Show and Tell

Lots of fun quilty pictures ahead.

Here are several versions of the mystery quilt tackled

 in our December and January Breakfast Club meetings.

 

Two, smaller quilts were made in this instance...both with a Dr. Seuss theme.

And my version. My border triangles face differently. I accidentally did the first border wrong and decided I liked it better this way...sometimes those mistakes work out.

The mystery was by Debbie Caffrey, "Quilting Season." It took 18 fat quarters and yardage of a single background fabric.  I used Moda's fat quarter set, "Los Cabos Batiks." This is going to be a fun one to quilt.

This next photo does not do this quilt justice...all these blocks are beautiful embroidered Hummel images

Here's a close up of one of the blocks...so much detail! Impressive even if the embroidery is done my machine!!!

Our class project yesterday was this adorable apron...here is mine. I finished it in class...under four hours. That includes the time I spent shopping for the fabric because I didn't bring any to class.

It is called Criss Cross Pocket Apron by Vanilla House. You can add pocket sections to make the apron larger. It is really a fun and easy design....pretty unique construction techniques. It will be my new longarm apron. It's the only time I wear an apron. I made the medium sized, four pocket apron.

And here is my big project to show off...

This pattern is Beachside Bungalow from Kim Brackett's book, "Scrap-Basket Beauties." I used the bali pop, "Tidepool."

I adore this pattern...it has that double wedding ring feel in a much easier construction format.

The backside....I think I finally found my quilting mojo.

It took 20 hours to quilt this...with a few hours going to a ripping out session. It was worth it to get it right. I wanted a masculine feel to the quilting. I have a very girlie version of this pattern to quilt. I'll probably do a lot of feathers on that version and it will take half the time to quilt!

Happenings

Someone is ready for playtime. As soon as I post this we are heading out for a walk...an icy one.

We just got back from a long weekend in...Las Vegas!

 Here we are at Guy Fieri's restaurant, Vegas Kitchen and Bar with their signature Bloody Marys. A nice little salad in each one! My husband and I are on the right. Our friends are from Houston and we decided we might have to make this an annual event. A pretty easy place for us to meet up for a weekend.

We saw two shows, Penn and Teller's magic show and the stand up routines of Ray Romano and David Spade. Both shows were excellent...highly recommend. I finished my gambling $20 ahead.

My son, Zack, watched the puppy. When we got home last night he had this little machine waiting for me. The machine belonged to an airplane mechanic my son worked with who recently died. I'm so glad he checked with me before he took it to the dump. Needs a bit of TLC. No sign of the metal case. Since my friend. Christelle, has two of these "grasshoppers," I knew just what it was!

A lot going on this week. My car is finally fixed. I'm picking it up this afternoon and driving straight to the tire shop to purchase studded tires. We got even more ice while we were away in Vegas. 

I am so close to finishing this quilt. I had to rip out a little bit...which of course took several hours. I need a camera on the underside of my quilt so I can simultaneously look at my tension...I just get going and don't notice the little signs from the front side that mean bad stuff is happening underneath. I'm thrilled with the design I came up with and want it to be right!!!

And I really want to finish the mystery top from last month's Breakfast Club because this Thursday is the February meeting. I like having a deadline.

Warming Up

I've got my Fun Quilter, "Marta" warming up for about 20 minutes...enough time to write a post.

Wish me luck on my quilting...may the tension Goddess be watching over me!

I got the directions to the mystery quilt from Breakfast Club. 

Not a mystery to me anymore! Love how this one is coming together.

I am trying to get back on task with my Bucilla kit projects. Just finished all the little candies that decorate this house. I'm doing some quilting around all the windows and house features.

And I pulled out this stocking kit a few days ago that I was working on in Paris before our move home. I finished up the girl and now have to turn the boy and girl into puppets. Adorable.

I'm so excited to get quilting on "Marta."

Design Wall Thursday

Fine tuning a new design...I'm liking it.

Finally....I have figured out a quilting design for a top I've been wanting to quilt for several months. Now the tedious process of marking the design with a blue water soluble marker and chalk pencil. This photo shows what I marked on my plexiglass board.

Kinley is home! She is painfully thin...had almost stopped eating at the trainer's kennel so it was time to get her home and just continue her training with visits. She has been eating wonderfully since getting home. She got right back into her little routine.  

Picked up a rental car on Tuesday. My sweet car is going to be in the shop for at least two more weeks. We woke up to rain...grrrrrrr. That means all the roads will be nice and icy again. I stayed home. Plenty of quilting projects to keep me busy and I finally have Kinley to talk to all day. I stocked up on groceries a few days ago when I saw the forecast so I'm a happy to stay home. I put ice cleats on my boots to take Kinley for her walk this morning...she has built in four-wheel drive so no problem for her on the ice.