She's Back!!!

She's back!! After over two weeks at the shop!

Just in time, too, I've got quite a stack that needs some quilty attention - something my old machine isn't quite up to!

I wanted to finish Good Morning Starshine in time for the Blogger's Quilt Festival, but I don't think that's going to happen. I think it'll be done in plenty of time for the spring festival though! :-)

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Georgia on My Mind

With all the quilts I make, there are actually not that many that are finished right now... So when the Blogger's Quilt festival rolled around, I didn't think I had anything to contribute. But then I thought of this one :-)

I made this quilt this past July, when my grandmother was hospitalized suddenly. I started the top and had it quilted and bound in less than 10 days.

That was fortuitous, because my grandmother passed away exactly one week after I gave it to her. I named it Georgia on My Mind, because she always will be :-)

It was made completely from stash, which helped the quick-ness of it. I quilted it with little sprounts on my home machine, and machine bound it, which also helped the quick-ness. :-)

Stats:
Georgia on My Mind
Finished 60x60
Pieced, quilted and bound with Aurifil 2024 on my Bernina 750QE.

Skill Builder BOM - catching up!

I've been taking the time since finishing California Dreamin to catch up on some of my Skill Builder BOM blocks.

The hold up was this one, originally....

This block is made of 64 HSTs. SIXTY FOUR. For a 12.5" block. You can't blame me for dreading it, right? But since I got my new toy, I figured I didn't have any more excuses. So it got done. Finally.

After that block was done, I got to play with some scraps.

What do you do when you don't have enough scraps in the right colors? Make more!

Sorry that last picture is absolute crap. One of these days I'm going to get a real camera. And also not take pictures at 3am. One day...

California Dreamin'

I told you I'd have a finish this week :-)

This is my modern maples quilt, California Dreamin'. That song was stuck in my head the whole time I was making it, with the gray "sky" background.

I've already pieced the back, and I'll baste it soon, but I'm still waiting on my dear Bridget to be able to quilt it. I'm getting quite a stack waiting for her!


Stats:

60x72
Stash fabrics - lots of Denyse and Juliana Horner, some Lizzy, and Vanessa.
Pieced with Aurifil 2024

Here's more!

While I was on a roll doing my September blocks for Sisters Ten, I went ahead and did the October ones too!

Anne-Marie was nice enough to have the logo for the BOM printed at Spoonflower, and gave us a chance to buy one to put in one of these blocks. Such a good idea!!

So now ALL of the blocks for this BOM are done, and next we start putting it all together!

Playing catch-up!

Believe it or not, I'm still doing my two BOM's - Sisters Ten with GenX Quilters and Skill Builder with Pile O' Fabric. I just haven't been doing very will with keeping up with them lately. I'm only a couple months behind with Sisters Ten, but I haven't done the blocks for Skill Builder since summer.

Oops.

So I took the opportunity while the latest quilt was up on the design board being stared at (and occasional blocks being moved around) to catch up some.

Here are the September blocks for the Skill Builder BOM:

These are my favorite ones of this BOM! Followed by the lady of the lake blocks as a close second ;-) I might have to do a whole quilt of this block one day...

An almost finish

So I suppose it was a little ambitious to think this would be finished by today... but i finished the blocks at least!

I spent the evening the other day cutting... I always forget how long this takes.

But i suppose it WILL take a long time when I end up cutting twice as much background fabric than I needed (#talesofineptitude!). But I suppose it's just like getting a head start on another project, right? ;-)

I got all the blocks organized and plated-up...

and finished all of them in about two days. I'm still working on the layout, so this isn't final, but hopefully I'll start putting the rows together this weekend!

Spending time with an old friend

The other day I was getting all set up to quilt, and my dear lovely wonderful Bridget started acting up a little. She is due for a tune up (I can't believe I've had her for almost a year already!!) so I went ahead and took her in. The peeps at the Bernina shop here said it would be about 2 weeks.

Sadface.

So I pulled out my old girl out of retirement. 

Marsha Sue and I have been hanging out the last few days, and I can't say it enough how much I love this old girl.

At first I was like "how did I ever sew on this!" after being ridiculously spoiled by Bridget. (And I do have to say, there are some bells and whistles I've decided I can't live without - hello knee lift! and thread cutter!)

BUT. Marsha Sue makes some awfully pretty stitches. And she is a beast. Seriously - cast iron.

I also got taken back to that place where I first learned to sew, and I remember sitting in my apartment in California on the phone with my mom in Virginia piecing my first quilt on this machine - a queen sized block of the month kit I got from Joann's. I hated some of the fabrics, so I ended up replacing some of them, and trying to figure out how to use a rotary cutter, and how to get that 1/4 inch seam, and laying the blocks out on the floor, because I didn't know there were such things as design walls.

I'm rambling now.

Anyway, I pulled some pretties and chopped them up, and I *might* even have a finish for Friday, if I'm ambitious. And ignore schoolwork... I'll let you know how that goes. ;-)

Quilt Show loot!

I mentioned last week that I went to the Fredericksburg Quilting and Sewing Expo the week before, and showed you some of the awesome pieces that were on display.

I also mentioned that I would show you the loot I picked up while I was there.

Then I forgot.

So this is me not forgetting anymore. ;-)

I picked up some fun Christmas fabrics, for a project yet to be determined. I also got some (more) Acacia and Briar Rose, and a half yard of some fun citrus print - I used something similar in Sunshine Daydream that I loooved and don't know what it was.

I also picked up the Quick Curve Ruler and a pattern to go with it. I've only ever done curves with my DWR Sampler from last year, and I'd like to see if this makes it easier.

I loved the selection of stuff at this show! There was much more "modern" fabrics and patterns than I've seen before. I think I'll go again next year ;-)

Good Morning Starshine

The Acacia quilt top is finished! This top took me longer than I expected, but it's done!

I'm calling this one Good Morning Starshine, which is a song from one of my fave movies ever, Hair. No, not Hairspray. Hair - with Treat Williams and all the hippies and whatnot. It's awesome. I actually wrote a thesis about it the last time I was in grad school...

(please ignore all the tiny bugs that jump on my quilts the second they hit the ground!)

I originally did the star part and one full echo, but then I decided it was too small, so I added on the "shadow" echoes to make it a little bigger, and then extended parts of the second echo to make it look like it was coming out of the quilt.

This picture I took while I was basting it shows the contrast of the grays a little better than the outside pictures:

So this is all basted and ready to go, but Bridget is actually not feeling well, so I'm going to have to take her to the doctor this afternoon. Over a weekend, of course :-/

Stats:

Good Morning Starshine

60x68

Acacia by Tula Pink

Light gray: Kona Silver

Darker gray: Moda Zen Gray


UPDATE: This one is quilted and bound! Check it out here!

A field trip!

Last weekend I went to the Original Sewing and Quilting Expo in Fredericksburg! It was my first time at that particular one, and to be honest, the only one I've been to besides the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show in Hampton. The Fredericksburg show is MUCH smaller than the Hampton one, but it also had a more modern lean, so that was a lot of fun.

Here is some of the amazing pieces they were showing - there were pieces by Victoria Findlay Wolfe, Ebony Love, Elizabeth Dackson, Mary Fons, and Heather Jones, among others. There were also quite a few pieces that were quilted by Angela Walters and Lisa Sipes, and I *might* have had a few fangirl moments. ;-)

I hope you enjoyed the little field trip! I'll share my swag this weekend ;-)