Guild Meeting - February

Just a few (or more) photos of our February guild meeting.  We're getting more stream-lined as we go along and things with the new board seem to be going good!

This month, our program was "Designing with Precuts" and the presenter had lots of good tips and examples.  We had lots of participation in the Purple Color Challenge and 17 quilts were donated for the baby quilt charity challenge (not to mention the donations for Genesis House and the Veterans).  BTW, that's my Veteran's quilt up there (4th row, 1st position)!

And a few Sew & Tell photos...there's always lots of inspiration here!  If you'd like, you might click on the collage to see the photos a bit bigger!

January Guild Meeting

Just thought I'd share some photos from our guild meeting in January.  The collages are small, but if you click on them, you can see them photos a bit bigger.

This first set of photos contain pictures from the "formal" portion of our meeting.  The program (fabric folding), charity quilts, door prizes, challenge quilts, pink color challenge, and mystery quilt are all included here.

And, this, is our sew and tell!  Lot's of fun stuff here.  This month, I even showed my quilt top from last year's guild BOM (top row, third position).

It's a Mystery

I'm in charge of the guild's mystery quilt this year.  It's so fun to give clues each month and answer questions that the members come up with as we move along!  I have not completed this quilt yet, but instead opted to quilt along, but just one month ahead of the group.  This way,  I am able to show the completed blocks as an example at each guild meeting when the clue is revealed.  With the designer's permission, I have broken the piecing instructions down into 6 clues, each containing 2 parts.

This is clue one, Units #1 & #2.  I gave this clue in January, 4-patches and half-square triangles.

And clue two was given this month at the guild meeting.  Units #3 & #4 are more half-square triangles and quarter-half triangles.

I'm sure many of you are beginning to recognize this design.  If you know who the designer is and which quilt this is...please do not spoil it for the others in the comments (but feel free to comment otherwise - just please don't give it away).  I'll give the designer credit at the end of our mystery, of course!

I'd be happy to answer any questions and/or discuss this with you through email :)  

Linking up to Sew Darn Crafty @ Sew Many Ways

RSC13 - Purple

This month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge color is PURPLE and if you remember, January's color was PINK.  Here is my progress report for both since I have been neglecting to blog about RSC weekly.

  

I began the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year (see my first pink post) thinking I was going to concentrate on just one project and each month I would add a few blocks to it in the designated color of the month.  This project is Bonnie Hunter's "Bow-Dacious!"

This month, I finished the blocks for the "Bow-Dacious!" quilt very early on (I know...I should have been blogging about it each week) so I decided to make a few more 4-patch units still using the same size strips which will eventually become part of  "Four Patch Revisited" which is the pattern right after "Bow-Dacious!" in the book Adventures with Leaders and Enders by Bonnie Hunter.

And then...I finished those...and still had more scraps!  So...back to Bonnie Hunter's books!  This one is called "Wild Child" and can be found in he book, String Fling.  Unfortunately, I ended up making more scraps by the time I was finished with these blocks...so maybe I need just one more RSC project?!?!  Or not!

Linking up with SoScrappy's RSC13.

Free Motion Quilting

This was my first attempt at free motion quilting.  This is the quilt I am donating to the Veteran's Home this year.  I love the scrap piecing...it was so much fun to do!  The (domestic table top, Bernina 820 midarm) machine quilting, well, not as much fun.  I've got to get in a rhythm and get better; then I hope it will be more fun.

Since this is a medallion-style quilt, I took advantage of that and practiced a few different quilty techniques. The center section was just stitched in the ditch.  The blue star border got some loopy loops.  The string blocks were meandered and the final border got some star and loop patterning.  I purposefully used a neutral bobbin so that I could see how the effects were working on the dark backing for this first attempt.  I realize that this isn't the most desirable way to finish a quilt - it was for the learning curve!

This month our guild's baby quilt coordinator challenges us each to complete at least one baby quilt to donate.  Thus, my second attempt at meandering was this baby quilt panel.  I found that I was beginning to get some skipped stitches when moving the quilt towards me, so I tried to focus movement on pushing the quilt away instead.  It's done...

And since I got that one done early, I went ahead and whipped up another one!  This one did give me a tough time quilting.  Lots of skipped stitches, but I stopped, tucked threads, etc., and got it done.  I'm chalking this up to an experimental learning experience in thread and fabric weights.

Done, done with charity projects for this month.  And of course, after I turned in the Veteran's quilt at the guild meeting this month, the Veteran's Home coordinator issued HER challenge for a 40x60 vet quilt per member by next month - I guess all of our charities are stocking up early this year!

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict's "Can I get a Whoop Whoop?" Friday!

Snow Day!

Did you hear that the Governor of Missouri has declared a State of Emergency today?  Traffic is at a standstill on the highways, tractor trailers are just sliding off the roads and flipping over.  Our snow plow came around and salted the roads, but did he plow...well no, not really...it's kinda hard to move ice!  It snowed ice!  We began the morning with wet hail and for the remainder of the day, little tiny ice balls fell from the sky (and it was a heavy ice fall)!  

Today was a snow day!  No school, no work, just stay home and keep warm!   So what did I do today?  Well, I finished up this lovely little Christmas Wall hanging for Debbie!  She has had it sitting in her sewing room, waiting in line for completion since the 90s!  It was time to get this little beauty finished!

Really, it only took a few hours.  She was already beginning to hand quilt the borders when she let it go, so I brought it home last night and whipped up a hanging sleeve and binding.  Then I just sat down and finished the border quilting, attached the sleeve and binding.  This morning I finished it up by stitching down the binding.  All done and oh, so cute!!

And, tomorow's a snow day, too...no school!

Sew Day - February

I've been so busy that I've completely neglected my blog.  I've got so many challenges going in the quilt guild, Sew Day and in blogland that I forget to blog about them (but I have been remembering to snap pictures)!

These are a few photos from our Sew Day this month.  It's always a fun day of sewing and sharing!  The center photo is my version of our 2013 Sew Day quilt, "Dazzling Scraps."  There are two more being displayed in the top right corner!  Its a fun, but tedious one!

So, what did I accomplish at Sew Day (besides a ton of chatting and admiring everyone else's projects)?  Well, I just finished quilting 2 baby quilt panels (guild challenge) and a quilt for the Veteran's Home, so I set myself to tacking bindings down by hand.  This is a great activity for Sew Days because I don't have to lug my machine!

Get It Done! - January 2013

I guess I'm a bit late on everything this month...I can't believe it's February already, but here it is!  And, here's my update on Judy's Get It Done! Challenge.

My January goals were:

• Keep current with piecing the clues on Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street - DONE!

Finished "Easy Street" Top

• Gather Americana fabrics & cut pieces for Sew Day Scrappy Star Quilt - DONE!

"Dazzling Scraps" quilt top is now finished

• Learn to host a Linky Party for the new UFO Challenge 2013 - DONE!

Tested on post below - UFO Challenge February 2013

• Sew together 2 pin cushions for sewing machine throat. - No Progress :(

February goals:
~ Sandwich & begin quilting "Dazzling Scraps"
~ Piece 17 purple bowtie blocks for RSC13
~ Update Army scrapbook
~ Make 1 baby quilt for donation

Let's see if I can make better progress and finish everything up this month! 

UFO Challenge - February 2013

How did everyone do on the UFO Challenge in January?  Did you finish your #5 project?  Unfortunately, I did not.   I still have work to do on the XOXO wedding quilt, but I did learn how to post a linky party!  Woohoo...so...please link up your January progress post below!

I know this post is a bit late...and February is a short month anyway, so hopefully you'll forgive me.

February's UFO # is...

Which project is #10 on your list?

Liebster Award!

It has been said, around the blogosphere, that the Liebster Award originated in Germany (maybe, probably, well by it's name...that's a good guess), and is used to highlight smaller, lesser known blogs and more specifically, blogs with less than 200 (once 2,000 or 300) followers.  The gist of the award is that you "accept' with the intention of "paying it forward" (modern day chain mail?).  Upon accepting the award, one chooses 11 blogs (I think it used to be 3-5) that you feel are deserving of more subscribers and "nominate" them for the award.  No one is obligated to accept the award (or even to pay it forward), but it does help to generate traffic and get the word out about some really great little blogs that can be crammed full of big punches of inspiration!  For now, let's just say, it's a fun and friendly award by bloggers, to bloggers, for bloggers! 

Thanks to Kevin @ Kevin the Quilter for nominating my "Peachy Pages!" And now, the current rules (or at least the set of rules that has been attached to my particular nomination):

• To qualify the blog must have less than 200 followers or must be less than six months old.  
• Once the award is received you are to write a post and in it:

1. List 11 random things about yourself.
2. Answer the questions posed by the blogger who nominated you.
3. Nominate 11 blogs for the Liebster Award and link to them.
4. Create 11 questions for your nominees to answer.

And so, without further ado... 

Random Things About Myself:

1. I don't enjoy blogging about myself...I'd rather blather on about my projects/travels, etc.
2. I would love to join a produce co-op.  I keep reading blogs about them, and now I wanna find one.  
3. I don't like eating meat and I often pick the meat out of my meal (and fling it on my hubby's plate).  I'm not a vegetarian, but I could be...I think.
4. I'd love to learn more about "clean foods" and desire the willpower to eat heathy 95% of the time.  Enough about food (it's dinner time).
5. My first crafty hobby was cross-stitch.  I still love to cross-stitch and I'm quite good at it, if I do say so myself.
6. My first "real job" was in the orderly room of a hospital in Turkey.
7. I love musicals!  "Rent" is one of my absolute faves!
8. I hate the mall!  If I need something, I take a mental list and get in and out as quickly as possible!
9. I'm a terrible gift-giver.  Please, just tell me which gift card you prefer.
10. You can keep the long walks on the beach, I'll take a hike in the mountains any day.
11. I pick up the accents of people I'm speaking to...it's weird...and it sticks for a bit!  I can't help it!

Answers to Kevin's Questions:

1.  Who is the person most responsible for introducing you to quilting?  My mother-in-law taught me to quilt less than a year after I got married.  I learned to trace templates, cut with scissors...my, how times have changed!  BTW, my mother-in-law, doesn't quilt much - actually, I can't remember her ever really quilting, but she sews all kinds of other stuff!  Maybe it had something to do with cutting out templates with scissors!?!?!  Have I ever told you that I love my rotary cutter!

2. What is the first quilting project you ever made, and how old were you when you made it?  Well, my first log cabin pieced pillow top was rainbow colored and made in the 7th grade.  It wasn't quilted though, just sewn to the backing and stuffed with a pillow form!  Ahhh....Home Ec...

3. Who is your most favorite quilt designer?  Do you have to ask?  The great Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville fame, of course!

4. How many quilting projects have you made to date?  A lot.  I've been quilting for 20 years, I give a bunch away and I don't really care to count, sorry!  I will tell you that I prefer to make bed size quilts - and I don't own a long arm!

5. What is your most favorite breed of dog?  "Poor-pathetica,"  I love a mutt, generally the runt of the litter.  We have two dogs (14 & 5 years old), both mixes (lab/boxer/tick houndish & runty houndish), both female, and they are the sweetest dogs you'll ever meet.

6. What color is the shell on the eggs you eat?  Well, that's an easy one...I don't eat eggs!

7. What is the longest flight you have ever been on, and where were you going?  St. Louis to Tokyo (layover in Chicago) was probably the longest, maybe?  We move around pretty often, therefore we fly just as often.

8. Which is your most favorite city to visit?  A different city every time!  I'm not much of a city girl, but I LOVE to see new things.  We've seen many fabulous cities - maybe not all pretty, but always exciting!

9. Where is the best Quilt Shop you have ever been to, and what is it’s name?  Tomato in Tokyo's garment district.  It was a great store for all fabrics Asian!  Or Domdemun in Seoul, Korea...HUGE fabric MALL!

10. Do you have a large or small family?  Pretty average family size...hubby, 2 kids, 2 dogs.

11. Have you ever gone fishing? If so, what is the biggest fish you have ever caught?  I used to go bass fishing with my dad when I was a little girl.  Biggest fish?  I don't know.  How big is a bass at the Big Bass Lake?  70, 80 pounds?  LOL!  I'm telling a BIG fish story!

My Blog Nominations (in no particular order):
1.  Deb @ Northern Deb Quilts
2.  Andee @ The Modern Diary
3.  Karen @ Stitching Circle
4.  Dee @ Dee's Quilt Therapy
5-11...and here's the part where I reserve my last 8 nominations for a later date...why?  'Cuz I've been typing too long and I'm drawing a blank!?!?!!!

Questions for My Nominees:
1.  What's your favorite LQS or crafty store?
2.  What types of things spark your creative inspiration?
3.  What are some of your favorite blogs any why?
4.  What are the top 3 things on your creative to do list this year?
5.  Where would you go on your dream vacation?
6.  What has been your favorite travel experience?
7.  What's playing on your TV and iPod lately?
8.  Do you feel you "give back" and how so?
9.  What 5 sites do you like for shopping online?
10.  What was your favorite class/lecture you ever attended?
11.  Why do you blog?  

Phheww.....that was a lot of work!  And wayyyy too much information about me, but it did give me something to blog about today!  So, tomorrow, I'm maybe just gonna post some pictures with no words!?!?  

Now I just hope that my nominees don't mind being put on the spot!  It's fun!  Really!  Thanks again, Kevin, for the nomination!