Chattahoochee Evening Stars Quilt Show

The CES Quilt Show was a couple of weeks ago.  I entered 3 quilts, Jan entered 2, and Jessica entered 2.  Here they are.

I’m 

 Cubes Cubed by Jessica

 Laurel's Christmas Tree Lot by Carol

Tropical Day by Jessica

 Bluebonnets by Jan

 Faith, Hope, Love by Carol

 Earth Star by Jan

Just Ducky by Carol

We had fun entering our quilts - it made us put sleeves and labels on them,
And the next day, we went to John Campbell for their Craft Festival.  We had fun there, too.

Now I'm working on quilts for Christmas.  I've pretty much finished a wall hanging for Bridgette and another one for Gen,  I have a panel to make into a quilt for Pat and Julia's baby.  I'll work on it next weekend at the Runaways Retreat in Covington.

I'm also working on a hexie mug rug.  If it finishes well, I'll use it for my Christmas Exchange at the East Cobb Quilt Guild.  If not, I'll need to make a different mug rug (or Christmas ornament!)

Last year, I made most of a Thanksgiving wallhanging. I'll take that to retreat, too.  Maybe I can get it finished in time for Thanksgiving this year.  LOL.

I Wuff You again - finished.

Here is the little valentine dog - and my March banner!  You'll notice that the dog has eyes now - certainly makes a difference!

Rowdy Rooster and the Mushroom

I keep forgetting to post my quilts to the blog - and I almost forgot Rowdy!  He is one in a series of Radical Roosters by Florine Johnson here in Georgia.  I love all of them, but Rowdy in particular.

Isn't he cute?  I'm finishing his brother Reginald today, so I'll add him tomorrow!

And the other thing I've been working on is this little needle keeper.  Tiny Stitches is going to sell the kits at Shop Hop.  It's made of wool felt, has several flaps for keeping needles and a pocket for keeping small scissors or your needle threaders!

I'm working on other wool applique, but haven't finished anything yet.  Later!

What I did at Retreat

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted anything.  How will I ever keep track of my quilts if I don't take pictures of them?

Last weekend was the CES annual retreat at the FFA/FHA center in Covington.  Even though I wasn't feeling great (I had a cold the entire weekend!), I did get some fun things done.  Mostly I worked on my Irish Chain quilt, but I only have a picture of ONE square to post.

And the color doesn't even show up right - The blue is really a light purple!  This is one of two squares in the quilt and I haven't finished all of these yet!

I also made a Radical Rooster named Rowdy

Two angelfish

And a dog that will eventually say, "I wuff you" on the cookie.  He also needs eyes and a mouth.  And to be quilted.

That's all for now.

I found lots of small, interesting projects at retreat, but haven't made any of them yet.  Soon, though

Forest Friends

This little quilt is called Forest Friends and is made of the flannel.  It's so soft!  I made it as a store sample - and will give it to Tristan and Catie, for the new baby, when I get it back.  Hopefully I'll get it back before the baby is born.

Jessica's Turning Twenty Quilt

I'm in Jacksonville right now and Jessica suggested that I add a post about the quilt that we (Jan, Jessica, and I) made for her.  The pattern is called Turning Twenty.  We started it (and finished it, I think) last year - the year she turned twenty.

Floral Fantasy

I finished Beverly's quilt, Floral Fantasy, and brought it to her birthday party today, but didn't get to stay long enough to watch her open it!  I hope she likes it.  I took a couple of pictures today, but neither of them is very good.  Here's the best.

I also have been making hot pan holders to use some of my scraps.  I gave one to Kristen and Bridgette today, and I have a couple more that need binding.  I have to work at the BOE tomorrow, so I'm going to take one of the hot pan holders that needs binding with me.  We have plenty of time, usually, to work on puzzles or read or whatever.  I might as well make the time useful!  Maybe I can even get the binding on another one tonight.

August 2011

I've been busy - mostly because my quilt room is so messy that I can barely walk into it.  So I want to make some scrap quilts to use up some of the fabric that I bought when I first started quilting.  Since I didn't know what kinds of quilts I wanted to make, I would buy yardage of any fabric I liked.  Consequently, I have lots of fabrics that are stand-alone pieces (pieces without any other fabric that coordinate with it.)

I bought a book that shows several scrap quilts and started making one of them.  Unfortunately, it's not using nearly as much fabric as I'd hoped.  And it's going to be smaller than I like, so I'm going to lengthen it and make it one row wider.  That's a project on hold right now.

Also, I told Kristen I'd help her with some of the kits she has bought over the years.

So, I brought home one of Kristen's kits and made the quilt - a sweet baby quilt.  She had bought so much extra fabric that I was able to made a 24" x 24" baby doll or sleeping baby quilt with the scraps.  I also made a pillowcase and a smaller baby doll quilt - and still have some scraps left!

I made a four-patch Halloween quilt for Bridgette - and a pillowcase to match!

I made Patrick a pillowcase out of fireman fabric.

And, since Beverly Lawley's (Beverly was mom's caregiver during her last year - and she was fantastic!) 60th birthday is this weekend, I decided I'd better finish the quilt that I'm making for her.  It's the Floral Fantasy quilt that was a Saturday Sampler at Tiny Stitches the year that mom died.  Beverly saw me sewing one of the blocks and told me how much she liked it - so, of course, this was the quilt for her!  Last night I made the binding and sewed it on.  Today, I've started the hand stitching.  It needs to be done by this weekend so I can give it to her at her birthday party.  I'll post a picture when it's finished.

The Red Door

This quilt is called Red Door.  I made it for Christmas in July and kitted it for the shop.  Since all the kits sold quickly, I already have it back and will be able to enjoy it this Christmas. 

Jacksonville - July 2011

I spent a long weekend in Jacksonville and had lots of fun!  Well, I had fun AFTER I finished sewing the appliques on the Red Door quilt.  Jan helped me finish it and we got done with the borders, applique, and backing about 1:30 in the morning.  We took it to the quilter about 10:30 in the morning and, miracle of miracles, the quilter had it finished that same afternoon!

People seemed to really like the Red Door quilt - people were coming in from the shop just to see it!  I'll add a picture as soon as I get the binding sewed on.
 

Patriotic Wall Hanging

I decided to make a 4th of July quilt for the stand I bought for Ashley and was looking on the internet for ideas. I found a wall hanging called Patriotic Dog, where a dog was holding a flag. Since Dan and Ashley got their new dog Monday and sent me a picture of him sitting on a sofa, I used the idea of the dog holding the flag, made a different sized version (one that would hang on the stand they have) and substituted Caesar for the appliqued dog. I think it's hilarious.

Back in the Game

After everything that has happened in the last few months, I'm ready to get back in the game. I haven't been documenting anything I make, see, do, etc. So I need to go back in time.

Latest quilt (not yet quilted) is Brendan's Quilt. When I made it, I spelled his name wrong and had to pick out the A and the E and put them in the correct places. Terry Powers is going to quilt this.


I also made another patriotic quilt for Daniel (no picture right now.) It was a pattern by Marcus Fabrics that used the Quilts of Valor fabric. I changed the pattern, though, because I didn't like the placement of the traveling stars. I put them in the centers and corners of their border strips. I used navy blue minkee on the back. Terry Powers quilted it. It's on display in the store right now.

I also made a quilt for Patrick (again, no picture). I called it Smyrna Fire Escape - you all know that Patrick is a firefighter/EMC/Paramedic for City of Smyrna. This quilt is backed with medium brown batik (I think). It's also on display at Tiny Stitches right now. The patter was called Fire Escape, by Atkinson Designs. Shannon Baker quilted it with a flame pattern.

Some other projects I've finish in the past year are this Bunny Wall Hanging for Ashley

A yellow elephant

and a pink elephant

A Stroller Blanket for Genevieve

And a Baby Genius Quilt - also for Baby Gen!

More next post - I'm tired of looking for pictures!

Jacksonville

Boy, have we been busy for the past couple of weeks. Jan came up and we went to the Chattahoochee Evening Stars quilt show (and worked there for a few hours!) Then we drove to Jacksonville and went to the Jacksonville Quiltfest. Kristen had to give a lecture in St Augustine Friday, so she came with us to the quiltfest. It was a BIG quilt show - over 450 quilts and about 6o vendors. It was fun, but tiring.

And then, on Monday, someone called Kristen to tell her that she had won one of the baskets of quilting stuff that we had taken chances on. But Jan and I won nothing. Kristen hasn't gotten the stuff yet in the mail, but she should soon. I'm so jealous!!!!

While we were in Jax, we got to meet Allyson's new boyfriend - and, wow, is he cute!

Later.

New Grandbaby To Be

Well, it's official! Today was the day of the 20 week ultrasound and the sex of our new grandbaby is.......female! I'm thrilled - now Bridgette will get to have a best friend for the rest of her life! Sean says that, since his house is being overrun with girls, Patrick will have to live with them the rest of his life.

Now I can start thinking about a baby quilt. I found a cute pattern today that has Cuddle bowties on it - it's in a book that I bought. And I've thought of another quilt that was inspired by a quilt in a magazine. It has applique flowers on it in three rows, but I thought maybe putting one row of flowers and a second row of sky, sun, birds, etc. would be cute. We'll see.

Beth, at Tiny Stitches, made the cutest door mats for her daughter and her daughter's roommate. Her daughter, Jessica, is getting a big heart with her name and lots of smaller hearts on it. Her roommate, who is an artist, is getting a paint palette, with a paintbrush thru the opening and pots of paint (and, of course, her name on the palette. Both of them are adorable.

Well, I had dinner with Bridgette tonight - and now I'm home alone. Gene is somewhere in a meeting. So, since I'm alone, I think I'll get busy cutting the fabric for the big squares on Patrick's quilt.

Oh, the best thing of all - Daniel is home. He and Ashley, Patrick, Kristen, Sean, and Bridgette all came over last night to celebrate Gene's birthday. It was so good to see him and know that he's home.

Time to go and change clothes and cut!

Progress on Patrick's Quilt

I haven't made much progress on Patrick's quilt in the last month or so - I've been making shopping bags, place mats, etc. But now, I'm ready to get going again. I printed the templates for the larger squares, since I've completed the 144 4-inch squares that make up the center of the quilt. I think I need about 106 8-inch squares for the outside of the quilt. And tomorrow, I'm going to start cutting fabric for those larger squares.

I really would like to have this ready for Patrick for Christmas - but who knows. Maybe I can sign up for Quilt 'Til You Wilt one of these weeks and just work on these blocks.

Poor Patrick - I haven't finished his Christmas Stocking, either - and I've been working on that for about 15 years (well, I started it 15 years ago - I haven't really been working on it for that long!) I did, however, finish the counted cross-stitch picture of Pinocchio. I saw it the other day when Gene was cleaning off his bookshelves, so I took it and hung it in my quilt room. Makes me happy.

Upcoming Quilt Show Entries

I have never been brave enough to enter any of my quilt into a show - until last week. I entered 4 quilts into the Chattahoochee Evening Stars Quilt Show. Here are pictures and descriptions of these quilts.


This quilt is named Autumn Poppies. I made it in an international quilt mystery series of classes. That month, the country was Turkey. The pattern name was Poppy Fields. Since I made it in autumn colors (orange, brown, and tan), I named the quilt Autumn Poppies. After I entered it, I took a closer look at it, and decided that, even for me the piecing isn't very good, so I withdrew it from the show. So much for good intentions.






The next quilt I named Dreaming of Sunflowers. It was the first quilt I made using paper piecing. I took a class, taught by Barbara Dole, who helped us interpret the directions. I still wish I had made all the centers black, but I didn't. I really like this quilt.










This next quilt is actually larger than the sunflower quilt. I made this for Daniel, who wanted a patriotic quilt. I called this quilt Back in the USA 2009, since I finished it in time for his return from his second tour of duty in Iraq. The pattern is called Carrie Nation, which I thought was appropriate, since soldiers in Iraq are not allowed to drink alcoholic beverages.





This last quilt was made in a class with a pattern called Magical Slice and Dice. It's hard to tell, because I used a bad fabric between the squares, but all of the blocks are on-point. The interesting thing about this pattern is that you make all the squares (they're kaleidoscope squares), sew them in a straight set, then make two strategic cuts, sew the pieces together in a different order and, voila, your quilt is on-point. The border fabric is the fabric that all the kaleidoscope blocks are made from. I named this quilt Bustopher Jones' Family - obviously after the famous character in the musical Cats, which Gene and I saw in London. And the musical was based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by TS Eliot (one of my favorite poets.) The poem begins:

Bustopher Jones is not skin and bones--
In fact, he's remarkably fat.
He doesn't haunt pubs--he has eight or nine clubs,
For he's the St. James's Street Cat!

Christmas in July

Last week was Christmas in July at Tiny Stitches. The store looked so beautiful with all the new holiday projects and quilts. I made a blue table runner for the event, but didn't take a picture of it. Next time I'm at the shop, I'll take a picture and post it.

This week, I've been working on a doll rag quilt for Bridgette and a matching one for the princess herself. I don't have quite enough flannel to make it large enough, so I bought a couple of fat quarters last night. If it's not enough, I'll just buy more. Here's a picture of the doll quilt.

I'm also working on some star squares for my quilt guild. Like a fool, I chose one that's harder than I want to do - but, as usual, I'm doing it regardless! I also made several tote bags to be sold at the quilt show.

Japanese Wallhanging

Yesterday, I had to go to the Hope Clinic for a follow-up visit for the H1N1 flu study. Since the Hope Clinic is in Decatur, I always treat myself with a stop at InTown Quilts. I saw this wallhanging there - it's made from a Robert Kaufman panel and different fat quarters. There were two different panels, so I bought them both and the fat quarters to go with them. I made this wallhanging mostly last night, but finished the piecing this morning. It makes me feel the way that a really beautiful sunset makes me feel - at peace with the world. I can't wait to quilt and bind it and hang it in my sewing room.

Rural Jardine Quilt

Here is a picture of the quilt I made for Tiny Stitches. It's my first attempt to make a quilt that will be shown in the store. I think it turned out pretty well. I took it to Karen Williams to be quilted yesterday and she's going to quilt the border with feathers - and an all over feather pattern in the center, I think. Then I'll scallop the borders and bind it. I'm really excited to see it finished. It's larger than I expected, but its really pretty. This picture is just one corner of it as it was hanging over the railing in my stairwell.

Several neat quilting things that I learned lately:

I met KimDenault the other day at the store. What an interesting lady. She 'invented' a quilting method that can be done by children - using their own artwork. She modified the method using textured paper, so that blind people can also use it. I added her website to my links. It is handsonquiltshow.org.

I also went to the Quilt and Quack yesterday and learned how to make prairie braids and a nifty way to make prairie points. And as an added bonus, Karyn (the head quacker) taught us an easy way to make 4-patch blocks. Here is a picture of my prairie braid (another square for the Christmas Quilt.)

For those of you who don't know about my Christmas Quilt - here's the story. A wise woman I know said that, whenever you need to make a sample square - to be sure you know what you're doing or to test the size of the square, etc. - you should make it out of Christmas colors. Then eventually, you'll have enough squares to put together as a sampler Christmas Quilt. The stash of patches for my Christmas Quilt is growing slowly but surely.