Quilts for Ronald McDonald House

Here is a photo of the quilts that were collected last Friday at ECQG. The guild has supported the Ronald McDonald House for the past several years. These are the quilts that were donated this year. The lady from Ronald McDonald house was supposed to be at our meeting to accept the quilts but she was late and most of the members had left by the time she got there. We also donate quilts to Foster Care of Cobb County and they seem to appreciate what we do more.

I spent the day quilting a customer quilt - had problems with the Gammill but finally got it working right and will finish the quilt in the morning.

Weight Watchers is doing fine. I am going out to lunch tomorrow so need to figure out how to handle that and stay on plan.

Weight Watchers

I see that several other bloggers are joining Weight Watchers. I finally went to my first meeting Monday night and feel good about making this start on losing some weight. I have been counting points and so far, so good.

I posted photos of the trip around the world blocks that Robin and I made in Las Vegas a few days ago. These are the finished quilts that Jan had as class samples.

This one is a little brighter than the first. I think the ones we made will be even brighter and more cheerful.

My latest beginner class started today. I have four people in the morning class and two in the evening session. We had a great time today learning how to cut, iron and sew accurate 1/4" seams. They all did a good job.

Exchange Bocks from Piecemakers

While I was away in California, the Piecemakers Bee meet for Christmas in July and our yearly blocks exchange. This year, we each choose our own focus fabric and provided a 10 inch square for each other person. Mine is the green/brown swirl that you see in each block below.

Next we each choose a pattern to make for everyone else. Danielle was the keeper of the list and made sure that each person selected a different block. Next, we added fabrics as we wanted to each person's focus fabric and made a block for them.

Some people gave directions like "don't use white, please only use batiks" and other guidance. They were all easy to work with and a lot of fun. I posted the fabrics I got back in January in this post. Some were more of a challenge than others.




I choose a simple block to make - Sawtooth Star. The block I made for myself is in the first photo, on the bottom right. I have 16 blocks to work with. I also have a couple of yards more focus fabric that I can use. I am thinking of ways to put them on point but in order to do that I need a couple of more blocks. Not sure if I want to do that. I kind of like the idea of every block being a swap block.

There are a few touches of colors in some of the blocks but most people seemed to stick with brown and green. I guess I just need to look at them for a while before figuring out what to do with them. We are challenged to have a completed quilt for our December meeting. If you have any ideas on how to put them together, please let me know.

Long Beach Quilt Show

My sister Robin and her friend Marilyn have a business called Two Wacky Women. They have quilt patterns, run quilt retreats and have a traveling quilt shop that they take to quilt shows. This was the first year that Long Beach had a quilt show and they decided to vend there.

She called me last night after they were packed up and apparently they had fun and did good.
Here is a photo of their booth all set up and ready to go. Doesn't it look like it would be fun to walk in and shop? I wish I didn't live so far away.

Next Food Network Star

I love this show and was so excited to see that Aaron won! I have been rooting for him since the beginning of the season. His pilot was great and I can't believe that his show will be on next week. I have set the DVR to record it since it comes on at 1:30 on Sunday when I will be at the quilt shop.

The other two finalists were also very good and would make great shows also, but only one could win.

The other show I have been following is Design Star. I am voting for Matt but I like both of them also.

Now that these are over, I guess Project Runway is my favorite. I haven't been able to pick a favorite yet - they are all pretty scary but interesting and I have loved the espsiodes so far.

Another Top Waiting to be quilted

Here is another quilt top that I pieced in Las Vegas. It is difficult to tell from the photo but all the fabric is watermelon related. The green is watermelon rind, the red is watermelon flesh with seeds and of course the other is watermelon slices.

Robin and I saw several quilts made from this pattern at Nancy's Quilt shop. Even though it is a very simple quilt, we purchased the pattern and fabric from Nancy. We had them pieced in a couple of hours.

Today, I picked up some backing fabric so this quilt is now ready to go to the waiting area in hopes of being quilted some day. I have more of the rind fabric set aside for the binding. This will be a great picnic quilt - not as if we actually go on picnics but if we ever do, we will be ready.

I also thought this would make a nice wedding present, along with a picnic basket. The pattern is so simple that I am going to suggest that the guild use it for community service quilts. Easy but still very nice. All you need is a yard or so of 3 coordinating fabrics.

Fruit and Vegetable Quilt

Here is a quilt that I am working on. I have all the blocks done and it is here on the floor in Las Vegas.

Robin bought each of us a fat quarter pack of fruit and vegetable fabrics so we played with this design that I had worked on in EQ6. The sashing is basket weave fabric that was my contribution. We each have different basket weave so once more we are making quilts that are exactly the same only different.

My intent was to design a quilt that used the new layer cake cuts of fabric (10 inch squares). The only problem with the quilt is that it is pretty big. Because of the way it gets set on point, I am not sure how to make it smaller. I guess I will just make a large quilt.

Christmas and Halloween Quilts

Here are the two quilts I made for Christmas in July/Festival of Holidays. This is the Christmas child's quilt made out of Scottie dog Christmas fabric.

I love how the 4 patch kaleidoscope blocks look.

Next is a closeup that shows the quilting. I did a variation of dwirling. I really like how it gives the quilt texture without overwhelming the quilt. I quilted this with lime green thread. The binding is a great stripe that is cut on the bias.

Next is a quick but very cute Halloween quilt. The center of the quilt is a printed panel. All you need to do is add borders to it. The first border is the orange one and the only tricky thing about it was cutting the plaid straight and sewing it on straight.

Next is a simple piano key border and then last is a plain border with just half square triangles in the corners. Very simple but very effective.

I quilted it with orange thread using the waterworld pantograph. Turned out very nice.

Shop Hop and Christmas in July

I forgot to post a photo of the final necklace made from the Southern California Shop Hop. We ended up with 24 charms, out of 39 participating shops. It is amazing how much gas money you will spend to get an inexpensive charm!

I wore the necklace to guild today and it got a lot of interest. Also, during Christmas in July - which turned into Festival of Holidays so that Halloween could be included, I wore it.

Next is a not very good photo of me with the necklace on - you also might notice the large spider on my head. Several of us had head ornaments but I think mine was the best.

One more session of Christmas in July tonight and we are done for the time being. The button on my nametag says Quilt Diva!

I will put photos of the two quilts I made in the next post.

Shop Hop in San Diego

We went to 12 or 13 shops last Saturday in the San Diego area. Here is one of the projects that I really liked. It is a notebook cover.

I really like the bright colors and love the buttons. It is a standard 1 inch binder.
Here it is with the cover open.

Here it is open. It is completely lined with this great polka dot fabric.

We saw lots of great shops but were exhausted by the time we got home. This was also the day we went to the Elvis Mexican Restaurant so we had a full day and evening.

I came home on Monday but didn't get in at the airport until 10 pm and home until 11 pm. I think it has taken until now to recover from jet lag.

We had Christmas in July today at Tiny Stitches. Had lots of fun and will post a photo tomorrow. Guild in the morning and then the last session of Christmas in July in the evening.

Trip to Las Vegas

We were in Las Vegas from Sunday afternoon until Friday morning. This is the group that attended. I am sitting in the front row in a lime green tee-shirt and my sister Robin is next to me in black. Mary Ellen Hopkins is right behind me, also in green.

Mary Ellen had a car accident on the way from Southern California to Las Vegas and totaled her car. Fortunately, she was not seriously injured but she did spend Sunday night in the hospital. This is the 21st annual seminar in Las Vegas and we started going in 1999. We have not been to every one since 1999 but have been able to go to most of them.

We worked on a variety of projects during the week. What a treat to be able to sew all day, every day. We found a great little Mexican taco shop type of restaurant that we went to every day for lunch. Roberto's Taco Shop is definitely on our list for next year.

We also managed to go to two local quilt shops plus Joann's and Walmart.
The shops were both great - Fabric Boutique and Nancy's Quilt Shop. Both were glad the group was in town as everyone brought back shopping bags from both shops.

Southern California Shop Hop

We have been going on the Southern California Shop Hop. It is so large that is goes over two different 4-day weekends. We stopped at the first shop last Friday when Robin picked me up at the airport. There are a total of 39 shops participating.

Here is the shop hop fabric. It is made by Hoffman and is very colorful. I managed to buy 3 yards of it plus a kit to make a BQ2 quilt.

At each shop you get part of a quilt pattern (there are 4 patterns depending on which section the shop is in) plus a charm. Here is the necklace we made from the first 10 charms. We got 14 more today and yesterday but we are both too tired to put them on the necklace - maybe tomorrow.

On the way back from the San Diego area, we stopped at a Mexican Restaurant. Here is the front door.

See Elvis greeting us?

This is the ceiling above our booth.

This is the entry way cabinet - full of stuff. You can't imagine how much Elvis stuff there is in one place. Here is the link to the place. If you are in Garden Grove, CA - be sure to stop by. Elvis and good food - what more could you ask for.

Trip Around the World x 2 blocks

We have been making great blocks for the past couple of days. Here are the strips cut. We have 6 sets of 8 colors to work with.

Here are the yellows.

The black and whites.

The blues.
The greens.
The purples.
The strips are cut only 1 1/2 inches. Here are the blocks made up.

I have enough leftover strips to make another set of blocks. I need to decide how I want to set them. Aren't they beautiful? Robin also made the same 12 blocks and she is thinking of sewing them together 2 x 6 to make a table runner for her table.

Alive and Well in Las Vegas

I am in Las Vegas and have limited access to the internet. Not sure if I will be able to post until I get back in California on Friday but am taking lots of photos to share then.

California

I am in California - Seal Beach to be exact. I woke up this morning at 4am and it is now 12:15 on Saturday morning - at least in Georgia. Here it is only 9:15. I thought I would post a few photos from my sister's house.
This is a quilt called Almost Twilight. We made this quilt several years ago at a retreat in Wisconsin. Mine is exactly the same only different.

Here is another exactly the same only different quilt. Mine is made with all black background fabrics and Robin made hers with dark background fabrics.

Here is a quilt hanging in the living room. Great circles.

I love this one. The fat ladies are just about my favorite all time block.

Here is the quilt ladder in the library. We bought this a few years ago at the Glendale Quilt Show and barely fit it into the car to bring it home. Great place to display/store quilts.