Passing the Time

What did you do all winter while you were in Florida, you might ask?  Well, this was our third winter in the same town and we have seen most all the sights there, although we are always surprised when something new pops up.  There are loads of parks and we have hiked the trails of all of them.  This year we were next to the ocean so we spent a lot of time walking the beach, watching the waves, picking up shells.  The usual stuff.

We spent a lot of nights playing trivia in a couple of different restaurants or bars.  Every time we or our friends had company we tried to work in a game of trivia.  We must have been getting pretty good at it as we won gift cards to the restaurant where we were playing, which meant another return visit the next week to play again.  Twice we took first prize.

The highlight of my trip was taking a class from Bonnie Hunter through the local guild.  I was so excited to be able to join them and work on the Talkin' Turkey block.  Bonnie is such a friendly and fun person.  I didn't know any of the other people, but met a few and they were very welcoming.  After the workshop, Bonnie did a trunk show which was fun too.

The first time we pulled into the garage of the house we rented this year, I immediately spied a plastic table folded up and stored against the garage wall.  I knew right away this was the table I could use to set up my sewing machine in the house.  There was a 3rd bedroom that was used as an office and a wall under a window with just the right space for the table and all my stuff.  I sewed nearly everyday we were there, sometimes for just a few minutes and other days for several hours.  Here are some of the things I was working on.

 I made this quilt top for my great niece who has a birthday coming up in May.  She will be 11.

 The pink fabric in the center of the square is elephants being carried by hot air balloons.  So funny.

 What grabbed me was this adorable fabric of girls carrying pink parasols while riding unicycles.  My little niece performs in a unicycle/ gymnastics group called Young Ambassadors.  They are ambassadors for physical fitness and perform at the half time of basketball games or at special assemblies at all the elementary and high schools and even college games in their town.  How perfect!!

 I  made these two little doll quilts for the granddaughters of my friend in Florida.  Her granddaughters live in Ecuador.  She had quilts made for them and I made these to go with them.

 I have been making a bunch of these for a Goose Chase quilt.  I made quite a few in Florida and just keep going.

 They are pretty small.

 I made this fancy carrying case to put my Talkin' Turkey blocks in to bring them home.  I didn't want them to get all wrinkly after I spent time ironing and squaring them.

I also made a bunch of these stars for a quilt designed by Humble Quilts.

Designing Monday

I finished this cute little quilt for the monthly challenge on the Sentimental Quilter's Yahoo group.  It was a fun one to make and I had most of the little squares already leftover from other projects.  I found a stencil for the quilting that is called Twisted Ribbon.  It worked great on the straight sides, but I had a bit of a quandary when I got to the corners.  I just had to draw some creative lines that eventually met up with the other side.  Every corner is different.  Not sure how that happened.

I'm getting prepped for a class in May through the guild.  The teacher is Laurie Ceesay who lives north of here in the UP.  She makes art quilts and is teaching a portrait class using her pattern.  We are supposed to make the background ahead of time so we can focus on the appliqué in class.  It should go pretty quick.  Laurie appeared on Quilting Arts TV this season.  I missed the episode and I don't know if they can be accessed via the internet or not.  This type of quilting will be a stretch for me, but looks like fun.

Background for Laurie Ceesay quilt

It is a cold dreary day in Northeast Wisconsin.  Hope you are having a better day in your neck of the woods.

Be sure to hop over to Judy's blog to see more beautiful quilts.

Designing Monday

I have been making more hexagons.  I started this as a hand project to do at my monthly stitching group, but I could see there is way too much yakking and not enough sewing to make much progress.  So I decided that I would work on it during TV time.  I know lots of you have been through the hexagon craze already, but I seem to wander in and out of it.  I have other shapes in my collection and hope to get around to those one of these days.

I got this little leaf runner bound and hung for the month of November.

Enjoy a day of stitching and hop on over to Judy's blog  to see some beautiful designs.

Designing Monday

This is all I have to show for the week.  I did this on Wednesday and Sunday night.  Wednesday was my Fiber Friends get together for the month and Sunday night was the Packer game.

I am involved in an endless painting project at my church.  I dragged my husband into help, so hopefully it will be done this week.  So no sewing this week.

Have a great week and hop over to Judy's blog to see some lovely designs.

Designing Monday

It's nearly October and that can only mean one thing.  Time for more orange and black quilts.  I have had more quilts in my head since last year when I got on this kick and I think it is time to pull them out and put them on fabric.  I put together this little checkerboard to be the center of a little quilt. The squares are 3/4".

I'll add some borders and call it done.

Since I already have 3 other black and orange quilts, I'm not sure how many more I will make, but I have lots of fabric in those colors, so I guess I will keep going til I'm tired of them.  LOL!

These are last year's little fall beauties

See some more great designs on Judy's  blog.

Quilt Expo Part 3

Here is the final day of photos from Quilt Expo.  Hope you have enjoyed going to the show with me.  Do you have a favorite?

Sparkle The Fruitcake

by Sue Hawkes

 Can you see the detail?  There is knotted cording between each pointed pentagon, plus many, many crystals on the points ( as well as the rest of the quilt).  Gorgeous quilt.

 Willa's Wash by Kathleen Kinney

This one just goes way off the scale for cuteness.  I love, love it!

 A quilt made of hankies

 Sunshine in the Mist

by Cheryl Lennox

 Lovin' Trains

by Jean Neitzel

Can you see the detail in the quilting?  There are engine faces on the right like Thomas the Tank engine and in the blue border on the left are RR crossing signs.  So creative!

 Royal Gatherins

by Cecile Stow

 by Gail Smith ( I missed the title.)

I love the pumpkins and fall colors.

I saved the best for last.  The final quilt is the Best of Show Award Winner.  

Creation Springs Forth

by Betty Ekern Suiter

Betty came to our guild in July and brought this quilt for all to see.  She hand dyes all her fabrics, hand appliqués and hand quilted this entire thing.  It is absolutely fabulous and flawless.  I took Betty's hand quilting and hand appliqué class through our guild.  It was quite an honor to learn from such a master.

Hope you enjoyed the show.  

Quilt Expo Part 2

More photos but first this interesting tidbit:

After posting to my blog yesterday, I received a delightful email from the maker of one of the unidentified quilts from my photos.  Her name is Janet Knapp and she is the maker of My Victory Garden.  She used a Primitive Gatherings pattern and modified it to make it her own by adding an American Flag on the right hand side.  Janet was unable to attend Quilt Expo and by some fluke came across my blog and discovered that she had won a ribbon for her quilt.  She told me that this same quilt won a Judge's Choice award  at Paducah this year and a first in the Minnesota show in June.  I am so excited for her.   She also shared her feelings about sending off a quilt to a show as well as what it is like to participate in a juried show.  What a treat to hear from her!  Here is her quilt again:

 My Victory Garden 

by Janet Knapp

Anyway, here are more lovely quilts from the show.  I wish I could take photos of all of them to show 

you. 

 Delectable Mountain Garden

by Illinois Quilters Inc of Green Oaks, IL

On Target by Mary Althaus

(I love this pattern.  Anybody know the name of it?) 

 This Old Barn
by Robin Hessefort

Barn Details

Rambutan by Rita Straubhaar

 One Little Red Bird by Juleen Prose

No Place Like Home
by Gerry Fischer

Bentonville Square

by Karen Kielmeyer and

the You Go-Go Girls Art Quilt Group

Dancette by Susan Suhre

Detail

Woodland Secrets

by Freida Anderson

 Cereal Killer Strikes Again

by Phyllis Kluger

This one is so funny.  Hope you can see the detail.

Come back again tomorrow for more photos.