Quilting break - it's hat time!

I'm still working on my wholecloth but I did take some time off over Thanksgiving to visit with friends from Colorado Springs.  Sandy wanted to goto Hatman Jack's - it's a great hat shop in Wichita.  If any of you are planning to attend MQS this May, it's walking distance from the show. 

I have pretty much given up wearing hats because women's hat makers think all women have the same itty bitty sized head.  I happen to have a big fat head and the typical women's hat perches on it like a toy hat.  The only hat I could find at Hatman Jack's that fit me was a men's large or extra large!  I wish it was due to lots of brains.


Sandy has the opposite problem - she's a pin head. 

Even women's hats are too big for her - this one comes complete with blond wig.

She tried one of those side-of-the-head pancake things.

Tom's head size seems to be more in the normal range.

Back to quilting!

I can't believe I'm doing this

I'm still slogging along on my wholecloth. Once I had finished about 3/4 of the quilting I took the quilt off my longarm and pinned it to my design wall. I realized one part of the design wasn't working - just too much thread.  It overwhelmed the rest of the quilt.  So I have been picking it out for the last two weeks!  I must be insane. It should all be out by Thanksgiving and I know it will be a better quilt for all this picking. 

I'll eventually post before and after pictures and you can tell me if I did the right thing!

Postcard from Houston

I'm still hard at work on my wholecloth so no photos there yet.  Gail Stepanek attended the show in Houston and I asked her  to send me a picture of our quilt hanging there. I wish I could have been there too!  Maybe next year I will make it to the show.


Here is Gail with Mistaken Identity and an Honorable Mention ribbon! 

About my last post: someone asked what kind of chalk I used - it is just plain old  schoolroom chalk.  I stick with white and have no problems brushing it off with a soft cloth.

A new quilt

I haven't had anything to post for a while because I have been busy working on a large wholecloth of my own.  I won't post pictures of it just yet, but this is some of the thread I'm using.  You can see from this that it's not going to be a traditional whitework quilt!

 

 

Since the quilt I worked on with Gail Stepanek is now in Houston all judged and ready to hang in the show, Gail told me I could go ahead and post pictures.  This is Mistaken Identity and I think it's a beauty!  Gail's workmanship is impeccable and I loved working on it with her. 

When I asked her if she had any suggestions for the quilting she thought a radiating design might be appropriate.  That seemed like a good idea to me so I went with that.

Working on the dark fabric was a challenge and I was very thankful to have my little light from IKEA.  But it was still hard to see when I did the tiny stipple around the feathers.  I ended up drawing over that area with white chalk and I could then see my stitches as I
quilted.

 

 

 

The chalk wipes off easily.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are having beautiful fall weather here in Kansas.  This is a neighborhood cat enjoying the sun in my bag of weeds. He looks very Halloween-y.

 

 

 

 

 

Fall and yarn bombing

This sculpture by Tom Otterness appeared in the Wichita paper last week after being 'yarn bombed'.  I really like the sculpture unclothed, but with all the little ankle warmers it is too cute!

It feels like fall now in Kansas; the days are still warm but the nights cool down comfortably.  I'm sure the farmers see these as a pest, but they sure are pretty along the roads.

Thank you to all my blog friends for your condolences .  Every comment meant a lot to me - thank you so much!

He's gone

I lost my sweetie.

 

 

Peter Hutchison

May 12, 1938 - September 17, 2012

Thank you Madame President

i

 

In Prairie Quilt Guild, my guild in Wichita, traditionally the past president is in charge of making a quilt for the outgoing president with the help of the rest of the Board.  It was my job this year to come up with a quilt for Gail.  Because she loves old quilts and studies their history, I chose to make an antique-style signature quilt. 

 

 

 

 

The Board members made the star signature blocks and I did the rest.  Most of the fabric comes from Barbara Brackman's Lately Arrived from London fabric line.  The center medallion I found at Reproduction Fabrics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wanted the look of trapunto without the hassle of cut - away trupunto or the heft of two batts.  So I cheated and just cut strips of wool batting which I then glued with Elmer's purple school glue stick to the back of the quilt in the borders where I wanted the feathers to stand out.   I quilted heavily around the feathers and since I only used wool batting, it doesn't feel stiff.  Some times cheating pays off!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was not able to be at the meeting yesterday when she received the quilt - I hope she likes it!