Friday, May 18, 2012

Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2012

I just love this festival!
How fun
To visit all the lovely quilts, see some new friends,
visit some old friends . . . yummy!

Today I thought I would show you my courthouse steps quilt.
I started this quilt last August while I was in the middle of 
downsizing and moving.


I loved the planning that had to go into this one,
like a puzzle. 
I had to be able to lay it out to build each block on the last blocks.


You also needed to see color placement as you progressed,
there would be no flipping blocks around to get balance,
you had to find the balance as you sewed.
Kind of like life right?


I used Nice Jane for the backing
and a cute black and white leafy print for the binding.


I called this quilt Moving Day, because I made it through my big transition.
Then I decided that I wanted to donate it to Victoria's
Basic Quilts Charity.
I wanted someone else to find comfort in their transition.

I was so incredibly lucky to help Victoria hand out quilts
last December, so that made my donation even more special.

If you have a quilt that you can part with,
it is an amazing charity to support.
Thank you so much to Amy for hosting this quilt festival!
I so look forward to it each time it rolls around.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Sewing with The Kid

I know I haven't been posting a lot lately,
but I have been sewing a lot!
I have been making great progress on my flying geese quilt.
I have 56 four geese blocks


And I have 30 of these square in square filler blocks.
I love this one with the little sheep in the middle.
I am paper piecing all of these and I love the precision.


The Kid came over today to sew with me.
I LOVE it when this happens.
We have so much fun giggling and figuring out 
what works and what doesn't on our projects.


She finished the top for her log cabin quilt,
and started piecing the back.
I think I convinced her that quilting by check 
 might be the way to go for this quilt.
It's queen size and it would be her first time quilting it herself.
Maybe start with something smaller??? 
I want her to keep sewing!  Haha.


I worked on this Love wall hanging.
The kid helped me with the border selection,
and she was so right.
My first choice was way too busy.
I was inspired by Nichi at Quiltycat


I had to re-do a couple of the letters.
You really need to lay them all out to make sure the
colors work next to each other.


So we settled on a Kaffe border . . . 
(What a surprise!)
This little goodie is headed to a good friend for her birthday.
Shhhhh . . . it's a surprise.
Now to quilt it.

All in all a great day of sewing with the best company ever!
Hope you had a fun day too.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Crazy Quilting for Crazy Quilters!

I had the most wonderful day today!
I met a bunch of my quilting buddies for a lecture on crazy quilting.
They were so fabulous to drive up to my neighborhood!


Sue Reich gave a wonderful talk on crazy quilts,
how they were made and what the different embellishments mean.


They were mostly silks and satins with lots of yummy embroidery.
The women that made these quilts would collect scraps from
where ever they could, from old clothes, remnants, you name it.
Like a treasure hunt.
There could be thousands of pieces in each quilt.

Spider webs mean good luck.


These quilts were foundation pieced and usually done in blocks that
were later put together to make the quilt top.


I love the tufted wheat in this block.


And these black eyed Susans


This quilt was made by the grandmother one of the attendees.
The quilter was an opera singer and many of the pieces 
of fabric were from her costumes.
The detail is amazing.
She is pondering what to do with this quilt 
because no one in her family really wants it.
Well, there could have been a rumble!
Jody volunteered to take in on the spot! Hehe.


The flower on this block looks like a fluffy chenille dream!


 My group shot picture is kind of blurry,
but here is the gang!
Victoria, Margaret, me, Chris, Helen and Jody.
 I think Victoria and Helen will have better group shots on their blogs.
We all went out to lunch after and had a giggle fest.
My kind of day!
Thank you ladies for all the fun.