See You At The Show?

Penn Oaks Quilt Guild is having their bi-annual quilt show this Friday and Saturday. Several of my friends belong to this guild and I am always so impressed with their show. Considering that it is a relatively small guild, their members work their butts off to make it a show that is worthwhile to attend.  This year I am particularly interested in their sewing themed cookies that they are selling in their cafe.  I hope there is one left when I get there on Saturday.

One of their most successful money makers at the show is their small quilt auction.  The quilts measure 18" x 18".  I presented my "Sensational Silk" talk to them this year.  Between the warm reception I received and all of my buddies that are members of this guild, I decided to make  a quilt for it. It will be one of 50!

The fabric is silk dupioni and the raw edge fused applique is hand stitched. 

I have gotten pretty good free motion quilting my swirls in the circles.

I love the combination of the orange and the raspberry silk.  It really vibrates.

I made this mini quilt for their show when I was working on my applique blocks for this quilt:

I am working on the center medallion now.  It will be my handwork for an upcoming trip.

The details for the show can be found HERE. You can see lots of amazing quilts at The Ludwig's Corner Fire House in Glenmoore.  Plus don't forget about the small quilt auction. You can buy some tickets and maybe end up with a beautiful wall hanging for your house, and maybe it will be mine.

Maybe I'll see you there!

Quilts With A Unique Personality

I am visiting the Friendship Quilters in Oxford, PA on Monday night to present my talk about giving your quilts a unique personality - how to add words to your quilts, how to add photos to your quilts and how to add digital imagery. It's been about 2 years since I have given this talk, so today I am revisiting and updating my power point presentation, adding quilts and subtracting quilts.

Gathering the actual quilts brings so many memories flooding back, because all the quilts have some type of personal meaning to me. This quilt is one of the most special ones. I made it for my father -in -law's 75 th birthday celebration and it is filled with his life stories. I received input from all of his kids, and there are 7 of them. I got to know so much about him and the years before I met him. Everyone at the party signed the blocks in the border.

This quilt went with him each time he moved, thanks to my SIL, Annette. She hung it on the wall and was talked about often. It was hanging in his room in the nursing home where I saw him last, not long after his 90th birthday. He told me then that Annette was to get the quilt after he passed. How could I argue? She was its caretaker.

If you'd like to see more of my quilts and perhaps be inspired to make one of your own, the meeting starts at 7:00PM at Elk Ridge Elementary School in Oxford. Maybe I'll see you there.

Posted with Blogsy

Frustration

I just looked at the label on the back of the quilt on which I am working.  September 2014! That is the date that this I one of  bound it.  So why am I still quilting it?

I'm trying to resurrect this beautiful dupioni silk quilt.  I did one of those things you should never do as a quilter and I should have known better.  I went to town on the borders and quilted them verrrry heavily.

That in itself would have been fine except the rest of the quilt was not quilted so heavily.  It has ended up being a puffy, billowy, wonky quilt.  I needed to fix it.  With all the time I have spent designing it, putting it together in sections and quilting it, I couldn't relegate it to the back of the closet.

My solution has been to add more quilting to the body of the quilt.  This has been a painstaking, long term project because of the quilting design.  There have been lots of threads to tie off and I am still tying.

Then I will block it and keep my fingers crossed that it lays flat.  After that I can finally embellish it with buttons and beads and sequins, and share the entire quilt.

My time spent quilting and blogging has slowed due to a wonderful opportunity.  I now get to spend 2 days a week with my 18 month old grandson.When he grabs my hand to take me some place, my heart melts.  The same thing happens when he giggles as Bailey eats the bubbles from his bubble lawn mower.  So I could not resist the circus tent during my visit ti IKEA this week.  What kid doesn't love a tent, especially with a dog trying to eat your snack!

It's also time to announce the winner for my Grey Day Giveaway.  Michele T, claim your prize!

Do You IKEA?

I met a colleague for lunch this week (www.dippydyes.com) and it was near IKEA in Conshohocken.  I have been thinking about lighting for my booth at the Syracuse AQS show this summer (yes, I am taking the Curvalicious plunge), so I decided to pop into IKEA.  I have not been there for years.  I need to go more often.  The colors and designs of the Swedish aesthetic just made my heart sing.

 If you live near one, put it on your "to do" list.  If there is not one near you, look for one when you go on vacation. In addition to their modern, inexpensive products, it is a shopping experience as you are directed through the maze of merchandise - everything from furniture to kitchen supplies to children's items to fabric - yes fabric! And don't forget to bring your appetite for their Swedish meatballs.
Here are a bunch of photos.  Tomorrow, I'll show you a photo of what I bought for Henry.

 Modern neutral bedding.  They celebrate grey.

Their displays are a study in color blocking.

 Love this gift wrap.

 I love these lamps, but they don't quite fit into my decor.

 

Summer anyone?

And fabric! Decorator weight.

 It was hard to take photos.  This pink and orange with these unusual animals was my favorite. (OOps,I had trouble rotating the photo.)  I have become a sucker for orange and pink thanks to a friend of mine.

 And I couldn't leave the store without a treat.

So what did I buy?
- A clock for my still in progress exercise studio
- Hanging clips for my quilts for my booth display
- A lamp to experiment with for my booth
- A bag of Swedish Fish
- A surprise for Henry

Good Bye Gray Weather Giveaway

Saturday was a beautiful day to go traipsing around Lancaster Country.  The brown fields are starting to turn green.  It was a great day to see the Amish out and about.  There were little boys with their fishing poles on the banks of the streams and horses pulling plows through the fields.

My friend Terry (TerryKramzar.com) and I went to a presentation by the fabric company, Northcott, put on by Burkholders Fabrics.  It was a sold out crowd as we got a sneak peek at fabric that won't be in the stores until this summer.  We also learned a lot about fabric manufacturing.  I was surprised to find out that 95% of our quilting cotton is made in South Korea. 

I met a student of mine at the presentation who brought us over to one of Burkholder's retreat centers, called the Cocalico Quilter's Inn. 

Vicki gave us a grand tour of the sewing room, kitchen, bedrooms and the outdoor living space.

It looks like an awesome place for a retreat for 14-20 people at an extremely reasonable price. The big bonus is you can go shopping at Burkholders starting at 8:00 AM, for forgotten items or that piece of fabric that you need to finish your project.

Of course we had to do a little bit of fabric shopping afterwards.  I bought some Mickey fabric for Henry and some of Northcott's Shimmer to go with this dragonfly fabric.  I love a touch of metallic!

When I got home there was a package I ordered from Massdrop.  I have ordered from them before.  They offer quilting items at reduced prices if enough people order.  They have a variety of items.  This time I ordered these Clover clips.  They are like little clothes pins and are great for bindings and putting in zippers - anywhere pins can get in the way.

To celebrate the end of those gray days and the arrival of Spring, I'm sharing some of the swag from the Northcott presentation  and a few Clover clips for you to try. Sign up to follow me on Bloglovin' (see the sidebar) and leave your email address with your comment.  

Come back on Friday to see if you are the winner.

A Visit From Linda Hahn

 Linda Hahn was our guest speaker this month at Calico Cutters Quilt Guild. 

 Her specialty is the NY Beauty quilt and has written 2 books about them.

This is her second book and there are lots of great quilts in it.  I bought it.

I have always wanted to make a NY Beauty quilt, so I signed up for it. 

 This was our project that Linda is holding.

We meet in a fire hall for our workshop. It's a nice big room.  

Linda has developed an easy method to make the block.

I am making my project combining dupioni silk and batiks.  These are my blocks.

This is all of our blocks together.

During the lecture today, she brought tons of  quilts to show the versatility of the NY Beauty.  

Linda has an amazing sense of humor  that she shares on the backs of her quilts.

 Pirates

Bathing Beauties