November Fun

I am looking forward to taking a few days off to have some fun this month.  This week's fun begins with Suzanne Louth speaking at our quilt guild Tuesday evening and leading a broderie perse workshop on Wednesday.  I am looking forward to learning her techniques to help me along with my Rising Sun project.  I have never used the technique in a project before.

Speaking of Rising Sun, I finally landed on a color plan that I am happy with.  It includes a little more red and a few less fabrics than originally planned, but it lightens up the rows next to the points (not as light as the original, but as light as I want to go).  I started drawing my stitching lines on the diamonds today - which is much more difficult than drawing first and cutting after, I must say - and hope to start stitching in the next week or so.

Friday through Sunday I will be taking a workshop with Anita White.  I am starting a new rug and am very excited about hooking something other than triangles!  I am doing a pattern by Susan Quicksall called "Vines & Flowers".  Here is the version she has posted on her website:

http://hollyhilldesigns.net/patterns-flowers-baskets.htm



I plan to use a soft teal for my background.  I think it will make the choices for leaves and flowers very interesting.  I am really looking forward to it!

Next week's fun includes Wool Applique at Nola's - the project is so cute this month that I couldn't resist getting a kit - and a couple of "sew-in" days with my TAS group.  I am really looking forward to a few short work weeks and lots of sewing and hooking!

Projects New & Old

PIt's been so long since I have posted that I actually have progress to report!  I finished assembling this top last weekend.  Leaving it out on my sewing table definitely paid off!  This is the first quilt I have made with an appliquéd border (or at least the first one where I have actually made it to the border!).  I had to lay out 430 inches of vine without anything to go by other than the picture on th pattern cover.  It was tough!  It took much longer than I expected.  I still have a long way to go - hundreds of leaves and berries - but I was happy to get this far.

A close-up of the appliqué:

Speaking of projects I am finally making progress on, the giant rug is finally hooked!  I finished booking it and steamed it last night. The binding is going to take some time - this thing is 40"x54" - but it is great to have it off the frame!

 

Last but not least, I've been trying to choose fabrics for a quilt reproduction project I am doing with a group of folks led by Rita Verroca.  

I found a couple of the fabrics in a bundle of fat eighths so I had to go on an internet hunt to find more.  I have only found one batik that works so far.  I would like to have three or four in my star.  I've ordered a couple on the internet - I'm hoping they will work.  Too bad we don't have shops like Homestead Hearth or Quilted Moose in our area!  

Hookin' in Warsaw

I had an absolutely wonderful time attending a hook-in in Warsaw, MO last Saturday. The venue was outstanding! Even though the room is technically a gym, the stone walls and beautiful view of the river made it feel really cozy.

The vendors were great.  I found plenty of things I had to have...including some new punch needle patterns (like I really need another hobby!).

There were quite a few rugs in the show. Below are some of my favorites.

The one on the bottom of the photo above was hooked by a beginner.  I love the colors!  And then there was this one:

It was absolutely drop-dead gorgeous! Not surprisingly, it won first place.  I need to make one of these!  Not necessarily the same pattern, but same idea (album quilt).

After the hook-in we stopped by the open house at Saltbox Primitive Woolens.  What a wonderful shop!

 

I found the perfect wool for the border of my Kaleidoscope rug (which still isn't finished, by the way).

I am currently at Eugene Mahoney State Park attending the Baltimore on the Prairie Appliqué Conference.  We arrived late this afternoon but managed to slip in a quick visit to the Country Sampler quilt shop just before closing time.

I'm off to a one-day class with Jeanne Sullivan  tomorrow.  We hope to squeeze in another quilt shop visit at lunch time.  I am looking forward to an exciting week!

What Happened to Summer?

I can't believe that school has started and that Labor Day is a little over a week away!  We have had the most wonderful San Diego-style weather here this summer - I guess time flies even faster when the days are sunny and gorgeous rather than oppressively humid and unbearably hot!

I have been busy shopping, cooking and packing for my girls as they head off to college, but I did manage to squeeze in little mini-retreat at the lake. I only took hand work, so I don't have a lot to show for my time, but I did manage to finish another star.

I think this one may be my favorite so far.  The colors are a little off in the photo - it's actually more blue.  I love the fabric.

I've managed to slip in a little time at my sewing machine over the past few weeks, too.  I decided to leave a project out on the table and just do a few minutes here and there as time allowed.  I've managed to progress from this:

to this:

In just a few short sessions.  I want to get this one assed because this pattern has an appliqué border.  I've always wanted to do an appliqué border and this one is fairly reasonable.

I still plugging along on the rug.  I really wanted to have it finished by now, but just can't seem to find the time or the motivation to keep it going!  It is getting closer...  

Maybe I can shoot for Labor Day?

A Year of Stars

Yesterday was the 13th and final meeting of my hand piecing class. I only managed to do finish one of my 12" blocks this month. I had really planned on setting the project aside for a while now that the class has ended, but after pressing my latest block this morning I decided to lay them all out to see how far I've come.

While I still have quite a bit to do - 6 of the 12" blocks and 7 of the small stars - I'm amazed and excited by how much I have actually finished. My appliqué and hexies may have to sit on the back burner a little longer!

Obsessed with Handwork

I can't believe that it has been over a month since I last posted!  I feel like I am pedaling as fast as I can but still losing the race these days...  Things are starting to slow down a bit now, so hopefully I will be able to keep up with my projects and posts for at least a while. 

I am still working on the Lemoyne Stars and actually managed to finish both of my 12" blocks last month thanks to a couple of really long travel days to and from Germany.

I'm working on the 12th block now.  Our last meeting is Aug 3rd.  I'm pretty sure that I won't have my homework finished this time around, but I have kept up fairly well and only have about 5 more 12" blocks to finish (and several 6" blocks...I lost count on those).  I just hope I can motivate myself to stick with them after the classes end.  I think I will be really happy with the quilt when finished.  I am really in love with the colors.

I spent the weekend trying to catch up on prepping my Summer BOW and Summer Freebie blocks.  Week 7 arrived last week.  I am completely caught up on the prep work and have finished stitching two of the freebie blocks and am almost finished with the third BOW block.  At this point my goal is just to keep up with the prep...I will eventually get to the stitching.  I really need to figure out what I am going to do with the words.  I have decided to embroider them, but I need to decide on a font.

 

I am looking forward to wrapping up my LeMoyne stars (or the class, at least) so that I can get back to my hexies.  I am obsessed with English Paper Piecing right now and can't wait to have time to do some!  Chris Moline visited our guild in July and I had an opportunity to take an EPP class from her. I am fascinated by how many variations there are on the EPP technique.  In any event, one of the shapes she gave us to try was a clamshell.  I loved it!  I would really love to do a clamshell quilt one of these days. She also showed a quilt in her trunk show that is perfect for EPP.  I love the indigo - I really would love to make this one too!

Chris has an absolutely amazing quilt collection!  Her trunk show was wonderful.  I found several quilts I would love to make (all handwork, of course...I'm going to have to live to 200 to work all of these in!)

And then there are my rugs....I have so many rugs started and now I've signed up for another class this year!  I am on a mission to get my kaleidoscopes finished in two weeks.  It's an aggressive goal, but I am getting close.

I have one more row along the top and one column on the side plus most of the little corners to do.  And the border. A lot of hooking, but I am on a mission!

Sweltering at the Lake

I had big plans for a relaxing day sewing and/or hooking at the lake today.  I originally blocked the day as vacation so that I could take a workshop with my quilt guild but decided I would rather use the day to take care of a couple of things on the "to do" list and then just kick back and relax.  The day got off to a good start - I drove to Rolla in the morning and picked up the keys and completed the check-in inspection for my daughter's apartment and was back on the road on my way to the lake by 10 am. I got to Osage Beach just in time for lunch at one of my most favorite restaurants, On the Rise, and thoroughly enjoyed one of my very favorite meals...their Monte Christo. I then headed to the house to play - or so I thought - only to find that the air conditioner (which is only 4 years old) would not turn on.  And yes, it would just happen to be the hottest day of the year so far.  It was 95 F in the house most of the day.  And of course any service people available until Friday.  By the time I finally had a service appointment scheduled I was too hot and irritated to do much of anything.  So much for kicking back to relax!  It's still over 90 F in here at 8:30 pm.  I'm just hoping it cools off enough for me to get a decent night's sleep.

I did muster the energy to finish block one of the 2013 summer BOW.  It's called "Words to Live By" and is supposed to have a word inked on it but I haven't worked up the nerve to do that yet.  I'm not at all big on writing on fabric.  It never works out for me.

Pardon the wrinkles...no way I was heating up an iron in this sauna!  Block two probably arrived in the mailbox today.  I will have to get it prepped when I get home Friday - I'm going to do my best to keep up this summer!

And now for a couple of pictures of quilts from the show.  I completed the "carnival" quilt (pattern by Gudrun Erla) at one of our sleep in your own bed retreats. Shelly McClymont did a wonderful job quilting it.

And this is the quilt that I was lucky enough to win from my TAS group.  The quilt is called "An Applique Welcome" and is composed of blocks made by 17 members of our local TAS chapter. Jane Hair outdid herself with the quilting - it is gorgeous.  I was the luck winner of this beauty!  We had agreed when we came up with the idea to make the quilt that the winner would exhibit it in the quilt show. Not only did we win first place in our category, we were told by an NQA judge that visited the show that she would have chosen it as best of show!  I am so thrilled to be the lucky owner of this work of art that represents so many of my wonderful friends!

My Lisa's Garden quilt didn't end up hanging quite as smoothly as I would like - I should have taken more time to block it before finishing, but I was rushing.  I am going to try to correct the problem and will hopefully have a nice flat picture of the quilt to share soon.