Its countdown time!

It is countdown time! Only 3 more days and I"m off for Linda's house to go to Paducah with Linda, Jan and the "crew"! I"m so bummed Laura can't come this year, so I guess I'll just have to shop for her!

I did manage to do a few finishes, although I"ve been so busy at work trying to get everything done before I leave. Above is my mom's star quilt. When I was visiting last summer she saw this in "Laps from Fats for Family and Friends" and just loved it. Wanted to know if I would make it for her if she bought the fabrics. Of course I would! Bonnie quilted it for me months ago before she moved, but I never had time to get the binding on. Well the binding is on, and it is all washed and crinkly! It is off to live with my mom mid-May when I go out! So I thought I should enjoy it for a few weeks before it leaves!

And I quilted, bound and washed my Broken Dishes quilts from my Kathleen Tracy workshop she did. The quilt is from her book "Prairie Children and their Quilts". Didn't it turn out adorable!

And look what I did with all my scraps from it!

Oh and look what I got in the mail yesterday! One of Darlene's famous pincushions! Aren't the colors/fabrics great! THANK YOU SO MUCH Darlene!

What do 185 4-patches look like?

Like this! I know, I know. I only needed 150. Well I kind of got carried away! Now I can pick the ones I like best I guess!

Under Construction

Finally converting over to the new template layout formats.... Please be patient!

I Wonder as I Wander

Jacquie Harvey left a message last night on my blog about her quilt I saw this weekend. She made the blue and white one below called "I Wonder as I Wander". Isn't the internet a wonderful thing! Oh but you MUST go see her website and see all the gorgeous things she has made! Absolutely stunning!

Quilts, Quilts, Quilts!

A few more quilts from the Chicago Quilt Festival. First off - my favorite of the bunch - was this rooster quilt! It was sooo awesome. It was the grand champion if the "Celebrate Spring" exhibit. It was so amazing. (Oh and forgive my blury pics. I haven't figured out what makes some so clear and some so blurry! Well besides me being a bad photographer!)

And my dream is to someday be able to make a triple feathered star! I just love the lime green in this one!

And look at this broken star! It was AMAZING!

And can you imagine making this as a baby quilt! I can't even image doing it for a wall-hanging!

And last but not least - 9 patches for everyone!

Kris - Email me....

Kris from the Netherlands - you have no reply for your comment. I will say hi to Petra for you tomorrow as I am going back to her booth. Please email me! How fun!

Oh Lucy, Lucy, Lucy! Looky, Looky, Looky!!!!

Look what I found! Some Den Haan & Wagenmakers fabrics! There was a Quilt Store (Petra Prins Patchwork & Quilting) from the Netherlands at the Chicago Quilt Festival this year and they had the Den Haan & Wagenmakers fabrics! And she had a little pattern to put together with the panel (below) that Lucy gave me as a gift last year! I've been afraid to use it as I wanted it to be very special and Dutch! And now I have it! I need to go back Saturday and buy a small sampler pack yet for the hour glasses and squares - but I was out of money last night! But isn't this panel AWESOME! (Go to the link - De Winkel- to see how cute the shop is!)

We shopped for about 4 hours and only got through 1/2 the vendors! YIKES! I"m going back on Saturday and am meeting up with Sossy! Won't that be fun! The plan was for me to get all my stuff last night so I could just do what Sossy wanted to do on Saturday. Well best laid plans! I'm sure she won't mind stopping at a few booths for me!

Only got to see one short quick row of quilts as we headed out the door. I"ll be doing that on Saturday too! So here are just a few for you to see......

A new finish for an old top!

I made this quilt top about 6 or 7 years ago. The pattern was in an AU Patchwork and Quilting magazine (I think the pattern name was Darcy Days) and was kind of a study in color. You found a fabric with a large print and lots of color. Then for the other fabrics in the quilt (whether they were bought or in your stash) you only used the little circle registration marks on the print fabric selvage to pick from. (And am I mad I didn't save my selvage edge now to put on the back!)

It really opened my eyes to how many colors are in a print fabric that you "don't see". And how well some of those colors go, even if you don't they do at first. And when I picked fabrics I bought from the sale table at a LQS and didn't pay attention to design, just color. Some of the uglies I bought and put in this top are now some of my favorite fabrics!

The color scheme is a bit 70's-ish, but I really like how this top came out! And I finally got it quilted and bound!

You should all try this sometime - it really was fun and a great learning tool!

A few more Butterflies....

Busy, busy, busy is my name these days. But I thought you might like to see the other winning butterfly quilts. Above is first place traditional.

And first place art.

Then second place art was mine, and second place traditional is above.

Third place traditional above.

Third place art.

And one honorable mention.

But look at these too! The first one was all cathedral windows! And my friend Julie put these gorgeous little crystals on hers.

Freezer Paper Piecing News....

Purple and Paisley is a newer quilter and came across my Freezer Paper Piecing Tutorial and decided to try it. Like me she hated paper piecing. Well she fell in love and did her own tutorial for it on her blog and it is WONDERFUL! You have to go check it out! Her instructions and pictures are excellent! She is even having a give away for visiting! I've added a link to her tutorial on my sidebar as well for future reference.

I'm off for the weekend, will be back on Monday!

Butterfly Fantasy

Oh you should have seen all the wonderful challenge quilts from our guilds challenge. They were all a lot of fun. Above is most of us with our quilts.

We could enter our quilt into either an Art category or Traditional. No rules for which category you had to put them in, you could just choose. So my joke quilt which I put in Traditional is above. I wanted to do Tonya's letters and title it - The Best Butterflies are Dead Butterflies. But I just have been too busy at work so went with small and sweet.

My real entry was placed in the Art Quilt category. So what do you think! I thought it was really funny! And so did a lot of people! Not bad for throwing it together in a week huh!

Must not have been since I won 2nd place! And here I am with my butterfly ribbon! When I get some time I'll post some more quilts - they were amazing! Below is the Grand Champion of across both categories. Oh man - was it GORGEOUS!

A few fun things

Here are a few fun things I got done this week along with my challenge quilt. First off I made a lunch bag! Holly asked me if I could make one like her grocery bag only smaller for her lunch at school. I thought hers turned out so cute and it was such a great idea I made myself one! Now instead of carrying my lunch down to the lunch room at work I have a cute little bag to carry it in!

And I also got 2 Premie Quilts made for our guild. These are always so much fun to make because you can be creative on a small quilt and see the finished product fast! And I always put a lot of love into them for their new owners.