Quilty Catch Up

I'm so sorry that I've been away from the blog for almost two months! November and December do seem to be the busiest months of the year, what with all the holidays and partying. Here's what I've been up to on the quilting front.

 

Two of my quilts were accepted for exhibition at A Quilters' Gathering in New Hampshire at the beginning of November. Engineer's Wife was awarded a codirector's ribbon from Kate Sussman. She liked the Morse Code anniversary quilt, too.  

  

During the same weekend,  the Rhode Island Modern Quilt Guild presented an exhibit during the Fine Furnishings Show in Pawtucket. Three of my quilts were included: Diamond Party, Sugar Wave and Picture Perfect.

 I had an opportunity to meet Mary Fons! 

  I quilted up an old WIP/UFO before to fill out my craft show booth. It was made from a really cute collection of Debbie Mumm lighthouse prints and coordinates. I think I pieced it in 2008. It can be a baby quilt of small lap quilt, perfect for a beach house.

Finished size: 48" X 54" 

 Another pre-craft show finish was the scrappy pyramid quilt. I really like this fun collection of modern scraps. The green binding works because green goes with everything!

Finished size: 48" X 64"

Started 2/22/15

Completed 12/2/15

While I was in a free motion quilting mood, I quilted up a guild quilt for a Habitat home dedication.

 The RIMQG hosted a postcard swap in November and there were the 2 fabric postcards I sent out. I bust out a paper pieced New York Beauty whenever possible!

On December 23rd, I decided I wanted to make a Christmas quilt for our cuddling up on the couch on Christmas Eve. Well, I got the top done that day and haven't taken another stitch since. I hope to quilt it this coming week. I used two charm packs of Flurry by Kate Spain and two yards of solid white Kona. Yummy!

And there you have it!

Quilt Show Wrap Up

 I forgot to show you the Ninnie Nines. I was really happy to have five completed quilts from our nine patch swap to display. Mine is the one hanging in the middle. Don't you love the Sister's Choice with black points on the bed?

Julia and I had some fun in the Westerly Armory museum. I pasted a picture of Pete's head onto this uniform and sent it to him with the note, "This will be us on December 13!"

 (Please say a quick prayer for Pete. He was diagnosed with pneumonia on Thursday, which is not uncommon in boot camp. He was on one day bed rest and 3 days light duty. He should be back to a full training schedule by now. It looks like he will be able to stay with his platoon and graduate as scheduled.)

Bob Harrison, Featherweight dealer/repairman and my machine quilter's husband, presented me with a Featherweight skeleton as my reward for winning best of show! It was part gag gift/part real gift. I was told I could trade it in for a working machine. I've wanted a FW since I met Bob at least 15 years ago. I told him this was the year, so he sweetened the deal!

 

Ellie Coffey, my friend and president of the guild, gave me this enormous, gorgeous bouquet!

It was great to have Bill and Julia there, but we missed Pete. When my kids were little, they used to come to the show wearing their Halloween costumes.

What goes up must come down. In just over an hour, the Armory was just an empty drill hall once again.

 

No, I did not trade in the gutless machine.  She is my major award!

I did finally buy a Featherweight! She was born in 1938 and she is so pretty!

It's time to start stitching and planning for the 2015 show!

Quilt Show Day 1

 The show is set up and we had an amazing opening day. I love this view from the balcony.

 Julia is home for the weekend. She was happy to pose in front of Fred's quilt.

Genevieve came to the show with her today, and they were happy to see our Girl Scout troop quilt. It has traveled to five college girls in five different states.

Come on down and see us this weekend! We'll be here at the Westerly Armory on Saturday and Sunday, 10am-4pm.

 

Inspiration

Ninigret Quilters spent the day setting up our quilt show.  One of my friends commented that she really liked the setting I used for the 9-patch swap blocks. I told her it was from a book, and I rarely do anything original. With that in mind, I'd like to share my inspirations for the following quilts.

Chris and Jamie's Wedding Ring won a few ribbons...

1st Place Exemplary Piecing

1st Place Exemplary Applique

1st Place Exemplary Use of Color

1st Place Exemplary Machine Quilting (by Pat Harrison)

Exemplary Edge Finish

and

Best of Show !!!

 All the credit and many thanks go to: 

Judy Niemeyer for her spectacular paper piecing pattern,

Erin Russek for her lovely applique patterns,

Kate Spain for her glorious fabric,

Pat Harrison for her amazing machine quilting,

Sharon Schamber for her youtube videos on how to stitch a scalloped binding,

and my friend, Maria Lage, for suggesting insisting on the scalloped binding!

Oh, and I should thank my nephew Christopher and his wife Jamie for patiently waiting for this quilt to be completed, 9 months after they were married!

If that were not enough ribbons for one person, a few other quilts were recognized.

Mod Bento earned a ribbon for 3rd Place Exemplary Scrap Quilt. Many thanks to all who participated in the Mod Bento Swap including my RI friend Jodi.

 Sugar Wave earned 2nd Place Exemplary Machine Quilting, Domestic. Thanks to Melissa Averinos for her awesome fabric line, Sugar Snap, and to Elizabeth Hartman for her New Wave Pattern.

Emerald Selvedge Spiderweb earned 1st Place Exemplary Scrap Quilt and Exemplary Innovative. Thank you to Karen Griska for creating my obsession for saving selvedges, and to Chris Bagley for teaching this workshop at our weekend retreat in March.

 

As quilt show chair, I'd like to invite beg you to visit us this weekend.

A woman with a plan! (to scale)

Ninigret Quilters present Stitching Stars

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 10am-4pm each day

Westerly Armory, Westerly, RI

If you live within a 90 minute radius (and beyond) of Westerly, it is worth the trip!

Quilty Weekend

 I had the pleasure of attending three quilt shows in three days! On Friday and Sunday, I went to the Flights and Fantasies show at the New England Quilt Museum. Karen and I went on Friday, then I went back on Sunday with my husband and my mother to pick up my quilt.

I was thrilled that Karen Griska posted about my quilt on the Selvage Blog. It's her fault that I started collecting selvages!

Sue Reich displayed several botanical quilts from her collection of antique quilts. 

 

I love the setting "triangles" in the border of this state flower quilt made in 1933.

 

 This Daisy quilt from c.1930 looks so modern.

My mother was fascinated by the space suits. She doesn't remember seeing them on family vacations to Cape Kennedy and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. 

 

Bill was excited to see this replica of a Gee Bee R-1 racer. The original won the 1932 Thompson Trophy, piloted by Jimmy Doolittle. Bill's father grew up near the Granville Brothers' factory, and he and his brother enjoyed watching the test flights.

 

On Saturday, I went show hopping with Karen (Sew Many Ways), Erin (Quilting in RI), and Ellie (no blog). We started out at the Silver City show in Taunton. MA. For a young guild founded in 2007, it was an impressive show! We were happy to meet the maker of the Best in Show quilt, Janet Elia.  

(This photo from my phone is horrible. Please click over to Janet's blog for a better view.)

After lunch at The Best Sandwich Shop, we went to the Blackstone Valley Quilters' show in Cumberland, RI. They had the most wonderful raffle baskets. One was filled with 200 fat quarters! Fabric shopping at Ryco and a quick run through a flea market rounded out our day.

Weekend Update

 I think I'm a topper. I love piecing quilt tops.  It's the finishing that I have a hard time with!

The red & white top  that I started on Friday was completed on Sunday night. It will be added to my pile o' tops.

I am really happy with the pattern. I think it highlights the red charms quite nicely.  I used up almost every charm that I received in the swap. After the center was pieced, I decided the "star" points needed to continue into the border to complete the pattern.  I like the way it turned out, except it left me with a stray triangle!  I thought about removing it, but my new design consultant thinks it would leave too big of a white space.

I took a break from sewing to attend and volunteer at the South County Museum quilt show. The main exhibit hall is in this beautiful old building.

Our Girl Scout quilt was hanging proudly from the rafters.

 

This was my favorite view of the day: my friend Sid taking photos of the show on her new iPad!

 

 

All in all, a successful weekend!

Quilt Show Favorites, Part 2

Viewer's Choice went to Jane Viglionese's Double Dutch Star. Hand quilted! Jane makes just one quilt a year and they are perfection! Her fabrics are just gorgeous.

I think Blooming 9-Patch might be my all-time favorite pattern. I need to try it with modern prints. (Tradition with a Twist by Blanche Young and Darlene Young-Stone) This quilt by Barbara Smith was made with all batiks (I think). It was quilted by Pat Harrison.
Woodland Clover by Rita Gladych caught my eye. I think this would be fun in modern prints, too. From More Nickel Quilts by Pat Speth. Quilted by Sharon Mayers.

I love these diagonal lines of cream solid that look like strings of pearls. Prue Holton loosely based this quilt on a photo in a magazine ad.

There were a couple of these table toppers in the show, because one of our members, Petie Sminkey, had taught a class at a LQS. This Halloween topper by Nancy Aneyci is really fun. I might need to ask Petie for a lesson.

One last show post tomorrow!

Quilt Show Favorites, Part 1

The Westerly Armory is a really interesting building for a quilt show. The staff and volunteers are incredibly supportive of our show. I need to call soon to schedule the 2013 show!

Here are some of my favorites from the Ninigret Quilters show last weekend.

Beverly Nickerson's Bear Paw titled Ursus Arctus in Autumnal Purple won first place in Overall Craftsmanship. It is also wearing honorable mention ribbons for best use of color and machine quilting. It is an over-sized king! It was quilted by Pat Harrison.

Blue Feathers by Tora Sterregaard is a triumph over leftover charity blocks. I think the gray makes it look soft and modern. It was artfully machine quilted by April Gilroy.

Erin Call made this buzz saw quilt in blues as a graduation gift. I love the bits of peachy-orange!

Here is another one from Erin: Roll, Roll Cotton Boll, a mystery from Bonnie Hunter. (Pattern will be in her next book.) It earned an honorable mention for piecing. The sheer volume of piecing is staggering!

Georgia Wostrel made this Petals quilt from a Quiltmaker magazine article from Jan/Feb 2006. Her collection of batiks is to die for!

Nancy Aneyci was intimidated by the circles in this modern pattern, but she jumped in and did a fabulous job! She used a collection of fabrics from some of our favorite modern designers in the darker color ways that I don't usually buy, and they are so striking.

Stop by again on Thursday for part 2!
(Tomorrow is WIP Wednesday.)