Friday, November 26, 2010

Four Day Weekend

How fun!  I need more of these!  I have done some quilting on my little apple wallhanging, and I have been working on my bee Christmas swap quilt.  I can't show pictures until after the exchange on Dec 2nd. 

I have relaxed, read two books and got a lot of sewing done.  Now I have two more days to play.  I am going to put the Christmas swap quilt on the frame and start quilting it tomorrow.  I am travelling to Houston on Tues, and driving back on Thurs so I want the quilt done before I leave.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

New Project - Labyrinth

Debbie Maddy lectured at our guild last Tues.  She gives a large and impressive trunk show.  She taught a workshop on Saturday making her Labyrinth pattern
http://webstore.quiltropolis.net/stores_app/browse_item_details.asp?Store_Id=529&Item_Id=1209&Page_Id=23

Her instructions are very clear and she gives a lot of great tips and hints while she is teaching.  It went together quickly....well except I had cut some of my pieces incorrectly, so I had to resize everything.  My quilt will be a little smaller than everyone else's.  I used a ruler I seldom use and didn't realize one side was 1/2 inch and the other was was 1 inch.

I don't need to start new projects.  But a friend was taking the class - her quilt is very striking.  I will try and get a picture for a future blog. 

I used stash fabrics for the class.  They are nice fabrics, but rather plain mostly reading as solids.  I decided I needed to punch it up with the border fabric, so after class I went to a couple stores and picked up some fabric.

It would have been better if I shopped my stash and then got fabrics to go with them before the class.  I would have used the pumpkin fabric in the body of the quilt.
and the border fabrics

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Tracking Progress

One of my goals is to improve my free motion quilting. I doodle on paper, but I have decided to actually quilt some every day. There is a calendar on the right side of my blog. I mark each day that I practice on the longarm or quilt on a project.

This website http://dontbreakthechain.com/  offers the software for free. That fact that I can track on my blog is a bonus.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Houston Quilt Show

Too much travel in October.  Memphis for fun, Minneapolis, Chicago and Houston for work.  At the end of all my travelling in October I caught a cold.  I was worried that I would be too sick to go the the Quilt Show, but was feeling quite a bit better by the weekend.

I went with 3 friends from my bee.  Dana drove Lema, Twana, and me.  We went down Sat morning and came back Sun evening.  It is a 4 1/2 hour drive.  We had two days at the quilt show, and I don't think that was enough.  I would love to go for a longer period and take some classes.

Beautiful, beautiful quilts.  Inspiring, thought provoking.  Add to that over 1000 vendors!

One of my favorite moments - I was sitting on a bench resting while the others were off looking at quilts.  I could see about 5 quilts from my perch and was idly watching quilts and viewers.  A man and 2 little girls came through looking at the quilts and the girls were looking and exclaiming but rushing forward and he was gently chiding them to slow down as he would pause to look at the quilts.

I bought some felted wool for applique, some rulers, and a couple stencils.