No traditional feathers here!

 

 

 

 

This is Susan's quilt which has taken me weeks to finish since I only have a few hours each day to quilt.  Peter is now off of chemo and we have called in Hospice - they are such a help.

 

The border fabric on this quilt is wild!  Susan has done a wonderful job of finding fabrics to go with it.  At first I was stumped trying to come up with ideas for quilting  - my old standby of traditional feathers just didn't seem right here.  I ended up using the leaves in the fabric for inspiration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My sister Kathy and BIL Don came to visit last week.  We had a wonderful  visit and celebrated both Kathy and my birthdays.  Here is a picture of me opening my birthday card which had flying pigs on it.  Fortunately I had my pig nose handy.  For some reason I can't make this photo any larger.  Maybe that's a blessing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the way I saw Don much of the time - gazing into his iPod.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made a great video of my sister cutting open this watermelon but couldn't get it to download properly from my phone.

 

 

 

 

 

One more customer quilt to finish and I can work on my own quilts!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joy of Life

Another Joy of Life quilt, this one by Katherine.  This is the third one of these that I have quilted and they all turn out a little different.  I still like this design and enjoy quilting it.

 

This is the first year in a long time that I haven't had a quilt of my own to enter in Houston.  However, I did collaborate on a quilt with Gail Stepanek and we heard recently that it was accepted into the show. I'll post pictures once the show opens in November.

A little bit more

It turns out that I still have a few customer quilts left to do; I told several people I would finish their quilts after our quilt show. This is Marilyn's little applique quilt. It's almost a wholecloth with a little applique!

It's crib quilt size and Marilyn said she was making quilts for great grand children that she doesn't have yet!  She liked the way this one turned out and says she may keep it for herself after all.

I have a new iPhone which has taken me weeks to figure out.  I took pictures of the set up for my guild quilt show with the phone and then couldn't figure out how to download them.  So here they are a month after  the show!  Here is the building all ready for the quilts.  The quilt racks were set up for us and the guild members hung the quilts.  (over 600 of them)

Quilts being sorted after drop off early in the day.

The quilts start to go up.

This shows the size of the building a little better, it is 93,000 square feet and our show fills it up pretty well, with quilts and  vendors.  This is the venue for next year's MQS.

Common Threads Quilt Show - the final installment

 

This is a miniature Baltimore album quilt, hand appliqued and hand quilted by Trudy Carpenter.  It won Viewer's Choice for miniature quilts.  Her work is beautiful!

This is an amazing quilt made by Mary Ann Moore.  The pictures in the blocks are all done with tiny crosshatching.  Siriporn Hollar did the quilting, that's Siriporn standing next to the quilt.

I wish I had a better close up.  This quilt won Viewer's Choice for large quilts.

Cosmic Kaffe Fassett Circles made and quilted by Karen Armstrong.  The pattern is Dot to Dot by Nancy Mahoney.

Midori Melton made the next quilt, Interlocking Stars, from a pattern she found on the Fons and Porter website.  Quilted by Kim Hull.

I really like this one: Thistlecreek Crossing made and quilted by Karen Tombaugh for her granddaughter.  It's a Judy Niemeyer pattern.

This is the back, so it's a reversible quilt!

Chocolate and Blueberries made by Cheryl Nordstedt and quilted by Wanda Hiebert.  The pattern is by Toby Lischko

This is A Little Bit Tipsy, the quilt I donated to our Mini quilt auction.

This is the Prairie Quilt Guild Opportunity Quilt with it's lucky new owner, Eva Peterson.  I have been babysitting this quilt all year and it was hard to let it go!  It found a good home with a quilter who really appreciates it.

These are the tomatoes that I brought home from the local Farmer's Market.  They are so good that I eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Common Threads Quilt Show, Part 3

This is Kansas on My Mind, a Shop Hop quilt from 2011 - the bright fabric in the border was the official shop hop fabric.  This quilt was made by employees of Gramma's Calico Cupboard and quilted by Siriporn Hollar.  (I like that it has feet!)

Another one beautifully quilted by Siriporn.  This is Grandma's Hankies by Diana Miller.  It was made for her Grandmother's 100th birthday.

Another with a Grandmother theme:  this is My Grandma Cope's Kitchen by Judy Beaman, quilted by Eula Long.  The pattern is Grandma's Kitchen by Lori Holt.

My Stars by Nonie England.  Kim Hull did a great job of quilting this - it really adds another dimension to the quilt.

Another quilted by Kim: Radiant Sunshine and Shadow by Diana Martin.  This is from the book of the same name by Helen Frost and Catherine Skow.

Kim did a lot of quilting as you can see on the back of the quilt-

 

I think I have another blogs worth of quilts for tomorrow.

Common Threads Quilt Show, Part 2

More quilts from the show: 

 This crazy quilt is called Piecemaker and is made by Carmen Sue Gard.  Her work is amazing - several years ago one of her crazy quilts won Best of Show at our show.

Sharon Smith made the next quilt, Tree Huggers.  Her design was inspired by the border fabric. Sharon designs and quilts her own work.

This is Ragamuffin Kids by Shirley Crawford.

Siriporn Hollar did the quilting.

Another of Sharon Smith's whimsical creations, Slow and Steady.  She says this one will hang in the room of her first great grandchild.

This is Dancing Dollies, a Fig Tree Design pattern made by Susan Webert.

It was quilted by Debra Freese and I love the way she made feather 'wings' for the dollies!

                                                                         



                                                                                                           and still more to come...

Common Threads Quilt Show, Part 1

My guild, Prairie Quilt Guild in Wichita, puts on a big quilt show every two years. The 2012 show just ended last weekend and it was a great success.  We hung over 600 quilts (with about 160 judged) and had many vendors.  Although it seemed to me that attendance was down, probably due to the economy, it was a wonderful show.

I took pictures of many of the quilts that caught my eye and will show them on my blog over the next few days.

This is Flowers of Mayo by my friend Tammy Gross.  It was quilted by another friend, talented longarmer Siriporn Hollar.  The pattern is by Michelle Hill

This paper pieced beauty is made by Betty Enright and quilted by Debra Freese.  The pattern is Conestoga Star from Fons and Porter magazine.

This is Fireworks!! pieced and quilted by Jenny Hutson.  You can see she won a Best in Category ribbon for this quilt.

This is Rocky Road to Kansas made by Mayleen Vinson in celebration of the 150th birthday of the state of Kansas.  She was inspired by an antique quilt in the book Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches by Carole Semple.

You may recognize this quilt - it is Storm at Sea - Bay View which I quilted for Sheri Schoenebeck and it won Best of Show!

More quilts to come.