Life is Good!

On Tuesday a friend of mine, Renelda Peldunas Harter, and I gave quilt demonstration. We both have blocks featured in "Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks, Vol. 5".

We drove about 45 minutes  to Windchester, Virginia to the "Scrappy Apple" quilt shop. We each had prepared a talk about our blocks and the piecing techniques and etc. I bought my laptop computer to show color options if someone wonder how the block would look in an another color. I had print outs of placement layouts. We were ready.

I must admit I hadn't heard anything from locals  as to their attendance. I feared that no one would come. Renelda admitted her own thoughts of maybe 4 or so showing up. We arrived a few minutes early to set up a felt board and unpack our visual aids. Image our surprise that there were 6 ladies seated and waiting for us! In all we had 15 ladies attend our talk and demonstration. Questions were evidence of serious interest. The morning was very successful for ourselves, the audience and the shop. Gleefully we treated ourselves to lunch afterward. On that day, life was good!

Blog Tour, Isn't This Fun

 http://www.quiltmaker.com/blogs/quiltypleasures/

Isn’t this fun! I too enjoy visiting the other blogs. So many talent people with wonderful block designs.

My block is called Crossroads of Life. Think of the many crossroads, roadblocks and detours to take. The nice element of this block is any choice of color or placement will make a terrific quilt. My philosophy on quilt blocks is that they should be versatile. One should be able to use one pattern and make it in any themed fabric and with a twist of the block have new quilt look.

I have several images of quilt layouts for you to view. I used the same color placement in each of the images so you might see the differences better in the layout.  Do notice the pastel quilt, its the same layout as the third but the eye focus changes to the seconary design - a star.

Possible color changes might include alternating corner ends to create an interesting look where four blocks meet, almost a checker board effect.

Try setting the blocks on point. The set in sides could have a ‘snow ball’ tip to integrate with the blocks, giving it an industrial look. I think the ‘X’ is fascinating. A young man would love that ‘X’ marks the spot design.

This block will be beautiful using batiks, traditional, or depression era theme fabrics. Depth of color is the key to this quilt block.

I'm in Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks

I'm pleased to say that I have a block featured in the upcoming Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks magazine.  The magazine will be released May 8.  Watch for the blog tour April 30 - May 4.  My blog will be featured on Wednesday, May 2.  Come and join me and leave a comment, one lucky ready will win a free magazine.

Recently my daughter asked if I had a quilted item I could
donate to my grandson’s band fundraiser. I thought I might have something in my
UFO box. Indeed I did. A small turquoise
and beige wall hanging about 30” X 30”. The top was complete and ready to sandwich,
I thought. It just needed something
special for the backing so that meant a trip to the store.
I sorted through my stencils and books for a design. I
wanted something more than ‘stitch in the ditch’ quilting. I found what I wanted and marked the
top. I basted the 3 layers together, as
there are always leftover scraps of batting around the sewing room. I thought I had the perfect color of thread,
I did but it was hand quilting thread not machine thread. So it was wait for
the next day for another trip to the store.
Now I was ready to quilt. I decided to try something different. Not
always a good idea when time and purpose is important but thought it would be
okay. If I am ‘stitching in the ditch’
quilting I use the walking foot on my sewing machine. If free motion quilting
is required I take it off the machine and put on the appropriate foot. The quilt design I chose was mostly straight
lines with some gentle curves. I thought I might try using the walking foot and
gently turn the quilt sandwich as I stitched along the lines. In a couple of
places I did have to stop and needle down the machine and pivot for a tighter
turn but it did work.
I have finished the project and taken a picture of the wall
hanging. I am pleased with the results. Tomorrow I will deliver it to the
chairperson for the fundraiser. I hope it brings a good price. Not just because
I put a lot of work into it but because I love my grandson!

Learning and Growing

A couple of days ago I attended my local quilt guild
meeting. Our program was by Shannon Shirley. It was a trunk show illustrating
her growth as a quilter over 25 years.
There were a lot of quilts!

One might think that her growth would be of perfecting her
sewing and quilting stitches , perhaps the complexity of design. It did all of that and more. She spoke of her
entry into the quilt world and how her personality affected her quilts. She is
not one to sit still! By now you are wondering what she did? She continued to
learn, not just for betterment of skills but learning new techniques.

Each time the opportunity arose to learn a new technique she
took the class. She said in learning she “would put that skill into her
toolbox.” Most of the time she would
make a small project so she would complete it and therefor have a record to
refer to. She may never use it again but she knew now how to do it. Actually
she did incorporate many into her quilts.

As it happens she has opened her mind to new to new
possibilities and created new twists on some of the techniques. She certainly
lite a fire in the minds of some of our members. The emails are appearing
quickly in response to her program. I expect that we will see some terrific
quilts in the near future by our guild members.

Shannon is currently writing a book and has two more in
line. We are looking forward to their release.

Weekend Activity - Creative Arts Summit

Just a quick comment. I am attending the Creative Arts Summit in the Dulles area of Virginia. I had felt I was at a crossroads in my business and was not sure how much I would get from this event. I have pages of notes and a renewal focus and energy to continue. I have met some wonderful and inspiring women. So glad I came.

I'm Featured in 'Quilts from 100 Blocks'

“Quilts from 100 Blocks” is a special issue released by Quiltmaker’s Magazine. Quilts featured in this issue were featured in previous volumes of the “100 Blocks” magazines.
I am pleased to say that I have a quilt featured in this special “Quilts from
100 Blocks” issue. The quilt uses my Ahoy block from Volume 1 and it turned out quite stunning. There are 18 quilts are featured and you will want to make each one. The magazine will be on the newsstands today.
Quiltmaker will be giving away 20 complimentary issues on their blog site today. Just go to www.quiltmaker.com/blogs/quiltypleasures and look under Recent Posts for 'Rocks the Blocks'. Good Luck.