For the Record III

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A few more 2016 things I want to capture for my reference.  Hanging out with quilting friends last year I acquired some 6 yard cuts of one of my favorite fabric designers…..Jo Morton.  They were a fantastic deal, really great, but I always allow myself to buy Jo Morton because they don’t sell them in my LQS’s.    

Jo Morton did this patriotic print…..isn’t it fabulous? 

And some shirt additions…..the dark purple stripe on top has already been used in my RSC17 blocks 🙂 

And I think that wraps up what I missed blogging about in 2016 🙂

Spelunking

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Spelunking: sport or practice of exploring or studying a cave. 

I’ve been exploring a cave, a quilt cave to be specific and to be more specific, Kevin the Quilter’s Quilt Cave 🙂  This past week I was thrilled to get together with Kevin, Jan of The Colorful Fabriholic and Dar of Dar’s Patchwork Garden at the Quilt Cave.  You can see Kevin’s post about it here, Dar’s post here and Jan’s post here.  We got to visit the chicken coup and see Henny Penny & friends, then we got to check out the three newest members of the chicken brood (a group of chickens is call a brood, I looked it up 🙂 ). 

I totally swiped this pic from Kevin’s blog so you could see how cute the little guys are.

Our task, should we accept it, was to make QOV quilt blocks…..I might have sneaked off a couple of times to cuddle the chicks as they are so darn cute!!  But back to the program….

I was so inspired by this quilt top in a shop window in Paducah that I blogged about it.

Jan read the post and remembered the top (I drug her past the window three times, I’m surprised she could have forgotten).  She drafted it in EQ and Kevin said, let’s all come to the Quilt Cave and make these blocks.  And so we did.  Jan made a test block….good thing too, as she imparted the wisdom she learned doing this pretty very challenging block.  Kevin found Barbara Brackman’s post about the snake pattern here.  Very interesting……

We all managed to make an entire block by ourselves…….let’s not talk about how friendly we got with our seam rippers 😉  It always takes a bit to get back into the paper piecing groove.

Dar is camera shy but I got her in this pic of the wonderful accommodations the Quilt Cave offers.  See her blue and white polka dots in the back there, lol?

A wonderful part of the Quilt Cave was we didn’t have to lug and set up our machines…..Kevin had vintage machines ready to go…..it was just sit and sew time!  We had a blast and when we were calling it quits for the day, we had 14 blocks done! 

We are all pleased with the progress but even more so with how awesome the blocks look.  So Kevin, thank you for asking us to join you, for the fabulous accommodations, the fine dining experience and thanks also to Jan & Dar along with Kevin for the great camaraderie.  The Cave Quilters will return 😉

 

 

   

DWM 1-23-17

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Soooo, we need new potholders but I haven’t been inspired to make them.  I dug around in the orphan bin, no inspiration.  There was a loud crack and a flash (well maybe that was all in my head), but inspiration struck.  I could make Abstracts in Solids potholders!  And they didn’t have to be square or rectangle, they could lean, if they wanted to 🙂  And they could be made from the scrap bags of Cherrywood fabrics I’ve purchased over the years.  And I. LOVE. THEM. Of course I’m not the cook in the family, but still!

I finished one and two are ready for sandwiching 🙂  Hop over to Judy’s DWM post and check out what inspiring things popping up on design walls across the land.

 

For the Record II

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I went to two other quilt shows in 2016 that I haven’t blogged about.   I attended the AQS Chattanooga show in September to see the Secret Society of Barn Builders (SSOBB) display in support of Julie’s Build-a Barn’s book.  Julie and Heidi (who was visiting from Germany) were there and we took the Abstracts in Solids workshop that was to be taught by Gwen Marston.  Turned out Gwen wasn’t able to make it so Lynn Harris taught the class and it was inspiring!!

Workshop Picl to r, Lynn, Heidi, Me & Julie

It was wonderful to meet Heidi in person and it’s always great to see Julie 🙂  Here’s the intentional piecing I got done in class.  I haven’t touched it since but it was fun to play with so I’m nudging to the top of my to-work-on list!  The magenta pieces are from Heidi’s strips.  Don’t they just pop?

Heidi and Julie busy creating 🙂

It was wonderful seeing the barn quilts displayed together.  I was in awe of all the great barns the other SSOBB members made!

And there were two SSOBB quilts in the Chattanooga show itself!  Here’s Julie’s “Create with Abandon”.

And Lynne’s “Too Much Chicken” that reveals so much more in person!

I was gifted a trip to Houston to attend the International Quilt Festival from the people I work for as a thank you gift for coordinating the move of their labs to a new building.  I was blown away by their generosity.  My DD lives in Houston now so, bonus, I got to visit her and my DGD at the same time.  Here we are at the show. 

I have to say, the venue was absolutely huge.  I tried to get a picture that would give a perspective on how large the George R Brown convention center is.  This is the “run way” where there are 4 entrances, A, B, C & D, to the quilt show. 

I took a panoramic picture to show how wide open the quilt displays were…..no crowded walkways…..it was fabulous.

I walked down all the vendor rows but didn’t spend a lot of time shopping.  I spent the lions share of my two days looking at all the quilts on display.  There were so very many quilts!!!  It was wonderful!!  Here’s my favorite quilt of the whole show, “Fire in the Stone” by Kimberly Lacy.  IT. WAS. BRILLIANT.

My daughter told me a story about an alligator living in a retention pond in a subdivision….it got named Thor and there was an up-roar about what to do about Thor.  So of course this quilt gave us the giggles….Thor went to the quilt show!!  This is Crocodylus Smylus by Susan Carlson.  (Yes, I know an alligator is NOT the same as a crocodile but come on, it was funny!)

I had a fabulous time a the quilt show and plan to return.  I had a great time visiting these two and will definitely be coming back to see them!