Madness!

Why oh why can't I decide to just quilt something nice and big and loose and easy?  Do you remember my Q1 and Q2 FAL quilt?  Oh yeah, there were several - this one

 - the Waverunner I made, oh so long ago based on a tutorial from Victoria / Bumblebeans.  (so long ago, the tutorial is no longer available on her site!)  Looks like it would be a good candidate for a nice overall quilting job, right?  Somewhere along the way I decided that those orange pieces were just crying out to have pebbles quilted in them, what, you hear them too?  Okay, so I'll do pebbles in them and then a nice easy all-over for the rest.  What - now the green pieces are feeling left out?  Okay, some ribbon candy for them.  Before I knew it I had a whole cacophony of screams for custom quilting.  I must be mad, as I have been listening to them all! 

 

 Every colour family is getting a different quilting design - sometimes it is every colour.  I figure I'm about 2/3 done, and it may not be done by the end of the second quarter, but progress is being made!   It's a darn good thing I like to practice my FMQ!

In an effort to preserve my sanity - and give me a break from the quilting, I have been busy with other projects as well.  Sometime ago, I wrote up a tutorial for a Disappearing 4Patch with a Twist.  I finally got around to making something other than potholders!  I grabbed 4 flannel FQ, cut 2 correction 4 10" squares from each and pieced my 4 patches.  Because of the bigger size, I offset my cuts to 3.5" from the corners, twisted, stitched and viola!  This was a great project to put my new sewing machine through its paces, and I have to say it did well! 

and look - I straight line quilted it!!!

aren't those chicks and monkeys fun?

What madness have you been up to???
Happy quilting!

Linking up to The Needle and Thread Network

State of shock!

The last few days I've been at the Canadian Quilters Association(CQA) annual quilt show and conference in Penticton, BC.  Being that it was so close by, a friend and I, Terry Aske, scooted up to take in the National Juried Show (NJS) - see some quilts, and be inspired. We both had entries in the show, and were curious to see how they looked.

We arrived mid afternoon on Thursday and were chatting with Jackie White, a blogging buddy, at the registration desk.  I was flipping through the booklet they produce of all the quilts in the show, looking to see how mine looked in print, when Jackie, seeing which was mine, said "Oh!  You weren't here last night.  You'd better go look at your quilt!".  Wednesday night was the awards night, and I really had no expectations of winning anything, and so had not gone up to take them in.  Based on Jackie's comments, with heart in throat we went into the show, quickly scanning the quilts looking for mine.

I really didn't know what to expect - this was my first time entering the NJS, and it was with my Flowers for Cynthia quilt which had gone down to Quilt Con and had received some less than encouraging comments from the judges there.  I was really only expecting to get the Canadian judges critique of my quilt, just to get a second opinion.  Imagine my surprise to see a ribbon, and then to realize it wasn't a third place or an Honourable Mention, which would have floored me, but an Award of Excellence!  I swear my jaw must have hit the floor - I was dumbfounded!  The lovely docent came over and suggested I go check to see what I had won.  Won?  The ribbon was thrilling enough!  I had no idea what the category or award was that I won - it just said "excellence" on the ribbon.  My second shock came when they told me that I had won the "Excellence in Workmanship for Domestic Machine Quilting" and that it was a two product prize, and directed me to the letter to see what I'd won.  Third shock - I had won a new sewing machine from Pfaff - an Expression 3.2, a thread prize from Wonderful Network of Wonderfil Thread, and there was even a cheque enclosed!

I was shaking!  We went back into the show,  to see if I could get a picture of me, my quilt and the ribbon.  Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed to be taken in the show, so I'm going to have to wait until I get my quilt and ribbon back to get one taken.  To try and calm down, we started looking at all of the other quilts - there was some amazing pieces - we definitely were inspired!  Oh the amazing work we saw - traditional and art quilts - all gorgeous. And to add to the thrill for us, we rounded a corner and found another of our friends from the Vancouver Modern Guild had won a ribbon for her quilt - way to go Stacey!  It turns out that Stacey was there on Wednesday and got a preview of the show before it opened to the public on Thursday, as well as being able to take some pictures.  See her and her beautiful quilt on her blog.  As an added bonus, she did get a picture of my quilt with it's ribbon, and that is also on her blog!

The pictures that I'm showing on the blog today are earlier pictures I took of my progress on this quilt and it's end result - I can't wait to get some new pictures with it's ribbon!

Now, to go checkout my new machine!
Happy quilting!

edited:  the award winning quilts are now posted on the CQA - NJS  page.  see them here

Here comes spring

at least I hope so!
(warning - a picture heavy post follows)

Our latest Tangled Textiles challenge theme was remnants.   I had visions of all kinds of references to remnants - remnants of another time, remnants of another place, another life, with very creative and artsy results.  But as so often happens, I ended up going in a completely different direction.  As with most quilters, I have tons of scraps - I mean, really!

 I have bags and bags of little bits that I just cannot seem to let go.  These remnants of previous projects became the starting point for my current piece.  I pulled out a bright selection, and they just said spring to me.  Spring means sunshine (or at least it should - this year has been a little lacking in the sunshine :(  so I figured I'd better make one)

and flowers

 

more flowers!

 

 

the flowers are growing!

Then, the figuring out how to fit them all together -

add a bit here, trim a bit there, insert a stem, and before you know it, you have a completed top, ready for sandwiching and quilting.

and done!

Here Comes Spring!

Pop over to Tangled Textiles to check out the other submissions!

details:
Improv pieced remnants,
16" x 20"
quilted with Aurifil,
batting cotton with half wool on top

Happy quilting!

slippage

I don't know about you, but I find that time is just slipping away from me.  I have been doing some sewing and making some progress on things, but I still can't believe we are already at the end of April!

Just to show I have made some headway, here's what I've been working on:

 
 

 

These were both very quick baby quilts that I put together - basically to see how quickly I could make a baby quilt, that wasn't complete garbage!  The top one including cutting out the fabric and then sewing and quilting the quilt was done within 5 hours.  The second one, seeing as it has a lot less quilting, and was done semi-quilt as you go, was done start to finish in just over 3 hours.  Both will be donated to the BMQG Wee Care Quilt program

 

This block was put together quickly for the VMQG block lottery draw at the last meeting.  (Seems like there is a theme this post on "quick".)  As luck would have it, I won the bunch of them that night!

 

 

and I am making some progress on my FAL projects.  A little bit of quilting has been happening on the two other projects, and this one, which started off as a stack of 16 patch leaders and enders is morphing into something a bit more interesting.  This one definitely does not qualify as quick!  Still a long way before I can say it is finished!

I have been working on my next Tangled Textiles challenge piece - reveal day is tomorrow, so you'll be seeing yet another post from me.  Feast or famine, what???

Happy quilting!

share the love

if you have a bit of spare time, it would be awesome if you could put together a small bunting flag to go to Boston.  Details can be found here at the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild site. You'll find all the info on the size, mailing requirements and some deadlines. Thank you to Berene for coming up with this great idea and for offering a couple of tutorials (here and here) for creating great flags and to Amy for coordinating the Boston end of things.

Off to put together a flag or two...
Happy quilting!

Floor Cushions

I've finally finished my VMQG Madrona Road challenge.  I missed the March meeting as I was away with work, but I'm happy to say that this is a WIP that did not become a UFO!

one done with free motion quilting

and one quilted with my walking foot

and we even had some sun for a few minutes when I took my pictures!

I'm pretty please with how they turned out, now, to get back to working on those UFOs...

Happy quilting!

2013 FAL - Q2 and distractions

Well, after my dismal results in Q1, I'm going to give it another go!  And, because I do really want to finish off those items I listed in the first quarter, they are going to appear again in the second. See this post for the original posting.

To recap - Project #1:

Baskets and Sunflowers - I did make some progress, I am working on the quilting, between distractions and I am going to get this one done!

Project #2:

Waverunner - this is sandwiched, just have to get to the quilting!

Project #3:

Scrappy patch - I'm reworking this one, but I'm really liking it and wanting it done.

I know I will get distracted with other things - today was a prime example of that.  It has been a while since I did any free motion so I thought I'd get back in the groove with a doodle sample.  Scraps of black dupioni silk and a few blue silk scraps, and a lot of fun!

divide and conquer

feather swirls

the back

I was having so much fun, and liked the piece so much when I was done that I proceeded to cut it in half and make up two pouches.  These will be treasure bags for CQA / Quilt BC.  Just have to get them in the mail.

I like this kind of distraction - now put these aside and get to work on my Q2 pieces!  Wish me luck...

Happy quilting!