Quilt Show

Do you EQ?

Do you?

Announcing Electric Quilt 7 to be released soon.

I gotta say, I do like my EQ. I love to design quilt settings using blocks that have my actual fabric in them. EQ allows me to preview my quilts without having to cut any fabric.

I can't wait to get my copy of the new EQ.

Applique the Hugs and Kisses Way

I fell in love with the applique block of the month that is offered on The Quilt Show.

January - Simple Crossed Leaves

I also fell in love with Alex Anderson's new fabric line, Whisperings. So when I saw the BOM was offered as a kit using this fabric I bought it.

February - A Circle of Roses

I'm a bit behind in the blocks but I do have the January and February blocks done. The March block is prepped and ready to stitch and I'm prepping the April block. I love hand applique and try to indulge when I can. After all, it is low calorie and fat free. Stay tuned for more blocks.

The Fourth Season

A while back, I joined a quilt swap called "The Four Seasons Quilt Swap". I joined after the fall version started but was able to participate in Winter, Spring and Summer.

When I hung the 3 seasons on the wall, it was glaringly clear that I needed a Fall quilt. It was too late for someone else to make one for me, so I made my own.

The pattern is from Quilter's Dozen Plus by Janet Selek and it is the month of October. It fits right in with the other seasons. I'm so happy to have this done and on the wall. It would be even better if it were one of my five applique UFO's on my list, but it isn't. O well. Done is done.

Quilting Tutorials

Look. See it up there? In the menu bar right under my header. I've added a Page of just the quilting tips and tutorials I have given over the years. Now they are easy to find, since some of these tutes are pretty old. Enjoy!

Another find in Velma's stash

Remember in the last post there was a third gift of fabric? That was Velma's stash. Wonderful name for a quilt, but I digress. This was also in one of the boxes. It doesn't look like much does it? But when I started to flatten it all out, I found paper templates cut from letters and flyers from the 1920s. The fabric is from the late 1800s, I think, but I am not positive. More research is required.

But look. Do you see it? The frugality block? The original piece maker of this block sewed such a fine seam you can't really even see where the seam is, can you? And just look at how thick that pin is.

Anyway. Remember in my last post I mentioned books and magazines? One of them had the pattern for this block. I also found it online here. In case you want to know, it is called Christmas Star.

This link, BTW, is to a site with a star BOM. Enjoy.

The Self-leveling Stash

Recently, the state of the fabric stash has been foremost in my mind. It is massive. Plus I got a fabric burn (similar to a rug burn) on both forearms when I was looking for something in the aforementioned stash. So I have been refolding and reorganizing and doing a bit of purging along the way. It was manageable. Then I got a box in the mail from sis that not only contained the dog-chewed quilt but more fabric. Uh, thanks, I think. I washed it and the stash absorbed the new fabric.

Then, I traded some un-dyed yarn for what I thought was going to be a couple of yards of quilting fabric. Not quite. Two boxes later, the new fabric from V was washed and assimilated into the stash. All the previous work of sorting and purging was totally undone. The stash was back up to the original level.

This past weekend one of CarGuy's buddies called me (ME! who'd a thunk). He had two under the bed boxes of quilting stuff of his mother's and her sewing machine. Would I like them? I'm just a girl who can't say no. Over I went and came home with it all.

Now, the stash just can't absorb any more. Really. So I took these boxes with the full intent of donating the contents. As I was going through them, I found books and magazines and fabric and thread and cardboard templates. O my. The photos? In the first one are four of the 80 8" bowtie blocks that were in the boxes. The second photo shows one of 20 10" windmill blocks. I have put them in plastic bags and they will go to a woman who makes quilts for donations.

I sure wish I had bookmarked the web site that someone posted that tells of the quilting supplies needed for Native Americans 'cause there are a lot of solid colors that would be perfect. Anyone?

The rest will go to my guild for either the donation quilts or to the guild's garage sale.

There were only 2 or 3 things that made it into the stash.

Introducing Alice

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Meet Alice. Alice has an unknown past. I first met her at a thrift store where she was a bit forlorn at having been sewn to a cheap comforter in an attempt to make a duvet. $10.00 changed hands and Alice came home with me. I carefully removed her from that terrible comforter and had to trim down her borders a bit to even her up. And then she went off to the quilter. When she returned she got to attend the Spring Quilting Retreat with me where I spent all day on Friday stitching her binding. And then she slept with me the rest of the weekend.
Isn't she lovely?

O Hai!

iStockPhoto

Did you notice that I've been away? I've been busy writing a proposal for work. Why must a government proposal have 8 copies! Yes you read that correctly. One electronic version and 7 hard copies. Well, back to work. Needless to say, I have not gotten a lot of sewing done. Hopefully I'll get some R&R when this is submitted.

Spring Bouquet

Happy April First!

My CarGuy is so sweet. I had a birthday while I was away at retreat and this is what awaited me when I got home. He knows how I love daffodils.