Announcement!

I think I'm ready to make an announcement. I don't know how you know when you're really ready. I could tweak and tweak this forever but I'm SO excited to share my new venture with you all!



This little store will be my opportunity to share my favorite quilt fabrics and supplies with you. I'll appreciate any feedback you may have after visiting.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

More Houston Inspiration

I Ain't No Spring Chicken by David Taylor from Steamboat Springs, CO.

Lovely applique and embroidery. I forgot to take a photo of who the quilter is and I didn't get a photo of the entire quilt either. I told you it was overwhelming...

Matching pillow

I seriously have plans to make something new and fresh this week...



In my Etsy store.

Yes, it's a runner

Installment 1 of the ones that didn't sell last weekend.
I actually really like them all, but I think there may be a limit to how many you can have.
It's in my Etsy store right now.

The fabrics are all Park Slope by Erin McMorris.

I know, I know...

The runner and pillow madness is over. Stay tuned for the ones that didn't sell in my Etsy store as soon as I can take some photos. I'll be sharing some very exciting news and new projects soon, but in the mean time, more from Houston.

I took a class from Pam Holland, a wonderful Australian artist/quilter. The class involved "painting with thread" and a method she calls "drapplique" - (drawing & applique in one).

The photos do not do any of this justice.






To learn more about Pam and her work, visit her website.

Houston again...

I'm buried in table runners over here, so I thought I'd share more of the wonders from Houston.

Indiana Starburst by Judy Laval Morton

Flower Power by Philippa Naylor from Beverley, East Yorkshire, UK


And this AMAZING quilt...
Seasonal Sisters by Gail Thomas, Annette M. Hendricks, and Helen Godden from Vernon, BC, Canada
If you look closely you can see them talking to the crowd and they look exactly like in the quilt!

More from Houston

On Wednesday I took a full day class from Jean Wells (yes THE Jean Wells!). For those of you who are not familiar with Jean, she owns The Stitchin' Post in Sisters, Oregon with her daughter Valori Wells (the fabric designer). They put on the lovely outdoor quilt show in Sisters each year. She is also an amazing quilt artist.

It was a wonderful class! I'm so inspired.

Wow!

I'm back from Houston and all I can say is "Wow!". It was quite overwhelming and I took hundreds of photos. Six days were not enough.

The shopping looked like this:
From upstairs looking to the right.

Looking to the left.

More than 1500 vendors!
I took lots of photos of quilts too and will post some of them soon.
Right now I have an extremely messy house to clean and PILES of laundry to do.

Off to Houston!

The house is clean, the boys are organized, my bags are packed.

Tomorrow morning I'm off to the International Quilt Festival in Houston for the rest of the week. I'm taking quite a few classes and can't wait to see all the quilt inspiration.

Because I need to take supplies to each class and may want to stroll through the exhibits and stalls in between, I needed something that would work as both a purse and a supply tote.

I bought this cute bag. Everything fits in there except the 12"x18" cutting mat.

I'm not about to carry the mat loose, and I want my hands free to touch and feel goodies, so I came up with this solution.

It just ties onto the purse handle with ribbons and can be easily removed. I can still sling the bag over my shoulder very comfortably.
I'll let you know how it works out.

Have a great week everyone!

Sad

I wasn't going to post today but then I saw this on the local news. Read it quickly because it'll probably not be there for much longer.

May we never get to this point.

(Edited to add: I'm aware that blogging and/or knitting were not responsible for the abuse this girl suffered and that the mother is very likely seriously mentally ill, but I still think it should give us pause for thought about:
1. Our integrity in the blog world.
2. Being aware of the level of importance we attach to our hobbies and whether this affects the quality of care we provide to our children.)

It's Socktober!

Remember Socksgiving?
Thanks to Jennifer's wonderful coaching I managed to knit a lovely pair of socks back then and then another pair.
And nothing since then.

Now I'm tackling socks again.

As you can see I haven't reached my nemesis (the turning of the heel) yet.
Jennifer, can I have you on speed dial?
(These are the "Embossed Leaves Socks" from this book.)

Who's going to Houston?

Wouldn't it be great to meet some fellow bloggers?

Runner (and pillow) time!

I warned you!
I'm trying to come up with a name for this one but I'm stumped. Any ideas?



And a matching pillow cover.

Why?

The quilt top is made...

The binding is ready...

...but I don't have ANYTHING to use as backing.

You'd think I'd have learned by now.

Thanks everyone!

Wow! The response to my rotary cutter question was AMAZING! Thank you so much! Hopefully all the wonderful responses helped other people with their decisions too.
I think I'll be going with the Olfa Ergonomic cutter since that one got the most votes, but it wasn't an easy decision.
I'm left-handed so having the option of switching the blade to the other side was really important to me.

Here's a glimpse of a little something I'm working on.

Rotary Cutters

After 10 years of constant use, I think my rotary cutter needs to retire.

So...I was hoping you could help me (and probably a few other people) with my decision in deciding on a new one.

What rotary cutter do you use?
What do you like/dislike about it?

Thank you, lovely blogfriends!

Melissa's Block

For the Virtual Quilting Bee.
Melissa sent the yellow fabric. Her theme is trees.
I had a hard time incorporating it without adding all kinds of fall oranges which would not have worked with the other fabrics she sent out.
I'm quite happy with these little trees.
Freezer paper foundation pieced.

Wow, thanks!

Your response to my emergency plea was amazing! I love all of you!
Because I had an urgent need to iron, I used the "salt on brown paper" method, which miraculously took most of the gunk off, although it did scratch the surface a little. As soon as I get to the store, I'll buy one of the other amazing products you recommended and take the rest of it off. Stay tuned for the review.

I know you're probably getting a little tired of runners, but I have to make 15 of them by November 11th, so here's another one.

Romantic Roses:

H-e-e-e-l-p!

Two words:
Fleece.
Hot iron.

OK, that's three words but...

Oh, you need a more detailed photo?

Do tell me you've done this and found a way to clean it up.
Please.

The Butterfly Block

Right now my life feels a little out of control. I think I have too many things on one small little plate. Maybe it's just PMS and I'll feel better tomorrow...

I've had a couple of requests for the pattern I used to make Jennifer's Virtual Quilting Bee butterfly quilt block.
Well, I didn't have a pattern, although I did "design" something in EQ5 at the time.
So, today I drew up a pattern for the Butterfly Quilt Block which I'd love to share.
The VQB block was 12" square but to make printing easier, I designed this one at 10" finished.
It's foundation pieced and machine appliqued. Refer to the photo for placement of the applique pieces.

I saved the pattern in two PDF files.
Butterfly Quilt Block Part I
Butterfly Quilt Block Part II
If you do try out this pattern, please let me know how it worked out.

Look what I got!

At some point soon there will be a "real post" again. You know, one with something you can actually read...

A while ago I won this giveaway. Isn't it cute?

Thanks Helen!

What happened?

When did I become a weekly poster? Too many irons in the fire, I think.

I did start working on my Grandmother's Flower Garden hexagon quilt again. 24 blocks done. At least 24 more to go.

And I'm working on another table runner.

Oh, and did I mention that I started guitar lessons this week?

(What was that about the irons...)

Impulse buy

I was at JoAnn's looking for fleece to make a dog coat and some thingies for a giveaway, and what stumbled across my path?

The current dining room drapes are from a different era (think burgundy, mustard, green) and this will be just perfect to replace them!

It's a Liz Claiborne fabric but I can't find it anywhere online to see what it's called. It almost looks like it's quilted, which I love.

Goodbye Summer

Happy Labor Day with compliments from my dear hubby.