Tough Weekend

Having lunch with a friend at the Hotel Del Coronado. Sigh .... does it get any better than this?

I hope your weekend is equally relaxing

Chris

Design Wall Monday 9.10.12

 I thought I would have this done by Friday.  Last Friday.  Things don't always work out as we plan.  Still, the top is done and I am very pleased with it's immensity (is that a word?).  It is lying on my son's king-size bed and it drapes nicely over both sides.  It measures 84 by 110.  I decided, wisely I believe, that it is suitably large enough without additional borders.  Somehow, I let myself get carried away making blocks.  I challenge anyone to find a single red scrap in my studio.  There are none! They have all been incorporated into this behemoth.

YIKES!  I forgot to mention that my top is from a Bonnie Hunter design.  I started it in her class at Road to California in January of 2010 (I think could be 2009.  I'm afraid to check!).  I think the pattern can be found in her book, "Adventures With Leaders and Enders."  All of her books are great.  Check them out at the link above.

For your viewing pleasure, please admire Izzy in the photo below.  Despite her huge size, she is as bad as a cat in her need to be included in quilt photos.  I could not get a second shot of the top with out her in it so I surrendered and accepted my new quilt-model.  Maybe we should change her name to Vanna.

The Husband and I had a trying week.  Last Saturday we learned that a young man who had been an Eagle Scout when The Husband was Scoutmaster, was fatally injured in fireworks explosion.  The Husband was asked to speak at his memorial service on Saturday.  He did a marvelous job of telling stories about Willie that captured his fun-loving spirit while speaking directly from his heart to Willie's family.  Over 300 people came to pay their respects to this wonderful young man and his family.  It was a very, very sad day.
 There is no sense to life sometimes, we all just have to keep moving forward making every day count for something because you never know when that day may be your last or the last time you see a loved one.

Thank goodness for quilting, it gives me that little place where I can be safe and insulated from the harshness of life.

You all go out there and make this day count.  But first, hop over to Judy's blog and see what a bunch of other quilters have on their design walls.

Chris

A small finish

I don't know if I've ever posted this little quilt but I finished it and thought it deserved a post. 
I won the square-in-a-square blocks at LEAST three years ago at my guild.  The top came together quickly. When I started to quilt it I had serious tension problems :-(  .  After ripping it all out I hung it in the closet of sad and lonely quilt tops where it has been aging gracefully ever since. 
I finally put on my Big Girl Pants and faced off with The Quilting Machine.  The quilt and I were victorious!

One more UFO off the list. 

Chris.

Design Wall Monday

I know! I'm a slacker blogger.  I have been sewing though. 
This ambitious project has been in process for two years so far.  I am determined to complete it by Christmas this year.  It is defined to grace our kingsized bed.  That's a lot of red! Oy!!
Go see what others gave been up to over at www.patchworktimes.com

Chris

Design Wall Monday 6/25/12

 As further evidence of my frugal quilting, I present you with exhibit #1,973 - a quilt to which I contributed not a single piece of fabric that I purchased!  It's true, this entire quilt was constructed of fabric that would otherwise have been thrown away.  The large HSTs were part of the largess from June's estate sale.  The 16-patches were made from bits that other people love to give me, "We know Chris will make something with this."  I still have enough HSTs and 16-patches to make at least two more quilts.  Right now this one is about 54 x 64.  I think it needs some sort of borders.  I'll get around to auditioning some after I get the rows sewn together. 

I rather like this utilitarian thing because it is the sort of quilt that can get drug around and used to death.  I think that would make June and I both very happy.

Check out some other design walls over at Judy's blog.

Design Wall Monday

Well, I thought I might be able to get  back into some more regular blogging but I don't seem to have that sort of discipline. 

This quilt isn't exactly on my design wall, it's on the quilting machine.  It's done being quilted and I actually have the binding done as well.  I will post a full picture of it later.  I'm really happy with how it turned out.  I had a lot of fun with the quilting.  Along the outer border, I freehanded some snowflakes - no picture :-( , on the inner border I freehanded snowmen.  You can see what I am talking about in the striped border to the left.  They really DO NOT look like snowmen - more like a series of ovals!!  Oh well, it was a good exercise.   I quilted little packages along the lower border, you can see just the tops of them in  the striped border on the right side of the photo.  IT was fun to make different motifs to fit the different blocks.

Check out Judy's blog to see what others have on their design walls.

Design wall Monday

Hmmmm. I made one of those quilts where you put together a bunch of 2.5 inch strips.  Most people use a coordinated jelly roll.  I pulled almost all the red, white and blue strips I had in my 2.5 inch scrap drawer, thinking that would look coordinated. So far I am not a fan.  At least it gives me a good platform for practicing feathers!

Go to Patchwork Times and see what others have hung on their design walls. 

Chris

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?