Slow Progress on Winter Wonderland

I finally got all the blocks traced for Winter Wonderland and have finished the fourth block - Snow Angel. This is one of the smaller blocks and I have now started one of the largest ones so it will take me quite a while to finish it. I decided that I wanted to use a backing on the blocks but I had already finished 3 of them. I used fusible woven interfacing that we sell for making t-shirt quilts. It really works great for redwork (bluework?). I just fused it on the back of the ones I had finished and added to this one when I was about half done. It worked out well - better than I ever expected.

I am really liking the look of these blocks in blue. I think I will like this a lot more than the red that most people are doing.

I taught the third class of six in my beginning machine quilting class today - we made nine patches and also nine patch variations. It was so great to see the students so excited when their blocks actually turned out to be 6 1/2 inches.

After the class, I met with Janice who is the chair of the Raffle Quilt for ECQG. We are using a published pattern for the middle of the quilt (with the designers permission) and will use a different border. We have 40 different blocks and asked for volunteers to make one each. So far, over 32 people have volunteered and we assigned blocks today and split them up so we can call and arrange to get them to each person. Here is a link to the pattern on Lori's site. The colors we are using are a little brighter than the original. There is one 12 inch block that has 101 pieces in it - glad I am not making that one.

One more beginning machine piecing quilt

Here is one more of my first Beginning Machine Piecing Class quilts. This one was made by Frances and she did a great job!

She came to Quilt Til You Wilt on Friday and brought this to show me. I have my third class of the next group tomorrow morning. I think most of them have finally figured out the 1/4 inch seam. It is difficult to master and I think many quilters continue to struggle with it.

I took Jane Hall to the airport yesterday after work. Danielle brought her to the store at closing and I drove to the airport. Unfortunately, there was a cloudburst most of the way through Atlanta. Not much traffic on a Saturday evening so we made it without incident. She is a lovely lady and a lot of fun to talk to.

Dog Quilts at MQX

One of the most interesting exhibits at MSX was this collection of dog quilts. They were all made by Linda Hibbert who designed all the dog patterns. She put each group together in a quilt. The Toy Group contains my two dogs.

Max is a Yorkshire Terrier like the one just under the Toy Group name. Chula is a Chihuahua but she is very light, not like the one in the upper left side of the quilt.

The Working Group has another bunch of wonderful dogs.

This is the Herding Group. I used to have an Old English Sheepdog named Max - all my dogs are name Max, except Chula who is named after a Chihuahua I had as a child.

Here is the Hound Group.

Here is the Non-Sporting Group.

The Sporting Group...
Lastly, the Terrier Group. I used to have a Wire-haired Terrier. Of course, his name was Max. He loved tennis balls more than anything in the world.

Jane Hall at ECQG

The April guild meeting was yesterday and we had the pleasure of having Jane Hall speak at our meeting. She did a great lecture on Making Blue Ribbon Quilts. Not only does Jane teach foundation piecing - she calls herself the pineapple queen, but she is a NQA quilt judge. She actually judged the East Cobb show in 2005 so she has experience that we can learn from.

As usual, she taught two workshops but I was unable to attend either one. After being out of town last weekend, I needed to go to work today, for my usual Saturday at the quilt shop. Not a very good photo of either of us but we were at Ted's Montana Grill for lunch - she tried a Bison burger but I had my usual vegetable plate. Pam called ahead and they baked sweet potatoes for each of us.

I have lots and lots of photos of incredible quilting from MQX. I took several classes and learned a lot of new tricks. I took a class with Sharon Schamber, Kim Brunner, Sue Patton, DeLoa Jones and a couple of others. I had a great time and hope to go again next year.

Lecture/Teaching at a Hall County Quilt Guild

I had a fun day today - I did my first lecture/workshop at a quilt guild that I don't belong to. It was a lot of fun. I talked about my collection of fabric postcards and then led a workshop on making them. The guild is about 55 miles away so it took most of the day. I had a great time! Of course, I forgot to take my camera with me so no pictures to show.

The rest of the day I worked on my row for the row quilt we are doing at Allatoona. The meeting is tomorrow and I have to show them the row that we will be making next week. I finished doing the fusible applique tonight and will show it without the stitching but will get the stitching done in time for the workshop next Tuesday.

I can't believe what stupid thing I did for next week. I am going to MQX with Michelle from the guild and I had marked on the calendar that we were leaving on Wednesday so there would be no problem with me teaching the workshop on my row. Thankfully, Michelle pointed out to me that we are leaving on Tuesday. I did check my airplane tickets and sure enough we are leaving on Tuesday. Lucky for me, my friend Mary agreed to actually lead the workshop for me. She taught a fusible applique class last month to the guild, so this is a natural follow on to that. I do feel bad that I can't be there, but I will have the row done, the patterns copied and a set of instructions written. I guess I will owe her big time for this one.

Last of the Challenge Quilts

This one is "When the cat is away, the mice will play." Looks like the cats are playing in the fabric and yarn also.

Here is "Mighty oaks from little acorns grow." This is a two sided quilt and the other side is shades of green.

Here is "Proud as a peacock."

This is an old Kansas proverb "Save your bottles, you never know if it might rain whiskey."

This quilt is "Not everything is what is seems." Each block is made from 72 1/2 square triangles. Different fabric and colors make the blocks look completely different.

Here is "Waste Not, Want Not." Sue was inspired by Bonnie Hunter and used old clothes to make this quilt.

It was a successful challenge that people had a lot of fun with. We also announced the next challenge. For this one, we need to make a quilt representing a song title. We also have challenge fabric that must be used in the front of the quilt. You can see the rules here. This one is not due until March of 2009. I am already thinking of songs - got to check out how much Elvis fabric I have stuck away.

More Challenge Quilts

I don't remember the exact Proverb for this quilt but it went something like that "You might look like a fool when you dance but you are a fool anyway so you might as well dance." The dancing ladies were wonderful!

This on is "You can't see the forest for the trees." This is a bird's eye view of the forest. See the bird on the right side?

Here is "The grass is always greener." Robin used her collection of fruit and vegetable fabric to make this quilt.

This one is beautiful - "Life is short - eat dessert first." The decorations on the cake are all handmade and beautiful.

This is Ray's quilt called "Mi Casa is Su Casa." As usual his quilts are fun and full of color.

One more post to come with the last of the entries.

Proverb Challenge at ECQG

Each year, we have a challenge at ECQG. The challenge for 2008 was to depict a Proverb in a quilt. The proverb did not have to be a biblical proverb and lots of good ones were done. Somehow, I ran out of time and energy and didn't do one myself but I did manage to take a photo of each of the ones that were entered. Here are the first few.

This one is "Big Fish Eat Little Fish." The quilter did a great job of doing an underwater scene.

I guess this one explains itself. "Birds of a Feather Flock Together"

This one takes a little longer to figure out - "A Chain is as Strong as its Weakest Link"

Here is the "Cat that Ate the Canary" - see the feathers?

This one is a riot of color - it represents "The Early Bird Gets the Worm." There are a few more I will show in the next post.