Not the best hair do in the top picture--it looked fine in the room! :) The wind and humidity played havoc with it the moment I stepped out the door. Oh well--but isn't that a beautiful site? We watched many weddings over the course of time while we were there. And the bottom picture is a self-portrait! As you can tell, most of our other pictures were too far away to even see us, so we did our own!
I'm a little late getting started on the Oct. One hour challenge, but decided to buckle down last night after a class and at least do 2 blocks. While I was sewing, it seemed oddly familiar. I vaguely remember starting a leaf quilt years ago and didn't finish. I had made a smaller leaf quilt, liked it so much that I wanted to make a larger one with larger blocks. So, I got up and started hunting and look what I found! All kinds of HST's already done in the RIGHT size even! The stems were about half done, but everything was cut. And the best part--I had enough blocks to do the smaller version except 2! And I just made 2! I liked the colors of my BG and other leaf colors a little bit better--but this is like killing 2 birds with one stone. I do the challenge AND finish up a UFO that's about 9-10 years old! Woohoo! Now what are the chances of that happening again? I'm so glad that I didn't cut the other fabric up yet. I'll put it away on the shelf to age a little more for another project.
Here are some of my blocks done (they are all done now that I had a big boost!) and I'm testing what I might want in that center alternate block. The 2 blocks I made before I remembered about these blocks have a different background, but I think they are going to be okay. I'm toying with the idea of appliqueing a leaf in that block. That's a real leaf I went out and picked up and stuck up there. I might use leaves from my yard as patterns. I'm just trying to decide now what color BG I want. The tan seems a bit sedate for me. The leaf fabric I am trying out here didn't have enough contrast in my opinion. Although the white is stark, it really has nice contrast. So, I have all month to play yet.
"Towne Purse", a Lazy Girl pattern. I have made SO many of these purses, they are one of my favorites with all the pockets inside. I modified it a bit to use pre-quilted fabric and made the bottom larger to hold my large wallet (stuffed with receipts--not $$, LOL). I know, it's a spring purse. I had it mostly cut out to do a class demo from before, so when I had another class, I finished while doing the demos. Clever, huh?
This is my Slouchy bag. It's from a new book from Cindy Taylor Oates, Slouchy Bags. I love the old, faded, well worn look of this home dec fabric. It fits over the shoulder, across the body and sits on your hip. I'm hoping to wear it in Houston Quilt Festival. I love wearing a purse that doesn't keep falling off your shoulder. I wore a book bag last year, but every time I had to pay for something, I had to take the whole thing off. A little cumbersome too. So, I'm hoping this one will do the trick. It's about 2" narrower than the pattern and an 1" shorter because I was limited on fabric. I could have pieced some together, but in this case, I had almost enough, so went with it.
I wish my behind were little--LOL. I meant that I was a little behind on my Sept. One Hour Challenge, but the top is now done AND I have the backing all pieced and ready to load onto Zoe, my HQ16. I'm just trying to decide how to quilt it. How did everyone else do theirs? The biggest joy is that I now have an EMPTY space on my shelf where all my darker homespun plaids used to be! This is the last of those plaids! I do have another plaid quilt or two in progress, but I am done with these. I gave the last bits of it after I pieced the backing (2 1-gallon ziploc bags worth) to a student who is just beginning and envies my stash. I don't believe I've ever had an empty spot before! What a great feeling. If I keep plugging away at my stash, it will get reduced to a managable level. I think you need a certain amount to have the variety to choose from, but mine was over the top.
Here is a close up of Frosty Flakes-which I've been plugging away on since August. It was a pattern of Joni Pikes that I had seen in Houston last year, and being a snowman lover, I had to have it. It takes a while to do (all the good ones do, don't they?) and 117 buttons later, I'm done! Binding, label and all.
I also made a purse ( I taught a class on a Lazy Girl purse Thursday) and I always like to have little demos along the way to show the process, it's easier for the visual learners. I end up with lots of purses, oh darn! :) And then I made a slouchy purse from some tea-stained home dec fabric my cousin sent to me. I'll take pictures and post them later. That means 3 off of my Oct. list, now to just figure out how to cross the lines through the finished ones. I finally figured out how to get the list there to start with after a few hours of browsing and reading. I'm trying to keep up! :)
This is one of the reunion quilts I made and this one was raffled off. Thanks to Nancy's blog a while back, I got the idea when I needed a quick quilt for the reunion. It's done, labeled and on it's way to the winner, one of my cousins.
This Tumbling Blocks wall hanging was a class sample I used to teach set in piecing. I took it to my Amish friend (long story--but needed an excuse to take some friends to see her) and her mother quilted it for me. Her mother is aging and unfortunately does not see very well anymore and is a bit shaky now. Mary informed me that after this quilt, her mother won't be quilting anymore as the quality wasn't very good. When she informed me of that in her note telling me it was finished, I just prayed it wasn't awful. As I headed to her house, I thought of the different scenarios of how I would react if it was really bad and should I or shouldn't I have Mary re-do it herself (she offered in her note). Well, when I got there and saw it, it wasn't the best I have seen, but certainly not awful. And is my motive to have a very valuable piece because an Amish woman quilted it? No. I figured it is just a little more piece of history in the quilt and I noted that this was her mother's last quilt due to failing health on my label. So, it's bound, labeled and hanging in my sewing room. It matches so well. :) 
Well, September has come and gone and didn't buy any fabric. (Well, I did, but it was strictly a gift, none for me-so that doesn't count). My cousin was duly impressed with my strong willpower and resolve UNTIL she saw my fabric stash! She then told me I needed to be in a fabric depression! LOL She's right and I've been doing good and will continue again into October. The only difference is that I'm not buying ANY fabric at all. I'm really trying to see how I can adjust and be creative to use what I have.
Now I'll try again for October. Oh, how I wish I could do the same thing with food! :)
Mamma MiaImagine, if you will, a quirky yet romantic mellowdrama replete with young lovers, old flings, intrigue, and celebration. Now combine that with 22 hit songs from the Swedish disco super-group ABBA, a little spandex and sparkle, and you have "Mamma Mia". This Broadway musical has hit Las Vegas by storm, bringing audiences both 1970's nostalgia and just plain feel-good fun. The story takes place on a Greek island where Donna, a middle-aged, free loving, American ex-pat, owns a small hotel and bar. Her 20 year old daughterhas come there to have her wedding, but also hopes to be reunited with her absentee father. Three possible "candidates" from Donna's colorful past are invited to the island as well as her former bandmates Tanya and Rosie. As the story unfolds, the ABBA favorites are crooned, harmonized, and belted out, creating a perfect atmosphere for the story's comic mishaps. Whether you're a disco junkie, a Broadway fanatic, or just want to see a fantastically entertaining musical..."Mamma Mia" is where its at!
Review by Kristine Gregorian
This is how we spent our afternoon--loved it! We saw it for the first time in Toronto and it was just as good. We took our youngest daughter, who is a fanatical music lover, and of course she loved it too. It was fun to see an entire theatre on their feet dancing and singing with the cast (mostly at the end) and they were our age! There were a few popular songs that people couldn't help but slightly singing along and when the whole theatre was doing it, it was like a low hum, pretty funny.
National Quilt Pink Day was yesterday and my studio was one of the participants. I had friends and students come to help make blocks using Tonya's Take the Leap Challenge. I added a center vase of flowers (not done yet) to represent all those we have known that had breast cancer. I have a few more X's and O's to make to complete it. Of course, getting into the theme of things, I made PINK strawberry cupcakes with strawberry icing, pink m & m's, pink kisses, mints wrapped with the pink ribbon, and pink lemonade. My pool boy (aka my hubby--hey, if my cuz can have one, so can I!) made pizzas for lunch. I was pleased with all we got done. I hope to have it sewn and quilted and ready to send off by the end of the month. The deadline isn't until Feb., but I don't want it lingering around.
Another one of Mona's quilts...she found a Moda tin with 5" squares in it at a clearance sale, and added some of her own fabrics and purchased a few more. The green with white polka dots on her journal page is actually a sheet she found at Goodwill! She is going to machine quilt it, so no problem. Boy, I never find such neat things there. I helped her baste the quilt to get it ready for machine quilting. She'll do it herself on her Pfaff. I love this quilt! I do think she is related to me! She claims that she's my long lost twin and we were separated at birth. After long discussions, we have discovered many things we have in common.
Her cherry quilt was made from mostly fabrics she had collected and then purchased the light blue fabric with cherries to add to it. She didn't had any fabric left for binding and we ended up finding two FQ's of a vintage reproduction fabric in my stash that worked. I love the way she is journaling her quilts, with fabric swatches, inspiration pictures, her original drafts of the ideas. She is WAY too organized! Actually, I'm hoping a bit rubs off on me!
This is for Linda, who was asking about my "notches" on my English paper piecing project. They really aren't notches at all, but at the corners when you fold the fabric over the paper. Since it's a trapezoid, the fabric creates points at the ends. I know it's hard to see, but when you sew them all together, the points "swirl" in the center of the block. The little block in the lower left corner is the fabric underneath with the paper pattern laying on top. Then right next to that piece is the pattern piece with the fabric "wrapped around" the pattern and basted down.
small is right...I had grandiose ideas this past weekend that I would get a lot of hand sewing done. My husband puts on a softball tournament each year and this year added more more weekend, over Labor Day. I do a hospitality table with lunches for 150+ people on one of the days. I also help with registration. But other than that, I thought I would have a lot of hours of "down" time and was positive I would get sewing done. I ALWAYS have such high aspirations of what I can accomplish or will actually get to do! LOL
Look what I got today!! And no, I wasn't a bad girl and break my vow to not buy fabric in August. My dear friend sent this to me to thank me for helping her this summer with lesson plans and EQ5 help. What a total unexpected surprise. And it's almost like a reward for sticking to my vows. :) Thanks, M, you're a doll!
The one on the left is a new Kaffe Fasset, always a favorite of mine and the other is from Amy Butler, another favorite.
Here is the start of my X's and O's--part of Tonya's challenge. They are going to be part of my Quilt Pink quilt, so I just had to make samples. I'm going to have the non-quilter's make the 4-patches and the quilter's learn Tonya's technique to make the x's and o's. I am putting a center block in with a vase of flowers and will put a flower in the vase for each person that has succumbed to Breast cancer/ or have survived. So, if you have a name you would like me to add, please feel free to email me. I love the black background that I chose for sashing (I will fussy cut them so all the words are going the same way--I was just trying to get a feel for how it would look). The words on the fabric say: "Creative Hands Touch Hearts" and I think it fits our theme very well.
This is part of Judy's one-hour challenge. I have been sewing at least 4-5 hours a day, but on other things. I'm trying to squeeze this one in too. I like the looks of it, although the fabrics don't thrill me very much. But I'll be proud to donate this one to someone.
them in a VERY safe place. And if anyone knows me at all, they know they are even safe from ME! I'd like to frame them all together.
I have lots to share, it seems like it's been so long since I've been in blogger land and it's only been less than a week. But as things happen daily, I think..."I should talk about this..or this.." How many others do that too? I'd be on here all day posting things and not out experiencing life, so I guess I won't share EVERY little ole thing that comes into my head! But since my life is all about quilting--it's easy to think of so many things. But now time out for a commercial break....I watched both daughter's kids..at separate times...this week. They sure do light up our lives! My Cutie Pie started kindergarten this past week and of course I had to go take pictures. She was so ready! Hmmm, my drag and drop doesn't work today...I hope I don't have to go back and start figuring out how I want my pictures to show up, like last first, etc!
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