Catching Up

It's been a long time since my last post! I actually did finish my May OMG project - assembled my Magic of Christmas top - and had every intention of posting but never had the time. It didn't help that it really isn't all that attractive in its current state, which includes a lot of blank space for applique. I'm still very nervous about the idea of quilting it first and adding applique afterwards, but I really loved the look in the finished version that I saw at Paducah.

The main reason that I didn't get around to posting at the beginning of the month was that I was busy traveling back and forth across the state of Missouri to have fun. I spent the first weekend of June rug hooking at Janice's, working on her Schoolhouse Sampler pattern that has been on my "someday" list for a long time. My lettering really does have more contrast with the background than the picture shows.  I love my colors and am looking forward to getting back to this project.  It seems like it will hook pretty quickly.

We returned home on Monday and after a few days of work it was back to Kansas City for the spring meeting of the Missouri-Oklahoma-Kansas-Arkansas Quilt Study Group (also known as MOKA). I was blown away by the fantastic presentations and fabulous quilts that I saw there!  The theme was signature and chintz quilts and the quilts that the speakers brought along to share were outstanding.

Here's one example of a signature quilt shared by speaker Sandra Starley that I really loved - the pattern is really different from what I am used to thinking of.

In researching this quilt, the speaker found that the unmatching oak reel blocks (there's another on the opposite lower corner) appear to be leftovers from another family quilt that is now in a museum in Denver. The stories she shared about the lives of the people whose names she found on this and other quilts in her collection were fascinating.  I would love to do that type of research - it sounds like a lot of fun!

Sandra Starley did another presentation the second day in which she shared several of her quilts featuring birds and blooms. I absolutely fell in love with this quilt:

I am completely obsessed with it!  She named it "Quilted Joy" because it is such a happy quilt - a very suitable name in my opinion.  I really, really want to make this quilt. Sandra is plannning to release a pattern for a smaller version of the quilt that she created for an AQSG challenge - I'm not sure when, but I have already found my fabrics! The quilt is really complicated when you look closely - lots of applique ovelapping blocks, overlapping the center from the border, etc.

Here are a couple more close-ups I took to show some of the detail:

There were many other gorgeous quilts shared, way too many to post. What was really amazing was the informal show and tell held at the hotel in the evenings.  The quilts shared by the meeting attendees during those sessions were amazing, and the knowledge in the room - so many experts in quilt history - blew me away.  I am so happy I decided to make the trip!

Here's a crib quilt from Samdra's collection that I really liked. Most of the crib quilts made in the 1800s were just small versions of "adult" patterns rather than the cutesy patterns we tend to think of as baby quilts today.

And here's another beauty from Sandra's collection - she's planning to create a pattern for this one also:

So now I am back to reality and back to work (ugh!).  I posted my June OMG project via Instagram but will share it here, too - I want to try to progress my Floral No. 7 rug as far as possible (ideally completely hooked) before I head back to Janice's in the middle of July.  My husband is quite confident that there's absolutely no way I could finish it by then, so of course I am even more determined!  As of last night I have the center completed but there's a lot more left to do.

I will have to work hard to keep myself from getting distracted by too many other shiny objects. My Primitive Gatherings SBOW boxes (yes, plural....) started arriving yesterday. So far I have received the pieced and the EPP versions.  I am hoping the wool one comes today because I would love to get the first block prepped over the weekend. It can join the growing pile of other things I've prepped (all of last year's wool SBOW blocks, Moon Garden blocks....) it's out of control!