LVMQG Exchange

It was an exciting night for our modern quilt guild meeting because it included a pot luck dinner and our mini quilt exchange. With one day to spare I finished my project to give to Vic. Look what I received! It is so fun, done in bright Kaffe fabrics, it will fit right into my sewing room. Love the button detail. Thanks Vic.

LVMQG Mini Quilt Exchange   Dec. 2012

The bag is right up my alley too, made out of juice boxes woven together. No, Vic did not make this. 

I am trying to get more creative with my photography by putting the projects in the bushes, as one friend described my background. 

Here is the project I made for Vic.

LVMQG Mini Quilt Exchange  Dec. 2012

Quilting detail

I took this at just the right time of day to get the quilting detail. I quilted the hexagon shape heavily so the sewing machines would puff up. The pink is actually more puffy than it looks in the photo.

Detail

I added a Swarovski flat backed crystals to the sewing machines for detail, thanks to my friend Rickie, as well as hand stitching the black dotted line on the fabric. I used #16 pearl cotton and thought it was #8 but it looked okay. It was my first time hand stitching with pearl cotton and it has to be easier without trying to follow a line.

Looking forward to 2013. Be safe if you are out and about on New Year's eve. Make time for your sewing therapy.

I'm going to start 2013 off with a Block of the Month, a quilt along and a whole list of projects already started. There is not going to be time to slack. My sewing room has to be cleaned up in order for all of these things to be accomplished. I did a kaleidoscope quilt along but never a BOM. I challenge myself to keep up!

I finished my MQG mini quilt exchange today. I thought I would never finish. Good thing because it is due tomorrow night! Will let you know how my exchange partner likes it.

Sewing at the store for a few hours tomorrow. Maybe I will work on my No Negative Space quilt. This is a quilt I started because I found a box full of Dresden Plate leftovers. The background was chosen by my friend Rickie during a discussion about fabric for another quilt. If you squint the background almost looks solid. Maybe? I know these fabrics are old but they were already cut! It is twice this size now. I love it.

No Negative Space WIP  Dec. 2012

Until next time have fun whatever you do.

Already Thinking....

I'm getting excited about the new year and what I have planned. I have joined a paper piecing quilt along. I love the pattern. I am going to be working on my daughter and son-in-laws overdue wedding quilt. I am going to make a baby blanket for my niece in Virginia. Finish my sisters quilt that we worked on in Connecticut. And finish three UFO's that I have been working on in the past year. These are all the projects that I can remember I need to do! 

Check out this quilt along with Amy Ellis. The pattern is very cool. If you don't want to make the small ones she is working on enlarging them. I want to make 100 of these little stars and make a dent in my stash. Well, try to make a dent in my stash.

Tomorrow is shop with Daughter and sew with the MQG ladies for 4 hours.

Have a happy!

Merry Christmas

The holiday season is upon us again. No big tree for the first time ever. I came home from Connecticut and by the time I could get it up it would be time to take it down. Last year I didn't get the tree down until April! My son-in-law was ready to built an outdoor storage where he would cut a large hole in the living room wall, put the tree on rollers and roll it into it's own storage area fully decorated. It was a joke at the time.... We do have little teeny trees.

Tree for 2012

 It plugs into the USB port of your computer. I have this one next to my computer. It lights up when I turn my computer on.

Tree for 2012

This is Husbands tree by his computer. This one changes colors. It is tiny.

I worked on my MQG exchange today. I still have more to do to complete this project. I want to share but I'm too afraid my partner will see.

The Mini Club Holiday party is tomorrow night. I will see my big girl twins and I am so excited.

Have a great holiday, and if time allows, quilt happy.

Brown is Blue

Worked on the Island Melody quilt last night until 1 in the morning. Went to a quilt shop today in Vernon, Connecticut called Quilt by the Yard for additional choices of fabric to complete my sisters quilt. We had a great time visiting with the staff and somehow my sister and I ended up singing the oldies with the customers. We went shopping for fabric and a party broke out! 

And another cool and unexpected thing happened today. I met Audrie Bidwell! She has two quilts published in a current book which I bought and she signed.  Brights are her thing! The book is Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe. She has a blog at Blue Is Bleu. Check her out here. Also found out Audrie is not a fan of browns. So there is someone out there besides me who thinks brown is blue! You meet the coolest people in quilt shops.

Hawaiian Melody quilt Dec. 2012

Work table for Hawaiian Melody quilt pieces.   Dec. 2012

There will be three more rows added but they will have to wait until I get home. So fun to do this with my sister. The end result will be a surprise for her even though she is designing the squares. She will have to wait to see it complete with all the rows sewn together.

Louie  Dec.2012

This is Louie, my sisters cat. He is a rescue and they think he is a year old. He, like most cats think that fabric and quilts are theirs and should be shared. My nephew loves playing with Louie.

Nephew and Louie. Is that hoodie a quilt?  Dec. 2012

Louie  Dec. 2012

Louie sleeps on this quilt daily. On cold nights we put a recycled wool sweater on the top of his quilt to keep him warm. This is one of my first quilts circa 2004.

Traveling back home on Saturday, so until then quilt happy.

All photos by Hattie Wilcox.

Let It Snow

I'm having another high production year at my sisters house in Connecticut. Sewing to the max, eating lobster and having lots of laughs. I can't share the first project I finished as it is a Christmas exchange with a Modern Quilt Guild member. We are making mini quilts using an inspiration fabric our person gave to us. I am really pleased with my idea and will share it later.

My sister and I have been working together on a quilt that she designed. She made up the pattern with a little help from me so that is pretty exciting. This is a design as you go pattern so it isn't as fast as I am used to. I work on my own quilt during the design time if she takes too long!

M&W quilt  Dec. 2012

We are making progress, slowly but surely!

M&W progress  Dec. 2012

Bleeding light to dark from the center is her goal. You should see what she is going to use in the border row. She has never designed a quilt except on paper so this is a process she had no idea was so involved. Designing as you go and sewing it by the row is a pain, but it has to be done this way. How many rows? I have no idea. I try not to think about it! I leave here on Saturday so it will be finished as far as design goes. 

Me sewing at Harriet's  Dec. 2012

Stay tuned for more progress on the latest Connecticut quilt.

All photos by Hattie Wilcox.