Retreat!

Tahoe is absolutely gorgeous this year.   Last year we had a blizzard so we are really appreciating the blue sky and warm temps. 
Lots of sewing is getting done.  More photos later.

Chris

Design Wall Monday May 14

I would love to say that this is my quilt.  Alas, it is the INSPIRATION for my next project.  I took this photo at a quilt show and I desperately wish I could give credit to the quilter but I didn't write it down or photograph the card when I took the picture - I'm much better about that now.  In any case, it's an Ocean Waves pattern.  I'm using the instructions written by Bonnie Hunter and I plan to assemble it Leaders and Enders style.  It should take, what, a hundred years or so?

The 1/2 sq tris are mostly done thanks to all the guild members who "gift" me with their unwanted (!) bonus triangles.  I plan to make the HST blocks before I determine the color I want for the solid blocks.

What's on your design wall?  Go check out Judy's blog to see some excellent design walls.

Estate Sale

A dear quilting friend of ours passed away two years ago.  Her family asked our guild to pick up several boxes of fabric to use for our charity work.  They went through the 50 boxes her family put on the patio and culled fabric appropriate to our work.  They took about 25 boxes to Patti's house.  So, when I got an announcement that there was to be an estate sale at her house I didn't expect to find much.  I did have my eye on her Juki machine but I thought that was all I would take home.

 

I was a little wrong.

I dug in and managed to find 70 yards of excellent fabric.  The upper photo is stuff that I will feed into my stash.  The lower fabric is marked for Quilts of Valor.  You can see a glimpse of the Juki behind the QOV fabric!

I washed and folded for two days.  Washed and folded, washed and folded.  Oh My, was I tired by Sunday night.

Drumroll, please.  I was charged $50.00 for all this fabric.  I think I am going to have a lot of fun. 

What is your greatest fabric purchase?

 

Birthday Gift

It was my birthday a few weeks ago.  Yea me!!  My very good friend Patti gave me this super sweet quilt that she made especially for me.  It is about 18" X 24" made from "bonus triangles" and all hand-quilted.  I love love it. 

I've spent the last several years convincing my guild members that they can make really nice little quilts from the triangles you cut off when making flying geese or snowball blocks.  For the last few years they've just been giving the bonus triangles to me - thank you very much!!  Lately, however, I've been seeing some cute quilts made from these leftovers.  I can't wait to show it off at the next guild meeting.

What do you do with those triangles?

Saturday was a BIG day

Yup!  That's me and my boy, the newest JD in Southern California.  We are so immensely proud of him.  He attended University of California Irvine's brand new School of Law.  He was in the inaugural class which earned him a full scholarship for all three years.  He did very well, making friends and contacts that will last him a lifetime.  Best of all, he graduated with almost no debt!!

This Cinco de Mayo will likely be the best of our lives.

PS: Don't you love the hats they had to wear??

Design Wall Monday

I raided my red-violet stash, cut them into 12x18 rectangles. I plan to piece them to make a backing for the crumb top you see peaking out behind. 

May UFO

 

Judy pulled #2 for May's UFO Challenge and I couldn't be more thrilled with the choice. 
Above is a photo of the quilt that I snagged from the Quilt soup website.  I almost never buy kits but I saw this quilt at Road to California in 2010 and I HAD to have it.  It was so fresh and hip looking, in fact, the pattern is called "Hip Holidays" that I bought the whole thing.  The pattern was a free download with the fabric purchase.  I don't know if it still is.   I made the top at a retreat last year and I wanted to bring the finished quilt this year.  The retreat is in two weeks! YIKES.  Thank goodness for our Tin Lizzie. 

In March I took a machine quilting class from Linda Pohlenz and Joanne Sundahl that was really fun.  I learned a few patterns that I plan to use on this quilt top.  I'm fairly confident that I can get it done in time.  Nothing like a deadline to move me to action.

Just before I hit 'publish' I happened to glance a the UFO Progress bars on the right side of my blog.  I better start fitting in some work on some of the other UFOs listed there.  For instance, if she picks the number for my yellow and blue thing, I might be in trouble.  Alternatively, I might just finish it as a very small quilt.  HMM, not a bad idea.

Check out Judy's website to see what everyone else got done on their April UFOs.