Quilt Deliveries

Wednesday was a fun day - three quilts to deliver and lots of catching up with friends and family.

The first two went to a former co-worker, Dannee Neal, who is just nuts about anything Disney.  She has been craving a Mickey Mouse quilt for several years but I just couldn't find the right fabric for her.  This year, things finally came together and the right fabric showed up at a local store - after looking all over the country and the web.

I made two quilts for her - a Minnie Mouse quilt and a Mickey Mouse quilt. 

She had asked for a denim backing on the Mickey Mouse quilt and I used the denim as sashing on the front side.  I like the way the denim frames the blocks and it really wasn't too heavy compared to the other fabrics.  Although I've seen an exhibit of The Quilts of Gee's Bend quilts that included denim in many of the quilts, I wasn't sure about using it as a backing...particularly with a longarm doing the quilting.  It worked like a dream and was great to work with.  The most difficult part was hand sewing the binding on the back.  My fingers are still tender!

For Minnie's quilt, I found a pink Minkee fabric that I thought would be perfect for the backing - and it was!  She loved it.  The Minnie quilt is all flannel so it's quite a cuddly quilt.

With the leftover fabric, I made pillowcases.  After hearing how her daughter likes purple, I think the purple pillowcase with Minnie trim will end up being her daughter's pillowcase.  I'd bet her two sons will glom onto the Mickey pillowcases.  And that leaves a Minnie pillowcase for Dannee!  The only one without a pillowcase is her husband.  Sorry about that - ran out of fabric!

The third quilt I delivered was a 2009 Christmas present for my grandson.  I'm actually getting better at delivering Christmas quilts in a reasonable time frame, believe it or not.  Jeanie (my stepdaughter) got her Christmas quilt for two Christmasses in a row!  I gave it to her partially completed in 2008; fully quilted in 2009 and with the binding completed in July, 2010.  So for Michael to get his 2009 Christmas quilt in July 2010 is actually not too bad.  It's my all time favorite pattern, Double Irish Chain, and Michael's favorite color, green.  What a happy result!

I had a delightful lunch with him and got caught up on what's been happening in his life.  He's getting ready to move to Cincinnati and is excited about the move.  He's also been studying to take the GRE, something I know he'll pass with flying colors.  And then on to grad school at some point in the near future.  My only regret is that I forgot to take a picture of him with his quilt.  Of course, it may be that opening his Christmas present outside in 90 degree heat may have something to do with my forgetting I had the camera with me.  Bad on me!  But it was still a delightful afternoon with Michael.

Cheers!
Margaret

And The Challenge Winner Is....

I thought I had mentioned The Challenge in an earlier post.  If I did, I can't find it now.  Oh, well....  The Challenge was issued during our drive back from Shipshewana in late June.  Deb challenged Kathy and me to see who could finish the most projects in one month.  Today was the Day of Reckoning - and what a feast for the eyes!

We had lunch first - always a good way to get together.  After catching up on family activities - car breakdowns, sweaty kids playing soccer, sweaty parents watching soccer, and other summer fun, back it was to review the projects.

Deb, who moaned about not having done very much, went first.  She took out one top, then another, then a table runner, then another table runner, then a pillowcase, and then the Farm Quilt.  She's always trying new techniques - the table runner on the edge of the couch is made from strip piecing three fabrics for the center diamonds - my kind of piecing!  For someone who hadn't done very much, she did quite a bit in between ferrying kids and visiting colleges with her son.  Here's her "not very much."

The quilt in Deb's lap was constructed using a tubular technique - way cool way to make half square triangles.  Take two squares of fabric, sew all 4 edges together, and then cut into quarters.  Way Cool!

What you can't see very well is the cute Farm Quilt - a kit she purchased at Shipshewana.  Just look at the hillside below -  

The faces on these animals are just wonderful!  I like the piggy faces, too - but can't get the picture rotated properly.

I went next.  Here are the results of my efforts.  The two Bazillion quilts - done quite quickly as they were panels, a Mickey Mouse quilt (in blue), a Minnie Mouse quilt (in pink) and a raw-edge applique block for a CSQ member on reaching 80 years young (looks like a part of my shirt - the colors are a perfect match!).  My first attempt at raw-edge applique and I loved the way it came out.

I still love those Bazillion dinosaurs - all the bright colors.

Kathy finished up the Show-and-Tell and boy did she have some stuff to show!  She wins the prize for completing the UFO that had been a UFO the longest!  She remembered moving it from her old house to her current house.  And she's been in her current house how many years - since 2003 or thereabouts, I think.

Kathy loves flannel and true to form, she has two flannel quilts - the plaid quilt that will be a raggy one (that's the UFO that is now Finished - well, almost - still needs to have the seam allowances cut so they ragg).  The other flannel quilt used a charm pack she supplemented with the wonderful purple flannel bought in Madison, Indiana last winter.  Who knew purple could be a neutral?  My favorite, of course, is the brightly colored pinwheel quilt that was inspired by a quilt we saw at Lolly's.  Lots of work (and rework) went into that quilt.  Well worth the effort, I say.

The most creative item was the jeans purse Kathy made from the remnants of one of her son's outgrown pairs of jeans. 

Don't you love the detail work on the purse strap?  That's using the cool tool she bought during our Shipshewana trek.  I forget the name of it but it makes chevrons out of several layers of fabric.  I'm so impressed as I often buy tools and then they sit around forever before I use them.

So, who won the challenge?  Kathy - for completing the oldest UFO?  Deb - for completing the greatest number of different projects?  Or me - for having projects closest to absolute completion with binding almost finished?  I think we all three won as we each got several projects completed and enjoyed another afternoon talking sewing and quilts.

Cheers!

Margaret

Dino the Dinosaur - Times Two!

Gee, it's been awhile since I've blogged.  So, here's what's been going on.

I got back from Shipshewana after buying lots of fabric, bought more fabric and stuff for our Guild's Sew Day, and then bought more fabric for two other quilts I've been asked to make!  As if I didn't have enough fabric already - just wasn't the right type of fabric.

I quilted the One Bazillion Years Ago panels I bought during our Shipshewana trip.  When we returned, I found out that one of the babies for whom I bought the panels had already been born - three weeks early.  Both mom & baby are doing well at the last report.  Hope to see them soon.  The other baby isn't due until the end of August but I wanted to quilt it so I could count it toward the Challenge that was very loosely mentioned during our drive back from Shipshewana.

Here they are - aren't they adorable????

Here's the Dinosaurs with a white background.

I had some dinosaur fabric that was perfect for the backing.  They're not quite the same dinosaurs on the front as on the back but the colors worked well and, who knows - they could have been distant relatives!

Here's the same panel with a black background.  Cute as the dickens, I think.

Here's the backing that has the faces from the panel.  Really bright and fun to look at.

In addition to working on these quilts, I've been swimming as often as I can.  I'm up to a mile and a half with the major problem being keeping track of which lap I'm on.  I can pretty much tell where I am since it takes me 15 minutes to do 5 laps.  I've also gone out to eat with lots of family and friends. It's been a time to catch up with what's been going on in everyone's life.  All that eating is one of the reasons for all of those laps!  And to top it off, a group of us went to see the Mill Race Players version of The King and I. It was a fun production - lots of kids that did a wonderful job on their parts. One friend had her entire family involved - what a great summer activity!

Cheers!

Margaret

Sew Day for the Guild Boutique

The biennial Quilt Show of Columbus Star Quilters Guild is coming in October.  This year, the Guild decided to hold a Quilter's Boutique as a fundraiser.  Somehow, Carol and I were tapped as Boutique Chairwomen.  Thus far, Guild members have donated results of their handiwork including purses, table runners, wallets, rug mugs, wall hangings, placemats, puzzle balls and a smattering of other items.

Carol, the prime driver in the Boutique movement, attended several quilt shows during her sojurn in Florida this past winter and came up with several other possible items we could craft for our Boutique.  Sharon, a fellow Cambria camper, is also the Boutique Chair for her guild and I've adopted several of her ideas for Boutique items as well as the Snowflake that Wendy taught us to make during Camp Cambria.

Anyway, on Wednesday, we had a Sew Day for our Guild. Carol and I had spent some time planning the items that we felt could be easily completed during a morning of sewing. To speed the process, we created kits of materials so members could pick up a kit and start sewing or cutting or whatever.

Carol and Sue are busy making Snowflakes.  We had three sizes ready for production:  4" flakes, 3 1/2" flakes and 3" flakes.  We started with the 4" flakes and that made what we all thought was a Honkin' Big Snowflake.  At lunch following the Sew Day, I found out that Sara wants to make an even BIGGER snowflake for her front door!  Talk about Honkin' Big!!

 

Here's Joyce packing up, actually!  She made several Snap Bags and had some other projects she was going to work on at home.  Joyce also makes quilt tops for Quilts of Valor and she ALWAYS has a smile on her face.

Susan and Kay were working on ribbons for awards to be given at the show.  Some dummy (me) volunteered to do the embroidery needed for the ribbons.  Guess I'd better get started on that part soon.

Look at the pile of fleece and other fun fabrics my friend Kathy donated for Charming Baby Crinkles!  Although a few people like Susan took some home to work on, nobody worked on Crinkles during our Sew Day.  Guess what I'll be doing for the next several days!

All in all, it was a fun day and we completed quite a few items for the Boutique.  I have a feeling several more are in the works and will be brought to the next meeting.  Let's hope SEW!

Cheers!

Margaret

Shipshewana - and the Lake

For those of you not familiar with Indiana, Shipshewana is the center of a large Amish community in northeastern Indiana.  To be sure, there are Amish and Mennonite families scattered throughout Indiana, Ohio and surrounding states.  But Shipshewana is the home to one of the largest weekly auctions of neat stuff that I've ever heard of.  And the Amish are known for their quilting skills.  So what better place to hold a quilt festival?

Deb, Kathy and I decided that this was the year we'd make the trip to Shipshewana.  The trip was enhanced by the invitation to visit friends who had a cabin on a lake just over the Indiana/Michigan line.  So last Thursday, we headed for points north with only a general game plan in mind.

Because this was a relatively last minute trip, we didn't register for any of the classes, events or even the Shop Hop.  But we did visit most of the Shops on the Hop - one way or another.  We made it to Shipshewana Thursday afternoon and stopped at Yoder's Department Store.  What a treat!  Fabrics all over the place!  After drooling for a few minutes, I started looking for things on my list:  Minnie Mouse fabric and dark blue night sky fabric.  The Minnie Mouse fabric is for a quilt I've been commissioned to do and the sky fabric is for a SewBatik challenge I signed up for in a weak moment.

No Minnie Mouse fabric at Yoder's but I did find some fabric that might work for the sky background.  I also found the cutest fabric for a baby quilt.  I've got two friends who are pregnant - at least I thought they both were when I was shopping.  Turns out Melanie had her baby boy 3 weeks early.  He's a healthy baby and they're doing fine.  So, good thing I found that fabric, right?

This is just a portion of the fabric - One Bazillion Year Ago!  What a perfect name for the fabric!

We shopped for awhile and then headed up to the cottage on Rose Lake to visit Judy and Doug.  What a lovely cabin they have.  The weather was perfect and we found them reading on their screened porch.  After depositing our gear, we had a leisurely dinner followed by a wonderful boat ride around the lake.  It was just the right size - big enough so there was room for some wakeboarders and waterskiers, small enough so you could wander around the lake in a reasonable amount of time, with pockets of forest and wetlands that will never be developed.  What a treasure those lakes are - especially for those with cottages surrounding them.

After our tour of the lake, including Judy's Mother's cabin, we returned to the cabin for a fun game of Mexican Train.  This is a dominoes game that I love, having been introduced to it in Florida several years ago.  The BEST part of this game was that I was in the lead - almost the entire time.  As my grandkids know, I rarely win at games and am usually the high scorer (when you want a low score) and a low scorer (when you want a high score).  So this was a double treat for me.  Even more fun was the camaraderie we shared during the game. 

How restful it was to sleep with the windows open, the breeze blowing and knowing that more quilt activities awaited the following day.

Deb, Kathy and I awoke ready to hit the quilt stores and Doug and Judy were headed out on a bike ride after a wonderful breakfast with warm cinnamon rolls and a fresh fruit salad.  I may have to go back and visit Judy - so she'll have reasons to stay at the cottage all summer, and so I can revisit at least one of the quilt stores we happened upon during our trip.

Cheers!

Margaret