Quilt Show Write Up

I had a wonderful time being featured quilter at my guild's quilt show this weekend.  Here are pictures of my booth.

One of my bed size quilts won 3rd place.  Yeah for my Shakespeare in the Park quilt. Thanks Sarah Cohen Brandt for quilting a masterpiece.  You also won a ribbon!

Click for my final video on the Mariner's Quilt. I even got to drive it on the parking lot. The quilt was definitely a conversation piece. It built so much excitement that by the time the show patrons approached the entrance, they were really excited to have come to the show.

I want to thank Judy Kooi the the panel on the back of the vehicle; Debra Hamman for allowing me to use her long arm machine to quilt the gigantic panels; and last but not forgotten, my late friend Karen Harrison for motivating me to get this project completed.

FYI - During the first 2-3 hours the patrons didn't know they could vote for the car quilt. I was pleasantly surprised when the project won 2nd place in the Miscellaneous category. Thanks everyone!

-------------------------- Type-u-later, http://www.teaquilts.com

Design Wall Monday

Hi everyone!  I'm getting excited about this project.  I still may not have The Mariner's Quilt completed by Saturday, but I will have enough completed so that is can be in the show.  The body of the quilt is sewn into one section with an opening on the driver's side; the top panel has been adjusted so that is doesn't sag as much; the red panels will be attached with hook and loop tape.  To see all sides of the car, view the video below.  Thanks for watching.

Also on my design wall are two machine embroidery projects that I'm working on.  They were both a lot of fun!  I find I'm loving the embroidery with "embellishments" over the standard embroidery designs. The first is a design by Sara Vedeler and the second is by Husqvarna.  The first will be a pillow and the other a small wall hanging.

-------------------------- Type-u-later, http://www.teaquilts.com

Kool Kalideoscope

I finished my 2012 retreat project from the book Kool Kalidescopes.  I finished the top during retreat and even went so far as to pin the top for quilting. I chicken out at the quilting stage and it sat for 1 year and 8 months.  The quilting isn't perfect, but it done.

-------------------------- Type-u-later, http://www.teaquilts.com

Scrap Quilting Club

This is a quick post to show scrap quilting club's August projects.  Note, that this is four posts in 4 days - just short of a miracle.  Enjoy the Show-N-Tell:

Every July, I try to assign a project that can be easily made for Christmas gifts.  This year Connie taught us how to make the snap bags.  This pictures shows those that got them done in class.

The true over achiever this month!  Jennifer is making the yearlong project 1/3 or it's size.

-------------------------- Type-u-later, http://www.teaquilts.com

Some 2013 Finishes

Here are a few finishes this year; proof that I'm still quilting. LOL

The "T Quilt" is a guild challenge quilt.  The main rules were to make a quilt with blocks that begin with the initial of your first or last name.  Now, anyone that knows me knows that if I make any sort of quilt about "me", it will reek of me!  I had been working on the Trailing Geese units and had them in my works in progress storage for years.  I pulled some of the units out and made a letter T with them.  In addition, I made Tumbling Blocks; I had cut 45 degree diamonds left over from a previous project so I had a great start there too.  I then pulled 3.5" Tumbler units I'd already cut on my GO! cutter.  I made all of these things go into one quilt.  I won 2nd place for most creative use of blocks.

I had help finishing the Pineapple Nine Patch quilt.  It will hang in the quilt show so I went to one of my favorite long arm quilters, Sarah Cohen.  She used orange thread and the quilting is fabulous! This pattern is designed by Cathy Wierzbicki from book Geometric Gems. This link is not necessarily the cheapest price, but you can see all the designs in the book. I saw cheaper prices at online stores:  Barns & Nobel, Target, and WalMart.

I also had Sarah Cohen quilt the Shakespeare in the Park quilt too.  This one took so many years to complete to end up with mediocre quilting.  I used three colorways instead of two and that almost burst my brain to keep all my pieces straight.  I did have to use the seam ripper a couple of times on this one.  I'm glad it's finally done and love everything about this quilt. This design is by Judy Martin and on Sunday the book with this pattern was $9.95.  You can purchase by clicking this line.

I know I haven't listed all the finishes but I must not have taken photos.  More to come later...
-------------------------- Type-u-later, http://www.teaquilts.com

Design Wall Monday - Quilt Show

Another amazing occurrence in my life is that I was selected as "feature quilter" for my quilt guild's 2013 quilt show at the end of the month (my publicity photo). It is such an honor to be chosen. At the same time, it's also scary.  I've been working on projects to enter the show and pulling quilts from storage I want to display in my booth .

I've been kind of keeping some projects secret in the event I didn't get them completed.  The main secret was that I plan to display a quilt on my SUV (weather permitting).  I feel confident that I can get the pieces connected enough to display by the end of the month.  However, I may not get a chance to add the netting for the windows to make it hang without sagging.  Pray for me and send vibes of success my way as I'm going to need it.

I have a very LARGE design wall. I have uploaded a video of part of the cover on the car.  I will keep you updated so please come back to see the finished project.  I have no clue what I'm doing; I'm planning as I go.  If you have suggestions, I'll gladly consider them.

For local quilters, here is a flyer about the show; I'd love to see you in person and talk to you about quilting (and anything else) :0).

-------------------------- Type-u-later, http://www.teaquilts.com

What's Up and Round Robin Quilts

This has been an amazingly busy year for me.  I had numerous trips involving line dancing and quilting.  So far, I have traveled to Ohio, Michigan (twice), Georgia, Chicago (twice), Philadelphia, and Indiana for line dancing.  I've traveled all over Missouri providing quilting lectures and workshops.  In addition to that, my job has been jump started with providing facility training on all shifts to over 300 employees.  In addition, my family life is demanding too.  Sometimes I'm so tired that just thinking about my schedule is too much. During those times, I'd prop myself up in bed and read of just do absolutely nothing.

I have been working on new projects, rounds robins, and even completing some works in progress.  In addition, I probably have some scrap club photos as well.  I will be posting a series of posts this week to (hopefully) get caught up.  We'll see how this goes. :0)  You don't want to miss tomorrow's upload on one of my works in progress I hope to have finished by the end of the month.

First up are two round robin quilts that I worked on.

The first one belongs to my friend Norma.  She used a center block made my newest angel in heaven, Karen.  When I got the top, I felt like the theme had changed from the original feel of the fabrics.  I had scraps left over from the frolic line so I used those as they matched very well with the center fabrics.  The quilt was getting a little busy so i just added 3" finished squares all around.

The new round robin quilt I worked on belongs to my friend Sarah. I used my embroidery machine to embroider two different flower blocks.  The designs are by Sarah Vedeler; the blocks themselves are part of Quiltmaker Magazine's project in the July/August 2013 edition called "Fantasy Flowers". I ran out of fabric and had to piece a few blocks but I was determined not to add a different fabric.  

-------------------------- Type-u-later, http://www.teaquilts.com