Tag Archives: featured

Design Wall Monday

What a fun week!  I spent Wednesday to Friday at a retreat in Hamilton, Missouri, home to the Missouri Star Quilt Company!  And it gets better…I was there with my Aunt Bertha and wonderful friend Alice (both from Alabama).

Missouri Star is best known for their video tutorials on YouTube, as well as their pattern instructions utilizing pre-cuts.  They also have a thriving on-line fabric business.  Jenny is a very non-traditional quilter, and her shortcuts are very popular with a large segment of the quilting population.

In case you’re not familiar with the amazing story of MSQC, I’m going to provide a link rather than repeating it.  Click HERE for their company store info, and/or click HERE for a news report about being the small business of the year.

SLIDE SHOW:

[slideshow_deploy id=’9604′]

 

I didn’t take photos of the wonderful retreat center as you can see it more accurately on their web site.  This was a really fun retreat, comfortable sleeping quarters, and I can’t even begin to describe how friendly everyone in the town is to their guests.  I definitely want to go back…click HERE for event information, and click HERE for longarm quilting information.

Oh, and I did do a bunch of sewing while I was there.  Here is a finished block, 15 inches square, with 29 more blocks in the “components” stage.

Mystery block

Linking to Patchwork Times.

 

Design-Wall Monday

I’ve been absent from blogging for a while…hubster got a new hip this spring, and I’ve been the best only substitute for a nurse he could find (definitely not my calling).

While he was recovering, I moved my Featherweight into the kitchen so I would be in earshot of my beloved.  Other than making a huge mess, it worked out really well and I finished a two-year-old project while watching Midsomer Murder episodes on DVDs.  Woo-hoo!

Here is the last block, which finished at about 16″ across:

Kaleidoscope Block 6

I’ve never been really thrilled with the stitches made by my 10-year-old Gammill Classic.  No matter how I fiddled around, I felt it was only “okay”.  This spring I bought a TOWA tension gauge.  You insert the bobbin case (with a bobbin loaded with the thread you are going to use), and it will give you a reading as to how much tension there is.  You can go to most threads’ sites and find out what they recommend for that particular thread, and adjust your bobbin case accordingly.

I quilted the background with allover freehand doodling, including spirals, spiral flowers, leafy feathers, and curlicues.  I used Superior Magnifico, color “Jupiter” (sort of a gun-metal gray).  The thread has a lovely sheen, and I am much more satisfied with the quality of the stitches:

kaleidoscope quilting

It’s a kaleidoscope wall hanging for over the stairway.  I made my first block two years ago in a 5-day workshop with Paula Nadelstern.  Original blocks (designed and made using Paula’s method) in an original (if unimaginative) layout.  Here it is on my Gammill:

kaleidoscope on machine

And it is even labeled and bound.  I just have the hanging sleeve left to do:

kaleidoscope finished

I’m heading to Missouri this week for a three-day retreat (how fun is that???) and I’m meeting up with my Quilting Auntie.  And if you are wondering what she looks like, that’s her picture with me in the header of this post!

Linking to Judy Laquidara’s Design Wall Monday posting.  Stop on over and see what other quilters are working on.

Design Wall Monday

Stitching Update:

I’ve finished a small paper-pieced top that I can’t show you yet, as it will be part of an exhibit.   No picture, but it felt like a big  Ta-DAA!!! to get the top done.  Now to do an all-over quilting design on it that will kind of blend away, as the focus is on the piecing.

Now I’m back to work on some kaleidoscope blocks and will try to figure out how I want to make them into a quilt.  I’ve shown some of the blocks before, but here is one of them (this is from a Paula Nadelstern class).  This block is about 14″ square.

07-09-2014 365 kaleidoscope block

And I stitched up a couple of Quick Strippie Quilts (ala Maryquilts.com).  (The tops only are done, and not even trimmed yet.)  Cutest and easiest pattern ever.  Perfect for babies.  About 2/3 of each quilt is shown over the railing  The dark print between the puppies is puppy tracks:

quick strippie puppy

quick strippie floral stripe

Knitting Update:

I made a Sack Hat/Cowl this week.  The pattern is a free one on ravelry.  The yarn is Stonehenge Fiber Mill Crazy .  Super easy…basically a tube, make some eyelets a couple of inchest from the top, make an icord to run through the eyelets, and it’s a hat.  My next hat I’ll use a little heavier yarn, more of a true worsted weight.

sack hat

Photography Update:

We had a wonderful time in Texas this year, even with chilly, damp weather.  It was probably my best photo winter ever, and I don’t know if the photo opportunities were really better or if I’m just getting to know my camera better.  Maybe both.

A couple of favorite shots from this winter.

Juvenile Black-Crowned Night Heron:

Juvie BC Night Heron

Mockingbird:

Mockingbird

Dark-Eyed Junco

snowy dark eyed junco

Thanks for stopping by today!

Linking to Judy Laquidara’s Patchwork Times