Bunny Hill snowmen

If you can't see later posts than this one, try refreshing this page.  Click on July in the archives. 

This Bunny Hill pattern was made by Mary, who always does an impeccable job on her machine applique.  She also lets me use wool batting - my favorite.


Love the red truck!

I was afraid a heavy background fill done in light thread on the blocks with red background fabric would look messy and distracting - so I just stuck with straight lines in those blocks.

 

 

Mary hasn't finished putting eyes and smiles on all the snowmen - so some of them only
have noses.

They come in threes

I finished another appliqued quilt, this one for Trudy.  She wanted a leafy vine so I did a leafy version of feathers around the border.


I considered using metallic thread but Trudy said she likes green and it looks pretty dramatic on the dark blue background.  I like the way the crosshatching softens the blocks from a distance.

Trudy did a lot of three-dimensional applique and beading which looks cool up close.

I have another appliqued quilt on my longarm now, they must come in threes -  just like my orange cats!

My magnetic personality

This is Connie's applique quilt  - she spends her winters in Arizona and found this pattern there.  Her applique is beautifully done and her fabric choices are wonderful. Connie has a world class stash, in fact after my husband Peter saw it he started calling Connie "Mrs. Stash". 

Connie also has a world class collection of polka dots.  She used a different polka dot fabric for almost all of the cactus sections without repeating a fabric - and there are 12 of these cactus blocks!

 

 

 

 

What is it about me and orange cats?  Last summer there were two orange strays that I fed.  One ended up at the humane society and one I managed to find a new home for.  Now I have three orange cats on my doorstep - I must be an orange cat magnet!

 

 

 

Back to work again

I have finally finished quilting the quilt I'm working on with Gail Stepanek.  We are both excited about this quilt (it's called Stars on Mars- great name!) and I will eventually show pictures of it.  It took me much longer to do than I had anticipated so I am now WAY behind schedule on my customer quilts.


The quilt at the top is one that Joyce has been waiting patiently for me to quilt.  I love this quilt designed by Charlotte Wolfe of Charlotte's Sew Natural.  Joyce wanted metallic thread but we decided to use Glide thread in a gold color which gives the same effect but is stronger and stands up better to use.

 

 

PQG quilt exhibit at CityArts

I have been working on coordinating an exhibit of quilts by Prairie Quilt Guild members at CityArts in Wichita.  The exhibit was hung last week and was included in Final Friday - an art gallery walk that takes place once a month in Wichita.  I was disappointed that only 5 or 6 guild members showed up for the exhibit but it was well attended by the public.  The show will hang through June 22 at CityArts, 334 N. Mead Street (across from the Warren Theater in Old Town) and I hope lots of people get to see it and enjoy the quilts.  It's really a wonderful gallery space and the quilts looked amazing in that setting.

Guild members Barb Nickelson, Evelyn Gernaat and Lois Stewart brought applique and quilting projects to demonstrate techniques.

 

 

 

Living in an old house has it's drawbacks, including old plumbing.  After I found a leak in the basement I had to have a new line put in from the street.  Not exactly the way I had planned to spend my award money from MQS.

 

 

I want one of these.

I saw this on http://cactus-needle.blogspot.com/ and had to share.  It's the Alto Intuitive Sewing Machine designed by UK industrial designer Sarah Dickins.  She wanted a machine with more intuitive operation to appeal to beginners.  More here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7ohEWr9g4w

MQS in Wichita

This week I have been busy attending and volunteering at MQS.  It is so handy having it just 30 minutes away in Wichita!  I started out last Saturday opening the boxes of judged quilts and getting them checked in.  Entries were down this year - possibly due to the growing number of quilt shows competing for entries but there were still lots of gorgeous quilts to admire.

I also helped with judging which is always an eye-opener.  The judges looked for quilts with attention to every detail.  It made me think about how I could improve all the little details in my own quilting. I also helped in Photography with Marilyn Karper - she does such a phenomenal job of showing the quilts beautifully and in great detail.

Here are a few quilts that caught my eye:

Dresden's Dilemma by Deborah Poole.  From the Tools of the Trade category. This quilting design is so perfect it is hard to imagine it quilted any other way.

 

 

 

 

 

 Dahlia's Dream by Jennifer McCrae.  This won in the Computer Guided Category.

 

 

 

 Serengeti Serenity by JoAnn Blade and Kim Diamond.  Also from the Computer Guided Category.

 

 

 

 S is for #3: You Cleared My Name by Shannon Conley.  This won Best of Show in the Just for Me category.  I don't get the title but love this quilt!  Very creative.

 

 

 

 The next two quilts I have admired online but never had the chance to  drool on them see them in person.

Red Velvet by Lisa Calle

Big Bertha by Margaret  Solomon Gunn

This is my friend Kendra all ready to hit the vendors at the show.  Can you believe that she punched a hole in her credit card so she could keep it handy like this?

 

 

 

 

 

Here is my friend Siriporn with her first place winning quilt in the Wall category.

 

 

 

 

 

And last but not least - a picture of me with my quilt Remembrance after winning Viewer's Choice last night.  If I look dazed - it's because I was in total shock!

Today is the last day of the show.  The theme for next year's show is 'Up, Up and Away'.

A Winning Week



Betty and Madeline in front of Remembrance

I'm just home from Paducah where my wholecloth Remembrance won second place in Longarm quilted Bed Quilts - Hooray!  I went on a bus tour from the Wichita area with two quilting buddies.  Betty and Madeline had never been to Paducah before so we did the whole thing: the quilts, the vendors, the bubble, the museum, downtown, Hancock 's, a tour of Carol Bryer Fallert's home and studio and Eleanor Burns.  The only thing we missed was the Rotary Club.  We had sore feet but it was worth it.


One evening we did a tour of the Dogwood Trail with QUILTMAN and his sidekick BOBBIN.  It was great fun and we did learn a bit about the history of Paducah.  The dogwoods were at their peak this week.  It rained the whole time we were there with the exception of one beautiful sunny day.

 

I asked this lady if I could take a picture of her - what a wonderful pincushion hat!

It rained on the bus trip going both directions.  We stopped to get a picture of the arch in St. on the way home.  On the way there we couldn't see the upper half of the arch in the rain and fog.

The reflection is nice too.

I usually have no luck with drawings and raffles but just before I left for Paducah I won a book on the Quilt Inspiration blog.  It's a beautiful new hardcover book by Kaffe Fassett called Shots and Stripes.  It features his shot cottons which I love, in fact, Remembrance is made from his shot cotton front and back. The book arrived wonderfully packaged and I have enjoyed looking at it and feeling inspired!  Thanks so much to Quilt Inspiration which is also inspiring - they post lots of beautiful quilts, tutorials and free patterns.