Signed, Sealed, and Delivered

My entries for the guild exhibit have been delivered and hopefully all will be hung for the show. Our exhibit is held in a small art gallery and space is limited, so we only guarantee that one piece per entrant will be displayed in all its glory. Once all the first-choice pieces are hung, then all other entries are given a chance to be displayed as well. Sometimes that means being folded up and hung on a small quilt rack or draped over a rocking chair, etc. But we almost always find room...only a handful of pieces have ever been returned for lack of space in the gallery.

To get a glimpse of what our exhibits look like, visit the Mountain Laurel Quilt Guild's website and view the slideshow of our 2008 exhibit on the bottom of the main page. If you can't view it on the website (I think those of you who have Macs might have issues), try this link directly to YouTube.

Almost There

The hanging sleeves are finished, and now I'm working on the labels for my exhibit entries. Here's a shot of one of them (for this quilt here) -- taken before sewing it down. I just cut out a circle with my GO cutter, and then using a method explained here, added the label to the back of the quilt. The finished outside edge of the circle will get hand-stitched down. Easy-peasy.

Procrastinating

I'm supposed to be sewing sleeves and labels on my entries in my guild's exhibit (deadline is 7:30 PM this coming Sunday), so what did I do yesterday? I made a couple of door prizes for the opening reception instead!

These patchwork tissue holders are from a tutorial that you can find here.

The Wings Work!

Well, my son Nick is now officially out of my nest...He's starting to settle in at Cornell and is probably adjusting better than my husband and I are...

I'm pleased to say that he has taken his dorm quilt with him and has put it on his bed (at least it's there when I'm around). It's hard to believe that he was once this 9-year-old with the first quilt I made for him...

How can I be so happy and so sad at the same time?...

Another One To Show Off

Aren't deadlines wonderful? They certainly help me finish my quilts...

This one is made from 13 fat quarters that I bought at the Quilters' Heritage Celebration in Lancaster, PA in spring 2008. I made the blocks in the spring of 2009 and finally put the top together about six months ago. It hung around for a while in my quilting studio until I decided that I wanted to enter it in my guild's upcoming exhibit this September. So I loaded it on my HQ16 a couple of weeks ago and free-handed some wavy lines.

I used most of the leftover fabric to make the back a bit more interesting...

Here's a closeup of the quilting. I used one of the Rainbows Threads from Superior....I love, love, love that thread line.

And here's a closeup of the back...

The pattern is my own version of a quilt that I saw on Oh Fransson!'s blog a long time ago. It was fairly easy to figure out how to make the blocks.

You should be able to click on the photos if you want to see a larger view...

Colorful Guest Speaker

Last month, quilt artist Linda Poole visited my guild and presented a wonderful program that included showing some of her lovely quilts. Click on the photos to see larger views (although they are a bit blurry due to the low lighting).

Linda also has a blog. If you love color, be sure to check her blog for her "color fix" posts. To see what I mean, visit her blog and then do a search for "color fix".

Another Finish!

More than 18 months ago, I won a package of flannel fat quarters from designer Valori Wells. This summer I finally got around to making something with them -- a small baby quilt. It's not for anyone in particular, but hopefully will be in my guild's September exhibit.
I had some blocks leftover, so I used them for the back...Makes it more interesting, don't you think?

Poor quality photos, I know. We haven't had any sunshine for the last several days, so it's the best I could do.

One More Thing

In my excitement yesterday, I forgot to mention the pattern that I used for Nick's quilt.

I first saw a quilt in progress (scroll down the post to see the Teal Tomorrow quilt) by Vicki of Field Trips in Fiber (love her fabric dying!) and thought it might be a good candidate for Nick's quilt. I showed him a number of different patterns and he liked this one best.

The pattern, called Peaches and Dreams, is a free one on Judy Laquidara's blog, Patchwork Times. I chose to make mine smaller and without the patchwork border (which really looks nice...I may have to make another one of these with the border).

Just another reason why I love to read quilting blogs...thank you to both of those ladies for the inspiration and for being so willing to share!

How Do You Spell Relief?

My son's going-off-to-college quilt was finished a few days ago with 12 days to spare (we're down to one week from today, folks). I'm quite pleased with it and Nick seems to be as well.

I had an awful time trying to take a photo that would show off the quilting...perhaps if you click on the following, you'll be able to see a larger view.


And because the fabric is so busy, it's especially difficult to see the quilting on the front, even in person.

I had great fun making this quilt, especially because Nick was involved in the entire design process. Did I tell you he's a wonderful son?

In a Bind

I finished the binding on my son's college quilt this past weekend and now I'm working on more binding for the two other quilts that I just finished quilting. Miles and miles of binding....thank goodness for Netflix.
P.S. I'll post photos of Nick's finished quilt in a day or two...my Facebook friends have already gotten a peek!

Sweat Shop

Thankfully, the weather has been great these last few days and my quilting studio is not literally a "sweat"shop. However, I have been busy working away at a few quilts...this is the latest one ready to be quilted. Then comes the binding for three quilts...miles and miles of binding...thank goodness for Netflix.

One of Many

This is one of the quilts that I'm working on for my guild's September exhibit. It's made with a line of flannel by designer Valori Wells. I hope to have it quilted this weekend and then work on the binding next week. Then it will be time to put the next quilt on the frame...

More From the Past

I'm working feverishly to finish my son's quilt and a couple of other quilts that I plan to enter in my guild's September exhibit....I hope to have photos of the completed work for you soon.

In the meantime, this is a collage of the ten quilts that I made for the children on my husband's side of the family in late 2007 (actually only nine of them were made in 2007, the tenth was made in 2008 for the new addition who arrived that year). It was great fun watching all nine of them open them up when we visited at Thanksgiving.

My stash of novelty fabrics was pretty much used up by the time I finished the last one.

Another Project To Add To The List

I made this quilt for my aunt back in the spring of 2001 when I was still quite a novice at quilting. It was just my attempt to make a scrap quilt using up some really ugly fabrics in my very small stash. The photo is awful -- it was taken with one of my very primitive digital cameras -- the quilt has quite a bit more color than you can see. The triangles are actually green. My aunt has used this quilt quite a bit and it's now time for it to be replaced, as you can tell by these photos.

I plan to make her another scrappy quilt; I think I've learned a thing or two over the last nine years of quilting, so this time I plan to make it a bit more appealing to the eye...

Sunday Is a Day of Rest

OK, I'll go with this idea...but only for a little while...too much quilting and sewing going on around here...