, a 14 foot table, and the drawing program AutoSketch, no project is too big or too small. Anything from hand guided meandering to custom digitized designs can be applied to a project to complete that labor of love.


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