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Welcome back to our weekend in pictures!
Margaret worked all weekend on a tuffet made from plaids. Doesn’t it look so cozy? Like it belongs in a cabin or beside the fireplace.
Karen V. worked on Cubs & White Sox quilt blocks, and also finished a soft flannel baseball throw.
Paige worked on getting the sashing made for her row quilt. It’s going to be hexagons machine appliqued on the sahsing between her rows and its turning out so cute! She worked on something else too but I don’t want to show it until it’s finished:)
And lastly, my projects. I finished attaching all the embellishments on my Snowbound quilt.
And also worked on some projects for the TeaBuddies Flickr group. July’s theme is the beach and our 1st project was a sunglasses case. Becky and Liz provided us with the easiest tutorial found here. I made mine from flip flop fabric and added a cute daisy button.
The other project for the month was a binder cover for a quilt journal and I used the Moda Bake Shop tutorial for this one. My fabric choice was Sanibel by Heather Mulder Peterson. It looks summery.
Check back tomorrow for Part 3….the food!
This weekend Paige and I visited the Batavia Quilt and Textile Show.
Here’s a pretty New York Beauty with lots of quilting design.
I love this interpretation of the American flag…so pretty with the florals and Ohio stars.
A wool appliqued garden
A cactus sunset
And this one totally cracked me up and made me want to revisit one of my favorite shows… the X-Files. I want to believe:)
And look who we ran into, Patti and Wendy from Quilter’s Destination!
Always a favorite booth of mine because they carry all of my favorite Crabapple Hill patterns and they do such an awesome job with their displays and samples. It makes you wanna buy everything:)
I didn’t buy everything, but you know me, how could I pass up Christmas fabric! They had Anna Griffin’s Isabelle Christmas Collection. I’ve been stalking that on Etsy for a while now and seeing it in person sent me over the edge. It has a beautiful vintage look to it and comes in 2 color ways. Of course, I bought both.
The only one missing is the border fabrics, which are available in her store.
Isn’t this pretty? Now I just need to figure out what I want to make and take a trip to visit them before it’s gone! I can’t imagine a fabric line this pretty hanging around too long..I’d better hurry:)
Paige was on vacation the week of the 4th so we sewed, and sewed. We’re trying to get some of the samples and kits ready for the NSQG quilt show that’s coming up in September. It will be our first time vending…exciting! I loved every minute of playing in the new studio. We were super productive and I had no problem getting motivated. Projects finish fast when one person sits and sews and the other pins and irons!
We finished the Pick A Bunch and the Fluttering Butterflies quilts. We made 2 table runners. All will be kitted for the show.
North Garden Dresden Table Runner
And Which Witch Table Runner. The purple comes off really blue in the pics but it’s really a perfectly matched purple to this line. This turned out sooo cute!
A couple of Gumdrops …A couple of friends joined in on the Gumdrop fun. Kathy made hers from the Artful Home fabrics. We love how she fussy cut the green daisy for the top.
And Janet and Paige both picked the Groovy Bugs fabric with aqua Ta-Dot tops…fun, fun fabric!
Several last touches on patterns…all available soon in Etsy.
Summer tweets, which we showed you a few weeks ago.
Fruitcakes
And North Garden Dresden Table Runner
And we had countless ideas and brainstorming sessions and planned out this weeks projects. I’ll be working on the Hoo’s In The Forest quilt. I see a cute appliqued deer and big appliqued strawberries for this project so I’m looking forward to starting this one. Of course that all depends if we can keep the power on in the neighborhood. Lots of outages here..:(
We also had our 1st SewMod meeting in the new studio. It was nice and relaxing. We celebrated a couple of the girls’ birthdays with some wine and I made a cheesecake….I forgot to take a pic…I wish I had though because it was beautiful & yummy! They’re always yummy, but not always beautiful:)
Paige will probably be mad at me but….. everyone wish Paige a Happy Birthday today!!
The month of June in the Flickr Tea Buddies group was a butterfly theme. So I searched Google for some inspiration and found this cute pattern by Black Mountain Quilts called Fluttering Butterflies.
Paige thought that the Anthology Fat Quarter set, Folk Life would be pretty made into this. The line has a French, scrappy, flower garden feel to it, so we’re calling our version, French Flea Market.
With the advice from our talented SewMod group, we added a navy flange around the center square to separate the border. That was a great addition to the quilt. That’s what is so awesome about meeting with quilty friends. Everyone has something to share and learn.
We also made a scrappy border from the leftover pieces of the FQ set and I hand embroidered the butterfly antenna instead of machine stitching it. If you haven’t figured it out yet, Paige and I have a hard time leaving well enough alone when it come to quilting, me with the visual and her with the designing. But I’ve always been like that. It’s part of the process of making something your own work of art.
We then pieced all of the remaining scraps and added them to the backing. We used every bit! This quilt was quick and easy just like the pattern says and pretty cost efficient when you think that the majority of it was put together with 12 fat quarters…I love that!
Thank you Gail & Kate for hosting the month of June. July’s theme is the beach. I hope to not be late with this months project:) Wish me luck. I may need it.
The Northern Illinois Quilt Fest runs July through September and during this time some of the local barns and gardens are either featuring a painted quilt block or a quilt block garden, or both. Paige and I decided to hit the road yesterday for a little break from sewing and check out the ones that were being displayed locally in Crystal Lake.
First up was our local community college, MCC. The college has a small walking flower garden on campus. This was such a delight to me because I didn’t even know it was back there. If you’re a local, you should definitely take a little tour.
Everywhere we looked we saw perfect areas to drape a quilt, so we asked permission to come back and take pics. We had just finished up with one of our shop samples from the Pick A Bunch line. What better quilt to display in a flower garden than a sweet little quilt with colorful daisies on it.
This quilt was made from the Heather Mulder Peterson book, Living Large and the pattern was called Pretty In Pink.The original pattern had several appliqued flowers in the corners but we choose to leave them off. It was so sweet, it didn’t need any extras…it’s a Pick A Bunch of sweetness!
We took Summer Tweets along with us too. The Wrenly fabric was also perfect for these outside pics since it’s full of birdie artwork. There were two perfect spots to display it.
The quilts looked beautiful hanging in the sunlight surrounded by flowers and trees. This little garden would have made a perfect place for a small quilt display. MCC was featuring the quilt garden block on the tour, but to be honest, we still can’t figure out which block it’s supposed to be.
This barn is our local community space for people to plant a veggie garden who don’t have the space in their own backyard. There is acreage behind it and I always see the people back there tending to their garden. This block was the Weather Vane Variation.
Countryside Nursery hosted both the garden and painted quilt block…the St. Louis block.
And this one was a private participant in the tour. Their block was Ohio Star Variation.
I’d like to see them leave the painted quilts on the barns even after the show ends. Hopefully, Paige and I will be able to see more of the barns, gardens, and festivities in the other cities in the quilt fest through the next few months. We’ll be sure and take the camera along so you can follow in on the fun!
Have a great weekend everyone!
Birdie Block #6, finished!
While, I thought Little Miss Shabby’s June block was cute, I wanted to stick to a June theme. And what better thing to do in June than go to the beach. Birdie loves to surf and soak up the sun.
I continued with the summer theme by whipping up some summer tea towels. Umbrellas in the sand, flip flops and palm trees.
But you wanna know where I really like my umbrellas? In my drinks:)
susan enjoying her drink
It’s time to relax on the patio now with a Lemon Drop Martini and some black bean salsa. I hope y’all enjoy your sunny summer day…talk to ya tomorrow friends!
LEMON DROP
1 part Absolut Citron
1 part Triple Sec
1 part fresh lemon juice
Mix ingredients, shake and strain into sugar rimmed glass
When a client mentioned he wanted a quilt with a horse theme for his wife, I practically yelled out yeehah! Well, I was a little more professional than that but I had been designing a western style quilt in my mind’s eye for years and this was the opportunity to finally make it come to life. Oh, and what an opportunity to dive into my batik stash which is overflowing with every color imaginable. I jumped right in and pulled out stacks and stacks of batiks – OMG I had to tell myself to focus on only a few colorways… brown, blue and green. In the end, I sneaked in a few more colors -purples, reds and oranges!
I had such a blast laying out strip after strip, starting with the blues down to the light browns and yellows, to create a western landscape with silhouettes of beautiful horses against a sunset. It felt like I was painting with fabric!
Throughout the layout process, I daydreamed about how I was going to machine quilt it. The design didn’t come until it was fully loaded on the Gammill, and I sat for about an hour debating on the complexity of the design. It definitely needed to be simple with lots of movement without taking away from the beautiful batiks. I ended up quilting a simple overall swirl throughout the background and focused more on enhancing the horse blocks.
I quilted with Superior Threads variegated King Tut, one of my all time favorite threads to use – nice sheen and great range of colors!
And here it is!
I had a little fun with the back too!
My sister Wendy, Karen, Jen and I just returned from a wonderful quilt retreat in Hillpoint, WI called Homestead about an hour west of Madison. It was Wendy and Jen’s first time, Karen and I were here back in 2007.
Friday was a beautiful day to hit the road and drive with the windows open. When you arrive you see this quaint restored old cabin which is a gathering space inside to relax and kick your feet up in front of a fireplace but behind it is a large work area which can handle up to 17 quilters. Patsy the owner is a wonderful and personable host making us extremely comfortable we didn’t want to leave!
One of her dogs, aka “Juice”, posed perfectly for this shot of the property.
Shortly after we arrived, Patsy served dinner and we all hung out on the back porch to catch our breath and enjoy a glass of wine. We then jumped right into our projects. I started with creating a fun cover for my date planner using the SewMod embroidery Lorrie did for me in beautiful varigated thread -look how wonderful it goes this awesome batik! I love this batik so much I couldn’t resist making a cover for my cell phone.
I added a pen and business card holders on the inside panel.
I then tackled an April Bag – a pattern created by Elizabeth Hartman.
I was wondering what to do with this cute fabric by Daisies and Dots by Piece O’ Cake that matches our SewMod logo so nicely I decided to make a couple more April Bags….but shhhhh, one if for Lorrie!
Wendy worked on this adorable doggie quilt…not bad for her first appliquéd project! It was a general consensus this block would make a cute lap quilt.
Karen worked on a Yellow Brick Road pattern for her cousin. Doesn’t it remind you of the orange-raspberry sherbet!
Jen cut out several aprons, I loved this one in an orange/white flower from Denyse Schmidt’s Hope Valley line. She also completed a beautiful cotton knitted blanket for her husband.
I love retreats and getting away to quilt with my dear friends and family but also to have the opportunity to meet other quilters and crafters. We were very fortunate to share the space with 10 wonderful quilters/embroiders at the retreat who shared their projects and stories. We ended up signing up for the same weekend next year to share the space with them again…we look forward to seeing you all in a year or sooner! :)
Paige and I headed out again this weekend for another quilting journey. There was a quilt show near Rockford, IL. We saw some interesting quilts and did some shopping.
A New York Beauty
Tutti Fruiti Fanfare
This was a special exhibit. The theme was what you might see out your window on a plane trip. There were probably 40-50 mini quilts in this exhibit.
Navy Pier in Chicago
New York city
A farm
I think the highlight of our trip was going just a bit further up the road to Acorn Quilts. This store takes the traditional and spices it up with a modern flair. A great selection of bright batiks and modern fabrics.
A panel that had been turned into a work of art!
With a good selection of wools, they were able to take a primitive pattern, traditionally done in browns and earth tones, into a bright and modern quilt.
The Wool Club was in progress and was kind enough to strike a pose for the blog.
And me oh my, I watched my money say goodbye when I found all of this eye candy. Cosmo floss!! I couldn’t believe my eyes! I had to have one of each. They even had the variegated ones.
Thirty more minutes up the road and we were in Wisconsin for another quilt show.
An applique pattern by Blackbird Designs. This one was my favorite at this show. I was imagining it done in some more modern fabrics, which would totally change the look of it.
And of course, more shopping. This was bordering on dangerous when we found a booth with an collection of Kaffe fabrics, old and new! When we were done with our Kaffe frenzy, we noticed I had picked mostly pastels and Paige had picked brights. I have a feeling there will be a collaborative quilt soon!
I came across this article in the Michael Miller blog and just had to share it with you if you haven’t seen it. The American Folk Art Museum has said that 2011 is the year of the quilt. To honor that, they hung 651 quilts, spiraling through the air at the Park Avenue Armory. The show was The Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts and was shown back in March of this year.
The quilts were donated from one collector, Joanna Rose. No two are alike! Can you imagine?
Breathtaking, isn’t it? I can’t even imagine how Joanna Rose felt when she saw her collection displayed for her to see all at once! If you’d like to see the full article, it can be found here.
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