Believe it or not - I FINALLY got all the pictures of the quilts from the Chicago show uploaded on my webshots area! I won't even say much other than what I've shown you so far is only a small portion of the pictures - so go visit when you have plenty of time. I enjoyed looking at them all again this morning, it was even a treat for me! So don't forget to CLICK HERE to go to all the pictures of the Chicago show!
I thought I would post a few of my favorite quilts from the Chicago show today. Quite a variety, and just because they are my favorites doesn't mean I could attempt to make them! :) Things are busy at work still, so I'll keep the words short and just let the pictures do the talking.
Thought I would throw in today a bit of my own projects. The top quilt is my Sunshine on my Shoulders quilt top! I'm just now putting on wide white borders and then I will get it quilted. I'm going to scallop the borders.
I also had to write a mystery quilt for our quilt guild. The goal is to get a lot of people to do it, and then display the finished quilts next spring at our quilt show. It will be a display to showcase how the same quilt can look different with different settings, fabrics, quilting, etc. So I kind of wrote the mystery with that in mind. I"m doing 2 versions of it for myself - I couldn't decide which one to do so I finally decicided to do both!
These fabrics are my wall hanging size. Aren't they lucious! That plum color is to die for! This version will follow the instructions exactly as written. My other version will have some variations and be queen size. That version is going to use those Cherrywood fabrics I bought at the show this last weekend.
For today's post I thought I would share a few of the quilts where I thought maybe the quilter's were nuts - or if they weren't they are now!!!!!
This hexagon one was AMAZING! The hexagons couldn't have been any bigger than 2" across. Just look at the colors and design. It was a true work of art!
Then in honor of all you who like Bonnie's Pineapple Blossom. Huh - I thought that looked putzy! These pineapple blocks couldn't have been any bigger than 2" across either! Those pineapples were sooo amazing! I just stared and stared. There is no way I would even attempt one of them!
And how about lover's of red! I think by the time this quilt was done you would be sick of it! But it sure would clean out your stash! Again the blocks were fairly small.
Thats all for tonight. I"m beat. It was another long day at work and then straight to the quilt shop to teach a class. Which is fun, but makes for a long day! Night!
Before I start off I need to mention to you all that I'm trying to reply to some of the posts/emails, but my email at the moment is bouncing some of the messages back. I can tell it is on my side because it covers all kinds of providers that are coming back. So if you haven't heard from me please know that I"m working on it!
Now this awesome fabric came from Cherrywood Fabrics. I had first seen them at the show in Madison last fall. I had fallen in love with them, but was good and didn't buy any because I wasn't sure what I would do with them. Well this time I bought these. They are going into a mystery quilt I designed for our guild that is starting next month! They are going to be soooo perfect! They were already out of the yellow one! I need more, but they said they would be at Paducah, so I"m hoping to get more yardage there of that one. If not there is enough here to start what I need and I can order later.
Then came my give. A friend I went with does a lot of miniatures and bright colors. I do traditional and muddy colors. So we did a give and take for our Monday night sewing! This little feathered star finished at only 17"x17"! And I HATE paper piecing! So she is going to help me with this pattern. Darcie had the gall to suggest I just draft it and piece it! Yeah right. These patterns are by Cindi Edgerton and come in little 3" x 3" packets with tissue paper foundations. Just the little packets are adorable! Julie's give was to work on this Judy Rothermel kit we both bought! It is a miniature version of her big civil war quilt in her book. But my miniature I don't mean "miniature" - it is just smaller than the big one! More like wall hanging size. She fell in love with the brown and blue which are so NOT her colors! Of course I love brown, but never work in blue - so this was a good one for me too! Another Monday night project!
Then I bought this little kit from my favorite store near Madison. I try and get there twice a year, but don't always make it. I can do it in a day, but it is a full day. Anyway, they specialize in folk art and reproduction. The coolest thing they do is collect antique quilts and then make patterns of them and kit them. The new quilts look exactly like the antique quilts - it is amazing how close they can come to the original fabrics! I've done many of them. This little quilt they found a pattern, but redid it in civil war fabrics and made it bigger. It is WAY cuter in real life and the fabrics are awesome. So this will be fun to work on sometime. Oh I fogot, the shop is called JJ Stitches and that one was in the Quilt Sampler magazine several years ago. They had the bubble gum pink quilt that was on the cover that year. Oh and the lady who owns this store is who the small nine patch quilt was made for.
Then came all the fun little things I got. The Lickety Grip from Lolly Corp is for your fingers when machine quilting or using your rulers. You rub it on and you get a good grip, but it doesn't leave oil marks. My friend Julie picked that up for us. Then Joan picked up these cute little pre-made appliques for shirts from Applique Buffet. She got some last year and said they hold up so well in the wash! So I have to make a little shirt for Paducah with it! Then of course you need patterns! The bar one is by Judy Rothermel and is adorable in real life, the pattern cover is kind of blah - but it show repro fabric so nicely. And Stone Soup is from one of my favorite quilt stores (Quilters General Store) in Rockford that I get to a few times a year. I saw the quilt in July at our retreat for the store but the patterns were not done yet. So I had to make sure I picked this one up.
And what is a quilt show without books to lug around all day - oh my shoulders are soooo sore! The Gayle Bong one has this really fun quilt in it, so I had to buy the book for that!
Then to wrap it up we found a thread organizer for applique - or whatever - like Karen Kay Buckley uses. So I had to get that! I've been wanting one, but the ones she sells are not my colors or fabric at all - so now I can make my own!!!! Another project for Monday nights! I think we have the next 3 years planned! Julie has that pattern right now, so all I have is the link to it and the web picture. http://www.byannie.com/thread_dispenser_patterns.html.
before I go play with all my new stuff! This quilt I loved because I"m so into the stunburst thing right now. I loved the colors and the quilting was so fun with it. The points were so tiny and skinny!
The next quilt was fun because look at how the triangles make points and move around as you stare at it. Who in the world would have the patience to piece something like that! I posted this one because it was next to the above sunburst one so it kind of fit the theme, so I wanted to share it with that one.
Now this next one is one I've seen several times before at shows and at the shop of the lady who owns it. I am working on my version of it! These 9-patches finish off at about 2-1/4"!!!!!! Mine is NOT going to be that tiny. My 9-patches will finish off at 3".
It is called the Birthday Quilt because the girls at the shop cut a small strip of fabric each time a customer bought some that fit the quilt and made this for her! She had seen one like it at Houston a few years ago and talked about it all the time. So her friends surprised her with it for her 50th bday! Talk about nice friends!
Thats all for now - I'm off to finish a quilt top for a class I"m teaching Monday night!!!! Better get going huh!!!
What is it about quilts that they speak to me so much? I came home tonight after leaving at 8:30 this morning, fighting hundreds and hundreds of people to move an inch, carried heavy bags miles and miles and just those few (ok maybe more than a few) minutes looking at the quilts made me sooooo happy!
I went to the Chicago Quilt Show today and had such a fun day! I went with friends and ran into tons of other friends. The vendor area was packed. I"ve never seen it so packed. But they had some new quilt vendors this year that were just awesome! And things were much more quilt related than in previous years. And man oh man - was folk art/prim, dusty muted colors and reproduction hot this year! I was in Heaven! Just my thing! Of course it was not good for my pocket book.
And normally the quilts are very artsy and modern. I can enjoy them, but some I just don't get, while others are down right ugly. I miss traditional quilts, and beautiful quilting. Well this year they had an awesome mixture of both! Not that the number of quilts even comes close to Paducah. But they had some gorgeous traditional quilts! Wait till I have time to get all the picutres uploaded for you! I took about 180 pictures!
The quilt I"m showing here was actually in the YLI booth - and yes I asked permission before I took the pictures. Isn't the background quilting just awesome! What a simple easy thing that turns out stunning and gives the piece such texture! And her hair is made out of the King Tut thread and braided also!
Oh and Darcie - Did they have the fibers and embellishments this year. Oh I saw all these funky "fibers" and thought of you. Sorry, I just couldn't bring myself to buy any and try them. But I did think of you. And Sharon - there were some small quilts in the Small Wonders (I think that was the name) exhibit that had a few quilts that made me think of Wabi-Sabi! I took pictures of those so I"ll be sharing those over the next few days with you.
So I worked a bit more on my starburst tonight and have it just about the way I want it and I was so excited to share pictures. So I grab my camera and can you believe it - the battery is dead! Ughhhh.... so now I have to wait to borrow one of my kids cameras to take a few pics - maybe I"ll have some tomorrow. I was hoping for several variations of inside fabric choices for some feedback. I'll see if I can get one of them to part with their cameras.
My kids would say I'm flying in on my broom... but several of you asked to see the starburst in progress, so here you go - 6 of 8 sections.....
Well I am working on some other things besides the big surprise project this weekend. So I thought I would share my progress!
The other thing I've been working on is little gadget bags made out of Pet Screen for gifts. I have mentioned before I have a ton of friends who have birthdays in May - so I'm making these up for gifts. They are a lot of fun to make. Iwent through a whole roll of pet screen! I only have 3 done, but the start done on about 20 more! Here are some of them!
