Quincy Crazy Quilters Block of the Month

Every year our Guild does a BOM and I never seem to do it. However, this year is different.  Here's a picture of the first block, finished today. I plan to use the solid black as a background on all blocks and bright, solid Cherrywood Fabrics colors for a highlight. This one has red...

I have a lot of black & white fat quarters and figure this is a good way to use them up.  

It was fun to work on piecing projects today...although I do have a quilt loaded and waiting for me.

Quiltville Mystery

This one is starting mid-November, with the fabric requirements being posted sometime next week.  I've always wanted to do one of these, but never have.  Quiltville is Bonnie Hunter's site and she is definitely the queen of scrap quilts. I've always wanted to make a scrap quilt and now seems like the right time. Of course, by the time the directions are posted and the quilt starts, I'll be way too busy *sigh* My good friend, Kristina, is having a mystery on her blog...go check it out. I was going to do that one, too, but as usual, it didn't happen. *pout*

Bonnie currently has three scrap quilts on her website; they're still posted step-by-step. If all else fails, at least they're posted for long enough for me to catch up. I love the names: Orange Crush, Old Tobacco Road and Double Delight.

So...anyone want to do this mystery with me?  Who knows, maybe if I have some company, I may actually do it!! ....maybe....

Rachel's Getting Married

Dennis' youngest daughter, Rachel, is getting married next September and she's having the whole celebration only 30 miles from here! We're very excited!! This is a picture of her with her fiance, Mike. He's a wonderful guy and treats her like a princess.

This past weekend we went to Walnut Creek to spend the night with his other daughter, Hannah, and go to Rachel's Engagement Party at their Uncle's house in Martinez. It was a very fun party. Isn't Hannah gorgeous...she was very much a huge part of this celebration, being responsible for the menu. And this girl can cook.  Just one of the many wonderful items available for consumption: prosciutto wrapped asparagus grilled and then drizzled with a balsamic vinegar reduction.  YUM!!!

Hal and Heather were the hosts. Their home is perfect for parties.  It's set on an acre of beautifully groomed grounds and is so perfect on the inside. I'd met Hal and Heather once before, six years ago, at Rachel's graduation. They are such nice people and went out of their way to make sure I was comfortable and had fun.

Our hosts...having way too much fun.  Isn't Heather's smile infectious?

Here are some photos from the party...

Dennis and me with Rachel:

Dennis with the "Butterfly Girls." Brook grew up in Butterfly and was Rachel's best friend. They rode horses together, did 4-H, etc., all through school. Brook lives in Roseville now, but came down for the party. She'll be in the wedding.

And the obligatory family photo which has Mike's mom & dad (you can barely see his mom to the right of his dad), Rachel & Mike, then Charlotte (Dennis' ex) and Dennis.

And for those of you paying attention, yes, my hair has been restored to its natural color. What do you think? I'm enjoying not being gray!

A Batik Churn Dash

Marei gave me this quilt and told me to make it bright (like it really needed any help??) But, Marei likes bright, so I aimed to please.

I used the QZ with King Tut Autumn Days thread in the squares that are set on point and just did some variations of continuous curve in the other black blocks along the same row. 

In the churn dash blocks with the black centers, I used Copper Bottom Line thread. I wanted the quilting to be visible, but not compete with the  Autumn Days thread.

And a picture of the back...often the best part *wink*

Thanks for looking and remember, if you'd like to see a larger view of any of the photos, just click on it. When you're done, click the "back" button to return here.

QZ to the Rescue!!

I think its been almost a year now, but some time ago, I had the pleasure of talking with Jackie, the Volunteer Coordinator for a big quilting show. We chatted back and forth on the APQS list and I remember telling her that if she was ever interested, she could send a quilt out for me to quilt for her. Of course, I never thought she'd take me up on it--she lives halfway across the US from me!!

But...guess who called and sent me this???

And with this quilt, came cones of thread for me to sample (beautiful, bright lime green, gorgeous purples and pinks) and my very own tote-bag. Not many quilters are this spoiled--especially by a first-time customer! I'm one lucky girl!! (I took a picture of everything Jackie sent me, but can I find it...of course not!)

When I saw this quilt, my first thought was feathers...but Jackie doesn't like feathers. [How can anyone NOT like feathers????]  Immediately, the next thought was my Quiltazoid.  So I played and ended up with a QZ design in yellow on the purple squares, the same design in purple on the yellow squares and background stippling in matching the thread to the color of the block.

Looking at the photos, the design in the purple block doesn't look yellow, but it was, honest!!

 You can almost see the small design I put in the setting squares...if you squint real hard!

 This quilt was so much fun to work on.  Some quilts are fun all the way through and then give you such a feeling of accomplishment when you return them and your customer is happy.

And, finally, a shot of the entire quilt...defying gravity *grin*

Innovations

Innovations just happened to be the week after we were in Washington, so, of course, I had to attend.  Innovations is a machine quilting conference where some really experienced teachers come and share their expertise.  The first time I attended, I'd just purchased my APQS Millennium and I took every class I possibly could.  I was on such overload by the time I left, that I'm not sure I retained anything.

This time, I was much smarter.  I took only the classes that I thought would benefit my business.  First, some business-type classes (learning how to use my Machine Quilters Business Manager program among others) and then classes by some truly great quilters whose talents I admire.  I took several classes from Irena Bluhm, Laura Lee Fritz and Lisa Coker. My goal this time was to take classes that would add more background designs to my repertoire and also make my quilting of sampler quilts more efficient.

This is Irena with a sample of her background designs.

Several people from the APQS chat were at this event and one of them, Carreen, actually offered to let me stay at her house and use her car to travel back and forth into Tacoma. I had a wonderful "apartment" all to myself above her garage; she had dinner ready for me when I got home in the evening; she had a Millennium that we could play with and, best of all, she had two ponies in her pasture whose noses I could kiss.  Funniest thing was this coincidence: her ponies are named Elly and Emma...how odd is that???

Here are a couple of pics from the quilts at Innovations...they were spectacular! I believe Cindy Roth, the creator/organizer of Innovations will have a DVD for sale with professional pictures of all the quilts.

This was a memory quilt made for a young lady's father. The film strip are actual photos of him; I thought it was very unique and special.

I loved this barn quilt. I live in an area where those old barns are disappearing; it was nice to see this.

Quiltazoid

Before leaving on vacation, I had several quilts to finish. My QZ arrived and I had this one that was just begging for it.  So I set up the QZ, turned on the instructional DVD that comes with, and started playing.  My customer, Norma, loved the way this one turned out. Apparently, the nine-patch blocks were made by a variety of quilters in the guild. Norma put hers together with the setting squares to make the quilt bigger and to give it some continuity. I think it worked.

Here's the overall pic after it was quilted. (Ignore the stuff stacked on the table; the hazards of sharing the studio with your husband!)

This one shows the design in the blocks...

And a better photo of the QZ designs.  I used a smaller, similar design in the setting squares.

And the corner triangles were too small for anything to fit, so I brought the meander into them from the border. 

And a photo of the back.

The Quiltazoid is such a great tool for quilts like this one with open spaces. It was developed by Adam and Linda Anderson specifically for the longarm.  It works great and its easy to use. I love it!!