I thought I would share some of my favorite quilts/quilted items from the ND quilt show this past week.  No ribbon for this one, but I thought it was so attractive.  The flowers were done with the little triangular piece of white fabric inserted between the blocks in the center of the flower, then pressed open and flat.  I thought the colors were lovely.

 A Dear Jane quilt.  Very few of the triangular border sections were pieced, but she used such interesting batiks, you didn’t miss it.

I love this little quilt.  A miniature, some of the blue pieces are only about 1/8″ wide.  I had to look closely to see if it was painted, but it is appliqued.  A gentleman did this one.  (On the card, he said he didn’t have time to make it the original size so he cut it down by half.  Hmm?)

Here we have a window valence.  Very clever, and very attractive. 

I have thought about making valences for the bedroom to coordinate with various quilts, and have a strip of wood tacked up with velcro on it so I could change them out on a whim.  Still just an idea in my head; will probably never make it to the “done” stage.

And a wool piece.  The wool is so rich looking.  I thought this one was particularly lovely:

I thought this last wool one would make a fun puzzle, so here it is:

–Sue

Previously I had shown you two of the dresses on display at the ND Quilt Show that were specially designed and made for the Chanhassen Dinner Theater of 7 Brides for 7 Brothers (summer of 2008).  Here are four more dresses (and turns out I photographed one twice, so I missed one.  7 brides, only can show 6 dresses):

I knew I should have photographed them in order, but I had to jump in when there were no people in front of a dress.

–Sue

Wow, it’s Monday again???  I’m sure I’m not getting a full seven-day week any more.  Maybe my calendar is fast.  I do have projects on my design wall to share, however.  First is some painting I did with PaintStiks (these could become addicting).  I purchased the sticks and a set of leaf rubbing plates at the ND quilt show this past week.  I only bought a set of copper, silver, and gold paints.

I was having so much fun, I decided to go back to Shelly’s placemat tutorial and see what I needed to do to make the placemats she demonstrated.  I found a sort of gradient (it’s a purple and black Paula Nadelstern)that I had been saving for “something special”, and decided to only use the silver for some dining room place mats.

Oh, there’s just nothing like diving into a new art project, is there? 

I’m up to date (haven’t done today’s assignment yet) on JudyL’s QFAH, Freeze Frame.

Next is a deep purple border, then the white again.  The third border will be more of these small “frames” around the whole quilt.  Very fun!

Part of the fun is my Aunt Bert in Huntsville is also playing along and making this QFAH!  So fun that we can sew together.  I believe this is also her first “big” project, having made some table mats and smaller items this summer (Bert, correct me if I’m wrong…).  Here is her quilt so far, in fall colors, with Tanner standing guard:
 
 

Since I’m so slow in posting today’s report, you probably think I did lots of shopping at the ND Indian Summer Quilt Show this past couple of days.  I think I showed amazing restraint! 

FABRIC IN:  My only fabric purchase at, to, or from the show was at Grubers in St. Cloud (love that shop).  I bought a jelly roll of Kaffe Fassett brights.  It’s going to be so much fun to work with.  Most fabric collections have a range of lights to darks, which is nice for some things, but I’m going to really enjoy finding a project for this collection.  I also purchased 5 yards of light gold for my Quilt For An Hour with JudyL.  6.75 yards in

FABRIC OUT:  12 yards used or set aside for the QFAH (and whatever is left over is going into the scrap bucket).  I’m making mine larger with 12 big center blocks — and I’m up to date on it!!  I’ll post a picture tomorrow on Design Wall Monday.  12 yards out.

At the show, I managed to do a little damage at the hot-fix crystal counter and the PaintStik booth.  A quilter’s version of jewelry shopping!

–Sue

PS:  Yes, Karen, I agree, next year we will have to coordinate ahead of time and meet for a cup of coffee or an ice cream cone!

If you stopped by yesterday, you saw the first of seven dresses displayed at the North Dakota quilt show.  These seven dresses were specially designed and made for a production of 7 Brides for 7 Brothers at the Chanhassen Dinner Theater in 2008.  (Bert, that’s where we saw Patsy this summer, except we were in the smaller theater.)

If I remember right on this dress, there are some actual parts of quilts in this dress (and you can see some quilting in the lower skirt area), and I believe he said all the green fabric was new.  The designer was there, and he was very patient and generous with his information and time.  He pointed out that in the era these dresses represent, shoulder seams were not on top of the shoulder, but where quite a bit behind the shoulder.

I was also struck by how tiny the waists are (read “jealous”).  He reminded me that these roles were played by young women in their early 20s who are also dancers.  Ahhh, I feel much better.

I got some sewing done in Fargo.  My QFAH is up to date.  I will post pictures on Monday’s Design Wall report.  My aunt also sent me pictures of hers, and I will check with her to see it’s okay to post her progress as well!

Packing up this morning and heading home.  Jim will be glad to have his cook back home, and I will be equally glad to be home to cook for him!

I found a neat promo photo of the seven women in these dresses, but because it’s part of a slide show I can’t link directly to the photo without the screens overlapping.  Click here, then scroll down to Production Photos and click on the first photo.

–Sue

PS:  Karen L, you’ll enjoy the show!  I have a few favorite pictures to share in the days ahead also.

Isn’t this dress fun?  At the ND quilt show, they have a row of seven different dresses, old-style dresses with quilting (or quilt parts) in them, but definitely don’t look vintage.  What are they?  They were dresses made for the stage production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, held at the Chanhassen Dinner Theater (only a few miles from my home).  In fact, DH’s and my first real date was to the Chanhassen to see Mr. Roberts in 1969.

The designer was there to talk about them (some were sewn in Fargo), and each one is more interesting than the next.  He gave me permission to photograph the dresses and post them on my blog. 

Some have vintage quilts incorporated into them, and some were paper pieced, there are some crocheted looking “doily parts” in some of them.  They have been through a huge number of performances, and they look great.   They were made with very wide seam allowances so they could be resized easily.  He said they tried to make them as authentic as possible to the era, then put a zipper in it!  I will post additional photos when I get home. 

Having a great time & wish you were here,

Sue

So what kind of idiot am I???  Sons, put down yours hands; that was a rhetorical question. 

I’m up to my armpits in UFOs, and so of course I joined in Judy Laquidara’s Quilt For An Hour project, which started Monday.  Another new project.  And it always takes me more than an hour to do the day’s allotted tasks.  I’m not the first person done either when I take classes, so I can assume I am a slow sewer.  I like to think I’m just enjoying the journey. 

After I chose my fabrics from my stash for this quilt, I started thinking that approx. 60 x 80 is more like a big throw size than a bed size (at least at my house), and I don’t think many people’s living rooms are the colors I chose (raspberry, turquoise, gray, blue).  I know — I’ll make it BIGGER!!!  And so I did, like Judy’s larger example with 12 of the big blocks instead of six big blocks.  Now my Quilt For An Hour is more like Quilt For Four Hours. 

Also, when I decided to make it larger, I realized I wouldn’t have enough fabric for the darker background.  I hunted high and low in my stash, but I didn’t have enough of anything that would work.  So I went shopping!  In my defense, I went to Mill End and found a lovely gold that leans almost to a Creamsicle color.  Two bucks a yard (with one of those precious coupons out of the Sunday paper).  I think it actually works better than the gray-blue I originally chose.  The colors pop more against the gold.  DH and DS#1 will like it better too, because when I get the purple border on it, it will be leaning towards Vikings colors. 

These blocks are fun and quick to make.  The cutting is a little putzy, because usually I do all my cutting in the beginning of the project.  I could see myself making this quilt again.  Different colors/fabric patterns would really change the look of it.  I have some reds/oranges/yellows that might look pretty good.  I hope Judy sets up Mr. Linky or Photo Bucket so we can see everybody’s color selections and their progress.

–Sue

I love that Judy Laquidara asks us on Mondays, What’s on your design wall?  Sometimes it’s just the nudge I need to get something new done and up there, even if it’s only a block.  Our quilt guild is doing a BOM, and I’m actually a month/block ahead!  We started in January by doing two months, January & December, so we could hopefully have at least the top done and ready to be shown at this December’s meeting.  I just have October & November’s blocks to go.  I have a chocolate brown Fusions fabric picked out for the sashings, but I’ll see how that looks when all the blocks are done.

New this week is the Corn and Beans block at the top of the middle column.  These blocks are all done in Asian-inspired fabrics, and this quilt will be offered to my DIL Lynn, if she still likes it when it’s done.

 Judy L’s new Quilt For An Hour (QFAH) project starts today.  I hope to get my hour in tonight after our guild’s monthly meeting.  This looks like a fun and easy quilt, and I don’t see any half-square triangles in sight!  I pulled the fabrics yesterday from my stash.  It was so much fun, and only took about ten minutes.  I also had a red and orange option I could have taken, but I was won over with this raspberry/aqua/purple/blue combination.  PLUS this is about eight yards out of stash! 

Yes, as Kare in Ohio pointed out yesterday, My name is Sue, and I am a Judy Junkie.  There, I said it!  At least I know I’m not alone — there are a lot of us out there.  Her patterns are such great stash busters, her quilts are always fun and interesting, so it’s hard to resist jumping in and getting an extra quilt top done.  Click here to see other quilters’ design walls; click here for the first post of Judy’s Freeze Frame QFAH.

– Sue

Nothing bought this week (I’m feeling the glow under the weight of my halo), but nothing taken out of stash either (okay, there’s a little tarnish on the halo).  I’ve been busy working on UFOs.  Having finished CrazyMomQuilts‘ 9-patch quilt-along this week — well, the top is finished / the quilting awaits — and working on Judy L’s last Quilt For an Hour (QFAH) from last fall, I’m sewing, but no stash is being busted. 

And like everybody else, I just don’t have enough projects to work on, so I plan to jump in on Judy L’s next QFAH (which starts tomorrow).  This will be especially fun because my Aunt Bert, who just started quilting this summer, plans to do this one as well.  Hundreds of miles apart, and we can be quilting together!  How fun is that???

Well, time to go down into the stash and figure out what I can use to get started on Judy’s QFAH (I have a bucket of bright FQs I think I will tap into).  It really makes it a challenge, when you’re just working from stash.  Three other quilts I’ve made along with Judy, and they’ve turned out quite nicely, just using up some of that fabric that was waiting patiently on my shelves:

If you’re on the fence about joining in this next QFAH, hop off the fence and come on over to the fun side!  Judy’s quilts are great stash busters, and she’s so generous to offer a free pattern along with the encouragement to get it done.  I always tell myself I can find an hour a day for another project (as long as I don’t break a wrist like I did last November), and it’s fun to watch everyone’s projects develop along with your own.  C’mon along!!! 

–Sue

When I looked up “faux pas” to check the spelling and see what the plural would be (the same), I was reminded that faux pas is a social blunder; it doesn’t really fit.  Still, I like the alliterative sound of it, so I’ll keep it for today.  (Shoot, now I have another word to look up.)

The other day, Robin asked me if I had a picture of this whole quilt: 

Well, today’s lesson is that not all pictures turn out to be the beautiful photo you see in your mind.  There was so much glare on the glass at the State Fair, this was the best I could do of the whole quilt. 

My solution was to get the camera lens close to the glass and take a photo of just part of the quilt (which is the first picture above).

That made me think about all my not-so-good pictures that I usually delete right away, and I certainly don’t post them!  Well, lucky, lucky you — I found some pretty funny examples  of “mistake” pictures to share with you today.  Whoops, just a little head movement here…

Don’t look down your nose at me!  I’m just trying to take your portrait!

Since I was shooting through the blinds, I was getting some terrible white glare on the window.  I knew if I raised the blinds, this house finch would be gone in a flash, but I couldn’t resist another shot of these tufts of feathers.

You know how much I love the hummingbirds.  I managed to catch the most awkward looking position for this little one.   It looks like she impaled herself on a twig, but she was just turning around.

Is she gone yet?

Here is an example of my automatic focus catching the wrong thing to focus on — in this case, the leaves.  I hate it when that happens!

This picture came out all right, but before this one I had a terrible time getting the camera to focus on the bird.  I think there was too much light on the irridized feathers, and the focusing beam was getting all messed up.  My solution was to focus on the base of the twig she was sitting on, keeping the button pressed half-way down, then move the camera up to the bird.

And I can’t begin to tell you how many hummingbird photos I have that look like this

And sadly, the hummers are gone.  I haven’t seen them for about three days, so they are on their way south.

–Sue