We are quickly switching from Autumn colors to WINTER….NOOOO!
I know…last time I posted it was still summer. Autumn is my favorite season…love the colors. But it only lasts about three weeks where I live. No hard frost yet which is amazing but most of the leaves have dropped from the trees. My biggest accomplishement was finishing the quilting of my version of Lori Holt's Chicken Salad, "Kauai Chicken Salad." I still have button eyes to add but I had to take a photo outside while I had some decent sunlight.
I really love this quilt! I did Lori's method of an interfacing backside on the applique pieces...and tiny strips to make the feet. Would never do either of these methods again. Fusible applique would look just fine and be so much quicker! I will probably do a post with close ups of all the blocks once I get the eyes stitched in place.
On to all the activities that took place in September.
I busy with lots of quilting happenings...SWEET!
The Alaska State Fair ended on Monday, September 2nd. I entered five pieces and came home with five ribbons. I don't enter to win ribbons but it sure is nice to get them! I enter to support the wonderful tradition of sharing accomplishments in my community in the hope of encouraging others to enjoy these hobbies too! I love taking time to look at all the handmade pieces entered...especially the junior categories.
We do have a lot of great quilters in Alaska...and I wish more of my friends would enter.
All three quilts I entered won blue ribbons. The second quilt hanging from the rafters at the fair was my king-sized blue version of, "Sky Full of Stars."
My favorite photo of the quilt is my grandson, Austin, on my son's shoulders as they checked out my entries.
The third quilt hanging in the rafters was my smaller version of Bonnie Hunter's mystery, "En Provence."
And my third quilt entry was a lap size version of the pattern, "Take Flight.
For the first time I entered some of my Bucilla pieces. Understandably, kits are not as favored as more original pieces. My goal here was just to share them. I want these kit to continue to be made and no stores in our area carry any felt kits so how will others learn about the possibilties?
I am working diligently to encourage my granddaughter Kate to enter pieces into the fair. I tried to get a photo of her in front of her stocking but the camera couldn't focus on both locations.
The last of my entries were two cross stitch pieces.
The winning cross stitch pieces were all large...and beautiful. No aspirations to take on full coverage or large pieces.
Quilt retreats start up in September.
The first was the, "Sisters Retreat," group...started by three sisters, one of which asked me to join several years ago. We meet at our local quilt shop in Eagle River for three days, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
I worked on two quilts. I started with making log cabin star blocks. I am trying to decide how I will handle the borders. I have very little fabric left of fabrics in the log cabin blocks.
The second project was a pattern using 6-inch strips, "Stepping Up." I bought several sets of 6-inch strips over 10 years ago when I went to Hancocks of Paducah. I expect to make three more tops with this pattern. I think that means I like this pattern.
The second retreat I attended was also a daytime retreat at my local quilt shop, Twisted Sisters' Quilty Pleasures. This group only meets once a year...every September. A lot of the ladies were in the Breakfast Club with me that I attended sooooo long ago. We picked a new name, Savvy Stitchers.
I mostly worked on a big, but simple pattern, 2M Quilt from Villa Rosa Designs. Super easy and very striking. I saw this made up at the Houston quilt show last fall and immediately came home and ordered the pattern and fabrics. Most of the fabrics are from Tim Holtz through Free Spirit fabrics and it is on their website.
We also had some surprise projects to make at the retreat. A chicken pincushion and a little basket
The next retreat is with the Material Girls at a B & B in October.
I worked on many hand stitching projects in the evenings.
I finished the ornament set that accompanies the stocking I made for my granddaughter Kara.
This was a challenging set of ornaments...just like the stocking.
I then took a detour from Christmas projects to a new kit for Halloween,
Another mantel series from Merry Stockings
I set up a small Christmas tree and am working on putting Halloween decorations on it. Photos to come once I get it done.
Since I use this blog as a journal I am including a couple of photos of quilts taken in the sunlight. We are losing daylight hours and I hate when I give a quilt away and don't have a decent photo of it.
Not sure who will get, "En Provence," but it will be one of my granddaughters.
I'm giving, "Take Flight," to my grandson next time he is over at the house...hopefully next week.
It's rutting season for the moose so lots of them roaming the area. I feel like half of my trips into town involve a moose sighting. It was a little foggy but you can see we did have some pretty fall colors.
