Postcard from Pax

 I got caught in the snarled air travel from Pax.  My weekly commute includes two legs - I travel thru Charlotte to catch a prop plane to a small airport in eastern North Carolina.  I knew I wouldn't make it from the small airport to Charlotte, so I rented a car and drove five hours to increase my chances of getting home for the weekend.  My Indiana winter driving skills got me there safely.  I waited in line for two hours to get booked on a flight the next morning.  Unfortunately, there were no hotel rooms available - my only option was to spend the night at the airport. Amazingly, I had a quilt packed in my luggage!  I finished hand stitching the binding earlier in the week and the quilt was packed to bring home. 

Airports get pretty cold in the middle of the night.  I wrapped up and covered my head to get a bit of privacy.  I've only traveled with a quilt twice - someone was looking out for me!  Here's a peek at the back -

In Defense of Stash

I've been collecting fabric for a long time.  During some of my fabric buying years, there wasn't time in my schedule for sewing.  Didn't stop me; I continued to add to stash.  Quilting has become a higher priority for me - family demands are lighter and the years aren't slowing down.  At times I've felt guilty about the size of my stash, but not anymore.  My stash is one of my favorite things!

Anne (Blue House Quilting) did a quick turn-around on Lexie's quilt.  Picking binding fabric was a challenge - finding a fabric that worked with both the quilt front and back was difficult.  I just kept digging thru the bins until I found a fabric I was happy with (close-up at left).  The binding is complete and the quilt has run thru washer/dryer.    

Pinwheels close-up 

    

Quilt back (sorry for the shading)  

Toile close-up

Back binding 

With Lexie's quilt complete, I focused on Jared's during the sew-in.  First step was to pick a design.  Windy Sister by Country Threads was the winner.  I wanted to cut the pieces from leftover strips (lots of pinwheels and 4 patches), but I never have enough lights.  So, back to the stash to find four complementary lights.  I've made good progress, but there are alot of blocks.  A 4 patch is turned wrong in the pic - no worries, just stuck up on the design wall.

 

This is another Christmas gift that I made this year, but forgot to take pictures of. It was made for my friend Missy. She has lots of colors in her house, and the only thing that I could think to make for her was a Christmas quilt. The pattern is in Simply Scrappy Quilts by Nancy Martin, and is called Star and Chain. It uses 2.5 in strips, and goes together lickety-split. Here is a detail of the quilting, and, in my defense, I had to take pictures really fast. This swirl on the side triangle is my favorite part. Hopefully you can make it out. Susan Atwell, from Fat Quarter Quilt Farm, did the machine quilting. I've had a fair amount of sewing time recently, and am making progress on the Texas Braid. I set some tight parameters for myself on this. The darks have a broad range, but the lights are more narrow. I didn't want anything with a white background, and did want an old, mellow feel to them. It seems to be working, but it is getting kind of boring piecing. Every once in a while I have to audition more, and cut into something fresh.

Finished my Midnight Stars top. I am happy with it, and it goes upon the stack of "to be quilted" tops.

Woo Hoo!

Another bed quilt in the 'finished' pile!  At left is a close-up of the back.  The quilting was done by Anne Spiotta of Blue House Quilting, Wheaton, IL.  I couldn't be happier with the results - I love the heavy quilting in the quilt top alternate block.  I don't have a nice place to hang quilts for picture taking, so hubby stepped in.  Pictures are a little fuzzy (sorry), but the hired help wasn't interested in 'Take 2'.  The picture on the left is the top - picture on the right is the back.  You're probably tired of seeing this one, but it's finally finished!

           A couple close-up shots of the top -

Jan and I had a great retreat weekend - my personal accomplishments:

binding attached to two bed quilts

six pinwheel blocks

four log cabin blocks

small start on Lori's Midnight Stars

Quakertown

I finished the binding on this quilt this weekend while watching lots of football.It is now on our bed, and was put to use for the first time last night. While I like the looks of it, it's kinda crunchy sleeping under a freshly machine-quilted quilt! The others that we've used on our bed were hand quilted, and are quite snuggly. I wonder if it will soften with use, or not until it's washed? Here is a detail of the quilting, which I love! It was quilted by Anne Spiotta of Blue House Quilting in Illinois. Vicki and I took tops to her recently, and Anne spent all the time that we needed selecting designs.

Here is the Fons & Porter pattern that I used for this quilt. Can you see the date at the bottom of the magazine page? Yes, I made this top that long ago (1996), and it took this long to have it quilted! The tops waiting for hand quilting just pile up too fast, so if I expect to see quilts instead of tops, it's off to the machine quilters they go!

Some Gifts

You may remember this as a top from a post a few months ago. It was recently quilted by Susan Atwell of the Fat Quarter Quilt Farm. This was a gift for new son-in-law Adam, the hockey player. After I made this top, Adam retired from playing, and is now on sports radio in Corpus Christi, Texas. These were the team's (Corpus Christi Rays) colors. They also happen to be the Chicago Black Hawks team colors, so it was a win-win! One of his former college teammates plays for them. This was his Christmas gift from me this year.

The border and binding used up many of my black strips.
Jessi asked after some of her quilts that she used to have in her bedroom. She asked if they could go home with her - they drove from Texas! - and I was happy that she asked, and happy that it freed up a bit of space in the quilt/linen closet.

This was maybe the fifth quilt or so that I ever made in the mid-90s. It was also the first quilt that I ever machine quilted. I remember going about it fearlessly, and really didn't encounter any problems. It was quilted with invisible thread which I still really like. I think that it gives a hand-quilted appearance because only the texture is noticeable. People don't seem to quilt with this type of thread much anymore, do they? Do any of you have experience with the invisible threads? I remember that this was nylon, but I know that Superior makes a polyester, too. Perhaps this is the new generation of these threads?

Just some simple, straight line quilting. Free motion still scares me silly!

This was Jessi's graduation gift. She went off to college in North Carolina, and became a marine biologist mainly because of her love of dolphins.

I also machine quilted this one, but used an invisible thread here, too, but with a bit of sparkle to look like light reflecting on the water. I used a walking foot, and had no problem with these narrow curves.

Another gifted quilt that I made recently was for my niece, Betsy. She and her husband, Richard, welcomed their first child, Fiona in October. They are both art majors, and seem to enjoy modern and 60's retro designs. This fabric had to be purchased for this quilt. I certainly don't have anything like this in my stash! Her is the back where I was able to use leftover strips, and one width of yardage.

This was inspired, and, frankly, copied from something that I saw online, but can't recall where. Susan quilted this one, too. It was fun to use fabrics that are completely different than what I normally use, but I am anxious to get into the sewing room, and work with some of the dark, and depressing that I so love!

I Need My Own Camera

The camera that I use for blogging purposes is also the one that my husband uses for work. It hasn't been around the house for a few days so I'm sharing a flannel quilt that I had made for my niece Anna when she had leukemia five years ago. I hope that it comforted her when she went through some grueling treatments. Thankfully she is a healthy young woman now.

I had hoped to show you a recent doll quilt finish. When I get a camera for myself (and learn how to use it) that will happen!

Where Ya Been?

Our little group of five had our annual sewing retreat this weekend in Shipshewanna, IN. We had planned on posting each day so you could share in our fun, but couldn't get the laptop to pick up the wireless. So, here's Friday night's show-and-tell. Just two quilts to share - both beauties.



This Buckeye Beauty started from Guild Lotto blocks won by Pat. Pat is the featured quilter at this year's guild show. I have another quilt of hers to share tomorrow. She started a scrappy Buckeye Beauty this weekend.











This amazing piece is Sandy's original design. It's from an ostrich round robin held by the guild. You do all the rounds on your own quilt from monthly round installments. You were allowed to skip one month's round. Thanks for sharing, Sandy!

My workstation - tomorrow I'll share some pics from Saturday's shopping trip.

Merry Christmas Eve!

This year, I actually planned ahead, and made a quilt for Christmas. Initially, I was to present the block of the month at my guild, so I chose the Cracker block. I liked it enough to play around with it, and decided to make "Christmas Cracker". It needed a bit of explaining at the guild meeting. If you are unfamiliar, the English have a custom of having a small, wrapped object called a cracker that they open at Christmas time. It is shaped like a cylinder and tied on the ends. There are little presents and trinkets inside. Well, to make a short story long, it resembles the shape of this block.
It is hanging in the dining room. The hanger is a iron curtain rod. The quilt hangs closely to the wall this way. I've included some close-ups so that you can see the wonderful quilting my friend Sandy Rice did on this quilt. Alternating blocks have holly, and the shape of an old Christmas ornament on them.

Where the light triangles come together she quilted a small feather wreath.

Isn't she talented? I am thrilled with it. I have always been a dedicated hand quilter, but this look would be difficult to achieve with hand quilting. And, it wouldn't be done for Christmas this year!