Mardi Gras Quilt Blocks

So I don't feel too guilty about missing the deadline, I've posted pictures of last year's blocks that i entered. The theme was Mardi Gras! The crazy quilt block was put in a charity quilt and the block that says Mardi Gras was chosen to be put in the fair quilt that was quilted at the fair in January 2007. I've heard that it done some traveling to some retreats. Supposedly it is owned by the fair and added to their collection. Hopefully they will be displaying it this year so I can see the completed quilt in person.

Party With The Animals - Not This Year!!

Well my intentions were to make a block and submit it for entry into our yearly county fair quilt that the Palm Beach County Guild puts together. This year I just could not get motivated with this theme. I feel somewhat disappointed that I missed the deadline but I guess that is part of being an artist. You have to have the inspiration to start and complete a project. This one just did not have it!!!

QuiltFest Jax

This is a little late post, but just wanted to write about my Jacksonville Quiltfest Trip. This was an adventure by myself since I really wanted to go and it was just easier to go by myself rather than make dog care arrangements, etc... I took Friday off and traveled for 4 hours to Jacksonville. I went straight to the Convention Center - Prime Osborn, which was fairly easy to find. This was the biggest quilt show I have seen and I knew it would be pretty big compared to Palm Beach and Broward County Shows. I think they had over 600 quilts displayed and some were very spectacular, especially the ones that won the ribbons. They were all well deserved!!! As you can see from the picture I went a little nuts! I also bought some raffle tickets (I guess I did not win anything since they haven't called me yet!). I got to finally try out a long arm machine. I was able to try the Gammill Classic and the HQ Sixteen. Of course I would prefer the Gammill but I don't think my pocketbook would like that right now. I definitely have an interest in longarming. It just seems alot simplier than trying to manuever the quilt through my home machine. I am thinking I might want to try an APQS too!!! I've heard both are good reputable companies. The problems I see is that there is no local dealer and if I have a problem and I can't resolve it over the phone it will cost a bunch of money to fix, whether I have to pay someone to come out or ship it. Maybe when I hit the Lotto I can get one!!!

Baby Quilt!!

Here is a pic of the baby quilt that I made for Sarah and Eric and their new baby. This is my first attempt at free motion quilting on real quilt. It is an overall meandering pattern using the variegated thread.

Hoffman Challenge 2007 Reject!

This is my Hoffman Challenge that came back in the mail last week. I had a hard time with this one since I did not work with a pattern or plan in mind. Halfway through I ran out of inspiration but Rob encouraged me to finish up since I had put some effort into it. I kind of knew that it was not going to win anything but it was somewhat gratifying to actually complete it. Hoffman did send me a little pin and 2 fat quarters.

9 block

My Pineapples Plus class has ended and this is my project. I still have to do the quilting and binding. Overall it was a good class, I like paper piecing and it is relatively easy but time consuming. The last sessions went in to designing your own pineapples but I haven't been motivated enough to design my own. So it is nice to know how to do pineapple quilts if I choose to do so.

More Pillows!!

I bought this fabric from Boca Bargoons at 29.00 a yard. Ouch! The lady there went on to tell me that she was a designer and I should make at least 3 pillows, not sure if she is correct or not but I have enough fabric for 4. I only picked up two pillow forms for now, so I guess I will have to wait on the third pillow. Overall I think they turned out really nice. The other side has a diamond motif on it.

Pineapple Pillow

Here is a 12 inch pillow I made with my pineapple blocks. The back has a light batik fabric with a invsible zipper. Overall paper piecing is fun, but very time consuming. I think this took me about 5 hours to complete.

Angelina Sampling

This is a sampling of what I am coming up with so far. I really love this dragonfly fabric and I have a quilt top that I've made with this fabric using the attic window block. Hopefully I can finish it up and post it, meanwhile I might just make this a little wallhanging.

Angelina Fibers

I finally received my Angelina Fibers. Now I have to figure out what to do with them!!!

pineapple blocks

Here are 4 paper pieced pineapple blocks. Each block is about 6 1/2 inches and there are about 42 pieces on each one. Alot of work!!! I think I am going to make a 12 inch pillow out of this one. Our next lesson is to design our own quilt using 9 blocks and this pattern. The design are pretty endless.

Pineapple Quilt Class!

O.K. so I've decided to take a class a Quilt University. It is a class by Jane Hall called Pineapple Quilts. It is based on paper piecing. Our first lesson is to make a 6 inch block it uses a dark and light color and the pieces are based on 1 inch strips. After receiving the lesson and looking over it, I realized I have alot of work ahead of me. I've started the block and I am almost done, when I'm finished I will post the pic here.

Bag Contest!

O.K. so I have decided to enter this bag in a contest!! It is from a pattern called Towne Purse from Lazy Girl Designs. I was shopping for some quilt fabric when I ran across this wonderful batik fabric. I was not sure what I was going to make with it first so I bought 3 yards, this was a fabric I could not walk past. When I got home I looked through some patterns and decided upon this pattern. The pattern was really easy and I think it took maybe 2 hours or so. I quilted it with free motion figure 8 pattern with variegated thread. I figured this would be a good summer purse plus it has alot of pockets inside. Here is a link to the contest:

Fish Quilt!

This was a quilt I made from a class at Quilters' Choice. I think it was called making waves which used the wave edge ruler and the a gelato design. I picked out the fish embroidery, since I had a design pack that was not being used and I thought this was a good project for this.




This also was posted on the Craftsanity website. I contributed this picture when Jennifer put a call out for quilts that people were working on and at that time I had just finished this one. Anyone who has not heard of Craftsanity and are seriously into quilting or craft related activities, you need to check it out. It actually is a podcast where Jennifer interviews fellow artists and crafters. I find it interesting and inspiring. Check it out Craftsanity

Circle Magic Template

I bought the circle Magic Template through Connecting Threads with the idea of making a quilt from this pattern and template tool. After looking over the booklet and instructions I decided to make a little sample first and opted for these coasters using some batik fat quarters I had laying around

I probably rushed through this a bit but had a hard time lining up all the folded over circles, as you can see. I tried refolding several times and they just did not line up. I was a little disappointed with this pattern since it is not very forgiving and seems to use alot of fabric. I really do like the fluorescent template though. I am sure it will come in handy for some other projects. Needless to say I am opting not to make a quilt with this method. Maybe that is the reason there were no real live finished pictures in the instruction booklet. It might be that I am a little inexperienced, but overall I was not impressed.

Challenges

I've been busy working on some challenges. First was the "Doorway to Imagination" Challenge by Quilting Arts Magazine. I was excited to get it finished and sent out. I guess I will have to keep it a secret for a while since you are not allowed to have it published in any way.

I've also been working on my very first Hoffman Challenge using this fabric. I have to say I did not find it that inspiring at first but then had a vision of using 3 circles out of this fabric. I wound up with an art quilt since it is a little on the rectangular side. I had many challenges with this and I know it is far from perfect. I am working on the binding right now and hope to have it out the door this weekend. I will feel so relieved when it is done. It really challenged my creativity but also frustrated me at the same time. No more contests or challenges for a while!!! Wish me luck!!

Our Dog Cody!

This is the first video I took with my camera. Of course it is not very professional quality but I'll get the hang of it. This is Cody's latest joy! Fetching the red ball in the pool. Cody has different size red jolly balls and he loves them. I highly recommend these for anyone with dogs that like to chew their toys to pieces. As you can see it is still intact and he has not destroyed it yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5KObDYsYQo

New Camera!

With the idea of starting a blog I decided I had to buy a new camera. So I treated myself to a Canon Powershot A640. It has 10. Mega Pixel. This is so much better than my 2.7 mega pixel I had before. I think that camera was at least 6 years old so it was time for a new one. So far I really like it but of course there are some options I have to figure out how to use.

Trip Around the World!

This was a Trip Around the World class that I took several years ago at Suzanne's Quilt Shop, this was a beginner's class and was my first quilt that I completed. Suzanne is a great teacher and I truly miss her shop and classes, she still sells online though http://www.suzannesquilts.com/

My Blog!

So I thought it was time that I started a Blog of my own!!!! I seem to be addicted to several other peoples' blogs. People whom i've never met. I find some of them to be so full of energy and very creative. Sometimes they inspire me to complete a project or start another one, so, in a way, it helps me to focus on being creative and to enjoy my quilting and sewing hobby.