Something Different

Today I'm preparing the backing and basting another quilt so here's something different to look at. Before I started quilting I did a lot of crocheting. In 1997, despite having a complete shoulder reconstruction, I crocheted 17 afghans. Not all of the ones in this slide show were made that year, but many of them were. Those with a red dot were original patterns..or should I say, made without patterns?

My Quilt of Many Colors

I had my second cataract surgery yesterday so I haven't done a lot of sewing in the last two days. Since I don't have anything new to show I decided to post some pics of "My Quilt of Many Colors" which I made in 2004. It has over 3,500 different fabrics..a true charm quilt with no repeats. It has actual fabrics from 1930-2004, with many fabric scraps from childhood clothing. It also has reproduction fabrics from the late 1800's, so it's something of a catalog of fabric designs for 100+years. The squares finish to 1", 1 1/2" and 2 1/2". I started out with some sample squares from Keepsake Quilting, collected more squares on E-bay and then cut squares from every fabric I owned. What fun!

It's not my best made quilt, but it will always be one of my favorites as it's so much fun to look at. It's 81 X 94"

Back to Jane

I finally got a couple more Dear Jane blocks done. It seems like it's been forever since I've worked on any. I thought I might be tempted by the fact that Friday marked one year since I started work on these blocks. With only 14 more to do you'd think I could have risen to that challenge, huh? But nope..two of these were enough for now. I've avoided both for quite awhile.

A-2 Starlight was paper pieced and has 21 pieces. I'm not happy with it and may redo it at some point. It is a bear..no matter what method you use.

A-13 One Two Buckle My Shoe wasn't hard..just tedious with 40 pieces. I paper pieced it as well.

And now I'm going to look for something fun to do this afternoon. Second cataract surgery tomorrow.

Inspiration

Now I should be....

1) finishing the 16 remaining blocks for the center of my Dear Jane quilt

2) working on more of the 40 remaining blocks of my Dutch Treat quilt

3) Making more blocks for my "Flowers For..............." quilt (still not telling who or what)

4) Quilting any of the dozen or more WISPs that still reside on my sidebar.

5) Cleaning my sewing room (the sounds the least fun of all the choices!)

Instead my mind is wandering and I'm drooling over the possibilities of what I can do with these two fabrics:

I spotted this fabric last weekend at JoAnn's in Joplin. It reminded me in many ways of the border fabric I used for my One Block Wonder quilt, Imperial Gardens. I thought it was another great candidate for Stack and Whack..traditional or OBW style. They only had 4 yards last Friday. So I took Tom back with me on Sunday and he agreed it had definite possibilities so we special ordered a bolt of it..which is only 8 yards at JoAnn's. We drove over today to pick it up.

What do you think??????

And then I looked again at this fabric. Tom bought it for me 4 years ago to use as the backing for the Sukiyaki quilt I finished last night. Just recently I found some other fabric I thought worked even better and allowed me to save this yummy fabric for the FRONT of some quilt. Now I'm thinking this might really make a great One Block Wonder? Think so?

My problem is seldom being at a loss for inspiration..it's usually having too MUCH........

Plum Wine & Sukiyaki

I think it may be that the busier we are the more we can get done. At least it seems to work that way for me. I had so much going on this week....quilt show, workshop, guild meeting, two doctor's appointments, funeral luncheon to bake for...........but believe it or not I managed to pull out a top I pieced in Sept 2005 and got it quilted and bound in the last two days.

I was inspired to make this quilt after seeing another quilt made with Drunkard's Path blocks and Oriental fabric. I was scared to death of curved piecing, yet curious enough that I wanted to challenge myself. I was also wanting to stretch my fabric selections beyond my traditional scrappy choices. So everything about this quilt was new and different for me. I liked how it turned out, but then I was unsure how to quilt it and so it got folded and put on a shelf for nearly 4 years.

But then I joined the Finish Challenge.............

I decided that the blocks and fabrics were so busy that all of the fancy quilting I'd previously played with in my mind would just be lost. So I went with an overall looping stipple and I'm happy with the texture it gives it. I think I'll be even happier when it comes out of the washer and dryer (it's being washed as I write).

I've called this quilt "Sukiyaki" since I started it. But yesterday I realized I couldn't resist tweaking the name to play on the fact they are Drunkard's Path blocks. So it is now "Sukiyaki and Plum Wine".

Low light showing some texture before the binding was hand sewn on the back.

It measures 68 X 76" finished.

And I can cross another WISP off my list (quickly before I add a new one!)

More Mail Goodies

I don't know how I ever got so lucky to have met a good friend like Geta..but look what I received from Romania yesterday? Isn't this gorgeous?

This beautiful example of Geta's shadow trapunto work is 10" square. And makes my feeble attempt look pretty pathetic.


Wish you could see it in person...it's wonderful. Thank you, Geta!!!!!

The mail also brought a couple more siggies this week.

From Ericka in Hungary

Cuny in The Netherlands

Thank you ladies for swapping with me. I love getting your siggies.

I finished a very old WISP last night. Pics later today.

Trying To Be Geta

I keep forgetting to post a picture of my one lonely April finish thus far. I finally worked up courage to try my friend Geta's shadow trapunto technique. I learned a lot but I will never approach the level of expertise she has attained.

You can go to her blog and see how the technique should be done. I should have used thicker batting for the trapunto layer.

I should have remembered to use invisible thread for the outline quilting of the trapunto areas.

And next time I think I will try silk thread for the stippling.

The little piece measures 7" square.

It was fun but how I wish I had Geta's skill. I could spend hours drooling over her work.

By the way..I'm also not good enough to have drawn this design..Geta shared it with me. What a good friend she is to me!!

Have A Heart

Last night I read a post by Joann at Peaceful Quilting and learned that her husband is facing open heart surgery in the near future. In an attempt to ease the burden of medical expenses she is holding a raffle for a beautiful Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. In addition it appears that there may be other generous quilters offering additional prizes. The quilt is gorgeous and the cause is one that could be faced by any one of us tomorrow. So please stop by Joann's blog and think about contributing. If you think of it, tell her I sent you.

Yesterday I received this pretty little siggie from Paule in England. Isn't the little log cabin wonderful?

Apple Blossom Quilts

Are you ready for some more eye candy? Besides attending the quilt show in Joplin, my weekend was busy preparing for our guild's workshop yesterday. You'll recall I'm program chair this year and once again I decided I'd cook the meal so I prepared lasagna, baked some sour dough rolls, and of course a couple pans of my cinnamon rolls. About 9:00 Sunday night I was once again questioning why I'd attempted to do so much, but in the final analysis I lived, I have all week to recuperate and you all know I LOVE to feed people.

Our guest this month was Connie Sue Haidel of Apple Blossom Quilts . I first became aware of Connie about 3 years ago or thereabouts when a group of quilters on an online forum decided to each make her quilt "Buttoms & Blooms" which she was offering as a free BOM through her newsletter.

I added lots of my 3-D butterflies that have become my signature on the silk flower and tulle wallhangings I've made so many of. I also used some ruching here and there. And it was my first attempt at my version of McTavishing.



I was falling in love with applique at the time and Connie's patterns are wonderful. It took me a couple of years to convince myself to try her backbasting method of placement and now I'm a definite convert! I used overlays for placement when I made this quilt and realize now that using backbasting would have been so much more accurate and easy. If you haven't tried it..go to her website and click on "tips". She has so generously shared a wonderful picture tutorial on that technique as well as several other tips.

When I agreed to be the program chair for the guild this year Connie was right up there on my list of people I hoped to bring down. We had a wonderful time with 13 of us in the workshop yesterday and in the evening enjoyed a full trunk show of her fabulous quilts. I apologize for the quality of the pictures. It's hard to get the people walking the quilts around to pause for everyone that is trying to get pictures..so often times the quilt was in motion or turned at an odd angle when I got my shot off. I also had hoped to get some closeups of the two quilts she had hanging in the front of the room but missed my chance. The applique on both was amazing. The quilting, by Dawn Cavanaugh is breathtaking. Connie has recently purchased a Tin Lizzie and has started doing her own quilting. I don't know how she will have time with all the applique, designing and teaching she does.

If you enjoy the trunk show (and how could you not?) hop on over to Connie's site

Be sure to sign up for her newsletter and if you are considering workshops and/or trunk shows for your guild I highly recommend her. She's as sweet in person as her designs would suggest.

A tip..I can't figure out how to get this slideshow to run slower, so if you find it goes too fast for you to appreciate the pictures, then click on the "view all images" and go to my Photobucket site where you can pause each pic to drool to your heart's content.

Town & Country Quilt Show

Have you missed me? I'm sorry I've been sort of MIA. It's been a busy few days and I'll put up a couple of posts at least today trying to catch you up.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday was the Town and Country Quilt Guild's biennial show in Joplin, MO. As usual there were so many really fabulous quilts. Jane Anderson of Oklahoma took home Best of Show and her work is always just breathtaking. There is really no way to get pictures that adequately show her level of expertise. All of her quilts are completely hand made, from piecing to quilting. Her hand stipple is something to behold. I've seen her quilt "You Name It" in several shows over the last couple of years and I never get tired of studying it and marveling that any quilter can achieve such perfection.

So grab your beverage of choice and enjoy a small sampling of quilts from the show.

When you are done with that, if you haven't taken the time to view some of the entries in
Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival (previous post or link in sidebar) make sure you do so this week.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Amy, over at Park City Girl has organized a Blogger's Quilt Festival this week. What fun! Many of us can't get to the big quilt shows, but we can still enjoy the creativity on display each and every day on the hundreds (?thousands?) of quilt blogs online. Check out her blog and find out how to add your favorite quilt to the show. Then take some time to attend the quilt show..in your jammies if you want!


It's hard to pick my favorite quilt to date but I've decided to show my Diamond Ring. It is a variation of the Double Wedding Ring. In 2006 a group of us that participated in the forum at Blockcentral.com decided to each make this pattern. I hand pieced mine in 17 weeks.

With all that hand work I thought it screamed to be hand quilted and because I am a machine quilter I decided to have my friend, Elaine, hand quilt it for me. She did a fabulous job as you can see.

My only regret is that I didn't add more blocks and make it queen sized.

My first attempt at curved binding. It wasn't nearly as hard as I had expected.

I presented the quilt to my husband on our 20th wedding anniversary. I also told him if he ever decides to divorce me, I get the quilt!

Now get on over to Amy's and join the quilt show

New Siggie & Easter Pics

Yesterday I received a new siggy from Lucienne in Belgium. It has the cutest little 3-D flower.

And I had to share a couple of pics from Easter. Our little church was full to overflowing..what a joy! We normally only have about 100 people on any given Sunday and feel really good if we have a dozen kids for children's sharing. This Sunday we had approximately 175 people and look at this bunch of kids.......40 of them!!

Wouldn't it be wonderful if it was like this every week?

And especially for Chris at A Day In the Life of a Deputy's Wife. Here are some of the rohlicky I baked for our dinner following church. I like mine to rise into each other so they have soft sides. The traditional way (according to my mother) is to make them into crescents with sides that don't touch. My family likes them this way.

So Chris...have you tried making them and/or kolaches again?

P.S. to Sherry

Sherry, You need to go into your profile and add your email address if you want people to be able to reply to you directly. Be sure the box that says "show my email address" is checked. That should do it.