New Projects

My quilter's ADD has taken over once again and I have started a couple of new projects.  I am so excited that I finally have my first Stars & Sprigs block done!  There are many, many still to make - I think 48 applique and 49 pieced blocks and a very busy appliqued border, but it's great to finally start it after collecting fabrics for over a year!  I picked up a lot of the fabrics at Houston last year.

I've also made a start on my house blocks.  They don't photograph all that well, but I really like how they are turning out so far.  There are only 12 of these blocks, but plenty of applique to add once the quilt is pieced.



I plan to spend a lot of time in the sewing room this weekend. My goal is to get the binding on my Runaway Mystery quilt, prep another Stars & Sprigs block, and piece the rest of my houses. We'll see how it goes!



Calhoun County Quilt Tour

I've heard about the Calhoun County Quilt Tour for a number of years but until last Friday have never had a chance to check it out.  The weather was beautiful and the leaves are slowly getting their fall colors - it was a perfect day for a drive! The tour consists of quilt displays with vendors at four churches in four different towns. There are 38 "barn" quilts in the county, many of which we were able to view along our route. Quite a few of the "barns" are really business buildings, and sadly many of the actual barns are in pretty sad shape and not that great for pitcures, but they were fun to look for just the same.  We found it particularly interesting that a couple of the antique quilts on display had been used as the source for the owner's barn quilt blocks. How cool is that?!?

This barn quilt was hanging on the side of a country produce market.  The painting was incredible - it actually looked like printed fabrics!

The quilts, a combination of old and new, were displayed draped over the pews at each of the churches.

There were some very unique antique quilts. I've never seen anything like the grape quilt below.  I think it was 60+ years old.

The last church we visited (below) is now privately owned.  Over half of the quilts displayed in the church were made by the church's owner.  Her work was beautiful and there was certainly a lot of it! We didn't get a chance to meet her but did get to see her current project - a beautiful applique quilt she is hand quilting.

I really loved this antique hexagon quilt. I've been wanting to start a hand-piecing project for a while now. 

I think a hexagon quilt would be tons of fun - and I know I've got a bunch of those die-cut hexagons around here somewhere!

If Only...

I had BIG plans for hooking down at the lake this weekend. I'm not entirely sure that I was being realistic, but I really thought that I could spend all day Saturday hooking and might come close to finishing the Crazy Horse rug.  I am still working on the borders - I decided to finish those before trying to figure out what to do with the motifs.  Anyway, I pulled out my rug and frame on Friday night and was all ready to get started when I realized that my hook and wool were still in the closet at home.  It's really tough to make progress without wool!  Here's where I am at as of last night:

 















I have a couple of nights' work left to do on the last side border and then need to figure out the corners before moving back to the flowers. It's hard to see in the photo, but I am thinking about the medium blue for the corners. I'm not sure that I am loving it, though.  I may need to do something different...