the frost is on the pumpkins

or at least the quilting and binding is.

Not sure if this is where it is staying but I'm enjoying the rush of Autumn here.
We have a scarecrow festival here in October. Someone decorated one of the benches out on the ranch.

So here we are. Sabra, me and Mosley and the scarecrow family.
 

pumpkins

Today the pumpkins get quilted :-)

 

While Sabra takes the day off.

 

 

 

a bit about the vendors at PIQF

I must admit that vendors at quilt shows are a huge attraction to me and PIQF is like Disneyland in that regard! My 'protective shopping guard' was completely undone within the first few hours of stepping into the convention center...the wool and the pumpkins were too charming and I couldn't help myself :-)
My receipts reveal that Attic Heirlooms from Maine were my new best friends apparently and much of the wool I bought was from them.

The little metal heart is a magnetic needle minder from Sew Cherished where I also found some beautiful wool projects. My sister bought this for me :-)

Reets Rags To Riches contributed some wool and I am finally getting to a project I have had for the past couple of years...it is the blues and greens bird pin cushion in this next photo.

The spools came from Bird Brain Designs as did some of the wool.

The Seam Ripper is a gadget that I hope will be useful with any longarm quilting mistakes. It useful for buzzing out seams that are needing to be unsewn. I found this at The Quilt House.(sorry for the blur!)

Another vendor, Forever in Stitches, had a specialty ruler which I didn't purchase but did buy a kit from, for a quilt...with pumpkins...that apparently is written for the ruler's use. I cut this all out yesterday and started to sew it together. I used the technique they recommend but I'm not sure this is for me. The ruler is for perfecting the triangles you put at the corners of blocks. The website has a short video showing it used and explaining the technique.  I think I'm happier just putting a square in the corner, folding it over and using the leftovers for extra half square triangles elsewhere. It may be an interesting idea for some though. Here's my first pumpkin.

 

The thread was a great  show deal from Superior Threads for piecing. They are my go to place for thread for my longarm and perhaps now will be for piecing thread also. I have been testing out the Masterpiece and I think I like it...minimal lint.  Mettler will probably still be my favorite for when I'm trying to match thread for clothing or something because I can buy smaller spools and find it locally to see the colors.
While cutting out the new fabrics yesterday, there was a family lounging across the street (in the rain)

Later we walked out on to the ranch and found that the Egrets had returned along with Heron. Hoping to see the Burrowed Owl back soon.

Giveaway winner announced

Today is the day to pick the giveaway winner for The Giving Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini.  I have really enjoyed reading this book. The new characters introduced have been my favorites from the series...seriously, I really like these people :-)  I hope to see them coming back in future books.
So to get on with the giveaway....I used the random generator and it chose the number 13 which was assigned for Heide who wrote

HeideOctober 14, 2012 10:19 PM

"Found your blog today. Like your background! I know my quilting group would love for my name to be picked, because they know I'll share the book with them".  This is a great pick as so many will get to enjoy it.

Heide email me your mailing address and a book will wing it's way to your door.

Thank you all for reading my blog and for commenting. This is really an honor to be involved in sharing new books.

 

Two quilt finishes

 

Tomorrow, is the draw for The Giving Quilt.  Be sure to leave a comment on this post http://luckypupquilter.blogspot.com/2012/10/book-review-and-giveaway.html.

Sewed the bindings on two quilts headed for Bend, Oregon. This brightly colored disappearing 9 patch is for the new baby, Graeson.

The Bunnies by the Bay fabric is for Best Big Sister, Emelyn, who turned 3 years old this past month. I didn't follow a pattern for this quilt but fussy cut out bunnies and then made 9 patches for the other row. I used a Companion Angle ruler to make the triangles for the square in the square block. It seemed fast and simple but freaked a bit when I realized that all the edges would be bias. Fortunately, it all seemed to work out but I don't think that is the best way to do it. I washed the quilts and folded them to put them out of the way of my cat quilt testers. Those creases sure show up fast!












 

(Yes, Mr.Quiltholder is holding this upside down :-)

Mosley and Sabra came out for the quilt photo shoot and I snuck in a photo of camera shy Mosley. He is such a handsome dude :-) even if I can't prove it in pictures. Sabra has a cute bushy tail.

 

more pics from PIQF

These were some of my favorites.

Well, OK. This was my most favorite! Nancy Brown showed this beautiful quilt that she had designed and made for a commissioned piece. The faces are very expressive of the real critters.

More from the rest of the show...

This one with the camel and penguin came with a great story. The quilter designed the images from characters in a story she made up to tell her children when they were young. Loved it!

Beautiful work from a Nancy Brown student.

Imagine that...a quilt without animals in it :-)
And there is still time to enter the book giveaway here http://luckypupquilter.blogspot.com/2012/10/book-review-and-giveaway.html
Happy Weekend Everyone!

Quilt pics from PIQF

 PIQF in Santa Clara, California this past weekend was a great show and packed full with quilters and some great vendors. My snaphot skills are still somewhat ridiculous but hopefully you can get the idea of the work that went into the making of these quilts. I tried to capture the names of the quilters but missed some.

Karlyn Bue Lohrenz of Montana won Best of Show



Nancy Arseneault of Arizona won 1st Place Traditional
 







I am having difficulty with Blogger and will need to forgo the captions. Here are more pictures. Some are from the International quilts. Amazing amount of talent and passion in all of these quilts. I will show more later. I'm saving my favorites for last.

For The Giving Quilt giveaway, please check out this post and leave a comment for a chance to win a good read!

 

Hope you enjoy the quilt pictures.


















 

Book Review and Giveaway

This giveaway is now completed.  This book is a great read!

A month or so ago, I reviewed Sonoma Rose by Jennifer Chiaverini. This was one of my favorites of her books. Now I am reading her new book, The Giving Quilt which is coming out this month and am pleased to say I am hosting a giveaway by the publisher, Dutton/Penguin Group for this book! 

In The Giving Quilt, Jennifer takes us to a week after Thanksgiving to join the Elm Creek quilters with a week of Quiltsgiving. Quilters have come from all over to spend the week making quilts to be donated to Project Linus, the (real life) organization dedicated to providing homemade blankets and quilts to children in need. These visiting quilters are the main characters that inspire and reveal their stories and quiltmaking journey.

I usually 'devour' Jennifer's books, reading them almost straight through but because of work and then a trip to PIQF (more on that later!), I am savoring  this read a little more slowly. Half way through the book, I'm realizing that these are some of my favorite characters in the series. I am really enjoying learning about them and more than ever, I would love to spend some time at Elm Creek Manor!

A bonus as I read along is that there is a sweet quilt pattern written into the story :-)  The book cover has glimpses of the quilt being taught as a charity quilt choice and I find the pattern and colors chosen to be stunning. I'm inspired to make one....especially with some leftover Cherrywood fabric that I have!

More can be read about The Giving Quilt at Jennifer's website http://elmcreek.net/books.  Look forward to this read because it is a good one! If you haven't read the Elm Creek books yet, this is actually a good place to start. After reading it, you will want to go back to the beginning and read them all :-) but this book reads well as a stand alone story as well.

If you would like a chance to receive a copy from the publisher, just leave a comment on this post...making sure I have a way to contact you if you win :-)   If you would like a second chance to win, please post about this review and giveaway on your blog and let me know about it. I would love to get many (as in zillions! of) comments and announcements made to get the word out about this new book. The Giving Quilt is a wonderful book to read and would also make a great gift for the Christmas season. I will choose a name from the comment list on Monday, October 22,2012 from this post. Hope you win :-)