Quilt Show Part 1

As promised in my last post, here are the photos from the quilt show I attended last week. Actually, this is just Part 1. There were too many pix to put them all in one post. This installment I'm featuring all the Liberated-type quilts.

I went to Monroe, WA for the Quilter's Anonymous quilt show. It was a big show with lots of drop-dead gorgeous quilts. I didn't take any photos of those quilts . . . . I knew I couldn't do them justice with my less-than-professional photo taking skills. I still tend to cut off the tops or the sides of the quilts, and I can't always get a good angle with all the people in the way. So please excuse my poor photos, and I hope you'll still enjoy the quilts anyway!

Corduroy House Medallion by Dorothy LeBoeuf 41" x 40"

This quilt was made at the Beaver Island Quilt Retreat with Gwen Marston in Sept. 2009. Dorothy chose corduroy for this for texture because she couldn't use any print fabrics. It did have a wonderful texture. I hope you can tell from the photos.

This was all machine-pieced and machine quilted.

Georgia Tulips by LeeAnn Decker

Each block of this quilt is quilted in a different pattern. What fun!

This block's quilting was my favorite! I love the string tulips too.

Half-Log Cabin in Vintage Fabrics by Dorothy LeBoeuf

For some reason, I didn't get all of this quilt in the photo, and now I'm kicking myself!

Look at these great fabrics. Dorothy said these were from a friend's 40-year stash!

The back of the quilt, with more vintage fabrics.

Hawaiian Zig Zag by Dorothy LeBoeuf

This was made with thrift store Hawaiian shirts. I love the colors in this one, especially that little zing of orange!

This was an improvisational piece that was in the quilts for sale. I didn't see the maker's name, unfortunately. I like the buttons on this one.

A wonky block tablerunner, that was also in the quilts for sale. The label was done so low I couldn't even see how much they were asking for this.

That's it for now. I'll post more photos soon.

A Virtual Retreat

Did you know that last Saturday, apart from being the first day of Spring, was International Quilt Day? What did you do to celebrate?


I had a very busy, quilt-y weekend for my celebration. On Friday I went to a Quilt Show with two friends. It was a beautiful show, and I'll be sharing some pictures in a future post.


Saturday the Liberated Quilters Yahoo Group had a Virtual Quilt Retreat. I retreated with them for the first time. I wasn't sure quite what to expect from a virtual retreat. I cleared my schedule, cleaned the quilt studio (that was a big deal!) and was ready to go. I warned DH that I wouldn't be available that day.


I decided that my Liberated Amish Challenge was the perfect project to work on for the retreat. On Saturday morning I had 8 9-Patches that I started with. By 2 pm, I had another 8 done! That's where I was in the picture up above.

I wasn't too thrilled with the 9-patches I had already done. They weren't wonky enough. So I got wonkier. I even tried an insert (bottom right block). Not too sure that the contrast is all that good on this one, but I'm not letting myself re-do any of these. None of these blocks have been trimmed to their final size yet. I needed to see what sizes they came out before I got too carried away with trimming.

I worked all day Saturday, with meal breaks, until about 10 pm that night. Sunday I got off to a slow start, but again, worked all day. By the time Sunday night rolled around, I had 34 9-patches done! DH was a real trooper....he made all the meals on Sunday so that I could get more sewing in. He's a great guy! I love that he's so supportive of my quilting.

I discovered an easy way to be wonky....just get confused and sew the rows back together wrong. That block still met the size requirements so I left it. One block didn't make the grade, and I ripped that one and re-sewed it. I started running out of fabric, and so started cutting the squares with scissors. The first two blocks I made that way worked great. The next 3....not so good. Two got put into the Parts Department and one got extra fabric sewn to it to be the right size. Can you find it in the above photo? I got pretty wonky by the end of the retreat, and I'm really happy with my blocks.


I finally couldn't stand waiting to see how they would look. I trimmed 4 blocks to their finished size and sewed a big block together. I like it! Just for reference, here's my Amish inspiration quilt.

I have 14 more 9-patches to make, and then I can start putting this quilt together. I'm hoping I won't lose too much momentum this week and that I can get them all done. That would be great!

I found two funny cat videos to share with you. This one shows a cat with a static cling problem, and this one shows a cat that's got a great dunk. I love a funny cat video....hope you do too.


One more thing to share.....


The Silly BooDilly is sharing some of her latest pincushions, that are related to her Work Quilts she's made lately. Go take a look....her stitching is beautiful and quite inspiring.

Is It Spring Yet?

Bunny is hoping it is! I've pulled out a little quilt that was on the very bottom of my box of little quilts. I haven't seen it in 3 years! It looks so Spring-like to me.

I stencilled this quilt to match the plaid fabric in it. I fell in love with this plaid when it was used in some quilts on display in my LQS many years ago. I only bought a yard of it, and have used it a couple of times. I even have a few scraps left of it. Anyway, I did a demo on stencilling and needed something to show that was finished. I hand-quilted this one. Unfortunately, this is soooo pastel that it doesn't photograph really well.

Stencilled Baskets 20 inches by 25 inches

Here's an overall photo of it. Not quite true colors, I'm afraid. It's hard to get good photos in this house, and we even had sunshine today! The sun washed the colors out even more. *sigh* The first photo is probably closest to true color, because I took that one outside.


A closeup of the stencilling.

I've been doing some sewing lately, but nothing I can show yet. Some of it is a secret and some of it is not finished enough to show.

One project I'm working on, I was hoping to use some scraps. This kind of snowballed on me, and I ended up spending all last Sunday sorting 3 boxes of scraps and then getting the quilt studio back together after I made a huge mess finding the boxes of scraps. Here's what the family room looked like in the middle of it:


All the stuff on the coffee table was sorted by color, and the stuff on the sofa was other catagories.

I got rid of 3 boxes in the quilt studio, and gained 3 bins! This all needs to be ironed and cut up into Quiltville's Bonnie's Scrap User System. This looks like a LOT of ironing and cutting! But I think, until I get it all done, I can find scraps easier.

Do I have too many scraps?? Some of these are relatively recent and some are old friends and I'm saving every little scrap because I love it so much. Mind you, this is about 25 years worth of quilting scraps. I guess I really have to admit that I'm a fabricholic! And I need to make more scrap quilts!

So, tell me, how many scraps do you have? And what do you do with them? Come on, 'fess up!

Papa Bin, Mama Bin and Baby Bin! hee hee!

Quilt Show

Here's my first finish for the Liberated Amish Challenge. I'm calling this one my "warm-up" quilt. I'm supposed to be making 9-Patches (this is my inspiration quilt), but this just kept calling me . . . I love stars and just couldn't resist! So, it's a top now (21 inches x 23 inches). I think I have it out of my system and I can get going on those 9-Patches! No more stalling. . . .

If you haven't been to see the Liberated Amish Challenge blog, go take a look. Everyone is doing some really wonderful stuff! It's lots of fun.

I went to see a quilt show on Saturday. I went with some members of the local quilt guild. It was a big show, with lots of vendors. I barely resisted most of them.


But I fell in love with this pattern and had to get it! I rarely buy patterns now, but something about this one really called to me. This was the sample that the vendor had up in the booth. (photo taken with permission)

The name of the pattern is "Cobblestone Crows" and it's by Sheryl Mycroft of Random Threadz. It's all done with fusible and I think it would look fantastic on the wall by my front door! (Hmmm, I wonder how long this will actually take me??)

Anyway, on to the quilt show! (And any wonkiness in the photos is due to the poor abilities of the photographer, not the quilts. Really, they were straight!)

Creature Comforts by Karen Knowlton

Doctor Dan by Joy Evele

This was part of the guild challenge, which was 'Books Published in the 1950's'. This quilt is based on "Doctor Dan the Bandage Man" - a Little Golden Book that's in the Smithsonian's permanent collection of American culture.

Doctor Dan detail

I love that she's actually got Band-aids in the little pockets. And check out the Little Golden Books fabric!

Eucalyptus by Charlie Petersen

Fleur de Retro by Suzanne Martin

Fleur de Retro detail

Horse Chestnut Leaves by Mary Pickens

This quilt was made with oil sticks rubbing over real leaves and then she added variegated and sparkle thread sketch stitching.

Horse Chestnut Leaves detail 1

Horse Chestnut Leaves detail 2

Merry-Go-Round by Jetty Morton

Merry-Go-Round detail

Olympic Impression series - Lake Quinalt by Cynthia Keim

Olympic Impressions series - Crescent Lake by Cynthia Keim

Olympic Impressions series - Stormy Seastacks by Cynthia Keim

Pine Branch by Mary Pickens

Done with thread sketching and ink painting, with fabric ink added for shading.

Second Life by Carol Olsen

untitled by Lynn D. Green

Hope you enjoyed the quilt show!

Winners!

We haven't been having the snow that so much of the country has been getting, but we have been grey and gloomy with quite a bit of rain around here. As much as I like winter, I'm actually getting tired of it. Yesterday the sun came out for a bit, and I spied a bright spot of yellow out in the yard. Isn't this a welcome sight? The first crocus this year! They are struggling though, as the deer are trying to munch on them, which is pulling them up by the roots. Yesterday while out driving around, I saw a fruit tree in bloom and also a rhododendron in full bloom! Last year we didn't get this sort of happening until April!

OK, now to get to the giveaway. I'm sure everyone has just been holding their breath, waiting. . .

Since I couldn't interest either of the kitties in this, DH did the drawing for us. (In the lovely pottery bowl that he made . . . it's not for sale. It's mine, all mine!) First up was the drawing for Giveaway #1: Spots & Dots. *drumroll, please*

And the winner is . . .

Melinda of Melinda Quilts ETC!

Next was the drawing for Giveaway #2: Handdyes.

And the winner is . . .

Wendy of Inky Threads blog!

I'll be contacting both ladies to let them know they've won, and to get their snail mail addresses. Thank you to everyone for your participation. This was fun, and I wish I could send something to everyone that entered.

I remade the wonky Windmill blocks for Clare. You can't tell from the photo that they're any different than these, but these blocks are actually the correct size! They are currently en route to France.

I've been trying to work on the Lazy Gal Liberated Amish Challenge, in spite of the sinus infection that won't quit. (more antibiotics, thanks) I've decided on this 9-Patch quilt as my inspiration, but this quilt kept calling my name. So I gave in.

I'm calling this my "warm up" quilt. It's quite small, as the star blocks are only 6 inches. See that missing border? For this challenge, we have to include words somewhere on the quilt. That is where my word will be going. It's currently under construction. One more letter to go. Then I get to decide if that border will be the top, bottom or side of the quilt.

Here is the palette I've decided on for the 9-Patch quilt I'll be making. These are Cherrywood fabric and I love these colors.

Here's the first two 9-Patch blocks I've made. I was really testing the size on these. I'm not sure they're wonky enough, or exactly how wonky I want to make this quilt. I'm planning on approximately lap-sized, and it will be for me. So I just have to make up my mind what I want. But I have lots more 9-Patches to sew. I'll be throwing in some wonkier blocks than this, at the very least. I was uninspired by these at first, but I'm started to get excited now.

Today the LQS was having a Fat Tuesday sale, today being Mardi Gras! Not that I need one more fat quarter, but she had all the FQ's on sale for 1/2 off! So, two FQ's for $2.50. I wanted to show my support for this store that is struggling to make it, so this is what I bought. No particular reason, I just liked these. They looked bright and cheery!

A Giveaway!

Today is my two year blogiversary, and in celebration I'm having a giveaway! Actually, I'm having two giveaways, because, well, you can figure it out! Also, possibly, because I couldn't make up my mind, but we won't talk about that, OK?

Here is Giveaway #1. . . Dots and Spots. This is a group of 30 different 5 inch squares, known as charms, all from my *vast* collection. As you can see here, some of them are merely spotted, not necessarily polka dots. Some of them are new fabric, some are older. But they're all good.

Here is Giveaway #2. . . Hand-Dyes Etc. Again, 30 different 5 inch squares. These range from hand-dyed to over-dyed white-on-white fabric to hand-marbled, and even even one over-dyed black & white print. All created by moi, on good quality fabric. I have a hard time cutting into this collection of fabric, so you know I'm serious here!

Here's the "Rules" for my giveaway. I don't like it when people make you jump through a bunch of hoops to win something, so I've kept this simple. Just leave a comment on this post, making sure I have a way to contact you, and please let me know your preference of which group of squares (#1 Spots and Dots or #2 Hand-Dyes) you'd most like to win. You have until midnight Pacific Time on February 15th. The next day, the 16th, will be the drawing for the two winners. Simple enough?

Good luck!

P.S. Just one thing. . . if you're the lucky winner of #2 Hand-dyes, if you actually make something from these, would you please send me a photo of your project? I really do have a hard time cutting and using this fabric, and I'd LOVE to see a finished project using it! Thanks.

Some Finishes and Some Random Stuff

The other day I saw a great little tutorial on Quilty Cat's blog, and it looked so easy and fun, I had to try it. So, I took the scraps from the placemats my sister made for me (you can see them here) and did the circles. Yes, she returned the scraps to me. . . wasn't that sweet? I thought they'd make great potholders. I got the binding finished this morning and they're all ready for dinner tonight!

These really were easy to make. I cut my square @ 6 inches instead of the 8 inches Quilty Cat recommended because my scraps were small. I made the one on the right first, and I learned that just strips don't work as well as wedges. You can see that some of my "wedges" are going off in some weird directions. In the circle on the left, I trimmed the strips down into wedges and it looks better. My strips weren't too big to start with, so I ended up with some fairly small wedges, but I think it looks more ball-like. Next time I'd cut everything into the wedges. I'm thinking this block would be a great project for a collection of 60's scraps that I "inherited". But that's got to go on the back burner for a while.


While I was playing with the scraps, I decided to embellish some new kitchen towels that DH gave me for Christmas. (Ben Franklin had a great sale on - 5 towels for $10) So I used up the last of the scraps on the 2 towels on the left, then had to come up with something else for the 3rd one. Two more to go!

As I was driving the other day, I saw a sign by a house that cracked me up!

MAN STUFF

Garage Sale

How many guys do you think stopped for that one?

Jan at Be*mused blog recently took a trip to Japan, and was lucky enough to attend the Tokyo International Quilt Festival. She's started a Flickr set in which she's uploading all her quilt photos from this show. These are well worth the time to look through them. There's some incredible quilts! Oh, and she's having a blog birthday giveaway this week, including some great Japanese fabrics! Hop on over there, and leave a comment to be included in this! Start with this post, which has all the (simple) rules, and Good Luck!

Here's the latest progress on my X blocks. I'm making a couple every time I sit down at the sewing machine, so they're going slowly. But I'm making progress! So far I'm not having any troubles with the flannel either. *knocks on wood*

Speaking of blog birthdays, tomorrow will be two years for Indigo Threads! I'm putting together a giveaway in celebration, and will post about this tomorrow. So stay tuned!