Beach Baby

I recently finished a baby quilt with a beach theme. I am not one for too bright of colors so was super happy to find the calmer blue and orange fabric with birds. I used the Sidelights pattern and altered it some since my large center piece was smaller. Love the simplicity of the design and the fact it took very little time to complete.


My quilter always knows what to best use as a quilting design. The circles are perfect for this pulling in the idea of the sun into the beach theme.


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Red and Cream

I have never posted a picture of the red and cream swap I participated in at The Quilt Asylum a few months back.

It isn't quilted yet because there is a mistake that I feel like I have to fix. It will eventually get finished and sent to my favorite quilter.




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Gray and Lime Green Swap

We had another block swap at The Quilt Asylum and it was with two if my favorite colors...gray and lime green. I chose to keep the design simple and keep the blocks together. Nothing fancy but I love the look.




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Chubby Chicks!

I love Pinterest! Our church preschool asked me to make something for their annual auction. I decided I would just pull something off my shelf that I had sewn but had not decided what to do with yet. As my daughter and I were killing time, I was viewing Pinterest on my phone when I saw a pin of the quilt Chubby Chicks. I showed it to her and she decided that I needed to make that one for the auction.

This was on a Wednesday and the auction items were due the next Wednesday. I remembered seeing the pattern at the LQS and so I called to have them hold it for me. I cut out the pieces on Thursday and started sewing on Friday. By Sunday evening it was finished and my quilter agreed to quilt it on Monday. So I turned it over to the quilter Monday morning and it was done by Monday afternoon. As always, she did a beautiful job quilting it and picking just the right color of thread.

The pattern is Chubby Chicks by Black Mountain Quilts. I did not do the pieced border because of time but I have another one partially cut out and will probably make the full design. It was such a fun little quilt to make and the preschool was very excited about the money it brought in.

Dallas Quilt Show

I really need to figure out how to "blog on the go". It seems that I am never at the computer anymore since I do just about everything on my iPhone. It just so happens that today I am sick and my normal routine is replaced with sit down activities. I do miss reading blogs and keeping up to date with the latest news. Even with a blog reader app, I am not spending much time seeing what everyone is up to.

Here are a few pictures of my favorites from the Dallas Quilt Show. There were so many fabulous quilts and I took loads of pictures to enjoy later and gain inspiration from.

This first one was created by Sue Maze. I just fell in love with it and how striking it is with the contrasting colors.

This one had to be one of the most unique quilts in the show and modern in such a way that you could use a QR reader to see a message. Emanda Johnson sent this message along with Tulips to her fiance. If you have a QR reader, just hover over the picture and in about a minute, it will show you the message. What a clever quilt this was and fun for the audience!

The mini quilt auction at the show was so fun. Why am I surprised that quilter's are so creative? There were so many fabulous mini quilts to bid on. One of my favorites was a silhouette design. It is simple but so elegant. This would be such a fun way to capture a special memory that you have with a childhood friend.

The best of show was breath-taking to say the least. What wonderful workmanship Linda Roy has put into this beauty. It is named Redbud Ramble. Photographing it was extremely difficult at the time because there was a large crowd around. You can look it up on the Quilter's Guild of Dallas gallery page.

I must include our Allen Quilters' Guild entry as well. There was a committee of about 7 who planned and created this quilt. The planning was really the hardest part since it is very difficult to make decisions. I think we planned it right since we received a blue ribbon from the quilt show!

There were so many beautiful quilts at the show and you can look the winners up on the Dallas Quilter's Guild website. Lots of inspiration!

Engaged

Skyler and Kelleigh got engaged over the holidays. It was not a surprise to us since Skyler had talked to us about it a couple of months ahead of time. He was actually very creative by making a scrapbook of some of their adventures and then leaving an open page for "when I proposed". The wedding won't be for awhile since they still have two years of college to finish but this gives us plenty of time to prepare.



Kelleigh and Skyler are both very creative. Here is a fun picture Kelleigh arranged.



I am excited about this new adventure in our lives.

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Cookie Exchange and Kelleigh Bread

My friend hosted a mother/daughter cookie exchange just before Christmas. We were to bring 7 dozen cookies, six for exchanging and one dozen to share while we were there. I made the candy covered oreos which are so easy to do but a bit time consuming because you have to let them harden. And since you use a mold, you can't make them all at once. I just love how they turn out and it makes me look like I know how to bake.

We make Banana Bread quite often and we actually call it Kelleigh Bread. Grandma Brill renamed it because Kelleigh loved it so much when she was little. Every time she went to Camp Grandma's she would ask for Grandma's special bread. I found a recipe that I really like because it is so simple. My husband offered to help me one day when I was having friends over so I put him in charge of the Banana Bread. He added a secret ingredient and it made all the difference in the texture and taste of the bread. Now he is in charge of making Kelleigh Bread. It turns out perfect and slices very nicely.

My friend Ellyn and I made candy sleighs for a few friends. I decided since they were so cute that my girls were going to give them out as gifts. At first they were not too sure but then once they saw them, it was all good. They were super easy to make and using a little hot glue was the trick needed to keep them together.

Here are some other fun cookie pictures from the exchange...

This cold and rainy day makes me want to stay home and bake. I had already planned to hit a couple of craft stores and the book store so I am sticking to my schedule.

Bonnie Hunter

Earlier this month Bonnie Hunter spoke at the Garland Quilt Guild after she taught classes at Fabric Fanatics. She is an awesome speaker with lots of energy and wit. She had such wonderful tips to share and really made me realize how spoiled we are with our stashes. There is so much we can use and we don't utilize our scraps enough.

A couple of the girls in one of my small sewing groups took her classes and here is what Sarah completed. Isn't it fun?

Here is Bonnie's version. The venue was not that great...seating was tight and lighting was dark so the pictures are poor quality but you can see them on her website which is Quiltville.com.

Here are a few more of her lovely quilts.

Bonnie was such a huge success that I heard she is coming back next year to our same area. You can check with Fabric Fanatics about classes and there is a possibility she will be visiting other quilt stores in the area. Yeah!! Can't wait to here her speak again!!

Quilting

I am so proud of Kelleigh for designing another quilt and getting it done. She is entering it in a quilt show in Oklahoma. She has joined her own guild in Stillwater, OK while she attends OSU. These ladies have been so sweet to Kelleigh and she looks forward to her meeting each month. I think she did great on her design.

During the holidays I was determined to get my quilting machine set up to its largest setting. It is right in the living room but there is no other place to put it. Kelleigh was enjoying playing on it and she insisted Skyler give it a try. Well, he actually did really well and seemed to enjoy it.

All three girls happened to be hanging around when I was taking pictures so I tried to get a decent shot. It did not happen but this one isn't too bad. They were so silly that day that they could not stop laughing long enough for a picture. I tried!!

After Kelleigh left to go back to school, Skyler stuck around for a bit. I was trying to lay out a drunkard's path and had decided I was just going to do circles making it look very modern. Um...it looked very plain!! Skyler jumped right in and with Taylor's help, we came up with this design. This was a Marti & Me project.

The lighting was not good that day so the picture doesn't show it off much. Can't wait to quilt it and finish it off.

Texas Homecoming

Homecoming is always a big event in Texas especially with the tradition of making mums. Girls make garters for the boys and boys make mums for the girls...it is a tradition that we learned about 27 years ago when we moved here. I have no idea how it got started but it is huge here. Taylor's mum was the prettiest I have ever seen. Last year her sweet sister made her a duct tape one that was so cool and you can see it here. This year her date's mother made the mum and she did an amazing job.

Taylor made the garter all by herself and I think she did a great job.

These girls worked hard on getting the garters done. I am glad someone took charge and planned out a place where they could gather to make these with friends.

We have a favorite spot in town to take pictures and I am always pleased with how they turn out. Taylor and her date managed to match without even getting together to compare colors.

Time to hang up the mum and look forward to Homecoming 2012.

Raffle Quilt - Work in Progress

I am involved in a small Art Quilt Group that has branched off from our local quilt guild. It has been amazing to see the talent of some of these women and some day I will share some of what they have shown our group. But today I am showing you what we are working on for next year. Most guilds make a quilt to raffle each year so they can earn money for workshops and speakers. Two of the ladies in our group volunteered us to make it for next year. I have worked on the raffle quilt the last two years and decided this year, I was out. Well, it did not go that way but I have to say this is going to be a fun quilt to be a part of. We have met several times already just in the planning process and now we are making some progress.

These are just the base blocks. The quilt will have pieced sashing and some applique in the borders. I am just so excited to see how the bright colors look on the black background. Here are my blocks.

This is my favorite. We are calling it the pomegranate flower because that is what it reminds us of.

Imagine these with some thread painting and soft embellishments.

This is the proposed layout which will have the pieced green sashing. The four corners will be slightly different flowers which are a little bigger because they do not have stems. I am sure we will make more changes but we had to start somewhere and we hope to have it off to the quilter sometime in November.