Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival 2007

So you like clowns... Me too!

Especailly when they are quilted!
Clowns on Parade, by: Cathy Wiggins.
Full of fun suprises like this quilted character!
or this Cute appliqued monkey - with quilted bananas!
Isn't juggling fun?
What about when you add a teapot with steaming hot tea to the mix? (love the ruffled border...)
This is my favorite guy...
Do you see his sidekick - the diving mermaid? the fish?
I even like how he splashed a bit...

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival 2007

Walk With Me, by: Kathy McNeil.
Silent Footfalls in Black & White, By: Lois Smith.
Renoir Reassembled, by: Jane Kimball (it is a group project, but she got all of the credit) as well as the award for Best Wall Quilt.
Renewal, by: June Thorpe.
Pulsera, by: Karen Ficke.
Portrait of Lucy as Maya with a Doll, by: Paulie Salzman. Inspired by this painting.
Hybrid, by: Scott Murkin.
More Glorious than Solomon, by: Suzane Kistler.
Monarch Chromatic, by: Cyndi Souder, won Best hand workmanship with a caveat that it was for the beadwork!
Mariners in a Pickle, by: Heather Kimpel Costen.
Miriam's Dance, by: Lisa Ellis.
Fatal Attraction, by: Sandy Curran.
Daisy & The Cruiser, by: Janet Fogg. I did not get the measurements, but this quilt was large - the bicycle is bigger that it would be in real life.
Aspens 5 - Early Winter, by: Brenda H. Smith.

Tomorrows selections will include "close-ups" or 2 or more quilts by the same maker... (Apparently if I like one of your quilts, I will like the other one too!)

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival 2007

This quilt is called Whiskers, by Ann Fahl. I had seen several of her quilts on Flickr & Webshots - it was fun to see the collection in real life! The black & white kitty is Oreo & I can not choose a favorite... So I will share them all!
Waiting for Breakfast
Under the Giant Coneflowers
Tiptoe The Broken Teapot
Tea Party
Smelling the Flowers
Portrait of a Quilter's Helper
Power Breakfast for Quilters
Party Girl
Morning Bath
In The Black Eyed Susans
Hairy Homage
End of the Day
Drink of Water
At the Screen Door
I love how the backgrounds are scrappy and different. I also love how the quilting both in the background and as cat fur is different. & Finally I love how the cats are created differently - some appear to be thread work, while others are photo transfer or applique.

Veggie quilt

Thanks to my friend Shelley, I have a digital photo of my friend Deborah's 50th birthday quilt. (You may recognize my block - the onions top middle) We are all in a mini-group. All of us work or worked for the Social Security Administration... We meet in the back of a LQS generally on the 3rd Sunday of the month... Deborah was on the RAW diet, which is how we decided to do this theme for her quilt.

Kansas Troubles & Jelly Rolls

Has anyone heard about Jelly Rolls by Moda? (I think Karen mentioned them before...)

Anyone into Kansas Troubles, Bound to the Prairie II?

Anyone know why my inner Dandylion likes it?

As for the Jelly Rolls, I actually do like Sunshine. (But anyone who knows anything about me probably could have guessed that...)

Back to the Kansas Troubles Jelly Rolls... I got 2 packs on sale 25% off and was able to use a BOGO coupon... Ladies & Gentlemen, I just got 2 sets of 40 2.5 inch strips (2.75 -ish yards each) for $23.50! I was thinking about doing a Trip Around the World, but I either have too much or not enough fabric & my brain can not figure out which...

If I like Sunshine, why did I get Kansas Troubles? - Because it was the only one with 2 rolls available & I like a deal... Even if they are not "my" colors, they will make a quilt...

After my sewing machine gets back from the repair shop... & After I piece together a charity quilt top! (In the mean time, I have EPP'd another 1/2 of a Ping...)

Paula, Quilt Pixie, & Shelina are all doing this so (Amy the joiner) is joining in... Apparently this made the rounds on blogs in 2005 Because one of my first needs is this blog that Amy found out what she needs in October 2005! Another one of my needs is this blog - not related to the googling your needs thread though... Yet another blog (another 2005 "Amy needs" post) ... & another blog responding not only to the Amy Needs thread, but also to Amy Deserves....

So

Amy must need to blog!
psycho amy needs help
Amy needs some helping drinking apparently
you have to check out the webpage for this one... (Sad story with a happy ending)
Amy REALLY needs some glasses TRUE! I am even ready to make an appointment!

O.K. so Amy needs Help in one form or another...

Back in this tiny section of blogville, Amy needs a new head - quick! The one I carry around on top of my shoulders is about to explode! (all stopped up, but frequently sneezing and dripping)My tummy hurts now too = muscular pain not only from coughing, but of all things to happen before getting away for the weekend - my cycle (which has been off cycle - but that is another story all together) started...

What would you do?

(Besides finish about 80 other projects - we are just playing here - & Yes, I did do the homework that needed to be done "now." Thanks for asking & reminding me - I need all the help I can get. No court today... I have to reschedule that one...)

What would you do with this fabric? Linked to equilter, becasue while I own it, I do not have a photo of it. I don't "Love" it, but I really liked the "words" on it... I also like the way you can cut it and get whole images... Not my colors...

Any ideas? Do you have any fabric that you want similar advice on? I'll help you if you help me...

Oh & please remind me that if I spend my money at equilter now that I won't be able to spend it at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt show this weekend... (I just had to remind hubby that no, we can't go out for pizza tonight - for the SAME reason...) I really am hopeless...

To think I could be doing my statistics homework that is due next Tuesday or studying for the mid-term.... UGH! Heck, I could even be doing busy work at work... (I've got a hurry up & wait job & am in the middle of a wait....)

Are you in or near Denver?

Check this out! A Denyse Schmidt Quilt exhibit at P Design Gallery next month! Opening on March 16 - mark your calendars!

O.K. now I am off to work on my homework...

timing...

Maybe the way I am feeling correlates with the fact that yesterday I woke up with a monster head cold. Maybe not... At any rate I am feeling rather run down and getting out of bed is feeling like a chore...

Where am I going with this? The same place I am going with EVERYTHING else - no where... There in lies the problem.

I have class tonight - last week it was cancelled - we are doubling up to catch up - If I hadn't mentioned it before, I am in so far over my head in that class that I have not seen my hair in weeks!

I am taking tomorrow off to go to court for my other class. I was going to go to the Supreme Court, but I will feel like I have accomplished something if I get to traffic court!

I have to piece together a charity quilt... I wanted to have that done by the end of January - where o where did you go January? Now it is feeling like a chore - the kind that I need to finish before going to the quilt show this weekend...

I have class on Thursday night - I am almost caught up on that one.... (Almost. Not really but almost sounds better. Did I really blow off my whole weekend?)

On Friday, Rhapsody gets to go the the vet for kitty dentistry & boarding... RB will be the lord of the manor in his bachelor pad - I don't think he has ever been completely alone? He is a grazer on a dry diet, so I can leave the food out for him for a couple days... Save a tiny bit off of the vet bill. Oh & on Friday, I would like to take my sewing machine for a tune-up and cleaning... I will have to go from hin to yon to get both done! (I also need ot pick-up a rental car so that my husband can drive to VA & then putter around while I am at the show...)

Busy, Busy, Busy - zero motivation (Did not mention the work work. Or my Dr. visit this a.m. - it was planned, he took my blood & assessed my monster head cold. Apparently, I will live.)

I did do a couple of pings (pinwheels are what we are calling them around the house) Sunday & yesterday... 6 done, 14 to go - 3 in the sewing kit for found moments, although for me, this is not a found moment project, rather a lazy hanging out with the cats project! & that is fine.

I hope you are all are fareing better in all respects. (I did get around to read all about it, but more othen that not, failed to comment - sorry - keep up the good work.)

If I don't see you in the mean time, see you on Tuesday!

A whole nuther side o' me

I actually like English Paper Piecing (EPP). I had a real ugh moment when I realized that that is what I got myself into, but I so works for me & my two cats.

First we get situated on the chair and ottoman - we loves the ottoman - so much better that trying to stuff in a love seat! Oh back to EPP... We then choose somthing to have on the TV in the background...

And then open my hand dandy pencil case turned sewing box and get started. Now two cats come nestle in on the lap and we are good for an hour or two.

The photos were taken in my office, so I did not have any help - still I am outa focus... You may or may not be able to see a bee on the charm on the left... I pinned the paper to that one on the bias, so that i would capture the bee. Most of my papers get pinned like the one on the right.

It is all very relaxing, to start, I have rectangles of the fabrics already cut out & the EPP paper pieces are also pre-cut. So I pin the paper to the rectangels and roughly trim the rectangle to the size of the paper. After about 30 blades, I finally know where to start my basting. After I have two basted, I whip stitch them together - no thinking, just stitching (I switched to Macro & got a clearer picture - do you see the bee?) & then add the blades to either side as I go. By the time I am whip stitching, my helpers are usually sleeping & one might even be snoring - bless her little nose... She usually has cleaned a bit of RB too - he is such a dirty boy! Last night, she had him pinned real good, she was half on top of him holding him down for a wash. I guess to her way of thinking, if she has to lay down next to him, he ought to be clean! I can do one Dresden Plate unit of 10 blades in about 2 hours, but I can only do 2 in a day (so far.) 1/2 of a plate can be satisfying enough... 4 down 16 to go. BTW these colors are truest.

If I were cutting or pressing - something that I also do in front of the TV, they can not nestle, because I am seated, not reclined & moving a lot. My helpers try to help at the sewing machine too - cat on the lap at the sewing machine does not work either... The cats will hang out close, but we are all far from satisfied with that scenario...


A whole different train of thought... Unlike some quilter's who know what they like & stick with it, I like a whole lotta stuff. Hence my dandylion monicker... (If you blow on one the seeds go all over.)
As evidence, I have novelty UFOs, CW Repro. UFOs, Bright UFOs, Pink & Brown UFOs, Batik, UFOs, Oriental UFOs, and now a Taupe WIP!
(I guess I am lucky in that I don't particularly care for 30's or Thimbleberries or home spun plaids...)

But stylistically I am all over too - well maybe not "ALL" over... BAQ, realistic cat appliques, pieced cats, "modern" pieced quilts, charm quilts, EPP, monochromatic quilts, rainbow quilts, scrappy, etc.
(I don't care for paper piecing - the other way - but I have a pattern or two that I may force myself to complete & I am not one for a "challenge" - getting something done is challenge enough, thankyouverymuch! Oh & I'm not one for perfection and percision either...)

If I don't see you in the mean time & you are in the USA, Happy President's Day & Happy Anniverary, Michael. No big plans for "the" day, but next weekend, we are going to Hampton, Virginia for the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show...

"That" cat in a tree fabric is mine!

When I first saw this fabric, I told everyone in blogville! I "wanted" it but I did not "need" it. I was not going to buy it.... I showed my friend & she liked it too - always a good thing.
Then I started to dream about it! I knew exactly how to use it! So when I was at my LQS, I asked them to order it for me... Well to get a special order, you have to buy 1/2 the bolt - or 7.5 yards... (I wanted about 5 anyway...) Turns out that Alexander Henry - the fabric house that made this fabric was out of it! (But they called back & told my shop that they found 7.5 yards in a corner - adds to the story, huh? - almost makes is Kismet!) & did my shop want 1/2 a bolt? YES! - several people wanted to buy some of my fabric when it first arrived = but I got it all! (See it would have been a good purchase for the shop to make from the begining...)

The browns all came from my stash. I have a whole lot more of them... I like browns, they make realistic cat applique pieces. :o)

I am going to do the "Birds in Air" block, only my big triangle will be a the cat fabric & the small triangles will be scrappy browns. I will use the straight furrows setting so that all of my cats and trees stay standing up... I will also use the main print as my border - still unsure about the narrow inner border - maybe a darker aqua, or a rust, or a WOW snow print...

Project Spectrum Blue

In honor of project Spectrum, here is a variegated blue flower on a scrappy blue background.

Here is the same flower on the back! RB was rolling on this quilt - he had to help when he saw that I was trying to take a photograph... You can see him in the next post...

My 2 pings

Here are the two new pings. (3 down 17 to go) Can you see how one of the Dresden Plates is "purple?" Do you see the aqua unit on that plate? The is the color of RB's eyes!
Here was busy being a helper kitty & not sitting still so I could get a shot of his aqua eyes....