Quilt Show results

Well the Grandson did it. He took a second place viewers choice ribbon. I am sure the viewers voted on the fact that I made him write out the piecing , quilting process story. In the eyes of a 10 yr old it was funny. But no never mind he didn't care he got a ribbon and at 10 that is all he wanted. Of course I was not expecting anything on my quilts and that is what I got. I did see that each of my quilts got votes (more than I thought) so I guess what I do is pleasing to someone other than me. I was told by a co worker that she could pick my quilts out without looking at the name. Just find the brightest in the show. Ok at least I am noted for something!

Quilt Show Quilts and Clients' Quilts

My local Quilt club is having their Quilt Show this weekend and I only have 3 quilts in it this year. Then of course my grandson Devon has his too. Below are pics of 2 of my quilts that I am taking. The one on the left is called I've Got the Blues and was a Row by Row on Mailblocks yahoo group. The Quilt on the right is a combo of everything. I call it Scrappy GPS.The center is made up of 2'5" squares that were made as a round robin. I started this on one group then overflowed to another group. The outer blocks were all swapped blocks in one swap or another. In trying to get a grip on my stash I thought it best to use these up and now this of course is one of my favorite quilts. The 3rd entry is the Purple Purple Outloud top that I have put on this blog before as the trouble top, that I was learning to do the double cable border on.

Margie's Christmas Quilt, She wanted just a meander on this top so I did meandering stars. Such a nice quilt for a sampler. Kinda neat how she did the sashing!

This is Tammy's quilt. I love the design and the scrappiness of it. She wanted more of hand style quilting on this. She is a wonderful piecer!

Stashbusting Retreat

Ok I really think they call it Quiltville retreat but stashbusting is just as good. Yes you got it Bonnie Hunter is coming and giving workshops. Woohoo! I can't wait. I just found the retreat and got the last spots available. God is shining on me. I have known for years that I need to bust stash, and Lord knows I love the scrappy quilts, I just have a hard time with a system. I have read and re-read Bonnie's method and makes perfect sense to me BUT I only have time for one cut. 2.5" squares. I do have a small tote with 1.5" squares but those 2.5" are out of control. I am hoping that even tho this retreat is a workshop for her quilts that I can still come away with enough enthusiasm for getting organized in my stash. I know that scrappy quilts are my favorite. (Oh what am I saying! They are all my favorite) But to prove a point here are some pics of some of my quilts I have done.



Here is a pic of one that I made years ago it is with 2.5" squares. This one went to my son and his wife. They do use it alot and I am glad. I call this Susan's Vacations Interrupted. Those are little mini trips around the world, so they must be vacations right and then there are 9-patches right in the middle. There are over 2,000 squares and these were all cut and pieced individually. I can't believe that I actually did this now that I know the strip piecing method. We live and learn.

This top on the right was given to my other son. I call it String Therapy. I tried to use something other than the 2.5" squares. I must have been tired of them after Susan's Vacation, but I never really got into the strings either. So I don't think there will be another string quilt. The quilt on the left is one of 4 I made with the Rail Fence, each one of my 3 grandkids got one of these I call them Bars from the Past, since most of the fabrics are from the 50's and 60's. I would have never made 4 of these but I bought a box of fabric at an auction and these bars were pre cut so off to the races I went. You see I can't throw anything out. I keep it all. Poly blends, see thrus are ok with me I just use them for linings in my purse or something like that. Yes I need to get a grip on my stash

The Best Laid Plans gone astray

Well it is Monday and my vow to make a scrappy stash top was not in the cards. I picked my Grand daughter up to have her spend the night for her Birthday and then of course we had to shop for the present. Yes Baby Doll and stroller and princess shoes.

But her older brother wanted to come home with me on Sat so he could finish his quilt. So Now Friday night was a waste and then now all day Sat and now Sat night. But he got it done and ready for the quilt show in two weeks. Here is a pic of Devon and his quilt. The center is a panel that I has bought years ago. He added the blue border and cut and sewed all the pieces for the last border. I out the top on my long arm and he quilted it. I made him do the binding all by machine and he really probably did a better job at that than I do.

Sunday had us going to the birthday party. So all I managed was 25 of these scrappy twist blocks. I had swapped 25 of these out earlier in the year and wanted more. I have decided that I want to do 50 more but I am going to reverse the pattern. I am on Stashbust yahoo group and have signed up for th UFO Challenge and realized these top is not on my list of things to do so lets put it away and go to something I can check off the list.

I was talking with a friend and she told me that Iwas wearing off on her, she was now cutting scraps into 2.5" squares and or whatever size the scrap warranted. I had been telling her for years about my obession with 2.5" squares and I have totes of them. Yes I have 2 or 3 different tops started with them. she then in turn was telling a friend in AL and now she is cutting scraps into squares. I told her to go to Bonnie's Quiltville site and really get the good lessons on how to organize the scraps. I did look at all my bags of scraps and decided to 'get real' this bag was fashion fabric, I won't use those scraps. Out it went. Then went through a couple of the other bags quickly and took out the poly blends, velvets and anything I would not put in a quilt. These went into a sack for purses. Then I pitched out scraps that weren't at least 1.5" square. I had been saving all these for those intricut paper pieced projects, but went through another 'get real' moment. I could use the larger scraps for these and what are the chances that I actually get to that project anyway. I have way to many UFO's to complete before I can start anything else. I mean I counted 50 easily and I have found many more since then

With that I better get to sewing

Club RR's, Using the Stash, Weekend Plans

This is Carmie's row with my row. She didn't want the rows sewn together, and she wanted Red, White and Black and wanted her blocks to do with Love and or marriage. I have the Lovers Knot Wedding Ring and paper pieced rose buds. The other two blocks are just blocks I wanted to use.





These are Carol's rows. She wanted Red Whte and Navy and her theme was Military and Patriotic. With this theme I chose the Army Star. I am doing two of these RR's becuz one lady had to drop out before it even started. I couldn't let them go one row short. I thought I had a picture of my starter rows. One is a stashbuster. The split 9-patch in all scraps. I really like the scrappy quilts and making these up really help to get rid of the stash. I really didn't think I had a big stash but then I get to looking around and I have 2 big rooms full of fabric. My motto is buy while I have the money for I may loose my job tomorrow. But I have to be real and last year went with the motto only buy if I need it for a project. I did well with this but have went lax as of this year. But I am busting out of the seams so I need to really do some stash busting. So brought out another scrappy that I started some 10 years ago. OK maybe 8 years ago. Maybe it was 15. I don't even have the pattern any more and now I am unsure if I want to draft it out and do more. I don't use table toppers so I need the push from someone or everyone to get this done, or it will go back into the UFO pile. Does anyone know the name of this off hand.
So this weekend the goal is to get at least one stash busting top done. (Don't think it will be this one)



My grand daughter turned 4 Tues so as soon as I get off her I am going to get her to spend the night with me. Then tomorrow I will take her shopping to go get her a birthday present. I am sure this will be a new baby doll, but we will see.

Vacation

Well, I still am not sure if I am over the trip to MO or not. I left on Wed morning of the 1st and drove to my cousins house just south of St. Louis. Picked her up and then got back on the road for the next 5 hours to Granby, MO. This is where my parents live. I did stop in Springfield and checked out Merrily We Quilt. Great shop, and of course I spent money there,bought some pale fabric with old gas pumps and cars in black and also some route 66 fabric. I invision some type of whole cloth with these, one on front and the other on the back, quilted with old cars and such.





On Thursday two of my other sisters came over to the sisters house their in MO and we had a cook out. Only men allowed was my dad and my sisters hubby, the cook. I had a neice show up with her little 5 month old son, so I guess their were 3 males their. It was great sitting around telling stories about the past. Some brought up bad memories but most were good and could be laughed at now. All in all it was great spending time with my family. It is rough being so far away from family. Those that have family right around the corner just don't know how lucky there are.

Friday found my cousin and I hitting all the antique and junk shops we could find, in nearby Neosho. As with all towns now it seems that the business' have moved out and the old historical buildings are left to crumble, in hopes that some antique shop moves in. We had a blast! I got a great deal on a vintage Whiting and Davis metal mesh purse. I love these purses and seem to have quite the collection of them. We then went to Newtonia and checked out the Civil War Cemetary and Civil War house.



Sat we packed back up in the car and headed back to her house to see fireworks. As we were loading up their RV to head off to the fireworks I noticed my tire getting low on air. UH OH not good for a gal traveling the rest of the 5 hour trip home alone. So off to the station to air it up. So Sunday morning we I got up to go guess what, the tire was flat as a pancake. So off to the Wal-Mart to get it fixed. They said it was a bone, the nastiest, smellest, foulest thing he had ever got out of a tire. Ok Ok now don't go where most do and start talking about how I had been at the cemetary the night before! I had always heard that you don't want to run over road kill for it can puncture you tire. Well I guess that one is true.

I have had to finish two Row by Rows that I am doing so I just unpacked tonight. Yes I am a little slow. I also managed to put the final stitches in the binding of a UFO I have had. Yeah check that one off the list. This is the one I posted couple weeks ago about the double cable border giving me fits. Well it is done now. I even hung it up and took the pic without bothering the hubs. This one is going on our bed this fall, I love the colors, the brightness, it just makes me happy.

Well off to bed I have to work tomorrow