WIP :: 5/30/12

Wow!  It' been a few weeks since my last WIP post - can't keep track of the days apparently.  Hope ya'll had a great Memorial Day weekend - I certainly did.  It was jam packed with fun: contra dancing, road trips, Improv shows, day off, sunshine & biking.  :)

I'm also 2 posts away from my 100th post!!  wow! 

complete

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-Mother's Day gift:  I knew I wanted to make a handmade gift for Momm this year, and it got sent out a bit late, but was still pretty awesome.  I followed Faith's tutorial for the iPad case and it was so easy! Great directions and I wasn't worried about putting in my first ever zipper.
  

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The hardest part was choosing fabrics, even when it was narrowed down to just my stack of batiks!  I was especially pleased that the iPad fits inside the case! [since it was crossing state lines]

- Swap blocks: I also made 20 more X & + blocks for the 2nd round of the swap on flickr.  Sent them on their way this week & will be excited to see what comes back!

new!
-Picnic quilt: I got the itch to start piecing a new quilt/blocks over the holiday weekend. I decided to make a quilt for picnics & things for summer using the Roman Stripe pattern.  I put together a couple test blocks and really like them!  They will be shades of grey triangles & teal/aquas w/a pop of pomegranate/cerise.


I mocked up my idea using EQ6 and really love it! I see more of these colors coming home with me from the fabric store.  

-Wonky Blocks: I also pieced together my first wonky star blocks.  They were so cute & begged me for some friends, so I have 4 wonky blocks now and am thinking of making it around 6-9 for a quilt inspired by Faith's Liberated Sampler.  




in progress
-Summer Sampler: backing is pieced finally!  now to baste it all together.  that will need to wait until the workshop is over so I can use the tables at work.  :)


 no progress
-Swoon - so sad there's no progress on this one.  It's my summer goal to have this baby finished.  Better get cracking now that summer has unofficially started!
-GS quilt
-Yellow Brick Road




linking back up to Lee's at Freshly Pieced!  Happy Wednesday!

spring blogger's quilt festival!

Welcome!  This is my first time participating in the Blogger's Quilt Festival put on by Amy at Amy's Creative Side.  I blog hopped around on the last round and decided this time I would share a link & a quilt too!

This is a quilt I haven't shared here yet.  This is my second ever finished quilt!  It's called Shattered Chaos because it's sort of like bits of stained glass and was made in 2006.  It measures 41" x 50".

I went to the Mid-Appalachian Quilters retreat/weekend out at Mount St. Mary's school with Momm one year and we took several classes.  This class, called Triangle Tricks, was Sunday morning and used a neat concept of creating double HSTs as the main block.  

That's when the power went out.  

Turns out, some car hit a transformer nearby so we had to end our weekend early : sewing machines & irons don't work very well in a power outage!


However, we did learn how to make the basic block, so I went home and made lots more of these handy little guys and decide to use 4 of them to create the pinwheel look with the white triangles.  I opted against sashing and just threw all the blocks together & sewed them up.  I then stipple quilted it - my first time ever free-motion quilting! 


It's not quite a lap size quilt, so I have a sleeve on it and hang it on the entry wall in my apt. now for some extra color & cheer.  love this quilt.  :)

One Week Challenge

This month I participated in the One Thing, One Week Challenge again at Amy's Creative Side.  I challenged myself to finish my Star Dot quilt & binding - which I did!  It measures 24" square and I posted about it in last week's WIP, but have 1 more photo to share.

This weekend I made & sewed on the sleeve, got the dowel rod & hung it on the wall of my sewing room.  Now I have some fun color on the wall next to my cutting table to cheer me up!  

Thanks to Amy for hosting the challenge!

WIP :: 5/9/12

aka Back to Normal (mostly)

I finally feel like it's settling back into the normal rhythm now that Quilt Week & the workshop are finished.  Of course, it's just picking up momentum as I ramp up the prep for Quilt Camp and Lowertown festival.  In the near future looms Kidz Day, so we're just getting started for the summer.

Here's what I have today for the link up at Freshly Pieced.

complete

Star Dot is finished!  

     I echoed quilted inside the star points and then did echo lines in the white space so it looks like the star is radiating.  I have to make the sleeve & then hang it on the wall!

This was fun because I got to use some of the yummy colored threads from my birthday box!  So wonderful.  I used a black & white stripe for the binding to counter all of the dot fabrics.  :)

no progress

Summer Sampler 

Swoon

Christmas quilt

quilt show 2.0

Whew!  I've made it through my 2nd Paducah quilt show.  Even though I worked 7 days straight it was awesome!  It's taken the last few days to sort of get back to normal - or at least feel like doing anything in the evenings.

The show itself runs Wed. - Sat., but we are prepped & start events Monday so it's a full week for us.  This year was nice because I got to do more than just Admissions.  I helped in the Shop, registers, general breaks & extra hands for whatever came up.


I get to attend the awards ceremony and the School Block winner came this year - she was so excited & the whole family was impressed.  It was fun to see her enthusiasm for accepting her award!  I also get to attend the Sneak Preview of the quilts  which is my only chance to actually see the show.  As always at a quilt show - the quilts were amazing!  The winners were spectacular and there's so much talent & inspiration.

the early morning line

Momm came down to visit & have fun at the show while I worked.  It was fun to have someone else to talk quilting with and relax with at the end of the day.  :)

the fabric (& me!)

Friday morning was the Fabric Flurry.  160+ bolts of fabric cut into 1/2 yards, 300 quilters ready to grab fabric and a good time by all!

flurry!

We even got to help put the Purchase Award quilts up in the gallery on Sat. night.  Once the show is over, we get to keep the winning quilts if the quilter takes the monetary prize.  So there are new quilts to marvel at when I need a break from my desk.  It also means I have to learn their names [quilt & quilt maker] for future tours!

It was a long week and Sunday afternoon I took a nap, sat around all afternoon watching episodes of 'Who do you think you are?' and reading.  Very nice, but not enough time to recoup completely.  I have a workshop this week and am looking forward to a day off soon.