Finishing Stuff is for the Birds!

It's been such a long time since I have posted!  Life has been crazy busy the past few weeks. Looking back at the end of April, I had a wonderful time at the AQS show in Paducah. I was a bit disappointed in how the show seems to be shrinking - while still a fantastic show, the number of vendors has clearly decreased due to the addition of all the new shows. I think the quality of quilts in the show will likely start to suffer, too.  It's nice that having all of these new shows allows more people to attend, I think it really detracts from what has been truly special about Paducah and Houston.

I was fortunate to be able to get into one of Edyta Sitar's classes while in Paducah.  She is absolutely fantastic!  She is an incredible teacher and is super sweet and extremely funny.  The class was definitely the highlight of the week for me.  Below is a picture of her explaining our lollipop kits.  She was so concerned about students not being able to get very far in a three hour class that she cut out a complete block for each of us. All we had to do was start sewing!

Edyta had lots of great tips to share with us.  Here she shows how half of a Dresden plate can be combined with applique to make a gorgeous flower block.  Wouldn't that be a beautiful quilt?

After Paducah was Hook-in St.Louis.  I managed to avoid getting into trouble there, although I did fall in love with a foot stool that I would love to make. The only problem is that it is HUGE!  Lots and lots of hooking.  I haven't committed to that one just yet...

Since returning from my travels I have been working frantically to finish things for the show. I should have some pictures to post next week - better to take them when the quilts are hanging.  I finished binding my TAS pineapple quilt (I can't wait to share a picture of that one!) and my little wool applique quilt (Lisa's Garden).  I put a sleeve on my Runaway Mystery quilt (that stinker is 100" square!) and have nearly finished binding (about 7" to go) my Carnival quilt.  I am hoping to finish that binding and get that sleeve on tonight.  I want to go back to not finishing things - the binding is killing me!  My hands are aching and my brain is numb.  I can't wait to sew something other than binding and sleeves!

I did manage to finish one of my homework blocks this month.  Unfortunately it was only one...I'm falling farther behind each month.

Last, but certainly not least on my list of accomplishments over the past month is my daughter's graduation.  I'm sure she doesn't consider this to be my accomplishment, but anyone who has lived through teenage daughters know exactly what I'm talking about! She's the one smiling at the camera...I've cropped and zoomed so much that she's a bit blurry...but she ran to the back and turned in her sashes before I could get any other pictures proving she was summa cum laude!

I'll be back next week with pictures of finished quilts.  So excited to mark a couple off of my list!

It's a Wonder I Ever Finish Anything!

The weather was beautiful yesterday - a perfect day for sitting out on the deck at the lake. My dogwood isn't even close to being ready to bloom but the redbud is in full bloom and the sun was shining. 

I have been trying to work on my Kaleidoscope rug a little every day with a goal of completing it before my workshop with Sally Kallin in June. I worked on it a bit at Wool Club on Saturday and spent yesterday afternoon hooking out on the deck. I've managed to make a little progress.
















I'm about half way finished so there is still a lot of work to do, but it does go pretty quickly.

A lot of the folks were crocheting at Wool Club on Saturday.  They were working on scarves and tote bags from the new Crochet Noro book.  I had planned to resist the temptation to dabble in yet another hobby (although I used to crochet, I haven't done it in 20 years), but I caved... I stopped at Knitorious (a wonderful yarn shop in St. Louis) when I left Nola's and picked up the book and some yarn.  So instead of working on my hand piecing homework last night like I should have, I crocheted this little bowl:

I have absolutely no idea what I will do with it, but it turned out really cute and was lots of fun to make.  I just may have to make another....

And speaking of things that distract me from what I should be working on, I started one of my new wool applique projects last weekend.  I managed to finish the first block:

These blocks are really small and go pretty quickly.  I would love to prep another one to work on but really need to focus on the things that I've committed to getting done, including binding my TAS quilt (I will post a photo and tell a little more about that one once the binding is on) and putting a sleeve on my Runaway quilt.  If by chance my quilters come through on the two quilts I dropped off last weekend I am going to have a LOT of work to do in May!

It Just Doesn't Get Any Better!

The trip to Kansas City was absolutely wonderful.  It wasn't nearly long enough - although it was really quite fortunate that we beat the weather, being stranded there another day or two wouldn't have upset me at all!  We began our visit to the KC area with lunch at the Salty Iguana.  My chimichanga with lizard sauce was absolutely delicious!  We then  headed over to Quilter's Station (quite possibly the best quilt shop in the country...maybe even the world!) to burn off lunch through power shopping.

Quilter's Station has an unbelievable selection of threads, embroidery flosses and pearl cottons. I didn't realize that they carry Simple Arts floss and wool threads (the brand Sue Spargo uses). Unfortunately I didn't have my lists with me so I couldn't really supplement my collection.

 












They have tons of fabric and fantastic samples to inspire!

I was so inspired that I picked up kits for two new wool applique quilts (crazy, I know).  I actually have both patterns but absolutely loved the colors they had done them in.  Here's what they will look like if I ever get them finished:

And that was just the first afternoon!  We headed to Janice's after dinner.  Her shop is beautiful. It's what I dream of for my own sewing/hooking room.

Can you believe all that wool?!?  It's amazing.  I managed to fall  in love with a huge new pattern Thursday night.  Although I tried to talk myself out of it, I ended up color-planning it on Friday.  I am really excited about the pattern and the colors we selected.  I resisted the urge to start it, though - I stuck to my kaleidoscope and, after hooking one square three times, finally landed on colors that will work.

The group we hooked with was lots of fun and the food was plentiful and delicious as always. The time flew by and the retreat was over way too soon. We are already thinking about going back.  It can't be soon enough for me!

Kansas City Here I Come!

Just 24 hours from now I will be on my way to Janice Johnson's for a short hooking retreat.  I can't wait!  I am resisting the temptation to start another rug and will instead work on the Kaleidoscope rug I started when I was there last year.  I am hoping I can figure out the last of the color combinations (I think I still need one more medium) and make a lot of progress on it.  Hmm....wonder if I could finish it in time for the hook-in?  That's probably a little too ambitious...April 2014 might be a bit more realistic.

I went to a quilt show over the weekend and saw an X-block quilt that was absolutely gorgeous.  I didn't get the name of the gentleman that made it, but if I remember the description correctly it was his first quilt (amazing work for a beginner, isn't it?!?).  I have wanted to make one of these for quite a while.  Seeing this version inspired me to move the project at least a little higher on my "one of these days" list.

I am trying hard to complete my hand-piecing homework for this month after falling short last month.  I am getting a little burned out - not that I am tired of working on the blocks because I do truly enjoy it, but it is somewhat frustrating that keeping up with the homework means that I don't have any time to work on applique or to hook.  That being said, I really love my first block this month:

Just one more day....I can't wait to hit the road!  I will post progress on my rug and hopefully a few pictures of our hook-in at Janice's next week.

Where Does the Time Go?!?

I can't believe it's almost half way through March already!  This year is flying by and I certainly don't seem to be getting much accomplished! I am only able to report some success in chipping away at my February goals because I waited so long to post!  So first the good news:

February goal #3 - I finished my January Sue Spargo blocks a couple of nights ago.

I didn't add all of the suggested embellishment stitches to the tail of the bird in the middle - I liked him better without. I find that I am not a fan of doing bouillon stitches...I like how they look, but they are certainly hard on the fingers!

February goal #6 was to prep the next two Prairie Peony blocks. While I didn't completely finish prepping these, I did get the piecing done (the part I like the least!).

As far as goal #7 is concerned - finishing my hand-piecing homework - I really fell short on that one.  I finished one of the two 12" blocks late last week.  I haven't even started the second one.

I did manage to make a lot of progress on the Easy Street mystery quilt at a guild retreat a couple of weeks ago.  This is my stack of finished blocks:

I have two more blocks to finish and then can begin assembling the quilt.  I would like to finish the top in time to have it quilted for the show.  That would be three quilts that need to be quilted for the show.  Hmm... that's a LOT of binding!

So now for my list of goals for March:

1. Find a quilter for Lisa's Garden 
2. Finish Easy Street top
3. Finish February Sue Spargo blocks
4. Catch up on Wool Club hooking (Jan-Mar)
5. Finish March hand-piecing homework

I'm keeping it a little shorter and more realistic given the month is half way over and I am heading off to a rug retreat in the Kansas City area in a little over a week.  I still have to decide if I am starting a new project there or working on an old one. I have an awesome sampler rug I would love to color-plan, but really should go back to my Kaleidoscope and finish figuring out the colors on that one. Decisions, decisions!

Applique Academy 2013

I just returned from a wonderful few days at the Applique Academy where I took a class from Jeanne Sullivan.  She is an awesome instructor!  She teaches a prepared applique technique that might have actually changed my opinion of sizing and freezer paper.  I need to get a little farther on the block to make up my mind for sure, but I have to admit that even as a diehard needle-turner I wasn't minding the prep at all and was actually really liking the end result.

I was able to break away from the computer for a while on Thursday to visit an exhibit of Baltimore Album quilts at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum in Colonial Williamsburg.  It's an interesting museum - it's actually a collection of museums in a building that used to be the public hospital in Colonial Williamsburg.  The quilts were wonderful, but it was the overall display that really caught my eye.  The area was fairly dim with special lighting on the quilts and quilt block designs projected on the floor.



The museum had a nice variety of quilts.  While all Baltimore-style, they were quite different from one another. (Note that the lines in the photos are seams in the glass - between the dim lighting and  glass display cases it was tough to get a good photo!)

I was fortunate to have a beautiful sunny day to explore the museum and a little bit of Colonial Williamsburg. I didn't have time to visit any of the houses, but did stop in a couple of shops in the merchant's area and enjoyed a delicious lunch from The Cheese Shop.

I will post more pictures from the Academy and pictures of my latest work (my January Sue Spargo BOM blocks are nearly complete!) later this week.  I'm off to the sewing room to unpack my class supplies...which seem to somehow have doubled in volume over the past few days!

Sad, Sad Story & February Goals

I fell a bit short on my January goals - I finished my hand-piecing homework and one of my Prairie Peony blocks, but that's all.  I contacted a quilter for my Lisa's Garden quilt and learned she had a bit of a backlog...as in she just might be able to do it in time for our 2015 show...so it's back to the drawing board on that one.  I haven't been home much so I didn't get a chance to finish up my January work on my Wool Club rug.

At my hand piecing class this weekend we had a chance to put all of the blocks we've completed so far on the wall to look at the colors. I usually dread that type of thing because I almost always end up liking other people's color choices better than my own.  I was thrilled and amazed to find that I really, truly like my own best!  I'm very happy with the mix so far and love the Japanese taupe fabrics.

I'm short one 12" and one 6" block - both from the first month, I believe. I've been on time with all the rest.  I hurried home from class and immediately started prepping my blocks for March.  My goal was to get everything ready including an extra 6" block and finish all while on the road this week (yeah, I know that isn't at all realistic, but you can't blame a girl for dreaming!).  I was very happy with my collection of pieces and parts.

Each diamond in the new block is made up of 9 diamonds, so there's a lot of piecing to do. 80 pieces per block.  I busily set to work piecing the first 12" block on this morning's flight. I knew early on that it just didn't right, but kept thinking that maybe the pieces just LOOKED big.  That had to be it, right?  All the seam allowance creating an illusion of largeness?  Not so much.

See the diamond on the right?  That's the one I pieced.  The one on the left?  It's the template showing the size the finished diamond is supposed to be. So I have 144 diamonds that are the wrong size.  Sad, isn't it?  I figure I can re-purpose some of them to make the missing 12" block from the first month and to make some of my other 6" blocks, but the rest will have to be re-traced and cut down.  Heavy sigh...

So on to my goals for February:

1.  Find a quilter for Lisa's Garden
2.  Finish second Prairie Peony block
3.  Finish January Sue Spargo blocks
4.  Complete January & February Wool Club hooking
5.  Finish stitching first Birds of a Feather block
6.  Piece and prep next two Prairie Peony blocks
7.  Finish hand-piecing homework

The list is long and my time at home is minimal, but I'm feeling optimistic.  After all, I have a little vacation time coming up!