24FQ Challenge is done!

Well, it started clear back in February, when another group of friends wanted to do the 24 FQ Challenge with me. We all plugged along and MOST of us hung in there to the very end. I chose a bundle of fabric my hubby bought for me, "Feedsack Reproductions" by Windham Fabrics. Not my usual type of fabric, so it was a challenge to take 30's fabrics and make them a little more contemporary. I did for most of them, but I did so some very traditional patterns too.
1. We had to make a twin size quilt.. remember Judy's One Hour Challenge, Gratitude? Here's mine!

2. Then we had to do a Medallion....here's my off-centered version..3. We also had to do an applique..I showed this month's ago..remember "The One who Got Away" ? 4. My traditional quilt, this fabric just screams for a few traditional quilts...

5. And "Remember Me?" -another one I have shown before. Made using some of my Grandma's tea towels.

more to come.........

24 FQ Challenge, #2

and continuing on (I had to do it like this since Blogger doesn't like to load lots of pictures at one time, we'll see how I do at trying to fool blogger! LOL)
6. "Tower of Spools"- I've always wanted to do a spool quilt--and so I did! I designed it in EQ6. and forgive the crooked pictures, I can't decide if I put them on the wall that way or I take crooked pictures! Sorry if you have to lean your head all the time! LOL7. "Spinning Stars"-one I designed in EQ6, it was supposed to be a large table topper, and oops! not enough fabric..then a small table topper..still not enough..so it's a Table Runner now! 8. "Scrappy Tumbling Blocks"- I just love doing these little things! I've done so many now that doing "Y" seams is a cinch! I don't even mark them anymore, but I do have a mark on my presser foot that tells me when I'm 1/4" away. 9. 8-point Stars--I can't decide whether to make these into two pillows, one rectangular pillow--or alternate them with plain red squares and make a BIG pillow? So, they are not 'complete' quite yet... 10. Postcard--I decided this was a great way to remember the challenges that I have done..the fabrics are all right there! and now Blogger would like me to quit..but I'll be back....more coming...

24FQ Challenge Finale!

And now I was down to just bits and scraps of fabrics, but we were supposed to use 100% of the fabric (okay--that's my personal goal. I suspect some of them threw the last bits away!) If you remember the last challenge, I made a Thread Bowl out of the rest of tidbits. I didn't want to do the same thing, so I crazy patched a foundation piece and was tired of doing it. I thought I'll just make it into a pin cushion and stuff it with the rest of my fabric bits and finish it off with stuffing! And marked it, #11

The Ends! :)

and there you have it folks--100% of 24 Fat Quarters (plus no more than 2 additional fabrics)! I have the other gals pictures of their challenge quilts on my website if you'd care to see what they did. Scroll down the page and click on the link for Quilt Challenge.

Fall classes

some of the classes that I am teaching this fall..and quite a few of the samples are part of what I worked on this summer

Tea Party!

Mom--on her 70th Birthday.

My Mom turned a milestone birthday this year and since she moved away from me when I was just still a kid (well, I was married with a baby), but I was YOUNG! I have never been able to 'do' anything for her birthday and decided this would be the year. And having a tea party seemed like a fun thing to do. And it was! And with the help of some dear friends, it was a beautiful party that all my Mom's friends enjoyed. I took lots of pictures and even got the mini scrapbook done, now that should be a record!

As each lady arrived, I took her picture, complete with hats and gloves (per the invitation). It was so much fun. One lady said she just didn't have any fancy gloves, so were her surgical gloves okay? What a hoot! My type of humor indeed. In fact, I really wanted to do a little skit with me and a friend where she is 'advising' me the do's and don't's for a 'proper' tea party. It would include me with rubber gloves, a ball cap, tennis shoes, toilet paper streamer hanging out my mis-matched outfit and wanting to serve 'fancy' bologna sandwiches, with the crusts cut off, of course! It didn't work out as one of my friends had to leave town (she helped fix some food) and the other came in the night before. (she helped doing last minute preparations and cleaned up and most important--She POURED!--I guess that used to be really important back when tea parties were in vogue--so I'm told!) So, no skit--but it would have been funny! A partial view of the food table..I served: Honey Almond Chicken Salad Sandwiches, Pimento Cheese on Rye, Lemon Poppy Mini Muffins, Mini Eclairs with Custard, Shrimp Tartlets (courtesy of Martha), Radish Sandwiches, Key Lime Mousse in Chocolate Cups, Whipping Cream Poundcake (another Martha delicacy!), Chocolate Dipped Strawberries, Lemon Curd Tarts and Norwegian Sweets..oh and English Breakfast Tea. Were they a happy bunch, or what? what a fun day getting to meet some of Mom's friends and honoring my Mom on her special day. Happy Birthday Mom.
For favors, I took card stock, folded it into thirds and made a 3D triangle--on the inside I suspended the coolest pyramid silk teabags that were Vanilla Caramel Truffle flavored. Believe it or not, they were made by Lipton and I found them at Wal Mart!

more quilt show pictures

I sure wish all these quilts were mine! There were a lot of neat ones this year. It's amazing how many people stopped by, thinking they were for sale! LOL

and more yet

I won't show ALL the pictures of the quilts--but at least you get an idea of how nice they all looked. It was a lot of work, but so worth it. So many people enjoyed it and over half of the people were not even quilters. But people just like to look at quilts, which is why I make this a non-prized Quilt Show. Even beginners can be proud of what they have accomplished and the general public just likes to see how creative people really can be. Thanks for stopping by my show..even if it was a virtual one! :)

some of the Quilt Show

Ahh..to be home and have things work again! :)
Here are some of the shots from my Quilt Show that held last Sunday. Over 100 quilts were hung all around my yard--from tree to tree! It was the most perfect day for it, 78 degrees and low humidity and plenty of sunshine. There were quilts by me, my students and some of my quilting friends.

My Middle Name is..

I've been tagged by Vickie (who found it at Jolly Jabber blog--join in to win FREE fabric!) and so here it goes..
we are supposed to tell something about ourselves using our Middle Name--glad I have a short one.
S- sinfully passionate about my quilting
U- usually can be found in my studio or at the computer
E- eager to try new things

And who to tag? whoever would like to play along! I hate to single out people and leave someone out...so consider yourself invited to join the fun!

best laid plans...

I thought I was really well prepared for leaving on my trip by getting a few posts into draft form and then I could post real easy while I was gone. Well, for some reason, it won't bring up my drafts and it stalls out...so I'll just share a picture of a quilt of mine that's on my computer that I don't think I've shown. It was a Spinning Spools that I probably did 10 years ago for my hubby. I don't think he ever noticed it was spools..he just liked the colors! LOL

My hubby's tournament is over, brownies included and I headed further down in SC to plan and prepare for a Tea Party for my Mom's birthday. I have never 'done' anything for her on her birthday since she moved away when I was 18--so I thought I would take this opportunity to do something nice. It's been fun planning, decorating and cooking. I even took the time this week to make her a blue and yellow flannel rag quilt (she's been coveting mine ever since she saw it!). The party is on Friday and then I'm home free! It's been a whirlwind month with many big events. When does life start to slow down? or does it? LOL

Is there a mouse in the house?

My husband puts on a large Showcase tournament for high school athletes to showcase their talents to colleges. I do the Hospitality table (i.e., free food) for all the coaches and our staff of about 60. It's being held this weekend and so I started baking all the brownies yesterday (32 dozen). Well, I went to bed last night with all the pans on the counter and when I got up there was a piece of mail in the middle of one of the pans?? That was odd, so I picked it up and look what I found! What a creative mouse we have!

On a quilty note....here is my Shoo, Plaid Fly quilt done! I used my Baptist Fan template on the HQ16 and was quite pleased with how it turned out! I'm giving this to my brother and his wife.

The Story of Grandma's quilts

The quilt on the right is a quilt top supposedly made by my grandmother (there seems to be some confusion on some of the tops she owned--they could have been her sister's and now they all have passed away and no one really knows). It doesn't matter that much because my grandmother is the one who gave it to me. Okay, I had to twist her arm--HARD!! And don't laugh, it's true! I sweet talked her, played the guilty hand, everything to make her give it up to me! LOL I had learned to hand quilt (the start of my quilting career actually) and my mother gave me a quilt top that was my grandmother's so I could practice, because certainly it wasn't that nice of a quilt. Well, I got it done and it looked great. See?I brought it out to her when paying a visit (she lived in CO and I live in OH). I asked if she had any more quilt tops and she said, "Yes, but I promised them to Mona". I asked her if Mona, my cousin, quilted? No, but Mona was to get ALL the quilts and ALL the tops because she promised them to her. Well, I did the adult thing and pouted and whined and cried, trying to convince her that she should give ME the tops because "I quilt". ;) I left her house that day with only partial Sunbonnet Sue blocks and a few odds and ends. I was bummed. When I arrived to my aunts house, she said Grandma had called and if I really wanted those tops, I could have them. I turned right around and drove back and got them! They aren't valuable in the piecing of the tops (which turned out to be quite the problem to quilt--and my Amish friend ended up quilting it for me--another long story LOL) but they were hers and that's what I cared about. Whew--was that a story or what??? Cut away from 1989 or so to the present......

I meet up with my cousin Mona after 27 years. She was JUST starting to get into the quilting thing and I told her the story about Grandma. And she was shocked! Not only did she not get all the quilts--she wasn't promised them either. Too funny. She did have a few, but not all that Grandma owned. Where are they now? Well, Mona found a few more in her Mom's storage unit and so graciously gave me the Glorified Nine Patch quilt top on the left. I went ahead and had my Amish friend quilt that for me too. And I didn't have to even beg Mona for any! LOL What a great find that has been--rediscovering my cousin. :)

A few of the finished quilts

"Candy is Dandy" I made this quilt with a friend. (well, we each made our own, but together) We both had been collecting Kaffe Fassett fabrics and I tend to go for the warm colors and she goes for the cool colors. To make the block, you make a strip set that is 10 1/2" square--then cut it in half diagonally and swap the triangles with another strip set. So we each made the blocks we needed and then swapped one half of the triangles with one another. We ended up with a huge variety of fabrics.
Close up of the quilting. It took me almost a year to get up the nerve to freehand motion quilt this without doing more loopy loops or stippling. I practiced on the borders, where semi-following the flowers got me into a rhythym and I continued inside the quilt. I'm tickled with how it turned out.
Omigosh--this was an OLD quilt! "Quilt Friends Row by Row" I swapped the rows with my internet quilt group (Nancy is part of that group) in 2000!!! I had it put together and partially quilted and then never knew how to finish the rest. I don't like an allover stipple on every quilt. But couldn't think of anything else. Well, I decided this was the time to finish it...and man, have I improved on my quilting since then!! LOL Oh well, it's done and THAT is a good thing!
"Looking into the Windows of Kaffe" My first challenge to myself to use up all my FQ's--this was number one. I don't have close ups of the quilting--it's just okay. But again..it's done!!
"Coneflower" My own design. Well, actually I saw the background pattern somewhere and thought it 'needed' something. So I added the outline of a coneflower using bias binding (the fusible kind). Again, it was another quilt just waiting for me to get the nerve to do 'something different'. I took a few long arm classes last year and really liked the look of the 'onion slice' for a background. I finally did it and I love the way it looks. I created my own design for the last pieced border--a half of a daisy--flip flopped back and forth and somewhat interlocking. I took a close up of it and it doesn't really show. So you'll have to trust me. LOL

this and that...

Lots of goings on around here..so much that I'll have to break it into chunks of news/photos. First, wanted to share a picture of a plate I made several years ago when I hosted one of our quilt group's retreat. I had photo copied a picture of an antique block, shrunk the size and decoupaged it onto the reverse side of a glass plate. And then I decoupaged a doily (paper) over that....kind of fun to serve the quilt group dessert on these plates when I'm the hostess.

Today was FINALLY the day that I have been working towards ALL summer...finishing quilt tops......making samples.........painting...etc. I host a bi-annual Quilt Show that features my latest quilts, my students quilts and my quilter friends quilts. I'll share photos of the day in a later post. But I wanted to share a picture of my granddaughter who proudly had her quilt in the "Quilt Show in the Woods". She was all excited. When she arrived, she ran around the yard looking for it. We live in a wooded setting and it's perfect for hanging quilts among the trees. My hubby put eye hooks in the trees and then hung rope from tree to tree. He had to make quite a few support posts--because quilts are heavy! LOL More on the quilt show later....

Summer Garden

Nope--don't have one except one lone tomato plant. I'm referring to a quilt I designed a few years ago to teach people how to do prairie points. Most of the time the prairie points are on the outside of the quilt and applied AFTER the quilting is done--kind of hard to teach a class like that! LOL So I made a quilt that had them on the interior of the quilt. I just taught this class again last week..so thought I would share.

Speaking of tomatoes...I was searching for a good tomato/basil/mozzarella salad and I think I was on Judy's blog to start and somehow ended up on Libby's blog--and she had the MOST delicious recipe for Tomato Basil pie EVER!!! My husband can't get enough of it--I've made it 3 times in the last week and he wasn't too happy when we had company and had to SHARE it! LOL

The Fruits of Summer

Ahh--don't ya love summer and all it's sweet, fresh produce? I sure do...I'm thoroughly enjoying going down the road a few miles and picking up sweet corn and tomatoes that were picked that morning. And the watermelon this year has been the BEST! And of course, I had to share the fruits of some of my efforts..a watermelon quilt. Actually, it was done a couple of years ago...but I'm not quite ready to show what I've been working on all summer. But be prepared..I've been busy! Finishing lots of quilt tops, finishing quilts (some have been hanging around for 7 years, waiting to be quilted!),making class samples, painting my studio, cleaning, reorganizing, purging and whew! I'm tired.

Right or Left Brained?

While searching for something else today..I came across this..and found it quite fun and interesting..try it..it's a bit harder than you think..I found myself hestitating all the time! Say the words out loud!


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