Road Trip

I didn’t get any quilting done today because I went on a fun road trip to an Outlet Mall south of Tampa.  It was forecast to be a gloomy day, but fortunately for us, the rain and severe thunderstorm held off until we were ready to leave in the early afternoon.  I didn’t get any good pictures of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge due to the cloudy conditions, but this is what our suspension bridge looks like:

Those big concrete “bumpers” are there due to a tragic bridge accident back in 1980 when a tanker hit the old bridge causing portions of the roadway to collapse.  Many of us pause to say a small prayer for those who lost their lives that day when they see a tanker approaching like this one we saw today:

The new bridge is much safer now and we can attest that it is well-traveled!

I didn’t help the economy much today at the outlets … suffice to say that if there had been a fabric store there I would have contributed much more to the Nation’s economic recovery!  This is a photo of one part of the shopping center – the sign cracked me up.  It reads “Do not touch stones or plants”.  I have enough trouble carrying shopping bags.   I really doubt I would carry stones home in my pockets … now little kids might … who knows?!

But I received a great box in the mail this past week from a fellow charity quilter.  Just look at the ideas contained in these piles:

Someone else’s unfinished projects are always way more interesting than our own!  I have lots of creative thoughts flowing right now …

 

I see an I-Spy quilt here, for sure!

I love these crumb blocks for a strippie quilt.

And lots of homespuns - the box in the back is what I have to go with what I rec'd!

But yesterday, I did finish up the quilting on another one of Beth’s quilts (still have to bind it though).  The panto is called "Batik" and has cool lotus blossom buds in it.

And this one is actually off of the frame now – waiting for its binding, too.  This panto is called "Cotton Candy" and looks like puffy clouds.

So tomorrow should be a wonderful quilty day!

I Took a Great Class

Back sometime in Jan or Feb, I signed up for a class with DeLoa Jones, a longarm quilt instructor from Michigan.  Here is her Bio: http://www.deloasquiltshop.com/bio/bio.html

She actually offered several classes on different subjects during her visit here in Florida, and it was the Borders class that I enrolled in.  DeLoa and her husband Dave had set up four longarm machines on two frames in the LQS classroom and there were only 8 people in the class so the instruction was very personal.  There were various levels of abilities in the room and l was lucky to be paired up with a relatively new longarmer (like me!) - we were 2 people to a longarm machine and that was nice.  The two on the machine next to us were very experienced quilters and their work was quite different from ours, but we got the most bang for our buck, so to speak.  It was great fun.

This was the classroom setup:

And these are some of the samples and what we practiced.  These are DeLoa’s works, not ours – lol…

And this is a row of ours – see the difference to DeLoa’s – I guess we need practice!  Of course, it didn’t help that we were on a new-to-us machine and it went w-a-y too fast for use to accurately control it.

Some more of DeLoa’s free motion work that I liked:

I will make up an easy strippy quilt to practice on and donate it to one of my charity groups.  These are DeLoa’s samples:

And this is a close-up of one of DeLoa’s famous chickens – with free-hand thread painting: 

 

oops - he's sideways!  sorry ...

This one's right side up - and yes, those are crystals all over!

The entire quilt was these fancy chickens!  It was fabulous, but didn’t show up well on my goofy little camera.  Oh well.

Check out this YouTube on ideas Deloa had for easy Block designs.  I wish I’d have remembered some of these techniques when I did Beth’s quilts (in a previous post), but sometimes things go in one ear and out the other.  I’ll have to remember to get out of my rut and use some of my new found skills!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHnqsJxWrYU

Blog Catch-up – Back to February/Early March!

Way back in February, the Quilts of Valor Foundation held a National Sew-in Day and one of our local quilters graciously sponsored an event at her development’s Club House (a great facility!).  Lisa B brought fabrics and patterns for Carpenter’s Star quilt tops and we went to town putting them together.  My camera settings were goofy that day, but here are some photos of the group in action.  Each of our Carpenter Stars had a different panel print that was provided by Lisa:

 

Lisa giving an overview

First top almost finished

The group finished four tops, I think, and partially finished one more.  Lisa took them home to quilt for Quilts of Valor … they will be marvelous!

And Marilyn came to attend that event from all of the way over in Clermont.  She brought her most recent QOV for show-and-tell.  She regularly attends a QOV group in the Northeast!

center detail from Marilyn's quilt

And at the first of March, QOV coordinated a Mystery Quilt Event and I signed up.  Periodically, I received instructions and this is my result:

I love that flag fabric!

Isn’t it gorgeous?!  Thanks go to Le Ann Weaver at Persimmon Quilts for her Mystery Pattern No. 16:  http://www.persimmonquilts.com/QOVMysteryHomePg.html

Blog Catch-up Going Backwards in Time!

Still playing catch-up for that in-between period when I wasn’t posting.  During my busy time, I went to a quilt show up in New Port Richey (northwest of Tampa).  It was sponsored by the West Pasco Quilt Guild and they put on a really nice (and BIG) show.  There were some fascinating appliqué quilts that I would never attempt, but love to look at, only a few patriotic quilts (that I look at for inspiration for my Quilts of Valor group), and some great simple/easy/adaptable quilts that I can potentially make for kids.  Enjoy this sampling ...

Here’s a cute appliqué, called Monkey Business, by quilter Avis Merritt from a pattern in Quiltmaker Magazine:

And a wonderful Dresden Plate with lace and yo-yo centers (sorry, I didn’t get the label – I apologize for not giving credit):

A quilt I loved for the rich colors called The Gathering Pattern by Cindy Stroud from a book called The Essential Sampler Quilt Book:

Some Patriotic quilts:

 

I Pledge Allegiance by Melissa Lamb, pattern by Blackbird Designs

Tales of the First Ladies, Proud Eagle, by Joyce Novak, blocks named after President's Wives

Patriotic Rose by Frances Oswald, designs by Janet Miller

Portals by Mary Ann Norfleet, inspired by book Successful Scrap Quilts from Simple Rectangles

A very special Heirloom quilt by Genie Betts from a BOM by Carol Stark – the photos, even the detail ones, don’t do this quilt justice!

detail

 

detail

And some easier quilts that I think I might be able to do:

by Marsha White

by Marge Lurz

by Deborah Hetman

Not a Ghost Blog!

You’ve seen those ghost blogs … you know, the ones where they just abruptly stop posting without any warning and you wonder what happened to them?  Some bloggers say they are going to take a siesta or may be away for awhile, but then there are those that just disappear for years!  Well, I really didn’t intend to become one of the ghost bloggers, but time just got away with me.

I’ve been collecting pictures for posts for what seems like a long time now and I’ll be playing catch-up for awhile here going backwards … and I’ll try to do better in the future!

This is the latest finish of the kiddie quilt tops - uses leftover 2 1/2 inch strips:

And these are the quilts that I quilted for a fellow Sunshine Quilt Guild member.  Beth has some of the cutest printed fabrics in these simple squares quilts.  I was busy admiring the brown and beige kangaroos, emus, koalas, etc. as I was quilting when I realized the dark square I was on had a kangaroo staring at me, too!  Too cute:

detail of two kangaroo squares

And this is the one on the frame now (from Beth also):

And these are the flowers that are in bloom that I wish were in my yard – don’t know what there are, but will go looking for some at the plant nursery!