Tying up the Lose Ends

Here is a close up of the pins I got...love them!

At quilt camp we always do a gift exchange...this is what I got this year.

Last night I made and attached the binding for this quilt, finally! Still working on handsewing Puddle Jump Binding then will move on to this one.

Here is a close up of the Christmas tree I made at quilt camp. I didn't have any Christmas fabric with me so I used this stuff and it looks like a tree.

I have been working for awhile on handsewing my hexies...here is how they were looking a few weeks back at June's place.


June was also working on some hexies!

Here is a picture of all of the Pineapple Blossom blocks I have so far done.

I also mangaged to cleaning up the quilting studio from the after camp hurricane, and I sewed a pair of pants that needed mending. That is about it. Didn't get to anything else I had hoped to sew. I have been crazy busy and enjoying a bunch of my Deaf friends and all that so just haven't gotten to sewing much. I lost 1.4 pounds this week. Not bad for Thanksgiving week. Had dinner here with Becky on Turkey Day and then went to DJ's and had her buried in the backyard cooked turkey (which was delicious) the next day. So overall I was pleased with the 1.4. We are waiting on a new part for the exercise bike which should be here this week too...had messed up my biking routine, but I am getting to pilates once a week and doing some biking and some treadmill. Total weight lost is about 2 oz short of 36 pounds I believe!

Way Behind on the Blogging

Sideways, but quilt camp nametag for this year.

I have attempted to blog at least three times since quilt camp and just can never seem to find the time. I finally decided to just get started because I hate feeling like I am behind and I am behind, lol! Quilt camp was lots of fun. I did a lot of puttering and playing and a lot less type A personality speed sewing and it was fun!
The first thing I did was pull out this huge bag of leftover half square triangles I had from various things where I had sewn up the corners and cut them off but hadn't ironed them. I spent alot of time ironing and squareing sorting...and made a commitment to myself that if I decide to take the time to sew and cut these parts off in the future (as bonus half square triangles) that I will also take the time to iron them and square them up right then too! I still have tons left in the bag but I then used a free "Broken Crockery" pattern I found on the web via Barbara Brackman's blog Broken Crockery. Jerrye VanLeer made the mini-quilt on that page which inspired me though she used 19th century fabrics which I love, I used what I had on hand to help me design a small wall hanging from the leftovers. It took a long time to make this little top, but I am over the moon with it and will finish it and put it in my quilting studio. It makes me smile for a few reasons--it was basically free because it was made with bonus leftovers, many people at camp really liked it (they didn't like the last quilt auction quilt I did and I decided never to do another one, lol..hurt my feelings!) and because it is rainbow colors!

After that on Friday night I decided to get to a little more serious sewing and completed Kathy's quilt top that she had to have. I wasn't that nuts for the pattern or for the fabric but she really wanted it so I worked on that til the wee early hours of the morning and then went to bed. The pattern is called Block Express.

Made this little Schnibbles pincushion too! Large for a pincushion, but not pillow size!

On Saturday I really don't remember doing much in the morning. I got up early (for me) and did some putzing and learned how to make the cool coasters with the folded triangles from my new friend Laura. She is very good at making lots of stuff to sell and I learned a lot from her over the weekend. I had met her at camp a year earlier and seen her at the Nimble Thimble meetings but I actually got to know her better this time and expect I will be seeing more of her!

I also went nuts and made more than a dozen tissue covers for purse size tissure holders. They were super easy and I found the tutorial here. http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/09/02/3383/

Laura made a ton of potato bags for heating up baked potatoes in the mircowave (with potato fabric) to sell and I thought that was a good gift idea for later on! I have never used one but they were cute.

I used the fabric Carrie from Miss Rosie's quilt company sent me from one of my Schnibbles wins called "Lollipop" which is a little modern looking and I am very pleased with how they came out! Thanks again Carrie. I feel like I have free gifts to give to a dozen people thanks to you! Whoot, whoot!

I made a little wallet which didn't go so well the first time around but I think i get what to do for the next one if I want to make more. It was simple, but lots of layers and sometimes I just don't quite keep them from shifting..so I missed a seam and didn't know it til I had sewn my opening closed. It was a pain. Becky made a bunch of them and they were really nice! In fact everything Becky sews turns out really nice. We were roommates again and sat next to each other. She is such a good listener and I have to remind myself not to talk her ear off all the time though she may not realize I am holding back LOL!

Somwhere in there I made myself another Pineapple Blossom block...I had brought the stuff and thought I would complete a top of these, but forgot the half a dozen blocks I had done at home! So I only made the one just for the heck of it. Becky worked for a bit on her borders for her second one too. It is looking good in red, white and blue.

I told the gals who go for a walk that I would join them (and I stayed away from all of the food that everyone brought! YAY!) and went on a 53 minute hike up a mountain and back. It was one heck of a workout for me. Only four of us went: Kathy C., Kathy and Terri I think it was. It was a lot of fun and the gals are so supportive of me trying to get in shape. It was nice to bond with some different people too. I think I actually underate at camp because I was so paranoid I would overeat. I weighed in a day early before camp and had lost 2.2 pounds. After camp week I came home and did Pilates the same week and lost 6.2!!!!! That is the best week since the first week. My total is at 34.2 pounds now. We shall see how Thanksgiving went though. That is another post, haha.

I hand sewed a quilt sleeve on the Flock of Triangles quilt that is going to the quilt show. I just met with the gal this morning to give her the quilts and she told me it might not be hung in the show due to room. I am dissapointed about that since it was stressful getting all that done and apparently she didn't really want that one or something. I don't know. So that one isn't even in the catalog. Also, I found out the show includes traditional quilts and let me tell you they should have hung my Double Delight because that is my most amazing quilt so far. But no interest in that. I guess I prefer just quilting because I enjoy it and not worrying about the rest! Sheesh!

Last year one of the gals made a few of these trees and this year another gal was making them. Somehow it caught on and the next thing you know everyone was making them. Finally with a whole lot of help from Margarite (and Laura and Laura) I managed to make a tree..it was the last thing I did on Saturday night...done about 2:30 AM!

Sunday I did about half the binding on the Puddle Jump Mystery quilt. I felt like doing some hand sewing and sitting on the couch and not in my hard chair...by then the two cushions I brought were not feeling thicker than paper!

I have also won two prizes since I blogged last! I got really luck in the same week and they both arrived this past week which made a rough week better. (My oldest son is high functioning autistic and diabetic and he went into DKA last Saturday and we didn't realize until Sunday how sick he was. He had no insurance--trying to get his disability back--and he wound up in the ER and then in the ICU for two days and step down ICU for another day. It was a wild and crazy week, I am telling you but he is much improved and we are all the wiser now.)

Dawn at Spring Water Designs blog had an awesome giveaway from Houston Quilt Market goodies that I won. I got a pink oversized tote from the Go Baby Schoolhouse that Dawn went to, a really cute little gift box that has a special Go Baby key chain along with a bubble gum cigar to annouce the birth of the Go Baby, a fabric tote bag from Andover made with their Dimples line that I really like because I love Dimples!, the current issue of Quiltmaker Magazine, a card making kit from eStudio fabrics and Christine Adolph, and a cloth quilt label...and she threw in some cool pins that I will have to take photos of. I am not sure if Dawn knew it, but I collect pins and quilting pins so that was really cool and was my favorite part of the whole thing! I have borrowed Dawn pic here and you can see one of the pins, but I will try to get close ups later this weekend. Thanks Dawn. You made a crazy week better.

Stacey from "Driving Miss Stacey's" blog made a Thanksgiving Place Card Tutorial
and I won her giveaway. I borrowed a few of her photos since I am blogging from work (slow call day and we can play on computers between calls, lol) and don't have pics with me. Hope she doesn't mind. They are so adorable and I would most likely never make them myself so it was double nice to get them gifted to me! Thank you Stacey!

So at least I got some of my blogging done. Took hours since I am at work, but seriously just could not work it in with the way the last two weeks have gone. Lots of working, hopsital, etc. I haven't sewn on my machine since camp and Carolina Crossroads is so close to done it calls me daily. Not to mention Bonnie's new mystery Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll has two clues out and I haven't started it....I did order some cool fabri with cotton bolls on it yesterday. I borrowed their pics, but isn't it cute. Can't wait to put it in the quilt!

I also need to work on my Designer Mystery BOM block....I really need some time in the sewing room. Well, my shift at work is over and I have Deaf party to get to so off I go!

Quilt Camp--Fall 2010

Some sneak peaks from Fall Quilt Camp. It was a blast. I got to know more people, enjoyed those I already knew, followed my diet (lost 2.2 when I weighed in a day early) and went for a hike that was almost an hour and was pretty much up hill for half the time! I think this week will be a good week too. I am too tired to make much sense of my pictures so I will just show you these three for now. Thanks universe for being so good to me. I needed the past few days and now after I get some sleep I think I will be a renewed me!

Off to Quilt Camp!

Sorry my pictures are sideways, but I wanted to show you all the junk I had to pack to take to quilt camp! Amazing all the things you think you need...and the food is still in the fridge! This year I am bringing a bunch of healthy food and I did my bike this morning already. Going to weigh in a day early and hoping to stay on the wagon at camp--the food there is amazing!

Carolina Crossroads Clue Five and Six are Done!

This morning I did some cutting and pinning and sewing and completed the last bit of step five and step six of Carolina Crossroads. I also pinned for step seven...the final step before the layout.

It feels so good to finally be this close to the end on this one! I am so glad I snuck it in because I always wished I had just joined in when I joined the group and this mystery was in progress on quiltville! I think I have a chance of getting all the blocks done before the Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll starts November 19th! I know the sewing of the rows will be a big project since it is huge and on point but it will get done. Then the only mystery of Bonnie's I haven't done is Tobacco Road...hmm, may sneak that in in 2011! Of course I always order the matching magnets and pins from Forest Jane at zazzle.com too!

I haven't gotten any farther on my binding for Puddle Jump Mystery and the Atkinson Designs pattern either. Today I will meet up with Ros (in an hour or so) and pick up the newest Outside the Box quilt...then I need to complete the sleeve on it and the binding as well as get a sleeve on the Flock of Triangles quilt for the autism art show in December. Never done sleeves so wish me luck on that!

Carolina Crossroads Clue Five and Six....and Seven..

Last night I spent some time squaring and trimming my hourglass units and pinning all of the little parts of all of the block for Carolina Crossroads. This morning I went to Weight Watchers and weighed...I lost 3.2 pounds this week (for a total of 2 oz. short of 26 pounds!) which I am quite happy about. I am riding the bike for 30 minutes six days a week and this week I added walking on a very inclined treadmill (it constantly defalts to the incline) for 10 min three times a week after biking and Pilates for 30 minutes once a week. This is more exercise than I may have ever gotten in my life since I was a kid. I am almost liking it. HAHA. I have a long way to go but I am going to get there. I believe!


I went to June's for the better part of the day today and these pictures show my progress as I got this block all done and laid out all of them just to see what it would look like.

I need to cut the little blue triangles so this half block isn't quite all together yet, but getting there. I also did the four corner blocks partially but didn't take a picture of them yet.
This is as far as I got on the twenty five other blocks.

I had a good time and managed to unpin everything I had pinned and got all of this farther than I had expected. So I have a bit to go on clue five and six but I am mostly to clue seven, finally!

June spent the day trimming up and deciding on a layout for some happy blocks she has in asian inspired fabrics. We had a treat of Chinese food for lunch (leftover to my son when I got home) and I had lots and lots of coffee too. It was another fun sewing day and I am grateful for good friends to sew with.

What Modern Quilting Means to Me!

When the Phoenix Branch of the Modern Quilt Guild got together a few weeks ago we briefly discussed what exactly modern quilting was. I was pleased at how most everyone seemed to be very open and flexible in what they considered modern. I consider myself a modern quilter, I only consider a few of my quilts to be modern.
Today I interpreted a class in which they were talking about "modern" and "post modern" architechture. It got me wondering if modern art, modern quilting, modern architechture all refer to the same styles or if we are using modern in different ways. Modern can mean "in recent times" but it can also mean "experimental" and while my quilts are all made in recent times, none of them are real experimental and most of them aren't "modern" as far as I am concerned!
So I read over the definition the modern quilt guild put out on modern...it is "a new twist on the traditional art of quilting" they then went on to explain the various ways you can do that including "using modern fabrics, modifying the block arrangement or even the scale of the block...it also reflects the current aesthetic of the day." My favorite part of their definition is "in fact, if there were one rule in modern quilting it would be that there are no rules." I think this openminded approach really is inclusive and allows each of us quilters to piece and quilt what we want, the way we want to. So to me modern quilting is freeing!
To me a modern quilt aesthetically can include lots of solids, or a lot of a solid, sometimes it is white for a clean line other times it might be dark brown or grey for the background fabric. I know for some people they invent the pattern as they go along or purposefully let the pieces look as they look and don't worry about the perfect matching seam. So far I need a pattern and like a pattern! The modern quilts I have made have not had borders, they almost seem simpler or less complicated to look at but that isn't necessarily the case--they are visually interesting anyway. I usually use geometric shapes in my modern quilts, but on a recent one my quilter chose to quilt it with leaves which gave it a more organic feel that really fit.

My two favorite books with modern quilt patterns are "The Modern Quilt Workshop" by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr and Denyse Schmidt's book. I have looked through the latter book many times and finally made A Flock of Triangles out of it. Ringle and Kerr have a new book coming out any day now and I can hardly wait to get my hands on it--Quilts Made Modern: 10 Projects, Keys for Success with Color & Design, From the FunQuilts Studio. Do you have a favorite Modern Quilting Book?

Another interesting thing about modern quilts is that I think they often appeal to teenagers and those in their early twenties...more so than the average quilt anyway. Several years ago I asked my daughter to pick a pattern for me to make her and she had a STACK of my magazine and books and in no time at all she narrowed it down to "Outside the Box" and when my psuedo honorary daughter Rachel saw it she wanted one too. They were in their teens at the time. When I asked my son Mac which quilt he wanted he also picked a quilt from the same book--the black and red circle quilt is his. Now understand I have more than one shelf of quilting books and another whole shelf of magazines. This modern style is what all three of these teens wanted on their beds. They are funky or something.

Of course I also love regular quilts and scrappy quilts and anything designed by Bonnie Hunter too. But at heart I am a modern quilts girl!

Outside the Box Take Three is Quilted

Roslyn sent me pictures...Outside the Box Take Three is quilted. Doesn't it look fabulous? Ros never disapoints! Here is a close up so you can see all the randomness of it!

WONDERFUL! This quilt is going to be in an art show the beginning of December to benefit autism. It is the first quilt I have ever had in anything (other than online) and I am tickled pink!

Here is the wild scrappy background. I wanted to use up what I had and happily I did!