Long Road Home

Okay, so mostly what I am doing these days is working. But today, instead of cleaning up and doing all the stuff I should be catching up on, I have sewed a couple of seams.
You know, of course, that I am working on that new kit I got at the quilt show. (It being the shiniest new toy in my UFO sandbox!) So here are a couple of shots of the blocks in progress:


This was not (by the way) all done today!

When exciting stuff comes in the mail...

I had thought that my days of being excited about getting mail had ended about the time the bills all started coming in my name. Guess not!

Today I got a envelope from the Quilter's Guild of Dallas. I thought that maybe it was my ribbon for the block challenge- I couldn't find where to pick it up at the show. I had been contacted about picking it up at the next meeting, but figured maybe the gal had just dropped it in the mail to me. Boy, did I get a big surprise!


That is my very first cash prize for a quilt!

How cool is that?

Now for the tough question- which quilt store to I head for?

Swap Blocks

So, maybe you have noticed that I have fallen of the blog....

I am attempting to keep up with this again- hopefully things will chill with the job and I can go back to having fun.... I noticed that Beth put her swap blocks out today, so I will follow suit.

I got this done a couple of weeks ago- now it is sitting in the spare room waiting to get quilted. Turns out I need to give my long-arm quilter more of a heads up- she has me on the schedule for JUNE! So much for my planning skills...

I have been trying to make some bigger quilts that hang down and don't let a draft in... I would have thought I had plenty of spare blocks, but you don't want to know how many extras I had to put together.
I like the way this pattern turned out, but I think next time I would leave off the two triangles that go into the blue border. If they were the same blue as the border, then you would just have that nice black undulating edge in there.

I have saved pictures of all of the treasures I obtained at the quilt show and thought that I would put them out here today in celebration. (Mind you, I did not quilt today but spent it outdoors at the Arboretum as it was sunny and 80 degrees.) Here are some new guides I thought I would try, and a nice little double template for edging designs:
Here is the fabric to add to the stash. Some of this is purchased and some I received for my volunteer hours this year. You might notice that I patronize Cynthia England's booth quite a bit...Every year I seem to hit the Bonnie Blue booth and buy a pattern. I have three or four of them now. All sitting in a bin of patterns I have never made. This year I went overboard and purchase a whole kit which I immediately came home and started. Don't you know, I just HAD to have another UFO...

And after months of debate about thread storage I decided that I would purchase a thread rack and attach it to my (somewhat) new cabinets. My threads were kept in plastic boxes and every time I wanted to embroider something I had to paw through all of the boxes to find the thread I wanted. But I wasn't sure I wanted to attach a thread rack to a wall or to my cabinets. I picked this up on Friday and got it home and set up. Ends up that it fits in that space really well. But I got all the Sulky thread up and still had 6 more boxes of RA thread! (Thanks, Mom!) So Sunday when I went back to the show I got a second rack- all the RA thread is set up on the opposite side.
Notice the civil war quilt pieces on the ironing table?

Hope you all had a wonderful Quilting Day!

Dallas Quilt Show 2011

Okay, here it is Wednesday already and I still haven't downloaded my photos...

It has been a really exciting week- last Wednesday was the show set up, Friday I took off half a day and went to see the show (got to get that shopping in early before all the good stuff is gone!) and got to visit with Love for a little bit (wasn't that great fun?!!), Saturday night my fence got vandalized by some hoodlums, Sunday was back to the show and this week I am back to work and trying to catch up from all the time working the show! Whew, am I tired!

But I thought I would at least post some of these beautiful quilts for you to see! As usual, I have no idea how judges pick the winners. I look at some of the winners and wonder why they won, and I look at some fantastic quilts that don't get a thing. Guess I still have a lot to learn....

Anyway, here are the winners in some of the categories.
First, Best in Show:

Master Pieced- any quilt which is primarily patchwork, either hand or machine quilted

Master Applique- primarily applique; either hand or machine quilted
I love this quilt. I am going to include a detail shot so you can see the incredible quilting!
Master Wall Quilt- any quilt made to display on a wall with not side > 72". Pieced or appliqued, hand or machine quilted.
I really like this one, too!
Artisan Wall Quilt- any quilt made to display on a wall, with no side > 72". Pieced or appliqued, hand or machine quilted.
(This is my category.)

I will include Miki, for obvious reasons:
Artisan: Two-person Wall quilts- a quilt made by two persons specifically for display on a wall. No side > 72" and may be pieced or applique; hand or machine quilted
I am NOT a pink person, but this is a lovely little quilt. Notice the mirroring of that scalloped design in the quilting.

That is not all the categories, of course, but I did not take pictures of everything either. And you are probably overwhelmed with quilts by now. One last one though, that should just do you in. Every time I see a quilt by this woman, I feel like I am completely unable to make quilts. I'm sure you will recognize this from her previous quilts!

Quilt Show

Miki will be in the quilt show, as well as my entry for the block challenge.

On an interesting note, the gal that was directing us in the quilt hanging remembered me from seeing when I brought my goldfinch in to one of the quilt shops. I was thrilled she remembered the quilt and amazed that she recognized me (as belonging to it). Who knew?

Working on the Quilt Show

Just a reminder..... if you are anywhere near Dallas, the Quilt show is this weekend! I took the morning off and went down to turn in my quilt. Then I volunteered and hung quilts all morning.

If you are in the area, there are plenty of beautiful quilts to see and lots of stuff to buy!

http://www.quiltersguildofdallas.org/quiltcelebration2011

I will be there Friday afternoon and Sunday- hope to see you there!