Makes Me Happy Monday - May 17, 2010

This is my first "Makes Me Happy Monday" post since March.  It's not as if I'm not happy on Mondays, I just haven't had a good picture to post.  Last week my husband and I visited my daughter at college.  She was taking Afro-Caribbean Dance as a Phys-Ed requirement and they were putting on a performance as part of their last class.  We were able to spend a little time with her and start the end of the year junk removal from her dorm room (she is coming home today).  After our visit we headed to Cape Cod for a few days.  It was my first trip there and it was great!  Unfortunately, retired guy and I could not find anyone to take our picture together (it is the off-season!).  So we each took a turn posing on the whale at Provincetown.

 

Design Wall Monday - May 17, 2010

I can't believe I have not posted on Design Wall Monday since March.  This week I am stuck.  I am making a way over due baby quilt for a stylist (not mine) that works at the salon I frequent.  She told me she loves bright colors and doesn't want anything pink.  Okay, I can do that.  She particularly likes purple, green, and yellow.  I am trying to accommodate her request without straying from my stash.
I am using the 3 Dimensional Pinwheel pattern from "P.S. I Love You Two!" by Nancy Smith and Lynda Milligan.  I have owned this book for at least 10 years and never made anything from it.  This book originated the "Eye Spy" craze  when it was published in 1996.  My version will have 20 blocks (4 across - 5 down).  T
I am undecided as to the sashing (as usual), there are two border of the background fabric(small white alphabet letters on off white) with a prairie point border.  The binding will be the same as the sashing.  Please help me decide.  

Will it be contender #1.  A creamy butter yellow with white stars.

Choice # 2 is black densely covered with tiny bright colored polka dots.

Choice #3 is black with tiny bright colored hearts not as densely distributed as #2.

Choice #4 is a bright yellow Moda marbeled stars print.

Let me know what you think and then head over to see Judy L's blog to see what she's doing.

More Quilt Show pictures

Nancy at Patchwork Penguin is hosting a Chimney Sweep block exchange using Civil War prints.  At the quilt show yesterday, I snapped a photo of a quilt made up of these blocks.  The blocks for the swap will  have a cross shape in the middle made up of the backing fabric (Kona natural).

I really think I am going to love a quilt from these blocks.  I will be doing my blocks in double pink.  A few of the other colors that swappers are using are:  cheddar, poison green, indigo, red, yellow, brown, blue/brown, and scrappy.  Luckily, the blocks aren't due until August so I have plenty of time to fit them in.

Quilt Show

Yesterday, I attended the Northern Star Quilters'  annual show.  I haven't been able to attend for the last 2 years, so I was eager to see the exhibit.  There seemed to be less quilts exhibited this year and the majority of them were art quilts.  Mixed in was a good number of Baltimore Album style quilts and some traditional quilts.  I was surprised at how few quilts were what I would consider "modern style."

There also seemed to be fewer vendors with less merchandise.  Many of them were selling embellishments for art and crazy quilts.  I did come home with a pattern and a few pieces of fabric needed to complete some current quilts in the final planning stage.  I also came home with 4 empty fabric bolts that my husband quickly cut in half so that I could use them for storage.

Besides having fewer quilts, many of the quilts were not hung to show them to their best advantage.  As I walked past a group of miniatures that was too high to really appreciate, a woman stopped me.  She asked if I could tell that the quilt in front of us had 120 hours of hand work.  She went on to point out some of the stitching.  It was then, that I realized she was the quilter and she noticed that I did not stop very long in front of her quilt.  She was very upset at the way it was hung and I had to agree with her (she was actually a little scary).  It is a shame the quilt was not hung at a more advantageous level.  I would have liked to examine the stitching more closely.  Here is a picture of the quilter and her handiwork.  The white area forming the center of each of the flowers was made of of hundreds of tiny button hole stitches.

Below is a the front and back of a quilt by Mary Anne Ciccotelli who is currently soliciting photos of interesting quilt backs for her new lecture and trunk show, "Fun Backs - Going the Extra Mile."  It's not surprising that she won a ribbon.

Glad to Be Back

I can't believe it has been a month since my last entry.  I finally have access to my camera again.  My husband found the battery charger so I am now able to take pictures again.  I have to admit, I am a little disappointed because this means I don't need a new camera.  That will have to wait for a bit.

Saturday was my husband's goddaughter's wedding.  She was a beautiful bride and her dress was exquisite. I managed to play a small part in the wedding.  I made the ring bearer's pillow.  On the front, I used an embroidery design from Laura's Sewing Studio.  I do not have the software needed to properly digitize the names and date, so Laura did if for me for a reasonable charge.

I was a nervous wreck while making it, but everyone seemed very happy with the results.

The designs on the back are from Embroidery Library.
It will take me a few days to gather together everything I've been waiting to post for the last month.

Janome sewing and embroidery machine giveaway

Sorry I have been missing in action, but the charger for my camera is missing and I have no way to take pictures for a while.  Since text in a blog without pictures is totally dull, I thought I would hold off until I can replace my charger,  In the mean time, there is a fabulous giveaway on the DIY Dish blog.

You can click on the logo on my sidebar to find out all of the details and to see some of their crafting videos.


I hope to be posting lots of photos of what I am working on soon.  Until then, I will be hibernating until I can find a way to charge my camera or get a new one.  

Design Wall Monday - March 15, 2010

The first picture is of the fabrics I am using for a Terry Atkinson (of Yellow Brick Road fame) pattern available free online called Neutral Territory.

The stripes in the pattern are formed by sewing 2 inch strips in sets of 5.  My strip sets are already pieced, but I have a problem.  Apparently, my 1/4 inch seam was too scant when piecing the strips, so my strip sets finish at 8.5 instead of 8 inches. They are supposed to be 8 x 8 before they are pieced to the other strip sets.   I'm trying to decide how to adjust the pattern so it will come out even.  

These are my sewn together strips laying on top of the border fabric.  The one on the right has been cut to 8 inches.  The rest of the sets are folded to approximate the 8.5 inches they would be if I cut them square.  I love the red/black batik and really need to push myself to work on this.

Don't forget to visit Judy L's blog to see some interesting design walls.