What I've been up to

I've finally started prepping  the rest of my first block for the Roseville Album quilt.

The fruit bowl looks like it's made from different fabrics, but it's not. I got this fabric in a fat quarter bundle I bought from http://www.equilter.com/ a few years ago and I just like it. I do my hand applique the Piece O'Cake way, so those white shapes are my templates.

This is my pile of fabric that I've pulled for this block. Most of it is Kaffe Fassett, but I'm using others as well. I'm going to go with whatever works.

In other news, it's very quiet here on the home front. I'm upstairs in the studio, DH Mike is in NYC with the Scouts, marching in the Greek American parade, and Keri's at work. I love when the house is like this; all I hear is the sound of my thoughts. Today, they're very good-it's Sunday and Father Ben served Mass this morning. He's from Nigeria and is studying at Seton Hall University for his doctorate. He makes us think; he is so enthusiastic about God, it's great.

It's been a tough winter here. Sometimes I feel like I'm holding on by a thread. Today it's a thick piece of rope. I'm very grateful. Enjoy the rest of your day and many Blessings!!

It's done!

Here's the completed Lone Star quilt. As you can see, the 46 blocks from family member fit around the border with a little help from some spacers in the colors from the star.

I freehanded continuous curves in the center star to give it some movement; I used Ocean Mist thread from Signature throughout the entire quilt. Figured it was appropriate.

Below is the motif I quilted in the corner blocks. The client didn't want a lot of quilting and she didn't want anything to compete with the center star and the border blocks.



I have to say I really enjoyed making this quilt. I normally love applique more than piecing but, for some reason, I felt good about this quilt.

Happy 80th birthday, Jimbo. I hope you enjoy owning this quilt as much as I enjoyed making it.

AQS Lancaster show

Here are quilts from my two favorite applique artists. Their work is over and above perfect to me. You can click on the pics to make them larger, if you wish.

First is "Tea with Miss D" by Sandra Leichner; http://www.sandraleichner.com/index.html She is my hero when it comes to applique. I'm definitely a groupie.

Second is "Euphoria" by Deborah Kemball, http://deborahkemball.posterous.com/ . She's a British applique artist living in Santiago, Chile. Her quilts are so unique-plus she hand quilted this one! Notice the blue ribbon for Best Hand Workmanship.

I didn't take many photos, the floor was crowded and I just wanted to stand and stare. However, here are a few more quilts from the show.

This is "The Return of the Grackle" by Diane Rusin Doran of Glenelg, MD. I loved the way she did the wings on this bird. So iridescent!



This one is "Monstera" by Betty Busby of Albuquerque, NM. The quilting is fantastic on this quilt!

These next two are from the Spirit of the West exhibit. The first is "Red Rock Canyon" and the second is "Olympic Sunset". All the artists in this exhibit belong to the Association of Pacific West Quilters. Aren't the colors spectacular?

Thanks for visiting. Maybe we'll run into each other at a show soon. My next one is MQX East in Providence, RI.

Almost done!!

Here are a few shots of the signature blocks on all 4 sides of the quilt. I used spacer strips to bring the borders up to the right size. Each block is from a family member with something relevant to the recipient's life. 

Looks like he may be a martini man. :)

On the left is the coat of arms to one of the schools he attended; on the right is a picnic on the beach.

If you look closely at the sails, they're 1932 and 2012.

Of course, he's a Yankee fan!

Each and every block was a labor of love for this family. I'm so grateful that I got to make this quilt. It's now ready to go on the longarm tomorrow. I have to make the label and apply it before I load it. That way, it can't be pulled off.

Waxing philosophical?

No pictures tonight; maybe tomorrow. I just wanted to talk about life right now. My mother recently had a health scare; come to find out her cholesterol is over 300, she has a Vitamin D deficiency, and she's pre-diabetic! Holy cow! How does this happen to an almost 93 year old? Everything can be fixed-she'll be taking Lipitor and Oscal with D. I'm glad she's going to be around longer.

A friend's father was taken off his breathing tube the other day. He surprised everyone by breathing on his own! Imagine that. For her sake, I'm glad he'll be around longer.

Another friend's mother is in the hospital with congestive heart failure. She's not doing so well, but we're praying for her.

What's going on? Is it the time of year? Why does God decide that two people's work here may not be done yet, but another may be almost ready to go home to Him? It's puzzling to me, I guess. I don't try to understand His reasons, I just wish my friends didn't have to have the pain of loss.

I'm exhausted; I think I'll go to bed now.

Sleep well, everyone. Say a little prayer for your loved ones.

Progress

Here's the center of the quilt I've been working on. It's a commission for an 80th birthday gift. The recipient lives on Hilton Head Island so I made the star in the colors of the water-from shallow to deep, back to shallow. It will be surrounded by signature blocks created by his children and grandchildren.  I feel pretty good about this so far, but I don't want to jinx myself. :-o. Right now, I'm sorting the siggie blocks to see what's going to go where. Wish me luck!

Hope your weekend was as good as mine-went to the first St. Paddy's day parade of the year, and then to an Irish pub for dinner and a concert by a local Irish style band called Shilelagh Law. It was quite loud, and I did feel a bit like a chaperone, but they were very good.

That's it for now, but I wanted to share my progress with you.