Speechless...

It has been a busy few days what with some outside-the-home work, two Modern Quilt Guild meetings (Brighton and Ann Arbor), my Handwork gathering and dentist appointments for me and my daughters.  But, the most amazing thing happened yesterday morning that rendered me completely speechless and stunned. 

My quilt, Ephemeral Elegance, is on display at the American Quilter's Society Quilt Show in Paducah this week and it won first place in its category!!  They have 15 categories and I entered mine in the "First Entry in an AQS Show/Small Wall Quilt" category.

 I have enjoyed the quilts that have won prizes at the Paducah show over the years and noticed that most of them are masterpieces of intricate piecing, detailed applique and/or meticulous, elaborate quilting.  Since my quilt is much more minimalist in approach, I really thought that it would just be fun to share my quilt with the people attending the show.  However, something made me check the list of winners yesterday morning anyway :)

I was so surprised I couldn't even remember my husband's phone number and had to look it up so I could call and tell him!  The shock is beginning to wear off now, leaving a wonderful feeling of joy and excitement.

Free pattern expiring...

 In an effort to keep the blog a little fresh, I am removing my Triangle Maze free pattern download on May 10, 2011.  Over 200 people have downloaded the patterns since I made it available early last year.  If you have always meant to download it and haven't done it yet, time is running out.

The three quilts I made from this pattern include Confetti Maze, Blueberry Lime Fizz and Choppy Seas.  I think Confetti Maze is my favorite but, of course, I like the others too :)

This pattern really shows how fabric choices make such a change in a quilt.  In Choppy Seas (bottom), I used medium blues for all the background fabrics and dark blue and white for the triangles.  You can see that the triangles stand out the most and the medium blues kind of fade into the background.  In Blueberry Lime Fizz (center), I used four fabrics.  The dark blue and white for the triangle strips are nearly the same as in Choppy Seas, but the lime green background strips really stand out and make an interesting secondary pattern of "L" shapes.  The periwinkle blue fabric stays in the background visually.  In Confetti Maze (top), I used white for the background and half of the triangles, putting the emphasis on the bright triangles.

This is such a fun quilt to make and at 45" x 60" is a great size too.

Which version do you like best?  Do you ever make the same quilt twice (or more) with different fabrics?

A mother's love

I'm lucky enough to have two wonderful daughters and I wanted to make them a little Easter present.  The idea started with my younger daughter (15).  For the last few years whenever I say "I love you", she replies, "I love you more."  At first, we used to have little verbal wars about who loved who more :)  After a while, I stopped talking and just smiled and hugged.  But, I figured out how to have the last word - and made her this pillow for Easter.  The writing was too narrow to applique so I used an iron on transfer.  I haven't done this much before and totally messed up the first one.  This one isn't perfect either - there are a few spots where I probably should have pressed for longer, but she loves the pillow anyway, still insisting she loves me more.

So, what to make for my older daughter (18)?  After coming up with, and discarding, quite a few ideas, I remembered how much she loves the "Keep Calm and Carry On" posters from WWII England (a message which suits her personality quite well).  The walls in her bedroom are full and who knows what her college dorm will look like, so I decided that a pillow would be a great way to celebrate her "Keep Calm" love.  The WWII posters were apparently hand-lettered, so there is no font that matches exactly but I managed to find one that is very similar.  I opted to leave out the crown entirely.   I used fusible applique for most of the letters and stitched the "and" using a regular straight stitch.  I was rewarded with little squeals of delight!

As usual, after having this idea for at least six weeks, I left the actual sewing until this weekend.  It was a little stressful getting it done, but SO worth it.

Re-entry

We had such a wonderful retreat!  Lots of fun and sewing and laughter.  We all got a lot done and I am extremely happy with the fact that  I got two TWO quilts quilted!!  And a little piecing on a third quilt.  The picture is a sneak peek of one of the quilts I quilted.  (It is fuzzy because I cropped it down from a longer distance picture of the whole quilt.)

I'm afraid I haven't gotten much sewing done since I got home - all those re-entry chores from being away and Easter tomorrow.  I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

On Retreat...

I'm on retreat with some of my quilting buddies - my Handwork group.  We don't do much handwork on our retreats though :) 

I'm having too much fun for a longer post.  I'll be back on Friday.  Hope you are getting some good quilting time soon.

More "Lines"...

This time I took my "Lines" design from LinesSpring and LinesFall and made it into a pillow.  The previous two wallhangings involved a lot of color so I went neutral this time.  I like the way this pillow looks serene and summery in my living room.  Of course, I can also see this pillow with lots of color and pattern.  Wouldn't it look great in a kid's room with some bright and fun colors?  Or on a porch bench with some florals?  How about a Mother's Day or Easter gift?

I've added the Lines Pillow as a free pattern download under my free projects tab. Have fun!

Xandi is the winner!

Xandi is the winner of 101 Patchwork Projects + Gifts! She has been contacted by email. Thanks everyone for your enthusiasm about these projects!

Does this ever happen to you?

Where the heck did I put that lovely little charm pack?  You know, the one for the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild Robert Kaufman No Prints Allowed challenge?  I have an idea and I need to see the colors.

Not here:









Not here either:

It couldn't be here:

It was here!

You think I need to stop sewing for a while and do a little reorganizing?!  (I didn't show you all the kitchen cupboards and drawers I looked through, just in case I put it in one of them).

Hope your day is more productive :)

101 Patchwork Projects + Quilts

I am so excited!  I just received a few copies of this new publication from the publisher.  I have two projects inside!  This is the first time I have been published and it feels great.

The projects from me are a sunglasses case and a car trash bag - both of which I use all the time.  I must have a small trash bag in my car to contain all the bits of paper, wrappers and tissues that seem to accumulate without one.  And, after many years of using the dark cases that came with my sunglasses and never being able to spot them in my purse, I decided to use some of my favorite fabrics for fun and to make the sunglasses easier to locate.  I never have to dig around for my sunglasses now.

I think of this publication as a magazine, but, really, it is more like a book.  It is just shy of 200 pages and one hundred and one projects!  Most books give you between ten and twenty projects.  I like the way they have separated them into categories for gifts, yourself, home, studio, kids, pets, etc.

To celebrate I'm giving away one of my copies.  Leave a comment between now and Tuesday night and I'll pick someone at random.  If you become a new follower of my blog you can leave a second comment to double your chances!  If you aren't the lucky winner or you can't wait that long, you can buy 101 Patchwork Projects here.

Raindrops vs rain

You know, I love this little "Raindrops" quilt.  It is hand appliqued and also hand quilted - one of only two I have hand quilted. 

BUT, I could really use some warmth and sunshine outside my window.  My brain understands that April showers bring May flowers, but my soul needs warm sun soon! 

Hope the weather is more inspiring where you are!

AAMQG Mug Rug Swap

At our last Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild meeting we had a mug rug swap.  We had so much fun!  It was organized the way many families do holiday gift exchanges.  All the mug rugs were wrapped.  We each picked a number.  Number one picked first.  Then number two can either steal number one's mug rug or open a new one and so on until everyone has played.  We limited stealing to three times and we didn't tell who made what until the very end.

There were several mug rugs stolen, but, as far as I can remember, only Lucinda's reached its three time limit.  For my turn, I opened a wrapped package and got this sweet mug rug (top) from Brenda.  I've never tried hexagons (and probably never will!) so it is wonderful to have these darling ones in the house.  In a funny twist, Brenda ended up with my mug rug (the house one) too.  Next month we are going to do a fat quarter exchange (3 fat quarters wrapped) so I think the question will be "Does the fabric on the outside represent the fabric on the inside, or not?"

Just a reminder that Modern Relief kicks off today!  Click on over and see some of the great quilts that will be raffled to benefit Mercy Corp's work in Japan.

Project Modern Monochromatic Challenge

I almost didn't participate in this challenge.  I LOVE quilts with a limited color palette and often work this way.  For some reason, I could NOT come up with a design I really liked for this challenge.  I had several good designs, but nothing that really spoke to me.

So...I decided I just wasn't going to participate this time.  But it kind of nagged at me in the back of my mind.  I mean, monochromatic is right up my alley!  In the meantime, I was working on a baby quilt commission for a friend of mine when it suddenly hit me that it would look great as a monochromatic quilt.

It also had to be blue solid fabric - which, of course, I did not have enough of.  I ordered the fabric last Tuesday night on March 22.  When my husband got home late that night, I told him what an insane thing I had just done.  The deadline was less than ten days away and I didn't even have the fabric yet!  Talk about nuts :)

The fabric arrived Friday morning and I got to work.  Despite a crazy weekend and week, I was still hoping to get it done.  I called my husband yesterday (the deadline) at about noon to tell him I didn't know if I was going to make it.  Luckily, with some help from said husband in finishing dinner and taking daughter to dance, I did finish it and get it photographed all before the final deadline last night.  Phew!  Remind me not to do this again, please!

I hope you (and Malka) like it - it is called "Off the Deep End."

(I am making a pattern out of this one which will be available in May).