It's Show Time...

"Over The River - My Way"

It's finally time...This week is Quilt Show Week for our guild.

I've entered five quilts for competition and display.

"Flutterby"

All of my quilts involve applique'.

If you've been reading my blog since I first learned this technique, you

may even chuckle a bit. You'll know that "I've come a long way, baby!".

"Martinique Plates"

I know that my friend, Flo would be proud of me if she were still here.

"Princeton Plates"

The week begins today with quilt judging for ribbons. Our guild has

about one hundred forty quilts, and most were submitted to be judged.

"The Pink Panther"

These are all my entries. I'm also having "Over The River" and

"Martinique Plates" appraised. Once "Martinique" is valued, I'll

know that "Princeton Plates" will be approximately the same value.

I'll be scribing (taking judge's notes) and helping turn quilts for

evaluation all day today. I'll be back on Wednesday to let you 

know the results. (Especially if there's anything "crow worthy"!)

 This is the week we've been working toward for the past two years.

We'll be crazy busy, but I want to savor it all.

I have to run. Judging starts at 8 o'clock this morning.

Wish me luck!

(There's still time to order raffle tickets, too! Just send me an email for details.)

Catching Up...

 Today, I'll be working on the gifts from my giveaway.

 I'm making two table runners and a tote.

 Don't these fabrics, paired with Michelle's sweet little birds, make you smile?

I'll take pictures of everything before I send them out so you can see.

I'm also going to make more table runners over the weekend for the Boutique.

Are you planning something creative today?

Sweetheart Valentine Giveaway...

 I promised to offer up a giveaway this week, so I decided

that today would be as a good a day as any. I'm calling it a

"Sweetheart Valentine Giveaway"!

 Do you remember the Dresden plates that I made from the Martinique fabric

 last year? Well, I ended up with enough extra blocks to be able to share

some with you! I looked at the blocks yesterday and chose to make

a heart-shaped center instead of the usual circle, and then I added one

of Michelle Palmer's sweet, little cardinals into the middle of the heart.

 I had contacted her a few weeks ago and asked if she'd make up a

few of these adorable birds for me in a Valentine theme and, as always

she graciously agreed. I have some ideas for the others, but I wanted

to use one of them for the project I'll be making for this giveaway.

 The best part of my giveaway is that the winner will get to choose

what they'd like me to make with this block. I'm offering to make

one of the following for the winner:

• A Table Runner

or

• A Tote

or

• A Pillow Cover

I still have more Martinique fabric, so I'll be using some of it to

finish the final item. I'll also add a few additional goodies to the

package when I ship it out...and I'll let you know over the weekend

just how many of these gifties I'm going to offer in total.

  So, here's how you can enter to win...

1) Only public friends/followers (through Google Friend Connect or 
Linky Followers in my right sidebar) can enter. Leave a comment
saying that you follow my blog and you get one chance to win.

(You follow and read my blog - I thank you with chances to win gifts.)

2) Leave a comment on THIS post only telling me which gift 
you'd choose for a second chance to win.

3) Add my giveaway button (above) to your sidebar - linking back

to this post - and then come back and tell me for a third chance.

I'll draw the winner(s) on Valentine's Day 

Next Thursday, February 14, 2013.

Good Luck!!

UPDATE: 11:15 PM 2/14/13 - DRAWING CLOSED.
THANK YOU!

Scrappy Plates Bound...

WARNING: Picture heavy post.

 I'm finished! I did the binding, and now I'm almost giddy!

 I thought I'd start out by taking a few outdoor photos. 

(Dramatic, don't you know?)

Gratuitous "Corgi on Quilt" photo.

Then, I moved inside to take a few more photos.

It's a queen-size quilt on our king-size bed.

 More closeups to show you Susan's stunning longarm work.

(By the way, Susan Slaton of Wazoo Quilter in Punta Gorda, FL)

 I'm so glad that I made this quilt. I adore the "Martinique" fabric line,

the way that it all came together in piecing, applique' work and assembly...

and Susan's work was the icing on the cake...

 I think the back is just as beautiful as the front...and it highlights

the longarm work. Susan is a real artist, don't you think?

So, it's finished (except for a label). Now. it's onward to the next project.

I want to finish the American Treasures block in the next day or so.

Color me tickled!!!

A Scrappy Peek...

Handsome and I worked in our own voting precinct yesterday, and I essentially lost a day and a half of working in the studio. We left home at 5:30 yesterday morning and didn't get back home until an intense 16 hours later. I'm not complaining, but I'm really tired.

I'm starting today by going and picking Tag up from the kennel. I missed him the past couple of nights. It's just not right when he's not home with us!

Then, I'm going to bind my Scrappy Plates Quilt, which I picked up from the custom quilter on Monday morning. I'll finish it today and then photograph the whole swoony, gorgeous thing (if I do say so myself!) to show you tomorrow. For today, I'm just giving you a peek at a teeny, tiny section of the front of it to whet your appetite to see more. As soon as I'm finished taking pictures of it, I'm going to take a nap.

A Busy Week Ahead...

Busy, busy, busy. That's what I am.

I'm picking up my Scrappy Plates Quilt today! Susan finished all the custom longarm work and I can't wait to see it. I'll bind it right away and you'll see it just as soon as it's finished.

I also worked on the Wisconsin block for our guild quilt all weekend, aaaannnnd I have been working on that "special" Christmas project, too. (You should see the tips of my fingers from "catching" the needle in my applique' work!)

Later today, we'll be working at our polling precinct to help set up the voting booths, and then Handsome and I will be working at our precinct on Election Day. I have to take Tag to the doggie spa today, too (sniff, sniff) because we'll be gone a minimum of fourteen hours on Tuesday. That's too long to ask him to cross his little corgi legs waiting for us to come home. He'll be much happier with Aunt Rita, but I won't be very happy coming home two nights in a row and not having him sleep on the bed with me.

Tag is writing his blog post ahead of time, so don't worry that you won't see him this week. He'll have his message up tomorrow, for sure.

So, my friends. This week I'll be off to the races. Put on your running shoes if you're coming along. I'm planning to have two projects completed for sure, and I'm aiming for three! I think I can...I think I can...

Pretty In Pink...

I finished the pretty, pink lap quilt this past weekend, and it will be posted to a special someone today.

I played with a quilting pattern, which was a form of doodling that I did in high school. Every once in a while, I'll pull out a pen and tablet and just doodle like this now. It's relaxing and is a form of meditation for me. It was fun to do it on a quilt for a change. It's an old, ingrained pattern, so it's easy to feel it through the needle.

Naturally, no project is complete without a label. I always sew mine into the seam before I ever add the binding. I machine stitch the binding on the right side, and then fold it over to hand stitch on the back.

I really love the way it turned out.  Oh, I have to make a correction, though. I told you last week that the fabric was from Moda's "Martinique" line. In fact, it is Moda's "Serendipity" by Three Sisters. It is very similar to the Martinique line, but there are differences. I'm a fan of both.

Tag will be here tomorrow, but on Wednesday I'll show you what else I've been up to. Happy Monday, y'all!

Martinique Patchwork Quilt...

A young, special someone could use a long-distance hug, so I'm making this patchwork fabric into a lap quilt as a gift.

You might recognize that there are prints from the Moda "Martinique" line in the design. Moda sold this patchwork fabric by the yard and I've had it for a while. Of course, you know how much I love "Martinique"...and don't you always gift something you would love to receive yourself?

I've added a pretty pink floral print as a border, and I'll use the aqua and pink paisley print (in the lower right corner of the second photograph) for the backing. I think this hug may be just what the doctor ordered. I'm going to finish assembling, quilting and binding it over the weekend.

I'm also going to have my challenge quilt set up for stitching next week, so I think I've had a good week. Thanks for your kind words about my lip. I actually feel really good and it's healing right on schedule. (If it weren't for the fact that it's technicolor, I would hardly be thinking about it!) More pictures of this and my challenge project will be posted soon. For now, I'm headed to the studio again.

Give someone a smile today. They won't make you feel ill, but they are contagious. Before you know it, everyone will have one! Have a great day.

Off To The Long-Arm...

My version of Anne Sutton's Scrappy Plates quilt is now finished.

I added a skinny border in red fabric and then a final 

border in that yummy cream paisley I used in the main blocks.

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed making this quilt and I

can see myself making another at some time in the future.

I'll be taking it to the long-arm quilter to do the custom design now,

and when it comes back and I've bound it, I'll show you the entire quilt. 

I'll also add my photos to the Bunny Hill Flickr group when it's done

so that Anne can see my finished interpretation of her design.

If you're interested in making a quilt like this, you can click here

to go to the free pattern/tutorial on the Bunny Hill website.

Just scroll down to the "Scrappy Plate Club" patterns and you can

download each phase of the tutorial for your own pattern collection.

Another "finish" under my belt this week. (woo hoo!) On to the next one...

Scrappy Progress...

I had this project sitting off to the side when we took off in the Flying Cloud in May, but yesterday I decided it was time to get back to it. (I don't like having UFOs. They take up too much space!)

All the scrappy Dresden plates were appliqued' and it was time to add the sashing so I could assemble the top.  Rather than putting the blocks together in a straight square layout, I chose to place all the blocks on-point. It will make the finished quilt slightly larger and the Saturday coffee group gals thought it would make for a more interesting layout, too. Works for me!

I chose my favorite paisley fabric from the Martinique line to use for the sashing and added pretty green/blue blocks at the corners. (All these fabrics are from Moda's Martinique line.) By the end of yesterday, I'd put everything together except the corner triangles.

Today I'll add the two borders and it will be ready to go to the long-arm. I'm going to have this one quilted in the traditional patterns for a Dresden quilt instead of an all-over quilting pattern. I'm anxious to finish it now so that I can add another "finish" to my stack.

Thanks to everyone who left such supportive comments for me yesterday, too. I'm just waiting for a few supplies to get here so we can put the rest of the kits together. For now, we've gone as far as we can until the package arrives.

I just wanted you to know that I'm going to print out all of your notes and put them on an affirmation board. That way I can go back and read them for moral support if when I feel a little overwhelmed with the guild project. Thanks again.

Pretty Plates...

My Dresden plates remind me of color wheels. The spokes are comprised of all the colors and patterns of the Moda fabrics I chose from the Martinique line. They really make me happy!

I finished all twelve, and after rechecking the original pattern, I've decided that twelve will be enough for my quilt. I'm going to make the centers from the fabric I've laid behind this plate. Soft enough so that it won't take away from the differences on each one or bring attention to the centers themselves.

I am also going to throw in a little modification. I've decided to lay out all my blocks on point, rather than lay them out square to the design. That will automatically make my quilt a little wider, and because I'll need to fill in the squares between the squares, it will also be longer. Once I've done that, I'll decide whether or not I'll change the measurements for the sashing and the borders.

Remember that this quiltalong is supposed to run about six months, so I've finished my work for this month. Now to wait until Anne posts the next step. Can I? I don't know. I'm so in love with this fabric, that I might have to forge ahead of the group. But not this week.

These are all the fabrics that will be used to complete my queen size quilt. Now, to start thinking about what I'm going to name it! What do you think? Do you love it, too?

Tomorrow, I'm going to write about the Farmer's Wife Quiltalong I'm hosting here at Brynwood. We're beginning February 1st, so I want to make sure that everyone who wants to join is included in the list.

If you're one of those who will be participating (or if you're just curious), please click on the Farmer's Wife link at the top of my blog. Make sure your name appears there, and if you have a blog, that the link is correct (you'll have to click on your name).

If you've signed up, and for some reason your name isn't on the list, please let me know asap (and accept my apology for not getting your name up by now). If you haven't signed up yet, but would like to participate, please send me an email with "FARMER'S WIFE QAL" in the subject line. Remember, I'll need your name, email address, url for your blog (if you have one) - city, state (if you don't have one).

More on the Farmer's Wife tomorrow. It's really going to be hard for me to leave those plates alone today!

Gettin' Scrappy...

I have a button in my left sidebar "declaring" that I'm participating in Bunny Hill's Scrappy Plates Quiltalong. I went into my cabinets to choose which fabrics I wanted to use to make mine. I know the point is to make a quilt from fabric scraps, but I usually share my scraps with one of the gals from the quilt guild...and I have a huge sick copious frightening little fabric stash from which to choose.

I looked at my fat quarter sets and decided on Moda's Martinique line. I also have some yardage of a couple of these fabrics, so I'll be able to use that for sashing, borders and backing. Perfect!

I love these colors, and the patterns include sea coral, geraniums (my favorite!), polka dots and paisleys. You can see that I separated each of these stacks by color values so I was ready to get started. I did move two of the fabrics out of one pile into another. (See that red in the right column of "mediums"? That's one of them).

According to Anne's instructions, I'll need twenty to thirty different fabrics, cut into 4" x 12" strips. (I have over thirty in this fat quarter pack, so I'm good to go.) I started by cutting the strips I needed from all the medium value fabrics. I only need 4" x 12" from each fat quarter, so the remainder of each piece of fabric went back into stash for another project.

After that step was finished, I took out my Easy Dresden ruler and cut stacks of strips into the pieces that will be the start of my spokes in the Dresden Plate blocks. I'll be cutting all of the strips from dark and light values before I start any sewing. I'm planning to spend today doing that. (I'm soooo happy to be back in the studio!)

If you're interested in joining this quiltalong hosted by Anne Sutton at Bunny Hill, just click on the button (like this one) in my sidebar.

I only got this far yesterday because Tag and I headed over to the Venice Dog Beach to meet up with friends with corgis in the afternoon. (Tag will be telling you about that tomorrow!)

I've already chosen my background fabrics for the blocks and think it's going to be a pretty quilt. Because I've taken the "Process Pledge", I'll be sharing my progress on this quilt with you. It will be fun to show you more photos as I go.

Thanks to everyone who has voted so far on my poll. I'm looking forward to seeing which fabric ends up being the sashing for those green blocks! If you haven't voted yet, the poll closes Tuesday evening. I'll let you know on Wednesday which one wins out.

Tag is really looking forward to his first post. I think you'll enjoy it. I'll be back on Wednesday.