Baby K wanted to get in on the action. She loves to carry little things around or drag stuff, so she grabbed the little sock and one end of the ball and off she went...
That fabric challenge I talked about? Well, I still won't meet the show deadline, but I continued piecing. I used Ricky Tims' "Caveman Quilting" techniques to do the freehand curves. I have fabric for a border, which will be wavy also.
The BIG project this week was finishing a customer quilt. It had lots of green fabric, gorgeous batiks. I did some pseudo-McTavishing in the black background, which made my eyes water - hard to see black thread on black fabric and I was doing small motifs!
Here is the main block design...very simple but striking with her wonderful colors.
I was crazy enough to start a new sock project...another pair of Jaywalkers in STR January One. Socks That Rock yarn is luscious!!! This is my "March Madness" project...which means it's madness to think I'll finish in 3 weeks, LOL.
Some more wonderful feathers. The quilt is a basic two-color pattern, but looking at the details on the back is breath-taking. (Pieced by Linda Adkins, quilted by Judy Taylor if I remember correctly)
Detail of Gina Perkes' Best of Show quilt. She does the same microscopic background fill as Sharon Schamber.
Gina Perkes also won the Wearable category. Beautiful work!
I loved the feathers on this Burgoyne Surrounded quilt...but I didn't get the name of the quilter.
The colorful pieced background caught my eye on this quilt...my apologies to the quilter for not writing down his/her name!
This cute small quilt featured lots of buttons - from Wal-Mart the quilter specified. Large buttons were featured in the center, and many smaller buttons, color coordinated, filled the border.
Look again, this next quilt is a log cabin, with the light half done in all white. Gives you some ideas for alternative layouts, huh?
Speaking of alternative layouts...I like the difference between vertical and horizontal rows, a twist on the traditional row quilt.
Ta Ta for now, I need to put the corned beef and cabbage on to boil for a traditional Irish supper!
The giraffes caught my eye in traditional form:
And in artistic representation:
Debbie Graves pieced and quilted the next beauty. She is the past president of my local chapter. Her original design reminds me of the knitted miter squares I am working on!
I am always drawn to color gradient quilts, and this gorgeous quilt was honored with "Best Use of Color:"
More to come...
In the middle is a glassy-leaf privet, which we hope will give us nice shade and privacy when it matures. On the left is a pomegranate, and the right is the nectarine. The grass was just cut down...we do not overseed in the winter, but it will be lush in a month or so!Hubby installed pull-down shades on the patio, which makes it very pleasant in the mornings and evenings...until July and August when we desert-dwellers hibernate in the air conditioning! Baby K loves to pick up rocks outside. Here she is with her collection...
Moving on to my quilting projects - This is step one of the IMQA Fabric Challenge. I have had the design clearly in my head since last fall, and I purchased the fabric in December. Unfortunately, this project will not make it to the show since the deadline for entries is March 26th. I had a moment of optimism when I thought that I could just mail the paperwork and finish the quilting in April, but they want pictures with the entry. I plan to finish the quilt, and now that's one less thing on my March to-do list!
Baby K is quite an explorer and climber now. Last week she enjoyed taking her bears for a ride in an empty box. Again, the cheap entertainment wins!
I'm past the fiddly cuff and into the groove of the baubles on the second Winterberry sock from the Limited Edition TOFUtsies club. It's hard to rationalize personal knitting time when I have monster deadlines looming, but I manage to overcome those obstacles ;-)
And the ordination stole is now Longer Than Baby K's favorite push toy...maybe 20 inches done or so? I'm probably overestimating, but I will be sitting down to work on it in a minute, so it's a moot point.
Right now, we are basking in the balmy spring weather...thank goodness for wireless connections and laptops that allow me to surf on the patio. Baby K is collecting rocks. My big plan for the day is to walk up to the neighborhood park where the swings are, then stop for a sub sandwich for lunch.