Quilt Show Hopping

There were two local quilt shows this weekend and, of course, I had to check out both.  I went with my cousin and fellow quilter, Cathy and friend & quilter, Joyce.

Friday, was the Lansing Area Piecemakers show at the Summit.  Several nice quilts - and a tote :)

 I didn't spend a lot on Friday... bought a 'pillbox' acrylic ruler for my longarm and a Dahlia panel, which is really the rage for a lot of long arm quilters.  I didn't think I'd get one because when I looked online, they were either unavailable or cost more than I was willing to pay for a length of fabric ( like $20 or more).  I found this one for something like $15.... no pic yet.

Yesterday's quilt show was another story ( shopping wise), though... and I didn't take a lot of pics, either.... there weren't a lot that really 'spoke' to me .  This show was in Marshall, Mi. and is always one that you don't want to miss.  It's a large guild with, I think, over 200 members ( too big for me) and they always seem to have lots of things going on. 

 I really liked this one... just the idea that you make blocks and sew them together into a top and then add the applique'... not a new idea, but definitely different than what I usually do and I'm kind of intrigued.

This one was just amazing to me.  And, as I'm standing there drooling, I got to talking to another woman about it and found out that she teaches a class on this technique'/quilt - and she happens to be friends with another woman who works in one of our town's quilt shops.  I'm hoping I can get people interested in taking a class from her.

 I just thought this cat quilt was 'fun' and a good idea for scraps.  I can see taking a pic from a coloring book and trying something like this.

 I took this pic simply because it's bright and colorful and a Hunter's Star which I really like but haven't done yet.  I have a grandson named Hunter and I've always wanted to make him one of these... he graduates high school next year - maybe this is what I'll do :).

 This one was interesting... too bad the photographer ( myself) couldn't get a CLEAR pic.

 

And, last but not least... there was this simple 9 patch set on point and sashed.  It just appealed to me.

The 'garage sale' that this guild has at their quilt show is not to be missed.  Joyce bought a kit consisting of 12 stamped blocks that you embroider and then sew together to make a quilt top.. I don't remember how much it was, but it was CHEAP!... one block was already done and embroidery thread was included.

I bought this...

It's two cheater panels... I haven't opened it up to see what they are, but I figured they would be good for me to put on Mo'e ( my longarm) and practice with.  For five bucks, you couldn't really say No, could you?

And I bought this for another $5... bought something else but can't remember what it was... it/they were another $5 .. so I spent a total of $15 at the garage sale... last year I spent about FIFTY but it was worth it.

ah!  this pattern is one of the other garage sale purchases... but I'm pretty sure I spent $15 so there must be a $2 item that I'm missing.  I was thinking that maybe with some of the charity quilt 'scraps', I might be able to get someone to join me in making some pincushions to donate to the church's bazaar this fall.

 Then it was time to hit the vendors and that's where I started to get into trouble lol

Due to some confusion, I ended up sitting in the vendors area while Cathy and Joyce went back and checked out the last row of quilts... well, as I sat there, I was checking out the vendor booth right across from me and noticed a pattern that I'd been interested in for awhile...

so over I went to check it out.. Of course it wasn't right in plain sight so I could just buy it and sit back down... nooooo.  While searching for the pattern, I came across this fabric... which will be great for hubby's t shirt quilts ... I bought two!  lol 

 Then, once Cathy and Joyce rejoined me, I found this is the bottom of a sale bin and, even though the color doesn't match, I think it's enough to use for backing on a quilt that I'm working on now ( but haven't shared with you other than to show you the fabrics in grayscale).

 In the same bin, I found this... it's  6 sample pieces which will be great for at least a couple of I SPY quilts... for $3 would YOU turn it down?

 After lunch at Schuler's... which was VERY good, we hit The Marshall House... one of the best quilt shops around - but it wasn't as great as it has been.  The clearance ( $6 yd) fabrics went from two rows along one wall to one 'bin' full of Halloween fabrics.  :( 
I still managed to drop a bundle ( big enough I had to write a check) there....
I found some fruit/veggies fabrics to finish the two placemats that I'm making to go with that fruit jar quilt of Annette's that I'm finishing .

 And I found a chenille brush for less than $4.
Two old car panels for hubby's t shirt quilts....

oh, yeah, and a bag pattern so I can make stepdaughter a smaller more manageable one than the last one I made her.  Once I got home and really got to looking at the pattern to see what I'd need to make it... YAY!  it takes 5" squares and I have LOTS of those.  Yardage for the lining and handles, but only about a yard and I can decide on that once I figure out what 5" squares I'm going to use. - anything but Green ( she doesn't like it).

and then I bought this bargello pattern... just for the fun of it, although I think it could be done with some of the charity quilt fabrics.

While there, I saw the most adorable chicken quilt ... but luckily, each block pattern comes separately and they didn't have the entire set - so I was able to pass them up.  But it was cute!!  

Ok, I think I've caught you up... My friend, Katie ( www.katiemaytoo.blogspot.com), is going to the show in Marshall with her mom today .. we'll see what, if anything, she finds.  :)

in the meantime   take care and I'll 

ttyl

Super Quick

Finished as much as I could of the canning jar quilt top... what a PIA!!  and as I see it hanging on the design wall - it's WAVING at me - well, one border is.  

Ok, took it down... I need the space for the next project....

Stay tuned for more...

told you it was super quick

take care

ttyl

Arghhhh!!!!

This is just not my day.  First off,  I thought I was ready to add the wood grain fabric between the rows and so that's what I did....  only to realize that I  was supposed to add a black strip separating the tops of the jars from the wood grain 'shelves'.  

So, after I take the rows apart and correct them, I see this....the blocks are supposed to be FIVE ACROSS AND FOUR DOWN......and there is supposed to be a black strip along each exterior side.

to be continued......

Just a quickie

It's been a long day... and I'm worn out.
Late yesterday, I finished the gecko quilt top; it's now folded up and laying in wait to be quilted - binding is in a plastic bag and pinned to the said quilt top.

 which means.... an empty bin!!

 I had this morning to do some sewing before I had to get ready to the doctor's office ( he's missed me and put in a special request to see me - yeah right! lol). 

While looking for the next project to consider working on, I came across another bin with one of my friend Annette's UFOs in it and decided to pull it out again to see if I could get it to work.  I took it to sew in one weekend only to realize that there were some serious issues with corner triangles being wonky or oversized or undersized; I decided to pack it back up to work on another day- that was today. 

There wasn't enough gray fabric for the jar lids so I grabbed some of my gray and finished making those strips.  Then, I started cutting sashing to go between the 'jars'; she had some cut already but not enough.

As the time approached for me to get ready for dr. visit, I finished sewing all of the rows except the top one.  Once that row is done, I'll have to go see if I can find my wood grain print fabric - the pattern calls for it, but there wasn't any in the 'pile'.  I hope I can do it tomorrow.

.

The doctor gave me a shot of cortisone for my left knee and then prescribed  predisone pills.  Then I had to go over to the hospital to get an xray of the same knee.  The shot took the pain away just long enough for me to get the xray and then it was back to hurting again.

Once the x ray was done, I went over to the body shop to see if they were going to take my car tomorrow to work on it - yep, I have to take it to them in the morning.

Then it was time to go get some groceries to get us through the next few days... oh yeah, and as I was in line checking out, the orthopedic dr's office called and I have an appointment for Tuesday.

There are two quilt shows this weekend that I've been looking forward to attending, but it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to - not if my leg keeps hurting like this.  I had trouble just getting through Walmart for the small amount of groceries ( and script) that we needed.

And, now, at 7:15 pm, I'm heading to bed.  Getting old SUCKS!!

take care

ttyl

Monday, Monday....

Another weekend gone by too fast, which, I guess, means I was busy - which is true.  I got some sewing done.. quite a bit in fact, and hubby & I took a small road trip yesterday to attend another concert by The Booth Brothers ( third one so far this year).

 Hubby has come to the stage in his life that he doesn't seem to enjoy very much, but get him started on The Booth Brothers and he can go on and on (and on) about them.  Honestly, I had never heard of them until last fall when he started talking about them.  This was a good clue for what to get him for Christmas and I 'heard' the clue & bought him several of their cds.  Just before Christmas I also found out that they were going to be appearing in Shipshewana right around his birthday in January so I ordered us tickets.  And that was the start of it all. 

The second time we were in Shipshewana (Indiana) to see them, they were with Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers.  While I was waiting for autographs from Larry & his brothers, I noticed that The Booth Brothers were standing in the lobby shaking hands and posing for photos with their fans.  Hubby was in another part of the building waiting on me so I went & got him and told him to come with me... when he saw what was going on, he was like a little kid Christmas morning - I kid you not!!   He was able to talk to each member ( there are three) and I was able to get photos of him with each one. 

I had to chuckle at him.  On the way home, he was asking if I could print the photos I'd taken and I said "yes".  "Well, can you print them up big like 8"x10"?"  "yes, but why?"  "So I can show EVERYONE" lol  He didn't get his 8x10s, but was perfectly happy with the 4x6"s and has shown them off to almost EVERYONE.

As for quilting....   I finished up another doll quilt from leftovers of the puppy/kitten quilt top

 Then, since there was yardage left of the yellow background that I used on the puppy/kitten quilt top and I noticed a small 'tub' with some paperback fusible with drawings along with some odds and ends of batiks, I decided to use both the yellow fabric and the batiks for this....  another quilt designed by Sindy Rodenmeyer of http://www.fatcatpatterns.com.  I think it's simply called Gecko.  Her pattern was for nine blocks set 3 x 3.  I had enough of everything to bump them up to 12 blocks set 3 x 4, I think... I haven't quite got that worked out yet.  It doesn't quite look right up on the design wall so I may play with it and see if maybe it just needs some sashing or if I could turn some of the blocks sideways.

Anyway, here are the first six completed.  I have five more blocks ready for applique' stitching.  Block number 12 is going to wait a bit because I can't decide what color I want to use.  Once I have the 11 up on the design wall, I can decide whether to go light or darker - blue or green or red.  Some of these already have a 'twin' but not all the fabrics I used were big enough for a second gecko - and some I didn't like well enough to do again.

The background of each block is a soft yellow - I know you can't tell it from the photos... hopefully, once the quilt is done and I can take it outside, it will show the color better.  In the meantime, you'll just have to trust me :).  You can see from the photos that some of the geckos are darker and easier to see... while others are pale and harder to see.  

Ok, enough talk... time to get back to working on them.  

take care...

ttyl

First post of the month

Not sure if that's a good or bad thing.  I do know it's going to be full of 'stuff'.  :)

For some reason, this one didn't get posted last month...

and this is the back....

I also finished my Summer Quilt Along project with Julie Cefalu...

the fabric on the left was left over from backing fabric for another quilt and the partial panel ( was whole to begin with) is something that I found in my stash as I was looking for something else to use with the fabric on the left and because I didn't want to risk covering up flower petals with my binding, I stitched it on from the front and brought it around to the back and hand stitched it down.  Somebody please mark that on a calendar lol.

Monday, I decided to get back to working on a BOM from last year... I think I have only three more 'months' left and then it will be ready to put together.  I got this from Shabby Fabrics... I don't know what I was thinking - I signed up for TWO BOMs with Shabby Fabrics last year, along with the fatcatpatterns.com BOM ( the fishing lures).  It's not that I don't like the BOM kits - I do like them and I'm sure I did some serious pondering over whether I really wanted to join in or not... obviously, I thought I could handle all three and keep up.  Obviously, I thought wrong.  That's ok... there's no timeline; they'll get done when they get done - either by me or someone who receives the kit after I pass.

Tuesday, I did this.... it took all of MAYBE three hours from cutting pieces to finishing the top.  This is one that I'll be keeping a copy of the pattern in with the guild's charity quilts.  I'm blaming this one on Katie's (http://www.katiemaytoo.blogspot.com) 'squirrel' coming down to my house... I had no intention of working on this at this time... the squirrel sidetracked me!  I sent him/her back home where I knew Katie was planning on making something from her 'squirrel poop' ( pieces of fabrics/blocks that she had left from her Swoon quilt).

The one I worked on Wednesday ( July 4th) and Thursday was this one....

 It was a pretty quick one, too... from 9 fat quarters and about 1 1/2 yds of background fabric.  I've had the pattern and fabrics in a plastic bag for awhile - decided it was time to 'giterdone'.  Once I get backing fabric for it, it will be finished and set aside for my son.

Today, I decided I'd better get on the ball and get to working on my BOM and RSC.

The BOM is Gnome for the Holidays

and the RSC is red this month...

I don't think I have much in red red... so chose this darker red. 

Oh yeah, and yesterday, I also worked on some more applique'.  I've been working on these here and there but haven't done them in a few weeks and, since I had some scraps sitting on/around my sewing table...

It's hard to tell but the flower petals in the top pic are purple and lavender.  These make seven done, I think... so thirteen more to go.

And, while I was kind of cleaning, I found some half square triangle pairs that just needed stitching together ( to make a square), so I stitched them up.  Some were about 4" and others were larger.. so I squared/trimmed them all to 3.5" and stitched them together to make a doll quilt.  It wasn't quite the size that I thought it should be, so I grabbed another piece of fabric, cut some strips off from it and stitched borders on, layered it onto scrap batting and muslin & it's ready to quilt.  As you can see from the clock in the background of this pic, it was dinner time and I had to quit.

Well, now that I've tired myself out with all  this 'reporting'.. I think I'm going to call it a night and go read for a bit.

take care

ttyl