Quilting

Another great day in the great state of Illinois!  The weather was absolutely beautiful! We gathered, all 32 students and myself for a Jared Takes A Wife workshop.  You can find the pattern under the free patterns tab at the top of the blog. What a wonderful mix of ladies!  Susan was our hand piecer, and I swear she could hand piece just as fast and as accurately by hand as most could do by

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He:His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.“Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear,And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see;His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free;His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.RefrainI sing because I’m happy,I sing because I’m free,For His eye is on the sparrow,And I know He watches me.Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows. (Matthew 10:29-31)

Things that live forever in my suitcase…… The IKEA clip on lamp! The lamps with the heavy base are of course…..too heavy for my suitcase. I traveled with this one when I was flying with a machine, or borrowing a machine for hotel room sewing…..but I am even finding it ESSENTIAL to hotel room hand work. Those who have spent hotel time before know that rooms are lit by a bunch of dim bulbs….

"Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint you can on it." Danny KayeWe had two months to create a quilt that was inspired by this quote. We met on Thursday and here are the quilts we came up with.This is mine. I'm pretty literal so it's a basic paintbrush with lots of color. After our meeting and on the suggestions of the group, I added some metallic thread on the brush and some paint splatters on it too. I also shortened the strings and added fabric beads to the end. Janice and I shared a fat quarter pack of solid colors and this is what she made. She still has to quilt it and we gave her our thoughts on that. Next was Sara. Most, if not all, the fabrics were painted or dyed by her. Not sure if you can see the quilting. It really enhances the quilt. Barbara Sawyer made this beauty. She painted, stamped and painted with thread. Grace made this. She painted with fabric trimmings. Anna couldn't make it but made sure her quilt did. I wish I took a better picture of it but this is all I have. This is actually painted canvas. You need to check her blog (link on right--Anna-the artist within) to see about the canvas. Our next quote is from Winston Churchill. "I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals." Could be fun. I pinned the green/aqua quilt this afternoon so I better get busy quilting it. I have been goofing off all day. Thanks for looking. Posted with Blogsy

Market has been absolutely wonderful with good people, good friends, and lots of good things to see!I took a lot of pictures with my camera that I can't wait to share...I have just a few that I took with my phone that I'm using for this post.It's always fun to see quilts I've pieced---quilted and on display. "Fireworks" by Camille is pictured above.....And "Summer," also by Camille.Here are Jodi

This weekend is Quilt Market, the tradeshow for the quilting industry. Follow Moda Fabrics/United Notions on Facebook to keep up with the latest trends, fabric lines, and must-have notions that are debuting at Quilt Market.

There is a quilt show called HMQS, Home Machine Quilting Show, that has blow your socks off quilts. They highlight the quilting of the 3 layers, you know the QUILTING... not the Quilting.. LOL! Don't you love we use the SAME WORD for several parts? ok.. here is the real deal.. the quilting DOES take your top to another level when you approach it as designing the 'next level' on your piece.  Karlee Porter, won third place in the Utah’s Own quilt category for her 'Shimmering Symphony quilt'. She quilted this on an HQ sit-down machine... which means you can quilt like this on your machine! It's all about the artistry, not necessarily the machine I really want to go to this show http://www.hmqs.org/ and examine the quilts. See how each quilter takes the piece to the next level.   I've been chatting with Leah Day each month on my Radio Podcasts about this..CLICK HERE to see which shows I had her on. http://www.creativetalknetwork.com/ I got the heads up to the following posts from my Internet group.. your ARE my quilt group... right? CLICK HERE to explore and learn! CLICK HERE to the HandiQuilter Blog CLICK HERE to see 3 blog posts by Christa Quilts .. she also entered the show

I’m giggling to myself…. Because every time I see “white glove” ladies at a quilt show…I imagine them breaking into some crazy tap dancing version of “jazz hands”  Now watch…every time YOU see white glove ladies at a quilt show….you are going to start thinking the same thing!  Ha cha cha cha! But look at this lovely quilt that we unwrapped at the La Salle County museum: WOOL! Courthouse

Lunch break time with the guild girls in Ottawa! Today's class is in full swing and we've all worked up an appetite. :) We've framed our four patch corners and are well on our way to turning out sets of star points and getting blocks together! The fabrics and colors are many and so varied! Here's to hoping that wherever you are this weekend, you find time to stitch a bit--or pet the fabric

YES, we are still at Amy’s Quilt Festival… On to QUILT #2!!  Yup…you heard right!!  With Amy’s new TWO Quilt rule…Bloggers can enter two quilts as long as they are in different categories and have their own separate posts!  Hence…post  number TWO! Don’t cha’ think, that the Monkey Quilt is just too dang cute not to be entered in the BABY CATEGORY! This one is hot off the press… It was machine pieced and machine quilted..the appliquéd monkey was needle turned and then machine stitched for stability.  I hand embroidered the ‘Five Little Monkey’s’ Poem on the outside border.  I chose to PRINT the verse rather than go with the handwritten verse that was in the pattern. (Young child can’t read handwriting…) I also went with the poem/chant that I use to teach my Grade One class.  It is slightly different than the one in the pattern (when I teach the whole chant to my grandson I don’t want to screw up the verse!  Can’t you just hear it?  “You messed up AGAIN Grammy!!”..:o}}.  I raw edged stitched ‘mock buttons’ onto the monkey’s tummy (safer than real buttons!)  The quilt measures 36” X 44”.  This is a Patchwork Pottery Quilt…you can find the adorable pattern HERE. I love this sweet quilt and can hardly wait to cover my wee grandson with it…in THREE MORE WEEKS…give or take a few days!!  (insert happy dance!!)  You can see the other Baby Quilts entered in this category over at Amy’s…just click HERE!  There are some incredibly adorable quilts entered, so it is worth a visit! If you have time, scroll down to the last post to see my Wall Hanging entry…but only if you have time!!  Thank you so much, Amy!!  Would you believe that Amy has been doing this for over FIVE years…and The Bloggers’ Quilt Market continues to get bigger and better!  Come on and hop on the band wagon…I bet you have a quilt or TWO that you would like to enter! I hope your weekend continues to be amazing…just like YOU!~P