a stolen/borrowed picture

In our ornament/decor swap last night, I got this cutie:

Made, and photographed, by Sarah. Isn't he the cutest? She also makes amazing cupcakes and candies. It is all her fault I fell off my low-carb wagon last night and ate 4 of her chocolate/caramel goodies! I hang my head in shame, but they were delicious! And yes, my husband got the 2 I brought home!

Roxanne picked the item I brought, this table runner:

A detail shot:

I hope she enjoys it!

I made a pouch for Janet, but do not have a picture. I made it using the QuiltCon colors and a recessed zipper. This was a great swap and I stepped outside my zone and learned how to sew a recessed zipper!

busy as a one-legged man in a room full of long tailed cats

Mixing metaphors is a fun little thing I do, but the past few weeks have been crazy.

My husband is 4 1/2 weeks post hip-replacement and doing well. My new boss is settling quite nicely into her mad travel schedule, but is making a welcome difference at work. My new co-worker is into her second week and is also a welcome addition in the office! Amazing what a change in personnel can do for the morale of an office.

Anyway, the whirlwind of December is upon me, and I am just going with it. Tonight was our Christmas party in the Triad Modern Quilt Guild. We enjoyed a Secret Santa gift-exchange and a zipper pouch swap. We also ate delightful treats and enjoyed each others company.

me with my pouch goodies!

The delightful, amazing and talented Lee, had my name in our pouch swap. I adore my pouch!!!! Check out her blog, she is a great designer and shares fantastic tutorials!

In my limited spare time, I have been working on a new quilt, using a 2 1/2" strip roll of Chicopee by Denyse Schmidt. This collection wormed its way into my brain, the cool color combos really sparkle and it inspired me to really stretch myself. Thus, I am working on this:

Can't wait for my winter vacation to be able to finish!

Anyway, as the Christmas season arrives, I feel very blessed with my guild and quilty friends. They add such a delight to my life!

2 done

This week I have focused on finishing donation quilts for my guild (Triad Modern Quilt Guild).

This small one is made of 9-patches from our guild stash. I backed it with a piece of green fleece from friend and guild-mate Colleen. This is a very simple quilt, I sewed the fleece to the top (right-sides-together) then turned it, closed the opening, and using my walking foot, finished it with straight line quilting.

 36" square

This next quilt I made using the "jelly roll race" method. I cut 2 1/2" strips from a set of FQs from friend and guild-mate Sarah, then stitched them end-to-end, folding and stitching til it was quilt-shaped. I FMQed it in alternating blocks of straight lines.

I didn't like how it looked when I finished, but I do like the effect I see in the pictures.

53" by 56"

I backed it with scraps from my personal stash.

A group finish

This is on my completed page, but I did not do this alone!
I asked for patriotic colored blocks from my guild, the Triad Modern Quilt Guild. I love the variety of the blocks! I received 13, used scrap stash to create the background after I did a diagonal setting.

I used the 13th block on the back. I love the whimsy of it!

I used a hi-loft polyester batting and FMQ-ed it in a large stipple using blue variegated thread.

The quilt measures 57" by 73".

ka-BLAM*

*the sound of my head exploding after awesome Quilt Superstar overload!

Last night's TMQG meeting was the BEST YEST! (sorry for the excessive use of exclamation points, but c'mon, peeps, TOTAL QUILT GIDDINESS).

We met at Karen Gray Design, a change in venue for this special meeting. Bittersweet for me, Karen has sold this gorgeous bastion to a delightful young quilter, Gina. BUT Karen is staying in the area pursuing other creative endeavors. Expect to hear great new things from her!

Our guest speaker? 

Yes, the quilt-stud himself! Quilt Dad, John Adams!
Can I just say, besides being a great quilter, imaginative, tall and handsome, he is such a nice guy and a true gentleman. He was delightful. He told his quilt story, showed his awesome work, answered questions and hung out.  His quilts are beautiful. As an extra, several of the quilts were quilted by the Superstar, Angela Walters. And let me tell you, her work is more inspiring in person. We also got to see his 2 Nightshade quilts featured in the current issue of FatQuarterly. Again, gorgeous!

One more awesome Angela quilt was shown, by the sweet Gina (new owner of the shop "The Little General"). And you can read about it here!

(*)

*Posts have been light due to on-the-job travel and drama. Ditto on my sewing/quilting adventures. It is my hope that those things settle a bit, so I can get back into my studio. I did go upstairs on Sunday to renew my acquaintance with my sewing machines. They were a bit aloof, but I believe they will accept me back.

Prior to work-related-crap, I was battling a massive migraine. I had suffered from them years ago, but this did not present in the same way. My doc gave me a shot of a high-powered anti-inflammatory, but it really did not help. The headache actually broke while I was traveling last week.

If I owe you an email, I am slowly making my way through them. Please forgive my tardy response!

Anyway, this weekend was jam-packed with events to attend. I really wanted to stay home, but ended up having a GREAT time! Love it when that happens. Saturday afternoon my husband and I attended Painting North Carolina Plein Air Show 2012. It was held in a magical valley in Stokes County. We had amazing food and wine and ended up bringing this guy home:

Buddha in the Magnolia Leaves by Keyhill Sheorn

Excited is not enough to describe it! All the painting produced on Saturday were donated by the artists. They were auctioned to benefit the education programs of the Stokes Arts Council. I had selected 3 paintings that I really liked, we were outbid on 2, but this was my favorite. And we got him!

In quilt related news, the Triad Modern Quilt Guild meets tomorrow night. I missed our April meeting due to work travel, so I am really looking forward to this gathering tomorrow night. In support of our donation quilts, we were challenged to make a star block using orange. Here is mine:

Here's to getting back into a groove!

progress report

I had a week in the middle of Maine for work, so no sewing. I have been easing back into my studio since then. Not a ton of progress on any 1 project. Just piddling on several smalls:

Flimsy made from TMQG patriotic blocks:

I fleshed this out using scraps from my stash. Currently 78" by 61".

This is the beginning of something I am making for my partner in the Modern She Made Swap group on Flickr:

3.5" Drunkards path blocks.

5 minis completed (using my Trapunto-faux©  technique) [Sarcasm, why yes!]

1. Grey Lark Mini 18" Square

This uses Lark leftovers on gray Kona. This is FMQed using a layer of poly batting over a layer of cotton batting.

2. Rainbow Star 18" Square

I used a variety of prints from my stash, along with Kona solids and the dark gray border is Westminster Manatee. (Love this gray!) I FMQ-ed this with a layer of wool batting over a layer of cotton. I added the button in a fit of whimsy. THIS quilt is for my TMQG partner in our Doll/Mini swap.

3. DS Quilts Doll Quilt Swap (for my partner)

18" square featuring DSQuilts prints with a dash of FMF thrown in for good measure. I FMQ-ed this with a layer of poly over a layer of cotton batting. 

4. Red Flower 16" Square

Prints given to my by a TMQG sista' {hi Sarah!}, Kona Coal solid, FMQ-ed on 2 layers of cotton batting. To be donated.

5. FMF Flower 18" Square

18" Square,Mostly Flea Market Fancy prints playing with some Westminster solids (which feel so good!) and Kona Gray and Snow. I FMQ-ed this on 2 layers of cotton batting. To be donated.

These small projects are really working for me while I am traveling ever 3 weeks for work. But I am getting the itch to finish my king-sized summer quilt. So, who knows? Maybe I'll get back on that!

MY Pillow from TMQG Swap

Made by the lovely and talented Colleen of luckyduckdreams! She made a modern Dresden, on Kona Ash, using bright beauties from her stash.

I love the orange, the Amy Butler prints, the dots. And I really love the hand quilting! Thank you, Colleen!

TMQG Pillow for Swap (updated)

Our February swap for the Triad Modern Quilt Guild was a travel pillow (approximately 12" x 16"). Our swap Mama gave me an easy, and tough swap mate: Angie! Easy, because she loves Kate Spain, tough because she is an awesome sewist, so I needed to be on my game. Our guild has a Flickr group, links to blogs and we follow each other on pinterest, so stalking Angie for ideas was fun. I found one of the last charm packs of Terrain, known to exist (LOL) and some Kona Charcoal and Free Spirit Manatee solids.

I pieced selected charms with the gray solids for the front, the edge and added an accent strip on the envelope flap on the back.

I did minimal straight line quilting, just to accent the shape. I really like the contrast that the gray lends to the bright colors of the charms.

I am also enclosing the remainder of the charms, I know Angie will find a use for them. I hope she likes the pillow!

She DID like it!!! And I love my pillow!