Saturday, July 28, 2012

Quilt show Friday

Friday was a fun day.  A few of my quilting buddies and I met at my house and we all got in my van and we went to New Braunfels to the semi-annual Quilt Show.  The show is big enough to fill a day, but small enough keep from being overwhelming.  My biggest purchase I will not pick up until September. I paid a deposit on a quilt kit that is themed on the Quilt Across Texas a statewide shop hop.  Now anyone that could get their card stamped at all of the 90 shops would accomplish quite a feat.  I would not even begin to think about trying it, but one of the shops involved is local for me and they have put together a quilt that looks awesome.  They cannot release the kit until September when the QAT ends.  I will be anxiously awaiting.

I have been to this show in New Braunfels before, and I have a favorite restaurant just down the street, so I lured my friends to lunch at the Huisache Grill and we all had a delicious lunch in an awesome atmosphere. This is probably one of my favorite restaurants and I know all the food is good, but I always order the same thing so I can have my "shrimp Louis" salad.  I have posted about the Huisache before.

The next show that I will be attending with my quilting friends is in Houston in November.  It is the BIG one.  I have limited stamina for being on my feet, so even though it is a mind-boggling experience... one day is just fine for me.  We are going on a bus that has been chartered by a local quilt shop.  There are seven in our group and this is the second time we will be doing this.  There are a couple different ladies going this time, so I had to get some more bags labeled with their names.  These backpacks help us to be hands-free as we walk the floor of the show, and the yellow color helps us to stand out in the crowd so we can spot each other at a distance.  There are literally thousands of people at this show, so anything to help find a comrade is helpful.  We did it last time and it worked nicely.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Clothesline update

This clothesline quilt is taking a fair amount of time.  It isn't hard to do, but it does require me to be pretty precise with stitching. and cutting if I want everything to go together nicely. 

This is the first row of the three needed to complete the piecing. Once the other two rows are done, adding the sashing and the outside borders will be a piece of cake.  The backing and binding have already been cut from the original nine 3/4 yard cuts, so no decision will have to be made regarding what to use for the backing.  The binding is pieced from the 9 fabrics also.

This quilt has an unknown origination.  At our church quilt group we have lots of people that bring in a box to donate to our stash, and in these boxes there are remnants from a mother's or grandmother's sewing room.  In the boxes we sometimes find pieces of  fabric, thread, notions, patterns, blocks and partially pieced blocks, or as in this case... a quilt top that was partially put together.  This quilt top had all the pieces, I just had to make some adjustments and finish the top.  The fabric I brought home to use for the backing wasn't enough, so I pieced the backing and I really like how it turned out. I  quite often intentionally piece the backing because I think it gives the quilt a little more character. This quilt will be a gift to a new baby at our church from the quilting ladies.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Vermont in June


It surely is a long drive to get to Vermont from here.  There really are no shortcuts, it is just a long long way away.  Our first day in Vermont was beautiful.  The weather was favorable and five of my grandchildren were able to join us on the island.  I think all five really enjoyed the boats and the water in general.  All, except for little Benj, took a turn at paddling around in the one man kayak.  Even I paddled around a bit.

Have you ever seen a sunset over Lake Champlain?  It is quite an experience to view.  This picture hardly does it justice.


Now on the homefront I needed to find a project that I could work on in the living room while we are watching TV in the evening.  I like to have something to keep my hands busy.  I found a pattern a while back for a quilt called a Clothes Line quilt that I found online after doing a search.

 What makes this quilt different than the average is how the pieces are organized.  There are 9 groups of 9 - 9 patches.  After cutting 9 strips from 9 fabrics, there are organizer cards that mix up the layout so that no two blocks are the same in each subset (large block).  Each stripset makes 9 identical blocks, and these smaller blocks are then mixed up for the big blocks.

This project is spread around in space available in the living room.  I have a table set in front of the window which gives me lots of light during the daytime, but my lighting is not so great in the evening.  I don't want to make my corner too bright to over power the TV.  Husband doesn't complain about the noise, so I don't want to infringe on his TV any more than necessary.

I have not been real good about posting lately.  It seems that alot has been going on.  I will make an effort to post my progress on this project so what I have described so far will make more sense.