She's Published!

Okay, I'm going to be the impossible proud parent here.  My daugther was published in the April/May issue of Sew News! She made this amazing reversible raincoat from laminated cotton and wrote an article on how to work with the fabric and various tips and tricks. She really stretched herself with this project and executed it most expertly.  It really is a kick when your children surpass you with their talents.  Honestly, I would not have even attempted this project.  Way to go kid - can't wait to see what's next!

Yeah Retreats!!

Once again I had the privilege of spending a weekend with fun and talented ladies!  We started on Thursday night and finished up Sunday morning.  I especially enjoyed that I got to sew this weekend.  And sew we did!
Of course, we also got to laugh.  Cathy is obviously having a good time here as she sews her cute little chicks for a baby quilt.

Lucinda finally got

started on her daughter's wedding quilt.  It will be a king size and she finished half the squares in just a day! 

And what do you get when you have five quilters arranging the squares for the final design?

A REALLY cute baby quilt!  This quilt was not only bright, but soft looking - it made me want to hold a baby!

 There really is order to Teresa's "mess" - and she merrily sews her way through it.  I'm just sorry I did not get a pic of the quilt being laid out in the other room - it was truly beautiful.

Jean is one of those intense creative types - and creative she is.  She put together 20 crazy quilt squares amongst other projects she brought.

Sewing buds forever!

We had a "block building" competition.  Each was given 9 squares to put together a nine patch, cut it apart, and sew it back together.  Of course, this only makes sense to quilters!  The end result was 4 large blocks to put together as a project Linus quilt (baby quilt for a hospitalized child).  See the determination on Lucinda's face?  She was the winner! And yes, she won fabric to cut apart and sew together.

This was a nice little quiet moment as Cathy did some handwork.  But the best part - check out her footwear!

I came home tired and energized all at the same time.  I can't wait for the next retreat this fall.

99 Blocks Not On The Wall

Three years ago I started a scrap quilt. I think I had this romantic notion that I would delight in going through my scraps and watch them disappear.  Fast forward to the past few months.  I finally dug this project out and began to cut more strips from the 4 color groups I had chosen.  I sewed, sewed, and sewed some more.  There was also much ironing and trimming.  I wish I kept track of how many times I empties my little trash bag. I stopped counting at 12!  Why so much sewing and trimming?  They are 6 1/2 inch squares with 13 pieces in each square. It is a wacky log cabin, thus all the trimming.  And I needed 99 of them!  The squares are finally all complete, but they are packed away to take to a retreat this weekend where I plan to sew on the 240 sashing pieces! What amazes me most about this project is...my plastic containers with all my color sorted scraps are not at all visibly leaner than before I got busy with this project. And, at this point, I am left with

99 Blocks not on the Wall!

Free Quilt Patterns

Last year I was given the opportunity to design four quilts for Free Spirit Fabrics.  Two were for Spring market and two were done for the quilt market held each year in Houston.  It was a wonderful challenge for me and I learned so much throughout the whole process. It was a lot of fun to work with new and fun fabrics.  Take a look - the patterns for all the Free Spirit quilts are free!



"Blossoming" fabric line by Kathy Davis.




"Asian Prints" by designer Alfred Shaheen.  This design and construction was a totally new concept for me. It really is not difficult - there are two concepts that may be new to some, but very doable.




"Happy Go Lucky" fabric by Nel Whatmore.




"Irving Street Flannel" by Erin McMorris.  Working with this flannel was a dream.  All 17 of the fabrics in this line are in this quilt!



Extravaganza!

This past weekend was the Needlework Extravaganza in Statesville.  Basically, it's 40 vendors selling all my favorites - fabric, thread, ribbons, patterns, yarns, embellishments, sewing machines - it was like one big candy store!  I was there before they opened. Being seasoned vendors, they had the doors opened early for those of us SO anxious!  I finally got a quilt ladder, and not a moment too soon. The gentlemen who makes them is retiring and this is his last show in the area. I know he will be missed but he has been doing it for 40 years so I wish he and his wife a very happy retirement.

This larger one was made from orange batik and the center with yellow batik fabric.  I used silk leaves and clumped beads in the center.



I made this one smaller using a very lightweight grey polka dot fabrick.  I added some silver embroidery thread to the center, some large beads and dangled smaller beads.  I finished it off with black fabric  flowers.

 I picked up a template to make these sassy little flowers.  As soon as I got home I started to rip fabric strips, sew, glue, and them embellish.  I liked it so much I did another on Saturday!  These are going to make great little gifts and will sure adorn many a handbag.

More Secrets Revealed

Elyse has been soaring in her crocheting abilities and surprised me with this beautiful scarf.  I'm just so proud to wear it! In honor of her craft, I made her a roll to hold her crochet hooks.  There's also a place for a tape measure and small pair of scissors.  No more looking in the yarn bin for those hooks!

 

A fun not too intense gift to make was this cubicle quilt.  It's only about 9 x 11 and very bright.  Hopefully it will cheer up Elyse's roommates new cubicle!

A bit of a stretch for me to sew this past Christmas was a handbag made from Ultrasuede.  I think the expense of the fabric made me nervous, but I couldn't have been happier with the results.  And best of all, my daughter loved.  Hmmm, wonder if I'll ever make one for me?!

Not a Secret Anymore

I finally got a second quilt made for my son. He wanted something bigger than the last one that he could put on his sofa.  And voila!  It was originally intended for last Christmas, buy hey - he didn't know that last Christmas!  It's all batiks from my stash - wow!  So my doesn't my stash of batiks look any smaller?  As a quilting buddy of mine says, "this stuff just keeps on having babies!"

Each strip was cut individually because I was working from small pieces and each side of each crazy log cabin was a different size.  There are also some rows of 1" squares and the border is in 1" squares. I wish you could see the quilting. (If you double click on the pic, it should enlarge and you can see some of the stitching) A long arm quilter custom quilted it and it is really amazing.  Merry Christmas son!