Garland Guild Quilt Retreat 2010

I went on a wonderful retreat last weekend with my local guild. I didn't have a camera with me to record all the shenanigan's but here are pictures of what I got done while I was there.

First I put these blocks together. This is my oldest UFO and they are now almost a top. I made 32 of these blocks sometime around 2001. The other half of them went into a quilt for my niece Helen who was 3 at the time. She is now almost 12.

I'd taken some fabrics with me for the borders and decided I didn't like them. Still need to decide on border fabrics.

I also took another really old set of blocks and put them together into this. Ditto on the border problem.


I finished a bunch of blocks like these

and the bug jars for June BOM in the guild


And another UFO bites the dust

This was from a focus fabric into blocks swap with my friend Medina. It took a while to get the layout just right. I put the blocks on a design wall and my friend Sharon and I spent about an hour redistributing them. At one point I just walked away for a while and when I came back I knew it was perfect.

BTW tirane, I was wrong- you had all the green daisy blocks. I had them confused with these butterflies.

Pinks & Reds Runneth Over

They are finished just in time to give to the guild tonight!

I still have enough scraps for another 2 quilts. I'm making a split 9-patch top and a flying geese top. Then I hope they'll be all GONE!

On a Roll Again!

I don't know what it is about spring. Maybe it was inspiration from the Dallas Quilt show, maybe it's the warmer weather,but I have been busy!

I had decided that my Goals for March and April were going to be to finish up some UFO's, make some easy donation tops, and get rid of a lot of scraps.

This will be a donation quilt I'll give to the guild. I used blocks from a recent swap at QATW.

And since I'm a glutton for punishment, here's what I started yesterday

I swear, I can't get away from pink & red! The box of strips was screaming at me.
And the gal that gave me all of these let me know she's sending me MORE!

First Day of Spring

Yep- we had more snow. Friday was a a beautiful day with temperatures in the mid 70's.
Then we had a 40 degree drop.


I stayed inside and finished this

Favorites from the Dallas Quilt Show 2010

Last weekend was the Dallas Quilt show. I have gone to every show for the last 6 or 7 years and really liked this one. Some years it seems that the quilts are all the same, 1 year there were way too many Art quilts for my tastes, but this year there seemed to be a very good variety. Plus there were a lot of bright quilts which is always a good thing in my book.

I did a little bit of shopping- picked up a couple of novelty FQ's since I'm going to get back to making "I Spy" quilts again, and I also picked up some B&W prints because I want to get back to working on "Babs meets Jane and Freddy".
I took over 100 pictures, but here are a few of my favorites...

Here's a wedding ring in blacks and grays. I love it.

I like this Black & Bright. I do not typically care for embellishments but this one calls to me. She titled it "It's a Bling Thing"

and here is another Black & Bright- "Eye of the Peacock" (I wish I could get as creative with the back of my quilts)

This Star quilt was made entirely with Oval shaped Yo-Yo's
and I really like this "Self Portrait"- don't we all feel like that sometimes?

Crunch Time!

Each year the President of our guild picks a "Challenge" quilt. Anyone who participates presents their work at the March meeting. This years theme was Log Cabin's. It can be any size, and it doesn't have to be quilted, just a top is OK.

Miss Procrastinator that I am put mine off...but I've been having fun making blocks like this one

I only need a few more 12 inch blocks but I still need to figure out how many 6 inch ones I need for my border..tirane, beth, swooze, guess what I'll be bringing to do on Saturday...

Top has to be done by March 2! I can do it!

Recent Presents

I love "Secret Pal" swaps. When I joined the Garland guild last summer I couldn't wait to sign up for the swap this year. I got my questionnaire and filled out all the usual questions
about likes and dislikes.

I got my partner and she is a definite challenge. Polar opposite of me. Crazy quilts, applique, lace, velvet, toille, ruffles, and almost everything in her house seems to be the same 1 color. It's been hard shopping for her. I'm glad the Dallas Quilt Show is in a couple of weeks because I intend to shop for things to give her the rest of the year.

On the other hand, whoever has me ROCKS!!! In January I got a gift card to Target. My favorite store next to JoAnn's. At the February meeting I walked in and saw this on the table
I had been in a really lousy mood and just seeing the envelope boosted my spirits. I can't bear to get rid of it. Then I opened it and found
I had mentioned I collect Antique sheet music. I don't think she realized it but tucked inside this piece was another page with the chorus to another golden oldie. WOW! I've already sat down and attempted to play both. They are quite challenging, but I've been looking for something new to play. Along with these were a big handful of Reeses Peanut Butter cups,
which I've already eaten :)

I love my Secret Pal, whoever you are!

I also recently participated in a "Sweet Swap" on QATW and didn't give that many details, but here's the bounty I got from it-10 very bright FQ's, a quilting jigsaw puzzle, some Ghiradelli chocolates, a quilters emory board, and wallhanging kit. I can't wait to use the fabrics! and I've been good and only eaten 1 piece of chocolate even though it's been in the house over a week.

I've been sewing a lot again too- will post about that tomorrow. Gotta get back to work!

SNOW!

I think this has been one of the whitest winters around here ever. It started snowing in the middle of the night and hasn't stopped. It isn't sticking to the concrete- at least not yet anyway.

Tonight I plan to make some hot cocoa and sew- All the blocks for "Monster Mash" are done, but I need to get started on a challenge- can I make a log cabin top in a little over 2 weeks? We'll see! Stay tuned for the details and pictures of progress!

Catching Up

I didn't realize it had been a month since I posted...where does the time go? I've been really busy at work and dealing with some personal issues and haven't done a whole lot of sewing since finishing the pink & red top which is at tirane's house.

A while back I posted these fabrics I bought at Golden D'orI took the fabric with me when I went on my first retreat back in January with the Garland Quilt Guild Board. Until I started cutting I had no idea what pattern I was going to do. I spent the weekend cutting it all up and since then I've been making these blocks.

I've already dubbed this quilt "Monster Mash". (I'm not very original with names). Tirane says the googly eyes give her the creeps but I hope she'll have fun quilting the top. I hope to have it ready for our next get together. I'm sure some kid will love it. For being such an easy pattern it's the first time I've ever made a "Snowball & 9-Patch" quilt. It won't be the last. I can see using up a lot of my novelty yardage and brights in similar fashion.

Since I've been lax in posting, here are some promised pictures. First is a picture of the Christmas presents that Swooze made for me. I love them. The pincushion is stuffed with dry walnut shells (I think). It's so pretty I haven't started using it yet.

and last, but certainly not least, is a promised picture of the "Ankh" quilt on our bed and a close-up picture of the quilting. This is the quilt that David really wanted and my friends helped me make so I'd stop whining about it. I love my friends :)

(sorry the closeup pic isn't that great, I think I should have zoomed in a little closer)

I've been thinking about a lot of things this week.

1. I love my stash. Am I going to add to it this year? Yep. Am I going to use up a lot of it this year? Sure hope so. Am I going to spend time I could be sewing counting it and adding it up? Nope. Not gonna do it right now. It is what it is.

2. Beginning of 2008 I had about 60 UFO's. I'm down to less than 30. I'm good. Some of these were traded away, some were given away, heck, some were actually made into quilts. I have been looking at the UFO's that are left and I can say 1 thing...I'm tired of "samplers". More UFO's may be going away soon.

3. There are things I want to learn this year. I want to get better at binding. I want to learn to miter corners. I want to make tote bags. I want to learn to quilt on my machine. I want to get over my fear/loathing of applique. I used to say that about paper piecing so I know I can do it.

4. I am NOT going to set unattainable goals. My ONLY New Years resolution is to FINISH more than I start. That's it and I know I can do that.

5. I'm going to spend more time with my loved ones and friends, cultivating friendships and creating memories.

Here's to a great 2010 my friends!

Christmas Present for DH

I have the best friends in the whole world. We get together once a month for our "Sit & Sew" or whatever you like to call it. We've been doing this for several years now. tirane's house is on English Street, hence our name "The English

Since the day I started quilting my husband has wanted a quilt. Not just any quilt, he wanted a certain design. I had a mental and emotional block about it and never made the quilt. At our November get together after my talking about it again my friends said "Just bring the fabric Babs".

At our December get together they helped me make the quilt. tirane has the pictures and has done a great post about it so please check out her blog...

What friends are for

A little determination

I was so bound and determined to get it finished by the end of the year I finished the top at 3:00 Sunday afternoon.

I've already pulled a BIB (blocks in bag) and some scraps and am gonna shoot for another finish.

Remedial Math & White Christmas

It went like this:

18 inch blocks needed- they were easy. Done.
12 inch blocks needed-Done
6 inch blocks needed. It took me a while but I made all 36 needed.

I start to assemble. OOPS. Everyone knows I can't count. I needed 27 of the 12 inch and I'd only made 18. Back to the sewing machine yesterday.

ALL blocks are now made. The 6 inch blocks are sewn together in their pairs and next I'll sew the pairs to the 18 original 12 inch blocks.

I'm bound and determined to have this into a top by the end of the year. I'm going to use up large scraps and piece the back but I have till mid-to late January to get that done...when are we meeting tirane?

We had a WHITE Christmas here in Dallas! Here is a picture taken of the pond behind our house.

And here is a picture of my niece Raegan in the apron I made her for Christmas. She is going to be 3 in March. She has a kitchen set she received last Christmas that she plays with every day.
And this year she received more appliances and foods to go with it. Martha, Sandra, Rachael, and Paula need to watch out in 15 years or so...

I used the Apron pattern from "Sewing for Dummies" by Simplicity. It's definitely a keeper and I'll make more of these in the future.

Helping Out

Irish Flood Quilts

I have deep Celtic roots. I've volunteered at the North Texas Irish Festival for the last 4 years and met some wonderful people from Ireland. I'm going to set aside the "Random Blocks" quilt and other projects for a bit and make some blocks and tops to help out with this effort. I'll be concentrating on kids quilts as that is the largest portion of my stash.

First I finished this

Then I made the last 5 of these. Here are all 9 18-inch blocks

Then rather than switching to black thread and digging out my brights I decided to keep going and made these last 6 12-inch blocks needed

Friday morning I went to Golden D'or and bought these

75 yards for $80.

Then I made this block for Dec. BOM at the Garland Guild

While I was at it I made this one since I'll be presenting it for the January BOM.


I also got several more of the 6 inch pink and red blocks made and did laundry, dishes, took the trash out, slept, and ate. What did YOU do this holiday weekend?

Thanksgiving Week Goals

I have 3 simple goals for this week. If I get them done by 8am Friday, I'm going to reward myself by going here for one of their 25% off everything sales. I need backings for several quilts and I might treat myself to some more black & whites for an upcoming project.

My goals are

• finish a charity top I just started on Saturday. I have the center pieced, just need to add the borders. (they are cut) It's a really cute kids quilt.
• Make the 18 inch blocks needed for the pink/red "Random Blocks" quilt. 4 of 9 are done.
• Make at least 5 "Happy Scrappy" quilt blocks

I Won!

I never win anything but I have been following along in the 100 Blocks Blog Tour and I fell in love with this block by Julie Pieri. She named it "Hot Fudge Please".

Each block designer was given a copy of the book to give away and I checked out some of the designers blogs and I won a copy from Julie! WOW! So pretty soon I'll be getting this in the mail.

There were so many beautiful blocks. I visited about 20 of the blogs but I only entered about 8 of the drawings so I feel really lucky and happy to be a winner!

Thanks Beth for turning me on to this!

Black & Bright

I just love Brights. Loud, Vivid colors are my favorites. I always say "If it hurts your eyes I'll like it".

When QATW had a swap for these easy Black & Bright blocks earlier this spring I just had to join. Purple seemed to be the favorite color. The original quilt design had all the blocks on point but of course I had to be different. I played around with laying out the colors randomly and nothing looked right. So I did this.

It's hard to tell but there is a difference between the dark blue and the light blue. They seem to blend together. Those are teal blocks in the bottom left next to the purple corner.

I'm doing a skinny border of black, and then a scrappy/strippy border of colors around it with the colorways switched. Does that make sense? The 1/2 with blues, green, teal will have pink/red/orange/ yellow strips and vice versa. Then I think there will be another strip of black beyond that. I hope it turns out like the design in my head. LOL.

I've also been working on a layout for some 30's Sampler blocks and I've been making "Kansas Trouble" blocks with scraps for another QATW swap. And I'm plugging away at cleaning up the sewing room. I've got the afternoon off today and am going to get back to working on it.

This is actually week 3 of my 13 week challenge and my goals are:

• get the borders cut for the Bright quilt
• finish designing the layout for the 30's quilt
• finish the "Kansas Trouble" blocks for that swap

Oh, I keep forgetting to post some really fun news! I joined the Garland TX Quilt Guild back in the spring and I've been asked to serve on the Board! They need a "Fundraiser" chairman. So far the only fundraiser they've been doing is the monthly BOM at meetings. So I will get to pick those and make one to show and sell the tickets and all that. I think it will be a lot of fun. I can't wait to get with the gal who has been doing it to see what blocks have already been done cause I have lots of ideas but I want to make sure I don't repeat a block too soon.

Voila!

I finished it yesterday! I am so glad I followed tirane's suggestion in using the square in square border. It really makes the quilt.

Then I stayed up late and got another set of blocks into rows. I smell another finish coming on!

Fall 2009 Online Quilt Show

This is my entry in Amy's Fall 2009 Online Quilt Show. This is the first top I ever made. I saw the pattern in a magazine and had to make it. It took me several months to gather up the fabrics I wanted to use since I was a new quilter but I wanted a scrappy look.

I started the top sometime around 2001 and it got put away until last year. I pulled it back out and finished it up and had my dear friend tirane do the quilting.

Here's a closeup of the quilting

and a closeup of the border. It's one of the only times I've asked her to do something specific in the border. I wanted a holly vine and as usual she did an outstanding job.

I hope you've enjoyed my quilt and check out what other quilters around the world are doing!