Sweatshop Sunday

Such a busy weekend I have had!

Too much fun and laughter, well, there's never too much of that really.

My Saturday started with our NYC Metro Mod Guild meeting.

Always so much fun!

Here is Mary's collection of her Bee Blocks from October.

Love seeing them altogether.

 And Jessica's Bee Blocks from November.

  Jessica's Round Robin came back to her,

isn't it wonderful?!!! 

 Here is E's Bee Block quilt put together and layered for quilting.

 E also had her Christmas quilt top finished and layered.

Something tells me that girl will doing alot of machine quilting in the near future!

 Here I am with Bambi Shapiro, (she picked her psuedo-name, so typical)

We are holding our raffle tickets for all the swag they were handing out.

Bambi is one of my great quilting buddies and just great buddy in general.

She makes me laugh!!!  All the time.

 I showed my 15 Mins Play BOM.

After the meeting, Bambi and I headed to the fabric stores.

We walked around for hours laughing and checking out

what's new.

All in all, Saturday was a blast in more ways than one! 

****************

So onto the sweatshop portion of our post.

Sunday, I decided to stay home and sew all day long.

I only ventured out for food in the late afternoon.

I set up my big folding cutting table, ironing board and

rearranged the whole room.

It's tight, but totally fine for sewing all day.

What else could a girl ask for???  Haha.

I got this bag of goodies from the swap table at the Guild meeting yesterday.

My colors or what?

I didn't realize it when I grabbed the bag that they are all

uneven width strips that are cut selvage to selvage.

I AM SO EXCITED!!

I decided to dive in and start sewing them all together first.

I have an idea of where I am going with this . . . 

But for now, this is what I will show you.

I am going to sew batches together and then cut them up again and again.

I'll keep you posted on this new project.

 I also made five infinity scarves using this tutorial.

I did change the dimensions a bit.  My friend Margaret suggested

a thinner width and longer length with a three time twist instead of two

and it worked beautifully!

Thanks Margaret!!!

Some of my quilty friends threw down this challenge

for me today.  

I think they questioned my resolve.  Hehehe.

What were they thinking?  I have red hair.

Never challenge a redhead. 

What did you do this weekend?  I hope you had as much fun as I did!!

Blocks

Aside from eating too much turkey and partying like a rock star

this weekend, I did get some sewing done.

I worked on my 15 mins play BOM quilt.

I did nine of the twelve blocks and sashed them with black and white fabrics.

 Here is it all pinned and ready to quilt.  That was Thursday.

Then I did Jessica's Bee Block for our Modern Bee.

Jessica sent us great directions and the blue and white sashing,

and we were to add our own fabrics for the windows.

I can't wait to see how this quilt comes out,

great idea.

I also worked on Our Modern Guild blocks for our next

group quilt.  

And today, back to quilting the BOM quilt.

I did mostly FMQ and I realize I need to practice more.

My curves aren't good, kinda jerky.

I guess that's what happens when you do

too much straight line quilting and you are out of practice.

So I think I'll stay in this week and practice my FMQ and give up my rock star ways,

for the moment anyway.  Hehehe.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

Sunday Finish

Yes it's done!

I finished my courthouse steps quilt last night.

I am donating this quilt to Victoria's Basics Quilt Drive.

 I just love this quilt!

The colors are so me, and I really loved the picking and choosing

of fabrics for each block.

 I did a very "organic" straight lines quilting following loosely

the seams of the logs.  

After I washed it, it just feels so cozy, I can't stand it!

LOVE IT.

 It measures 62" x 82"

And I pieced that back with Nicey Jane and pale yellow Kona.

 For the binding I did a black and white print

that looks like vines. 

I really like the way this quilt came out and I am so glad

that it will be going to live with a family

that can really use it.

Victoria is trying to reach 400 quilts this time around,

Do you have a quilt you could contribute?

She is having a distribution day December 1st,

but you may keep donating, this is an ongoing drive.

Mine is going in the mail tomorrow.

How about you?

Visiting Quilts

Do you ever get to visit the quilts you have given as gifts??

I love to see that they are well loved

and being used often!

This past weekend I got to see two quilts I made a while ago.

The first, for my cousin when he graduated from high school

five years ago.

He wanted an orange quilt.

I used all Kaffe fabrics and he loves it!

 I did drunkards path and set them to look like circles

 That yellow border is really more mustardy.

The second quilt I made nine years ago.

It's a postage stamp quilt with all the colors of

my aunt's first floor (at the time) so she could use it in any room.

 Different colors for me right?

I'm still very fond of it though,

and it has held up well to lots of loving.

 Funny enough I was very lucky  to show this quilt to 

Kathy Miller of Michael Miller Fabrics when I first made it.

She happened to live in my town at the time, 

and she happened to see me showing it off to a friend.

Kathy wanted to know all about it.

Very sweet.

So here are two of my quilts living in Massachusetts.

Luckily I get to visit them often.

Where do your quilts live??

Weekend Whirlwind

A whirlwind of a weekend indeed!

I drove up to Beverly, MA to visit my family 

and we always have soooo much fun.

Lot's of laughing and joking and teasing, 

not to mention great food and wonderful drinks! 

Thank you!!

They totally indulged me on Saturday and took me to

Portsmouth, NH, where one of my favorite fabric stores reside.

 It is not a huge, huge store, but it has a wonderful selection of all the fabrics I love.

 Especially Kaffe Fassett.  

 I think they have the best collection of Kaffe's fabrics anywhere.

(I'm not much of an internet shopper, I like to feel it!)

 The girls behind the counter were a riot,

I think they have way too much fun to call this "a job!"

 We walked around after I came down from the euphoria . . . 

And had lunch at the brewery which was fabulous!

Lot's of different beers and great sandwiches.

 I couldn't wait to get back to the house to look at all I had collected . . .

 I even bought a few "non-kaffe" goodies too.

Now to start cutting!!

And look at this little delight!  It is a tiny pin cushion, only about 1 inch

all the way around.  It's filled with sand, so it's hefty for it's size.

I just couldn't pass it up!

Sunday was spent wishing my cousin a happy birthday before I had to head home.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Denyse Schmidt and the Norwalk Quilt Trail

Tonight I had the pleasure of attending a lecture by Denyse Schmidt

as part of the Norwalk Quilt Trail Series.

Denyse spoke about modern quilts with traditional inspiration.  

She was a delight to listen to!

She has a funny sense of humor and gave us a brief history of her roots in

quilting and how she comes to design them.

Her process includes taking photographs of everything

that inspires her and then setting down with pad and pencils to sketch.

From there she moves to the computer and to the design wall.

Even though her quilts "look simple," there is a lengthy  

process in getting there.

Denyse has a new book coming out in the spring based on 

modern interpretations of traditional patterns.

Here are some of the very traditional quilts that were on

display at the Norwalk Historical Society where the talk was held.

 These first two were entirely made of silk 

and absolutely gorgeous!

Below is a 1000 pyramids . . .

 I forgot what this pattern is called, something with oceans . . .

 And a very traditional pickle dish.

This caught my eye!  Apparently this line of fabric

is making a come back with some new colors and additions.

Look for them in March of 2012.

Please don't forget that tomorrow is Veteran's Day.

Make sure you thank everyone you know who has served our county

and protected out freedom.

Bee Block Top and My New Hood

I finally finished my NYC Metro Mod Bee Block Top!

I gave everyone a red triangle and bright fabric. 

I went with black and white sashing and black cornerstones,

as you can see.  Very bright and busy, just the way I love it.

Now to figure out how to quilt it!

I am going to use the same red as the triangles for the binding.

It was really fun to get all of these different blocks and I am so

grateful to my bee partners for doing such wonderful work! 

Now a few pictures  . . . 

This is my new building.  I live on the top floor and it's nice and quiet

up there.  My friends call it The Penthouse.  

I can walk to this cute little park in about three minutes . . . 

The train station in two minutes . . . 

This sweet plaza with the best coffee shop in town in one minute . . .

And this town staple is right across the street!

Isn't that a cute name?!

I am really enjoying my new neighborhood and all the freedoms 

it has to offer!  

Hope you are enjoying your Sunday!