Still Quilting in Kansas

It's hard to beleive it's been over 4 months since I've posted.  And I'm still not sure I'm ready to return to regular or semi-regular blogging.  But I thought I'd take a few minutes to check in and assure some who have missed me (thank you) that I am alive and still quilting, albeit at a slower pace.

I ended 2012 by finishing one more of my long standing UFO's....my version of Dear Jane.  Since I was doing the machine quilting during the last few days of the presidential campaign, I decided to call my quilt "America's Choice 2012".  My quilt is set together far differently than the original.  I based it on a version I saw on the internet several years ago and it was a challenge to figure out the spacing. Thanks to my friend Geta  for her help doing this. 

Here's my quilt

And a close up

We traveled to Des Moines in October to attend the AQS International Show.  It was indeed an honor to have one of my quilts hanging in the show for the second year in a row.  Here is my Dutch Trade.

I've continued to work on my hexagon quilt, not  daily, but frequently.  It's grown a bit since I showed it last.

So the goal this year is at least 12 quilts.  January is ending with two tops completed.

First this strippy quilt based on a photo I found online.

I added a 1" black border on all four sides after this picture was taken.


And the pieced back

 

You all know this is not my normal color palette. Far too bright for me!

 

So while I was working outside my normal box I decided to finish a BOM kit I started two or three years ago called My Secret Garden. It's from a book called "Secrets From the Garden, Quilts With Floral Charm" by Cincy Lammon.  I had previously made four or five of the blocks and then sat it aside because it was just too PINK for me.  Time to get it out and finish, except it turned out that  some of the fabrics were either missing entirely or cut wrong in the kit.  So I had to do some pulling from my stash and also decided to substitue a Sunbonnet Sue applique block for one of the pieced blocks in the original. 

 

That catches us up. 

 

We've experiencing very strange weather here in SE Kansas.  Yesterday morning it was 70º when I got up with a tornado watch in effect, 56º at noon,  and snow was predicted as possible last night (but didn't happen). Today it is in the 30's. 

 

Happy quilting.  I'll try to do better.

 

Quilt Show

There is still not a lot of quilting going on at our house so I haven't had anything to post.   This weekend was our guild's annual quilt show and I was asked if I'd be posting pictures to my blog by someone who had forgotten to bring a camera (or had one that wasn't working?).  So for that person and any blog readers who might still be  stopping by (can't expect to keep any readers when you don't blog :} )  here is a link to a slideshow of quilts from the Little Balkan's Quilt Show in Pittsburg, KS

I was delighted to win the Overall Best Quilt award for my Dutch Trade as well as a blue in it's category.  My four other entries garnered two more blue ribbons and two second place ribbons.

Dutch Trade also won a blue ribbon and Grand Champion Quilt at our country fair last month. 


Tomorrow I ship it to Paducah for it's trip to the AQS show in Des Moines next month. 

Hope you enjoy the show:

Little Balkans Quilt Show Pittsburg KS

Catching Up

It's been been a few months since I last posted, but trust me, you haven't missed out on much.  And the pictures I have to share are barely more than updates to the ones I shared 3 months ago. Sad.

 I've been SLOWLY working on my hexie English paper piecing project.  I'm almost ready to add one more large diamond section to this.

I gave in and did something I thought I'd  never do.  I sent two of my biggest pieced tops out to be long arm quilted.   Between my breathing problems and a really bad shoulder I just didn't see myself getting these done myself on a domestic sit down machine. 

So while I still find it hard to shake the feeling I've somehow "cheated" in calling these "my quilts", they are finally out of the UFO stack (and I have the unquilted tops down to THREE..WOW!). 

It's hard to get a good picture when quilts are this big and these were taken before either were bound.  Perhaps I'll get a chance to hang them and take better pictures later.

This stack 'n whack was made in 2009 after a workshop by a fellow quild member.  I told you earlier that it was outside my comfort zone colorwise, but Tom loves it so I told him it is his 25th anniversary present.  We are calling it "The Big Bang".

This is the Threadhead Quiltalong that I made last year.

I did manage to quilt the sofa sized top for my mother-in-law.  We'll give it to her on her 90th birthday next Saturday in Colorado.

I love the Vera Bradly fabric I found in my stash for the border and backing.

That's it folks...my quilting life has become pretty boring.  A fourth Dutch
Treat keeps calling my name!

Cuteness Alert

We're home after nearly two weeks.  It was wonderful spending time in Arizona with our son and daughter-in-law.  Our grandaughter, Kelley Ann, lives in Massachusetts.  She and her family flew out for a week's vacation and we finally got to meet our youngest great-grandson, Bryce, who is 15 months old.

It goes without saying he received a bit of attention from the grandparents and two sets of great-grandparents!  He's such a sweet little boy.

Four generations. How I wish my mother in Iowa could have been there too for a five generation picture.

Great-grandma Mary taught him how to use the doggy door!

It was hard to say goodbye

Great-granddaughter, Gabi, who lives in VA celebrated her 6th birthday on Sunday.  Isn't she a doll?

Grandkids are such a blessing! Great-grands even more so!!!

Spring Projects

I've heard from several online friends who were concerned that since I wasn't blogging I had also burned out on quilting.  Not at all!  I've been busy, though probably not as busy as I used to stay.  Don't know if I've become lazier or if old age is just setting in, but things do seem to take longer than they used to.  When I first started quilting 10 years ago I completed 10-20 quilts a year with ease.  I just don't think that is going to happen anymore. 

But I have been piecing and quilting.

First off I finished the little hexie table mat using the vintage hexies cut out by my grandmother. 

Some of these fabrics are really old and also thin and I wouldn't have used some of them if this was going to be a quilt that will be washed and used.  But I so wanted to use all these pieces Grandma had cut out. This is the last of this size of hexies and it will be a treasured piece.

Then I made three more T-shirt quilts for our daughter-in-law, using T-shirts that belonged to the brother she lost to cancer in April 2011. 

Nothing fancy about any of them..just t-shirts all cut the same size and put together without sashing.  I used fleece for backing and they are nice and cuddly.  Perfect recliner/couch quilts.  DIL Deb kept the first one I made in December; she gave the next two to her other brother and her mother.  The fourth one was for my son, Jeff.  He's a Steeler's fan so I used licensed Steeler's fleece on the back of his.  I'm glad to have these done as making t-shirt quilts is not my favorite kind of project.

Right after Christmas I started piecing a scrap quilt using the keyhole pattern I kept seeing all over the internet. I particularly liked this quilt so I drafted my own pattern and added cornerstones in the sashing. I quilted it a couple weeks ago and it is now added to my finished pile.

It was a fun way to use up lots of different 2 1/2" squares that were already cut and stored in one of my bins.  That makes for a super fast quilt.

Because I always like to have a hand project going to work on in the evenings I started a big (as in ultimate size of the quilt) project using small (3/4") hexies.  I designed the quilt in EQ5. Here is  what I hope to make (pretend it is all scrappy diamonds.

This is what I've done so far


Monday I started piecing a sofa quilt for my mother-in-law who will be turning 90 in June.  It's ready to be quilted.

It's been a beautiful spring despite a storm that brought 110mph winds through our neighborhood last month. This morning Tom found this tiny daffodil blooming in our yard.  I'd forgotten that I used to have a big group of them.

Next week Tom and I will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary.

 We'll be spending time in AZ at our son and DIL's.  We'll also get to finally meet our great-grandson, Bryce, who turned 1 last January. 

He'll be flying to AZ from MA with his parents.  So looking forward to spoiling him a bit!  We'll also celebrate Tom's 65th birthday as well as Easter.


Until next time..............