Returns

I promised more pictures of Penny's New York Beauty. True confessions? I don't really know the pattern's name. It reminds me of the paper pieced patterns by Judy Niemeyer. I forgot to ask Penny what the name of the pattern was. She did some beautiful piecing. The top was wonderful to quilt.



















I also have some pictures of the most recent top I did for Quilts of Valor. I am horribly late in returning it to the local group. I wish I could quilt full time and do more tops for them.






I have one more quilt to deliver this afternoon, but I have not taken any pictures of it. It is a cute baseball themed quilt with fleece backing. It should be a warm and cuddly quilt.

Long Beach Quilt Festival

I have spent the last four days at the Long Beach International Quilt Festival. I met and talked to so many wonderful people. There are so many people blogging out there! I exchanged blog addresses with many people. I'll share them later.

I posted about the class I took with Roberta Horton, but I also took a Triangular String Quilts class from her sister Mary Mashuta. I had my first experience with a Sampler Class.
Two hours to hear 14 teachers teach a mini-class. It would have been quite exciting if I hadn't been so exhausted. I sat down to listen to one of the teachers and started to fall asleep. It was not a comment on the teacher's subject matter or teaching style. It was a comment on the effects of a 4:30 A.M. wake up call from my alarm clock. I had to get up very early to make it to the show in time for my shifts.



The rest of the time I was working at the show. I was a quilt guardian (I'm sorry this is a no photography area), I sold programs (Programs are $1.00. No, I'm sorry I can't give you one to replace the one you lost) and I helped take down the exhibits.


















I did make a few purchases. Not too many though. On Saturday I bought something to keep my hands busy while I waited for the Saturday Sampler to begin.
I stopped by the Cotton and Chocolate booth. A very nice lady was demonstrating making these hexagons. They sold them in a cute project bag, which I didn't buy. I bought the papers, thread and a charm pack. The very nice lady, whose name I forgot, cut the charm pack into fourths for me. As you can see I've made a few. What am I going to do with them, you ask? Who knows? But, it kept my fingers busy. They're fun and quick to make. I'm sure a quilt's worth will not be quick though.

Class

I'm taking "The Great American Scrap Quilt" from Roberta Horton. So far we've played with value placement in a block to see different effects. Her quilts are spectacular in person.


-- Post From My iPhone

New York Beauty

I've been working on this New York Beauty quilt today. I'm almost done. I just have to finish the star bursts. It's so much fun to work on. More pictures later.

My Weekend

Can I just say I love the maps feature on my iPhone. I can use it to find new quilt shops. Yesterday, hubby and I were driving to Escondido for Spicy's dance recital, and we were going to arrive very early. What could we do to pass the time? I used the map's search feature to find quilt shops in the area, of course! Unfortunately, there was only time to visit one of the shops.



I was lucky enough to find Quilter's Paradise was only about two miles away from where the recital was going to be. It is a lovely shop. Friendly staff, and a great selection of fabrics. I was not good. I bought more fabric. No, I don't really have a plan for them. They're just helping my stash grow. I know I should go on a stash diet, but it's so hard when the fabrics are so beautiful.













We did make it to the recital in plenty of time to see Spicy and her friends dance. These two were so cute. They kept looking at each other throughout the dance. It caused them to be a little out of sync with the other girls, but it was sooo cute.















I was very impressed with the talent of all the young dancers at the recital. There are some very talented young ladies, and one young man, dancing at Studio 31.

After the show Spicy was very upset because she had left her arm ruffles someplace and couldn't find them. Her first case of runny mascara. It had been a long day and it was more than a girl could handle.

















I delivered this dragon quilt to its owner today. It is such a cute quilt. It was also lots of fun to quilt. This customer usually just hands me a quilt and says, "Do what ever you want." I just ask if she wants an overall design or custom work.












Here are a couple of pictures of one of the dragons. I'm not sure how well it will show up, but the picture on the left is before quilting and the one on the right is after quilting.














Here is a slightly more detailed shot of one of the dragons.



Enough fun on the computer, back to sewing down the binding on a quilt.

Before and After

This is the Little Dresses quilt before quilting.












This is the quilt after quilting.

The dresses are a little on the poofy side, but I couldn't decide what to put inside the dresses.






Last night Spicy spent the night, my son and his family joined us for dinner. Little Man was in a good mood. His hair is getting so curly. Twinkle Toes and Spicy enjoyed the mandarin oranges.























This morning Spicy and I have been sewing letters. She was adamant that she could sew. I was skeptical, but she did a very good job controlling the speed of the machine. I helped a little bit with guiding the fabric, but most of it she did. Not bad for a four year old. She has her grandma impressed, but she is just the best four year old.

Twinkle Toes is the best three year old. Bubba is the best one and a half year old, and Little Man is the best ten month old. Isn't it wonderful when they can all be the best!

Time Out

My machine and I had a time out yesterday afternoon. After I had the problem with the occasional loopys things went downhill. I had some major tension issues. Lots of ripping. Thread breaking. Grumbling. Bad words, so we had a time out.

My hubby and I went to watch our granddaughter's last swim lesson of the season. Her nickname is Spicy, because she is. She is also Feisty, but I'll go with Spicy.




The child loves the water, and she's almost fearless in it. She was, of course, the best swimmer in her class. No really, she was. Just ask her mom. Ask anyone. They'll tell you, she's the best.








Then we went to her dance class. She was, of course, the most talented ballerina there. No really, just ask her mom. Ask anyone. They'll tell you, she's the best.





Hi, my name is Lynn, and I'm addicted to my grandkids.












Now, I'm ready to face my machine this morning.

Arrgh! Loopys

I hate it when I advance a quilt and find those dreaded loops on the back. Not everywhere, mind you. Just occassionally.


-- Post From My iPhone

What's on my design wall

Well, not much new is on my wall this week. I've got the blocks for the table runner put together, but I'm stuck about what's next. I know I want sashing between the blocks, but I'm not sure about the outside edges. I have about a bazillion little half-square triangles left from different projects. I think that they overwhelm the flying geese blocks though.

I've pretty much talked myself into buying Quilt Pro rather than EQ6. Quilt Pro will run on my MacBook without any additional software, a big plus.








When my friendship group was over on Saturday, I remembered these blocks. I like piecing the string blocks. It's almost mindless piecing, and they always look good. I do have a few batik strings to use up.




Now no, "My stash of strings is bigger than your stash of strings" stuff. This is not a competition.







The other thing I want to try with the strings are some free pieced letters. Lazy Gal Tonya has the greatest quilts done with these. Something to put on my wish list.

Good Day

My friendship group came over today. We had a wonderful time, as always. We put the quilt that we made on the frame, and they watched while I started the quilting.





I've put the blocks together for the flying geese table runner. I'm now scratching my head and wondering what to do next? How do pattern designers do it? I feel like I'm putting together a puzzle without knowing what the picture is supposed to be.

That leads me to thinking about purchasing EQ6. I could play with designs and colors without ever having to make blocks or move things around on my design wall. But, to what end? I don't know that I have aspirations to ever make patterns or teach classes of my original designs. I wonder if it's worth the investment to make quilts just for me.
If you use EQ6 would you leave me a comment as to how much you use it and like it? Thanks





I have gotten the blocks made and put together for the Bali Sea Star quilt. I made it smaller than the directions in the book. The book has a pretty piano key border. I'm not going to be doing that I don't really have the time for a pieced border. Shhh. . . I'm making lap quilts for my spinning friends.

Quilt Run

A friend and I went to a few shops in the Southern California Quilters' Run. We visited 4 shops. Three were new to me. Isn't it fun visiting new shops? It's a lot like a party. They had yummy snacks at each of the shops.

My spending was pretty well controlled. I only bought a few pieces of fabric. Really, I was good.









The party favors were patterns and beads.

Now that I think of it, only two shops, Timeless Quilts and The Quilt Cupboard, were new to me. I've been to Bear's in Garden Grove for longarm guild meetings, and Flying Geese isn't truly a new shop for me. When we lived in Tustin I used to shop at Flying Geese when they were located in Irvine.

I want to get to Ginger's Quilt Shoppe and Fabric Patch on Sunday. Not to buy fabric. No really, I have to turn in my passport after all, and get two more block patterns. Really, no more fabric.

Little Pillow and a quilt

This is a pillow that I made for DGD1. I made the maverick stars on Quiltville. It's a little lumpy. I didn't use a pillow form. I just stuffed it with fiberfill. I think it would have been much better had I taken the time to buy a pillow form.





This quilt is in the final stretch for being finished. All it needs is the binding stitched down. I started this when Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville was having Super Bowl Twist weekend. The quilt is her Strip Twist pattern. I've had the top done for awhile. It just needed quilting. Do any of you other longarmers ever feel guilty for squeezing in your own quilts between customer quilts? I sure do, but I did it anyway. I justify it by telling myself that I'm using my quilts to practice.





I did practice with this one. The quilting doesn't really show up on the front, perfect for practicing. A busy back would have been even better, but the plain back helps me better evaluate my quilting. Feathered wreaths are not easy for me. I'm never quite satisfied with the way that the feathers look. I did some non-traditional feathers so that my wonky feathers would, hopefully, just blend right in. From a distance it doesn't look half bad.

What's on my design wall

Thank you Judy, for your "What's On Your Design Wall?" Mondays. It has been a great incentive to me to get things done.

I finished making all the blocks for Scrap Basket Blues. I should have them put together by this evening.














Next up is a table runner. I am going to be demonstrating making flying geese units at the outdoor quilt show in October. I thought it would be good to have a small project to show some of the units done up. In my usual style I jumped in with both feet and just started making flying geese using Eleanor Burns' flying geese rulers. I like her method because the units turn out the right size every time. There is some waste of fabric (ick), but the ease of piecing the units makes up for that.

I have more of the center units to make before I can begin assembling the blocks.

Anyway, I played with the units with no sashing, and didn't like it. I tried again with some sashing, and I like it better. After I assemble the blocks I might try it on point with setting triangles.

I want to have this done by the end of the month as part of the Charming Girls Quilt Club.








In the new Quick Quilts there is a pattern by Gerri Robinson, Breezy Afternoon, that uses a flying geese unit (flying goose?). I'd like to make some of these also, but I don't know that I'll get to it. I really like this quilt though. It's simple, but it will let you play with colors. That's my favorite part of quiltmaking, playing with colors.







My husband has been brewing beer this morning while I've been working on this blog entry. He's making a stout this time. Dark beers are his favorite. Me? I'm not much of a beer drinker, but I'm glad he has a hobby.