On the Second Day of Christmas...

We had a really nice time in Shreveport: lovely Christmas Eve service, where Larry's Dad, Stan, sang in the choir, followed by a dinner party with Stan's girlfriend, Sabra, and her whole family. That might seem like a pretty remote connection, but even though this was the first time we had met anyone besides Sabra, they were very nice and we had lots of fun. 8)
Last year, my sister, Cindi, gave me a lovely felted wool snowman Christmas kit and a stack of coordinating flannel fat quarters. Here's the wool.
I loved working with the felted wool for the puppy dog pincushion. This looked like lots of fun too, only there were 36 (yes 36!) tiny little flannel log cabins that had to be made first. Thankfully, they are not at THIS stage anymore.

I worked and worked (wasn't I supposed to be resting?) and got all 36 of the little blighters done. Here is my first shot at arranging the log cabin blocks. You can see in the picture that the wool design extends out to cover a few of the log cabin blocks, so they have to be ready first. I'm only going to sew together the row of blocks that gets overlapped, so I don't have to embroider the center while holding the whole quilt top.

I'm going to replace the corner snowflakes with Christmas trees. I don't like the bright white snowflake color, and they look like way too much trouble anyway. I think Christmas trees will look much better.

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas Day. Remember, the 12 Days of Christmas only just STARTED yesterday, they run through the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th. It always makes me so sad to see real Christmas trees pitched out on the afternoon of the 25th, just as the real Christmas season is getting started.

Dinosaur Panel Quilt - Simple Quilting Techniques

After about 2 weeks of recuperation, I finally felt strong enough to manhandle this flannel quilt around under my machine. I did simple stitch-in-the-ditch on the inner black and brown borders. Here it is, all done except for the binding. Instead of my usual stippling, I outlined the dinosaurs in dark blue, then simply channel stitched the border, seen below on the back of the quilt.
This quilt demonstrates that very easy quilting techniques may be used to good effect on a domestic machine. Our charity long-arm quilter recently had to recuse herself from participation, which caused some concern because hardly anyone likes to stipple but me.

I used the backing flannel for the binding. (Note to self: ALWAYS press binding seams wide open to avoid big flannel lumps.) It took me longer to bind this quilt than it did to quilt it. And the pins really had it in for me. I got a ding on my palm that still hurts today. lol

Stitching and Healing

I decided to start small and recuperate from surgery last week by stitching tiny projects, then as my Vicodin is reduced, work up to something more challenging. These were the easiest kits I had on hand, and they worked up very quickly.
Except for the name I actually had the stitching done on the cardinal a long time ago. I decided to give it to my sister, so I personalized and finished it in about 1/2 hour. BTW My family rarely reads my blog, so this should still be a surprise present. lol Now I just have to decide who gets the other two, then I'll make them up as well. 8)

I bought this wool pincushion kit at the The Quilted Apple in Phoenix this past fall. Everyone is right, wool is really fun to work with. I made it yesterday. I think it turned out adorable. I'm planning to give it to Larry's Grandma; she's 99 years old and still loves to make and receive handmade crafts.

BTW I have proof now that needlework kits don't "go bad". The sticker on the Christmas stocking cross-stitch kits read 1990. I still remember buying them at the Art Galleries at Bahia Mar on Padre Island. I was 29 then and they cost $1.50 each. Those days are GONE, but the kits live on. 8)

Two Big Winners at the Houston Quilt Festival

Sue McCarty of Roy, Utah, who did the fabulous Tolkien quilt from last year, won big again this year with "Meditation", which won the "Superior Threads Master Award for Thread Artistry"($5000). Last year Ms. McCarty won a similar prize for Tolkien, PLUS the Viewers' Choice award. Her Tolkien quilt still ranks as the single most amazing quilt I've ever seen anywhere, but the quilting on her "Meditation" really rocks too. 8)

My other favorite of the big winners was "Tea with Miss D." by Sandra Leichner of Albany, Oregon. Ms. Leichner's quilt is simply charming! "Tea with Miss D." won the Fairfield Master Award for Contemporary Artistry ($5000). This rather unassuming little quilt is incredibly special in so many ways.

Let's start with the back for a change, shall we? Have you ever seen such a darling label? It's an invitation to a tea party!

She made realistic looking tea bags for the quilt by using both french knots and buttons, then covered them with organza. They look so real! The bowl of all the teaspoons are triple appliqued to give the illusion of depth.The attention to detail on this quilt is unbelievable. There's piping, buttons, embroidery, applique, and absolutely gorgeous quilting, yet it remains dainty and charmingly artless, with an "Oh this? It's just something I threw together last week." sort of appeal. Absolutely delectable!

Dear Janes at Houston!

I saw two exceptional Dear Janes at the Houston International Quilt Festival this past weekend. The first one was "Jane Through the Centuries" by Nancy Ryder, quilted by Cat Marion. You would recognize this stunning "Jane" in a heartbeat.

This traditional version was a premier member of the Texas Guilds' Award Winning Traditional Quilts, non-judged exhibition. I was very impressed by the skill level demonstrated by ALL the Texas ladies in this exhibition.

I didn't even recognize "Jeepers... It's Jane!" by Beth Schillig of Columbus, OH as a daughter quilt until I read the placard. What a stunner, and so impressively innovative. Ms. Schillig really made this Jane her own. It was placed appropriately enough in the "Mixed Technique" field, where it failed to take a ribbon, but won high praise from everyone who saw it.The colors were delightful and her technical ability was superb. There's nothing like making a Dear Jane to really hone those fine quilting skills. 8) Lovely!

October Finish

I got the pansies and leopard quilt bound yesterday. I'm so pleased with the way it turned out.

I know some little child is going to just love the leopard Minkee, which almost makes up for the enormous PITA it was to stipple. lol It just would NOT move around smoothly at all!

This was mostly a scrap quilt. The pansies are from the "cigarette smoke" collection of 2008.

The purples are multiple fat quarters (and smaller) from my stash.
And the orange water colors are from the Las Vegas remnant bag cram of 2008.

September (yes September) Finish

Fortunately Kris at Tagalong Teddies believed me that I REALLY DID finish something in September. I made this purse from the "Got Pockets?" pattern before we went on vacation in Scottsdale.

I really wanted to make a purse using the beautiful Minnesota batik fabric that my brother-in-law bought for my birthday last year ALL BY HIMSELF. I should have looked more carefully at the pattern because after I got started I realized that it had 42 (yes, 42) pattern pieces. Yikes! I got them all cut out and labeled:

And got the piles all sorted and numbered:

And before too long I had it all assembled. It really does have LOTS of nice pockets.

With lots of cool zippers.

It went together quickly; however, I followed the pattern a little TOO closely, and the pattern has a definite error in one of the pictures. My purse is "unique" in that the straps go across the body of the purse, instead of along each side. Sigh. This makes it impossible to shift up over your shoulder. That's what I get for following the pattern uncritically. I should know better by now!

Now I'm on the lookout for some nice leather straps. I'll cut off the existing handles, leaving tabs, then attach the leather straps the "correct" way.

Quilt of Valor Top Complete.... Finally!

The Quilt of Valor top that the Blanketeers have been working on for more than a year is finally complete; meaning I FINALLY finished putting it together. Two weeks ago it looked like this:

With most of the quilt just in strips and with paper still on the one block that is standing up.

Now it is all together, borders and everything. I think it looks terrific! Thanks to all the women who made it possible. I don't think I've ever worked on anything so large; it ended up being 68" x 68".

Sheila (bless her heart!) agreed to iron it. I ironed it just enough to put it together, but it really needs a complete pressing before we send it off to a Quilt of Valor quilter, whom I still have to locate.
I also have to find some backing fabric, 4.25 yards of it, to be exact. We looked all over the Trinity Valley Quilt show for some yesterday, but no luck. The show was terrific, but I was told there were about 20 fewer vendors there than usual, and the variety of reds and patriotic fabrics was limited - so the hunt continues!

Dinosaur Panel Quilt

And then there's the dinosaur panel quilt that I bought as a kit in Austin on the shop hop last year. I was very taken by the vibrant colors and thought it might be fun to work with flannel for a change.
It wasn't until I opened up the kit that I realized it was meant to be a wall hanging rather than a quilt. It was way too long and narrow to be a quilt! I got around this by making the outer two borders wider on the sides and narrower on the top and bottom. A few inches each way was all it took.
Aren't these fellows cute? I really love the vibrant colors. Since it was flannel, I decided not to pre-wash. Flannel wears out so quickly as it is. I'll wash it before it gets donated though, probably in ice water with multiple color catchers. lol

I haven't decided if I'm going to stipple it or try to outline it. If I do decide to do outline quilting, it definitely won't be with clear thread again. That was such a pain to work with!

French Braid Baby Quilt

Here is another quilt on my to-do list. The Blanketeers inherited a bunch of small pieces of fabric in several tonal colorways, yellow, pink and blue. I immediately thought of the book "French Braid Obsession" by Jane Hardy Miller. I have never made a french braid quilt before, but I absolutely love the look. I'm starting with the yellow colorway. I spent hours getting the different tones in the "right" order.

I'm planning a simple braid border around an ivory center square. I have not decided exactly how the center will be embellished, but it will be kid-friendly. Unfortunately this quilt keeps getting re-prioritized lower and lower, but I'll get to it eventually. 8)