Determination

It's been a while since I posted...  I have been crazy busy lately!  Not much time for sewing or hooking, with the exception of this past weekend when I had a wonderful opportunity to retreat at a friend's house.  I started on a new project, so a lot of my time was spent cutting, but I did manage to get 18 of the 100 blocks completed.  I forgot to take a picture, but here's one of the quilt from the Thangles site:

I purchased the pattern and fabric the first year it was displayed at Paducah.  I found the receipt for the fabric in the bag - it was 2006.  I've been wanting to start it for a long time, so it was really fun to finally get it going.

Starting this quilt was actually part of a two-year plan - a plan that involves having at least four quilts ready by the time of our guild's next quilt show (June 2013).  We just finished with this year's show and sadly I had absolutely nothing to show for the past two years!  We usually allow each member to have up to four quilts in the show, and I am determined to have four of my own in next time.  Never mind that I have never had more than one in the past...

Down to the Wire!

I finished piecing my Lisa's Garden quilt yesterday, just two days before the 2011 BOW is due to ship.  I am so excited that I was actually able to "finish" my 2010 project before the new one started!  I realize it isn't really finished - quilting is always the toughest part for me - but I have so little time to actually sit at a machine these days that I have to celebrate every milestone!  Now I just have to get the quilting and binding done in time for this one to be in the 2013 show!

I have also been making some progress on my Crazy Horse rug.  I took a picture last week but never had time to post, so here it is as of this morning:

I am hooking this one a bit backwards - background first - but I have had such a problem with having to pull out parts of my motifs because of conflicts with backgound that I have decided I will get all of the background done and then go back and figure out my motif colors.  

I'll be spending another day in the sewing room.  I'm not sure what I will work on next.  I have at least 20 things I can't wait to get back to!  I may just have to break out the AccuQuilt today - it's still in the shopping bag from Paducah.  I was thrilled to find that the standard dies that come with the cutter are the size that I need for the stars in the "Stars & Sprigs" pattern.  I can't wait to give it a try!

Mother's Day Sewing

What a nice weekend!  Lots of sunshine (a little too warm for May, but given that it was the first non-rainy weekend in recent memory, I'm not going to complain!) combined with a fairly short list of things on the "to do" list made for a relaxing couple of days.  I spent the entire afternoon in the sewing room yesterday and managed to finish up all of the nine patches for my Lisa's Garden quilt.  I still have 8 blocks left to applique and then need to come up with the setting.  I am definitely doing it different from the instructions, but can't decide if I want to include the squares around the border or not.  Decisions, decisions!

I also spent a little time hooking over the weekend and made a little more progress on my Crazy Horse project. 

I pulled out the red in the first flower and finished filling in the second one.  I'm not sure what direction I am going to go with the petals on the first one.  It really seems to defy traditional logic to hook the background before the motifs, but I feel like I need to have the background colors in place in order to make decisions on the flower colors.  I plan to continue working on the background for a while before filling in any other motifs.

Paducah and Susan Quicksall

Last week was full of fun and excitement!  The week started with a trip to the AQS Show in Paducah, KY.  The show was quite a bit different from previous years due to flooding.  AQS did an outstanding job of last-minute logistics in order to pull everything off.  I was amazed at how smoothly everything went!  I thought parking would be a nightmare, but other than the crowds being a little thicker than usual in some of the vendor locations, I think it went rather well.  It seems like it took a lot less time to see everything than usual.

I returned home from Paducah a day early after giving up my room to some friends whose hotel had closed due to flooding.  It worked out well for me in spite of the fact that I missed a chance to have a second dinner at Flamingo Row and instead ended up with Hamburger Helper since I needed to be at Nola's Friday afternoon for my workshop with Susan Quicksall.

The workshop was wonderful! Susan is such an incredible artist. Her patterns are gorgeous, and sitting in her class you are tempted to buy one of each...if only I had time to do them all!  Below is a sneak peek at the rug she is currently working on.  It's amazing!

I ended up pulling out a rug I started in class with her the last time she was here (five years ago - yikes!) and was very happy I did.  It became obvious as I went through the materials I had packed away with that project that I must have left that workshop without much of a plan.  I was able to really focus on the color planning this time aroung and have a good idea where I am headed now. 

That being said, I was having trouble following the color map on Saturday night and ended up making a mistake.  The dark teal behind the red-orange flower is suposed to be red.  I pulled it out last night and replaced it with the correct color, but now the flower looks like it needs to be a different color even though it is outlined.  I will probably pull out the petals and make them some type of blue.  I think it will work better with the other flower in the long run.  It started out as gold and ended up red, and I hate having two red flowers so close together.  I'm setting aside my Antique Floral for a while to focus on this one - I would like to finish it up as quick as possible while I am in the groove. We'll see how fast it goes!

Rug Camp (Catching Up)

I never got around to posting pictures from rug camp, so it's time to play a little "catch up". Our camp teacher this year was Wendy Miller of The Red Saltbox.  The class was wonderful!  Wendy's colors were awesome. Here's a small sampling of what she brought (and this was taken after the table had been heavily picked over by all of us!):

I didn't get a lot of pics of people working on their rugs this year, but did manage to take a few at show & tell.  Here are a few of the finished rugs, beginning with Imogene's Christmas Sleigh:

Angie did an incredible job creating dimension with lights and darks - she did this rug using only overdyed worms:

Barb H. did a beautiful job on her rug:

And I absolutely love Barb A's chickens:

Rachel's rugs are always beautiful and always original designs.  I love her color pallete!

Now back to the present...I did manage to finish one thing on my "to do" list this weekend.  This block is part of a special top-secret project, so I can't say too much about it now...  I found the pattern in a book of blocks published by Quiltmania.

I was a little too ambitious with the embroidery - thankfully it doesn't show up all that well in the photo. I absolutely HATE writing on quilt blocks, so I thought I would give embroidery a shot. While I have gotten better at the fancy stitches from my crazy quilt classes, I am definitely a novice when it comes to stitchng letters!

Antique Floral Progress - Week 3

Work continues to get in the way of my artistic endeavors, so I haven't made a tremendous amount of progress on anything lately.  With the quilt show looming less than two months away, I think it is safe to assume I will not have anything to enter.  I haven't had time to work on the one little quilt I thought I might be able to complete due to other commitments.  I am currently spending my applique time working on a block for a friend, and as soon as that is finished I need to knock out another cake basket for the AQOMV quilt.  I am wondering why I got myself into that one!

I have spent some time on my Antique Floral rug.  Not a huge amount, but I can at least see a little progress since the photo two weeks ago.  I have a horrible tendency to pack when I use monk's cloth, though - it's tough to get it to lay flat enough for a picture!

I finally remembered to take a picture of the building across the street from my office in New York.  I have been fascinated by the facade ever since I first saw it.  It is barely noticeable from the street level, but we have a very good view from our third floor windows.  I would love to make this design into a brightly-colored rug:

Time to get back to that applique - I don't want to be the last one finished!

Time Sure Flies...

...when you are traveling almost every week!  Between vacation and work travel I have been on the road for five of the last six weeks.  I even took two trips one week!



I attended the Applique Academy for the first time in February.  It was wonderful!  I took classes with Kathy Dunigan, Bobbie Ashley and Georgeann Wrinkle. I purchased way too many patterns - enough applique to last me a lifetime!

Somewhere between the Academy and a trip to Austin, TX (work-related) I managed to finish my first swap block for the AQOMV exchange.  I really, really hate having to sign the blocks.  I ended up having to replace the piece I signed on this block and wasn't at all impressed with the one I did this month. There has to be some way I can do better!

I haven't had a chance to work on any other blocks for myself.  I am doing well just to get my one basket made and in the mail every month!

Last week was one of my favorite events of the year - Toddhall Rug Camp!  This year's teacher was Wendy Miller.  I decided to work on an old Emma Lou Lais pattern I had in my collection.  Wendy's wools are gorgeous!  I didn't get nearly as much done as I had hoped, but I did get a good start and can't wait to get this one done.  I have to work hard to make a significant dent in it before Susan Quicksall's class next month.  Here it is at the end of week one:

I have completely given up on finishing that big applique quilt in time for this year's show, so I have gone back to working on my Lisa's Garden blocks.  There's a slight chance I could get that one done by June, particularly since I could do the quilting myself.  Too bad it's not a rug show - I have actually finished a couple of those in the past two years!