Designing Monday

I have been way too busy to sew or blog lately.  I have been on a reading jag and did some traveling and a little yard work/ gardening.  Now I am trying to get caught up on the Friends and Companions Sew A Long.  Here is the only quilt type sewing I have done lately ( lots of mending, though):

Saturday I went to the Farmer's Market and got this haul.

Healthy veggies

My favorite - okra

Yummy plums and Honey Crisp apples

Our tomatoes were really late this year and my plant is still full of green ones.

Our grapes really produced for the first time this year.  We got a handful of purple ones and big bowlfuls of green ones.

We ate some of the green ones, but tired of them quickly, so I bought a steam juicer.  What a fun toy!  The juice was flavorful, but still not what I wanted, so then I made a big batch of jelly.  It still hasn't set up yet after 3 days, so that may be all that it does.  Haven't tried it yet. But it has nearly a full bag of sugar in it, so it can't be too bad, can it?

If you haven't seen the photos of Quilt Expo, take time to scroll thru my last two or three posts.

Then hop on over to Judy's blog to see more beautiful quilts.

Quilt Expo 3

More quilts to share.

 Summer's Bounty by Nancy Whitton

 Flamboyant Fascination by Linda Neri

 Little Red Schoolhouse by Caryl Brix

 Battle of Greasy Grass - The faces appear to be photocopied onto fabric and then thread painted or quilted .  The map around the people is quilted onto the background.  The larger words are machine embroidered.  The smaller words which are place names on the map are written in by hand.  Lots of beading and embellishment as well.  

 Roses for Katrina by Gail H. Smith

 Closeup of quilting and border 

 Piecemakers' 2003 Times and Seasons

The next few are called Winding River by the Rambling River Project.  There were a total of 17 panels, I think, made by 17 different people.  Each depicted a portion of a river and they were hung at different heights so that the river flowed from one panel to the next.  Very clever idea.

The next ones were made by several people and called the Whimsical Cow Stampede.  The makers all used the same cow block from a book called Out of the Box with Easy Blocks.  These are just a sampling of about 30 quilts.

 And the Cow Said Boo

 Cowmen Miranda

 Happy Moo Year

 Vino Cow  - the udder has corks for teats

 Cowabunga

 Moolah -- A Cash Cow

 The Three Cowballeros

Moooy Cowliente

Quilt Expo 2

Nothing new on my design wall today.  I am quilting a gift, so I will share more quilts from Quilt Expo.

 Summer Romance by Shirley Alexander

 Tiger Lily by Caryl Brix

 Aunt Mimi's Flower Garden II by Elsie Campbell

 Sedona Star by Sharon Christensen

 Acanthus with a Twist by Mary Olson

 Field of Poppies by Betty Richards

 A Pink Rose Garden for Zoe by Carol Schwankl

 Points of Interest by Mildred Sorrells

 Grape Arbor by Peggy Garwood

Mon Petit Baltimore by Susie Wimer

This was indeed a small quilt and the maker designed all the blocks to fit the smaller size.

Still more to come.

Livin' Large

We had a great day at Quilt Expo on Thursday.  I went with 3 friends and the talk was non-stop for the whole day 7:30 am - 9:00 pm.  How can we have so much to say?  The best part was that it was my birthday.  What could be better than friends, a road trip and quilts to look at all day long?

This is not my car.  It was parked by the entrance to the quilt show.

Here is a sampling of some of the gorgeous work we saw.  I tend to love appliqué, so my photos are definitely slanted in that direction.  Enjoy.

 Days of Wine and Roses by Cathleen Miller

 Close up of quilting and embroidery around each grape

 Tulip Serenade by Barbara Clem

 Cotton Candy by Linda Bergmann

 Ladies of the Sea by Carolyn Stone

 Stars All Around by Jean Hensen

Infinite Variety Revisited by Gail H. Smith

 Date

 Initials

Harry Potter's Bookcase by Jennifer Rose

Stay tuned for more soon