I've Been to a Quilt Show

Today I attended my second quilt show.   A guild put it on at a nearby university.  Part of the show were quilts from the 2013 Hoffman Challenge.  I found those very interesting.  

Although I took pictures of the names of the quilters, I am not posting them.  I'm not sure if I should or not, but for now I  won't.

I loved this quilt because I love the umbrella image. It's based on an Edyta Starr of Laundry Basket design.  The quilter noted that Edyta is her favorite designer. 

This quilt was eye catching because the quilter embellished each elephant differently.

Don't you love those tails:)

Double wedding ring variation.

This design is popular right now, and it looks super made up.

A Baltimore Album quilt.  The quilter took a course with Elly Sienkiewicz, then it took several years to finish.

Really cute.

Yes, I am a lover of animal images.  But I also love little kids, flowers and trees and other beautiful stuff.
 I love this cat quilt.

The 2013 Hoffman Challenge quilts.  They are making the rounds to various quilt shows.

This quilt had perfectly beautiful hand quilting.

I bought a grab bag of cotton fabric for $3 of mostly blues. And I purchased a pattern by a designer from the cape area.  I love the pattern but don't think she should charge more than even Eleanor Burns' does for her patterns.  Oh well.

Have I been quilting?  No.  I've been crocheting.

 I made a little pillow cover.  

Enjoy your weekend.

God Bless You.

Flowers and Blocks

This is a good year for beautiful irises, it seems to me.  Maybe they like brutal winters.

This is the second group of my mother's bearded irises that are blooming.  The first were a very translucent white that I think were another color that blanched over the years.  I saw some yellow blooming elsewhere that were gorgeous.  I'm hoping that the deep purple and beige ones bloom, but there are only a couple of them.  Anyway, they smell lovely and look lovely, so they bring their own brand of joy.  

I'm up to 21 completed blocks in my Scraps and Shirttails II quilt, Smith Mountain Morning.  Since I began this quilt I have found that I love working with patchwork blocks with lots of pieces.  I hope I find the time to make more quilts from Bonnie Hunter's book because they really are fun to make.  

I am linking up to Sharon's Let's Book It post.

I'm going to be crocheting some granny squares and such, just because I feel like getting my hands on my yarn again.  I keep filling my Pinterest boards with stuff I want to make.  What I really need is time and energy to do it all.

Enjoy your beautiful weekend.

God Bless!

Memorial Day 2014

Thank you to all Veterans.   In my family, these served:

AEP

MEP

EJP

AL

JO

TO

JP

AO

God Bless them.

Just Sewing Away

I have some progress with my quilt from Bonnie Hunter's book, Scraps and Shirttails II.

  And two more, one finished and one still in the making.

Still many more blocks to go, but we have a long weekend here and I have free time so I'm looking forward to lots of sewing time.  

The May blocks for Denise Russart's From Head to Toe - A Knitter's Gifts qal are these socks.  

I thought we were supposed to make four, so I have an extra sock block.  It may show up on the backing; or somewhere else.

The block layout so far. Our Christmas projects are getting to the halfway mark.

That's it for now.  

If you are having a long weekend too, I hope you enjoy it. 

God Bless.

May Sew Kitschy - Mixer

 Sew Kitschy Mixer from Quiet Play.

As I was making the May block for the Sew Kitschy qal, the Mixer, I was thinking that I had done something wrong somewhere.  I couldn't see the parts coming together to fit.  But then I just put the A piece to the B piece, then added the C piece, then the D, and so on, and it all worked.  Whew.

It's just too cute.

The quilt blocks so far.

Enjoy your weekend.  

God Bless You.

One Block and Other Things I Do

I haven't done much sewing for the past week or so, but I finally got to make one of my qal blocks, the easy one:)  This is Quilt Doodle Doodle's May block, the Fir Tree.

So that's done, but the I have a challenging paper piecing block to make for the Sew Kitschy qal and I plan to tackle that tomorrow.

What I spent today making is not a quilting project but does fall into the craft category.  The Sodality I belong to at my parish gives Miraculous Medals to the children making their First Communion.  This is how I make them.

The medals come from the Central Association of the Miraculous Medal.  We get them like the one on the left.  The first thing I do is add a split jump ring.  For me, that's the hardest part.  I use a pinch nose plier to make it easier.  

I cut 3" strips of satin ribbon using pinking shears and thread it through the split ring.

Today I needed 24 medals.

I take these to the sewing machine and sew the ends together, right sides facing.

All of my medals sewn up.

Then I turn the ribbon right side out.

Now I glue the ribbons to pin backs, using a good glue.  The only tricky part is keeping the front ribbon free of glue.

Once all of the pin backs are glued and dried, the next step is to attach them to a card, insert them into a plastic envelope and that's it.  

I print on cardstock, cut them up and then punch holes in the card to hold the pin.

It's a nice gift for the students.

Definitely worth the work.

More parish work tomorrow morning but hopefully sewing in the afternoon. 

God Bless!

April Let's Book It Post

I'm happy to be able to link up with Sharon's Let's Book It group at Vroomans Quilts.
I am making a quilt from Bonnie Hunter's book Scraps & Shirttails II.

Put on my design wall for a look see - this is not the true layout.

 

 Since this post, I've brought in some other fabrics to lighten up things a bit.  We'll see how it works out.

Maybe it is getting too scrappy, but Bonnie's designs play to that so I'm going with it for now.

Many more blocks to go on this one.

God Bless.

Yankee Charm Block and More Caps

The Yankee Charm Block is the 21st block in the Ben Franklin Mystery QAL at Erik Homemade Coffee Break ezine.   Apparently the history of this block relates to Revolutionary times.  I like it probably because it has a semblance to a courthouse steps block.

The April block for the From Head to Toe - A Knitter's Gifts block of the month is this cute cap applique made 4 times.  Notice I goofed on one of the blocks and placed my cap in an alternate orientation.  If it doesn't work when I put all of the blocks together then I'll redo it, but for now it stays as is.  

God Bless.  Have an enjoyable weekend.

New Project From a Bonnie Hunter Book

 I've had Bonnie Hunter's book, Scraps & Shirttails II for a while and have wanted to make something from it for as long, so I'm happy to finally begin one of the projects.

I've selected Smoke Mountain Morning with its stars and modified log cabin blocks.

This fabric line from Windham Fabrics is one I've been saving, so now it's been cut into and is living up to its potential.

I have two stars done and am trying out one log cabin.  The stars are a 54-40 or Fight star and the log cabin is the Chimney and Cornerstone log cabin version.  My takes are a little bit different from Bonnie's but that's okay.

What is really cool is that I used my Sizzix to make this block.  That might be why I was able to get two blocks done in a few hours.

I will link up with the Let's Book It group at Vroomans Quilts when that post comes up.  

God Bless You.