Pictures of Quilt show 'loot'

Finally..got the pictures to load though I'm never sure how the layout is going to show up when I post this. My editing skills are less than beginner...however, here goes....

The lovely greens to the left are from the Beach House fabric line. If I hadn't fallen in love with the fabrics themselves, I would have tempted just by the name. The stash includes some charm packs and yardage of the soft lime green. I will have the fun of picking one of the fabrics possibly to purchase more for a backing.



This next find is some fabrics from Robin Pandolph with a few others thrown in for a very romantic quilt for our guest room...Funny thing that the main frequenter to the 'guest room' was with me at this show and was rather "pushy" as to what a good purchase and project this would be. Could it be she is tired of the 80's Laura Ashley comforter on the bed at present?

Fortunately for her :-) it will be quite pleasureable to sew this fabric together.

The next find is the 'dorky lamp'! I'm not up to modeling it for you yet....but I'll tell you, it does look pretty bad! It actually hangs around my neck. The bulb and case don't actually rest on me and the whole thing only weighs about 7 ounces. The bulb also does not get very warm at all which beats the heat wave I feel trying to work under most of the lamps I have...even the low energy ones. I've even tried the head gear with the flashlights before for handwork so I apparently am not uncomfortable with the idea of looking weird :-) And this works better! If interested in this wonderful 'look' try http://www.jeansimpressions.com/ and check it out.

For a coming birthday of a friend learning to applique, I found this wool pincushion kit. The brown stuff is ground walnut (?) shells for the filling. She will love the cute sheep on it.

Note to self: don't tell Kim about this blog before June!

The last treat I have to show you is the edition of Quiltmania that has an artcle about Bonnie Hunter as well as some pictures of her friend Lucy's house in Holland. I had looked in a few local book stores to no avail and was surprised and delighted to just come upon this at a local quilt shop's booth at the show. Thank you Quilter's Attic in Arroyo Grande! They apparently get this magazine to sell when issues come out...so if you are looking.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and checking out my found treasures. Soon I hope to have some completed projects to show for all my blessed shopping of late.

picture troubles

I'm trying to load some pictures of the cool stuff I found at the quilt show but am meeting up with some kind of error. I'll keep trying...you are going to want to see this dorky lamp I bought to wear around my neck :-) while hand stitching in front of the tv.
Intrigued?

Quilt Show on the Central Coast

Here in San Luis Obispo, the five local guilds come together every 2 years for a combined guild quilt show. It is called Seven Sisters Quilt Show after the small local mountain range. Putting their efforts together brings a larger number of good vendors and makes for an awesome show of quilts. This weekends' show was the second and is as delightful and inspiring, if not more, than the first. I took a friend who has not made quilts before with me today and had a great time.

I'm showing pictures of a few quilts...not even half decent photography and unfortunately, no names... but just some quilts I liked. This first quilt was hung high from the ceiling but you could still get the vibrant effect from the Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

This one I liked for the colorful machine quilting..which of course I couldn't seem to capture. But the piecing was interesting as well.

This was pieced by a mom just starting to quilt and then sent to her daughter who did an awesome job quilting it on her longarm with colorful thread and artistic representation of the flowers.

The next 2, I liked partly just for the use of plaid..a favorite..in the barns and in the bottom right flower in the 2nd quilt.

This last one I liked for the creative blocks within the houses and for the Amish buggy in the left hand corner.

Lots of quilters having alot of fun with fabric...and making for a unifying and inspirational day.

I was excited when my friend bought her first little kit to make a snowman wallhanging...a new quilter born today :-)

Tomorrow...a word about the fun things I bought!

one of My Favorite Quilts

I started this little wallhanging in a class where I first learned to paper piece. It is made from scraps of my favorite fabrics. I enjoyed making random, different blocks and then connecting them together with pieced or one fabric sashings, etc.

My favorite fabrics always make me feel good. I have this hanging in my sewing/computer room where I can see it daily. There are about 4 cats 'hidden in plain view' in the fabrics and blocks. The airplane is for my mom because she loved being a pilot. The lighthouse is for me because I like looking at them...especially if I can see the ones in Maine..one of my favorite states, even though I'm from California :-)

finally able to show something

It has been a very full couple of weeks. Several days of work, 8 hours of power outtage, a birthday celebration and as always, some great walks with the dogs. The birthday found me taking me beloved Bernina 1090 in to be serviced...I think I knocked the timing off just a bit and it was making a new noise...and then onto Quilter's Cupboard where I treated myself finally to some Fig Tree fabrics. Included are some charm square packs and some luscious fabrics for borders and backing. Feeding my current lime green phase in a soft version of it.

Over the weekend, I got started on the Bento Box quilt. First, I needed to treat some of the fabric and iron it. Marianne was helping that night. I really didn't need an iron..I should have just let her sleep on it.

Onto making some blocks I found putting together the fabrics I had chosen a little challenging. Individually, they are rather different. But altogether I think it will work.

I have been sewing these blocks on my featherweight which I haven't used much.

It is a sweet little machine...but I miss my 1090S.

I keep trying to raise the pressor foot by moving my "knee lifter"..that isn't there.

I have been blessed with an assortment of machines. One of which is a Bernina 180 that I purchased long ago for embroidery. I'm very thankful I didn't 'trade in' for this machine because I find I don't really like it for piecing. It seems to suck the fabric down into the feed dogs and it just makes too much noise. It does work well for the amount of embroidery I do..which isn't very much..but am glad for other choices .

a finish and an almost

Not much here in the way of pictures but I finished putting the little quilt block cover on the bulletin board. Am happy the magnets actually still work through the fabric.

I also got the Baptist Fans on the Jo Morton wallhanging. It is waiting for the binding to be sewn down with a sleeve for hanging it.

The one picture I have is the quilt kit I succumbed to from Hancock's of Paducah. The fabric is gorgeous. The pattern involves applique and will take awhile. It is the Aviary collection from Moda.

I am scheduled to work 4 of the next 5 days and thus will not get much stitching in. Will hope to share pictures next week of wall hanging finish and the Bento Box progress.

In the meantime, have a great Easter celebration everyone!

quilting helpers

Ms Sandy and Ms Bridget, helpful sisters in the sewing room.

















Mr Mosley, not so helpful. :-)

treat in the mail

Came home last night after a couple of busy days working in the ER to find a box full of treats waiting for me to open.

Tasty dark chocolate and pnut butter eggs mixed in with a cute little bunny and the cutest thing of all..cupcake lip gloss. My friend, Kim, in Arizona has a way of making my day!

There are bright color chickens on one of the fat quarters and colorful houses on the other.

This evening I'm hoping to finish a little project I started for my DH last Friday. I had put together a kit of Jo Morton fabrics from the Quilted Moose...which is still on the machine waiting for some Baptist fans in the borders. The quilting will have to wait till tomorrow when I'll hopefully have a little more energy again.

With fabric leftover, I put together more blocks to cover a little bulletin board for him to hang above his desk. The project for today will be add some fabric around the edge to secure it around the cork board..which apparently has something behind it to make it magnetic too.

on the to do list

Last month, I had the fun of shopping for some batiks to put in a quilt for my niece and her sweet DH. I went to my most favorite quilt store...Quilter's Cupboard in Atascadero. Since they don't necessarily specialize in batiks, I was surprised to find all I needed in one trip. I love this store...always inspiring!

To avoid thread difficulties on the longarm, I don't think I want to use a batik for the backing. So I'm trialing this floral and will see how it looks.

The pattern I'm going to use is something like this Bento Box pattern that I saw a few years back at the MQX quilt show in New Hampshire. I ordered a panto pattern from Willow Leaf Design called Rhapsody to quilt on it. But yesterday saw a batik quilt with a dragonfly quilting pattern that looked like even more fun. So may have to check that out. If I knew how to put the links in here with just the names and no long address, it would be nice so you could easily check them out...but I'm sorry I haven't figured that out yet.

Allie and Dave have Chili Pepper Red in their living room. Though I've never actually seen the room, I'm hoping it fits in.

The colors sure perk me up. We're celebrating my own DH's birthday today so it's a good time to be perky.