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!

Orange Ribbon

Hello, blogland! It's good to be back. It has been a crazy couple of weeks, and I'm happy to finally have my feet up for a little break.

Bill and I drove up to Manchester yesterday to visit Chris and Jamie's wedding ring quilt at MQX. It was awarded a faculty ribbon from Page Johnson. It's orange! Thanks, Page!

Before I had a chance to take any other pictures, Sandi with an I and Lynne with an E jumped in for their close up. We had never met before, but we became fast friends. Hello, girls!

I was ready for the craft fair this morning with a full table of goodies. Unfortunately, there weren't very many customers. Thank you to my friends who came out on this beautiful day to support my fabric addiction handmade business. Leftovers will be posted to my Etsy shop very soon. My poor shop has been empty for over a year. It's time to fill it up!

There is an exciting project coming up. I can't wait to tell you all about it!

See you soon!

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!

My First Blue Ribbon!

Woo hoo! I'm a little excited, can you tell?

Nonna's Garden earned first place for Best Piecing. All those tiny English paper piecing stitches paid off!

Meadowsweet Dresden won 2nd place for Best Mixed Technique! There was stiff competition in this category. The first place was also Best of Show. (I hope to show you that one tomorrow.)

I brought my mother to the show today, and I had kept the ribbons a secret. We both teared up a little when she saw them. Awww.

Come on down to the Westerly Armory for an awesome show! We'll be there for two more days, Saturday and Sunday, 10-4. See you there!