More from the quilt show

Here are some more of the fantastic quilts I saw this weekend at the Arizona Quilters Guild annual exhibit.

This is called "Basket Case" by Sharon Brooks. (Third place in the Theme category "Out of the Attic - Old and New")


Next is "She's a 30's Star" by Debbie Stanton. First Place - Large Quilt, Pieced and Professionally Quilted. Beautiful trapunto work.

Here's what I'm working towards in my longarm quilting! This won a blue ribbon for Exemplary Machine Quilting. It's "Amish Square in a Square" by Mary Nyberg.

And our happy Baby K!

2007 Quilt Show

For Amy...

Sunbonnet Kitties by Lynnette Mault

This was the most unusual quilt I saw...two in one! The stars float off the background,coonected at the center. "Not so plane geometry" by Diane Magarelli.

I tried to take a side view to show the 3D effect...

Finally, this year's trend - One Block Wonder! I loved the setting with a piece of the original fabric on the front. This is "Caught in the Whirlwinds" by Caryl Spenny.

More throughout the week as I match pictures to their creators!

Friday night knit club

Here is Baby K in her 7 month bunny picture: It is so fun to look back at all the pictures. I am going to combine them into a poster when she's a year old.

Now that she's mobile, she like to crawl across the room and get into her toy box.

On to the knitting! I kept measuring and trying on the sock to see if it was time to start the heel. This looks about right, but I went ahead and knit about 4 more rows to get the exact measurement.

You can see the heel taking shape...just a few more short rows and I'll start my first cable, woo-hoo! The curved needle in front is the stitch holder. Quite a pain to juggle that...I'll try waste yarn on sock #2. And I'm not a big fan of the Susan Bates metal DPNs that I'm using. My hands get sore! Any Rockin Sock knitters out there - I've seen alot of comments about going up to a size 2 for the leg...pros and cons??? Take a look at my yarn "cake" on the left. It's starting to fall apart and become a cone! I'll post a better picture this weekend. Spring Break has arrived, thank goodness. I'm planning to visit Stitch-n-Bitch this week after months of being too busy!

Summer is in the air!

Well, Phoenix has had it's three days of spring. The weatherpeople say we may hit 100 degrees this weekend! And before the exclamations start (I know you are saying "How can you live there?!?") I will just explain that us desertfolk survive the heat the same way you all survive blizzards and single digit temperatures...WE STAY INSIDE! :-)

Our school district did a very mean thing. Our spring break is next week, and they gave the students a half day yesterday...which means that today feels like Monday and no one feels like working because vacation is almost here!! I don't have any big plans for the time off other than a movie date with my girlfriend. And lots of baby time, of course.

Our big quilt show is this weekend. I am going to the Preview Party tonight, which will be loads of fun. It's a catered dinner, with a band, and several hours to see the quilts on display. I also need to visit one of the longarm dealers to pick out some thread. I find that PermaCore works best for me. A friend of mine has a thread chart, so it's easy for her to order online or over the phone, but they no longer make the charts. I was so bummed when I heard that! I am slowly building my thread stash by ordering several shades of whatever I think will work. But, I never seem to have what I need these days. I'd also like to buy more pantographs, but I don't know if any of the show vendors will have those. I know of several sites online where I can shop for patterns, but that's on the "one of these days" lists, not urgent yet!

So, you can look forward to LOTS of pictures tomorrow. (Aunt Gretchen, I'll even include some of Baby K in between the quilts!!!)

Progess

I quilted this sampler for the Quilt Pink auction. It's overdue, and I wanted to get it donw quickly, so I just stitched in the ditch across the blocks, meandered in the setting triangles, and put a freehand vine with leaves in the border. Hopefully, you can see some of the quitling in this shot of the back:
I did find time for knitting on the Rockin Sock "inside out":
I was hoping for pooling of the colors rather than stripes, but either way it's fun to watch it emerge. Today is NCAA Selection Sunday, which means the next three weekends will be full of basketball and primo knitting time!

Baby K has had a bad rash over her chest and back, plus some diaper rash, so we spent some time in the fresh air. B. installed screen shades on our patio, and that's a shop cooler behind me, so it's very pleasant throughout most of the hot summer. Of course, it's been a beautiful weekend, with temperatures in the low 80s. Our poor snowbirds are in a tight spot...it's getting too hot here in the desert, but it's too cold to go up north!

One toe

I gave up on the swatch, and just started the pattern as written for the medium size. I got 7 stitches to the inch on size 0, and I really didn't want to use 00s for the sole! It fits, such as it is, over my toes, but I'll make a final judgement when I get more of the sole done.

I think (I hope!) I will have more pooling rather that stripes, but again, it may be too early to tell...stay tuned :-)

I had a problem with the pattern for the set-up row...when I finished the 4 repeats of (k2, p2, k1, kfb) I had 7 stitches left! I just repeated the k2,p2 once more, but when I knit my first round of the sole, the stitches were off (knitting the bumps instead of purling them). It certainly doesn't bother me, and I probably miscounted - I was running up and down the stairs since Baby K didn't want to go to bed. We'll see how the second sock works out.

I am soooooo tempted to bring my knitting to work...my students are testing today, but I have piles of homework to grade, so I will be good. The Suns are playing tonight and that makes for quality knitting time! Although I'm torn...I have 2 quilts to put on the longarm. Mom needs them for shop samples ASAP. I will have to set a timer and knit for an hour, then quilt for an hour!

At last!

I am an official member of the Rockin Sock Club! My first kit arrived last night and I am itching to cast on my new socks.

This is the best part:

A little "emergency skein" on a keychain! Just too cute. I carried it with me to lunch, it made me so happy.

Here's the real thing: Blue Moon Fibers' Socks that Rock in the Monsoon colorway.

Hard to tell colors on the computer, but another club member said it reminds her of her military camo uniform. That is a very good description! It's an earthy blend of greens and browns. I saw a green sky once, and it was during the summer monsoon season, so I guess that's a good name. The pattern uses cables, which will be a new skill, but one I have been anxious to try. I am stopping at the shop tonight to get needles - I hope they have the small size I need!! Then I will swatch and probably wait until the weekend to cast on the actual socks... I'll need time to concentrate on the toe-up instructions.

Work has begun on Kerstin's Squares Squared:This will be a very BRIGHT eclectic quilt, LOL. It's kind of small, so I will add some plain accent borders then some piano keys to finish it off.

Cheerful Tootsies

La had some adorable feet on her blog a couple days ago, so I share with you my favorites:

Baby K's toes - (she is standing in her bouncy seat)

And those of Gidget, while hiding in my closet:

I love the orange "freckle" on her leg! In case you haven't seen full pictures, she's a calico.

No sewing going on. B. is attending a job fair on Monday so I helped him write his resume on Tuesday night, and Wednesday is choir practice. I put the Hidden Stars away so I can start on the gifty quilts. I can start cutting bright orange fabric this weekend if I get busy and iron it all tonight! Of course, the iron gets put away and the knitting comes out during Grey's Anatomy!!

So, in lieu of fiber content, I will leave you with a picture of Baby K's new trick. She is discovering all sorts of new facial expressions!

Story Time

We are conducting state-mandated testing at school today, which gives me free time to read my favorite blogs, which creates the need to respond, and therefore supplies my own blog fodder.

Number One. What is up with mean people lately??? Cara and Stephanie have recently been attacked for expressing their own opinions. Sorry folks, free speech is the hallmark of democracy. If you don't like it, find a way to respectfully disagree, or keep your opinions to yourself. We can all get along if we try.

I guess this is where my Libra/balance personality really shines. If I disagree with someone, I rarely argue the point. I have told myself that this is because I hate conflict, but a friend pointed out that I typically weigh both sides, and then make a choice about the issue.

Number Two. *blush* I forgot!!! LOL - I left to have lunch with a friend, and now I can't remember what I was going to talk about!!

But never fear, I do have another story for you. The other day, when I was talking about how I met my husband, I said I had specific criteria - must own his own washing machine and not be hung up on his mother. Here's the REST of that story :-)

I dated a guy who, at age 28, seemed like he had it together. Employed, clean cut, owned his own home and a dog :-) What he didn't have was a washing machine. So, each week, he would drop off his laundry at his mother's house. OK, at first glance, not a big deal. But, he didn't stay to do the laundry. Oh no. Mom would wash, dry, fold and iron his clothes, then bring them back! It was just too creepy to think of her waltzing in whenever her chores were done. Ah well, some people are in your life to serve as a warning!!

Mission Accomplished

I had some time Saturday morning during Baby K's morning nap to sew, and I have two more Hidden Stars finished! Only two blocks to go since 6 of them were finished on time in 2005. Oh, and remember that the points always match on camera!

The expedition to the LQS was a success! I got the fabric for three quilt tops. I knew what I wanted for a friend, and as I explained, I took Elizabeth (graduating senior) and Kerstin (foreign exchange student) to pick out their own fabric. I was a little nervous, because I wanted them to pick out a pattern as well! Imagine your first trip to a quilt store and this lady wants you to make decisions like that. The girls performed an amazing feat. Elizabeth chose the Yellow Brick Road pattern and her colors are green, pink, yellow and blue.

This is Kerstin's color selection:

Bold huh?!? Her pattern is "Squares Squared" by Aardvark Quilts, which will work just fine with a bright scrappy look. Stay tuned for photos of the new WIP!

I'm off to knit on my sweater and watch the Academy Awards. The first Rockin Socks Club kit goes in the mail tomorrow. Maybe by the end of the week I'll have my first STR yarn on the needles?!? Woo-hoo!

Imagination

Over at Red Shoe Ramblings, things have been icy. Deb posted this photo:

She said she saw an man's face with a long beard. Kinda like that optical illusion picture where some people see the young woman and some people see an old lady. BTW, I usually see the young woman and really have to concentrate to find the old lady! Anyway, I saw a unicorn in the same icicle. Since I have no talent for drawing, I labeled the parts:
I might have some more Hidden Stars to show you this weekend...no promises though, because it's my husband's grandmother's 95th birthday. One of those required-attendance events. I don't consider it a chore...we are very lucky to get along easily with each other's families! I just mention it because it cuts into the sewing time!

And I'm trekking down to the LQS with some friends tomorrow morning. They have a daughter graduating from high school this year, AND a foreign exchange student! I got the crazy idea to make them both quilts. Kerstin, the exchange student, will get hers first, since she leaves on June 8th. I figure if Elizabeth's quilt isn't done, I can track her down pretty quick! I have to tell a long story for background...Elizabeth is responsible for my marriage - she was in my Girl Scout troop six years ago and her mom heard me talking about wanting to meet a guy who had his own washer and dryer and wasn't hung up on his mother. (The reasons for these requirements is another long story, best saved for another day!) Anyway, Elizabeth's mom had a friend from high school who was single, so she offered to set us up. Several months later I was at her house to talk about Scout stuff, and they introduced me to a man talking to her husband. I left without saying much only to find out later that he was "the" guy she was trying to fix me up with! I thought she should have encouraged me to stay and chat if that was the case, but it all worked out. In a strange twist of fate, he worked across the parking lot from me, we talked on the phone a few times and have been inseparable since our first date on Jan 20, 2001!

Back to the regularly scheduled blogging...

Baby K says...OK Mom, I'm ready! Let's go go GO!

Hidden Stars

The name of the Marti Michell Block-of-the-Month (from 2005) is "Hidden Star Sampler." These are blocks 12 and 8. Th speckled blue actually has violets on it, very pretty up close! The pattern calls for the star blocks to alternate with fussy-cut roses from this fabric:
Although it's pretty, it's a little too frou-frou for my taste, especially since I want this to go in the master bedroom. DH can tolerate only so much frilliness! When I'm ready to put the final layout together, I am planning on solid blue squares...wonderful blank spaces for custom quilting! I hope I can do it justice.

Onto the next thing

One week until the Rockin Sock Club yarn gets mailed! And probably another week to arrive in my mailbox. It's like counting down to Christmas, yipee!! I want to be able to cast on right away when my RSC kit arrives, so I am in the planning stages with the two skeins pictured. On the left is "Stars and Stripes" by Fortissima. I am thinking of a plain ribbed leg and stockinette foot to let the sel-patterning yarn really shine. On the right is my Socktoberfest yarn from Scout. The plan is to create a pair of Halloween knee-highs for October '07. I need to get some contrasting plain yarn for the cuff, heel and toe. Black or purple...what do you suggest?

And the top shows the alpaca yarn for my current project. I started the Left Back of a sweater vest. All knit stitches, so it works up very quickly. The multi-color alternates for a striped vest. After the left back panel is finished, I just have to knit a small wedge and seam the 5 pieces together. Good thing I have lots of TV to watch this weekend...that means quality knitting time. (On the schedule: Amazing Race, Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters on Sunday, 24 on Monday)

I wore my Jaywalkers to school yesterday. It made me so happy to look at my feet :-) I will need to adjust my wardrobe to better showcase the hand-knits.

Plans for the three-day weekend...taxes (yuck, but not very painful with the adoption tax credit!). Monday I will run down to the LQS for some backing and batting. Last night I finished the Color Blocks top. I think today I will pull out my 2005 Blocks of the Month...that project got stalled in month 7! It's a Marti Michell pattern, so there are lots of little pieces to cut out with templates.

I want to take a long walk with Baby K today to enjoy the 80 degree weather. My condolences to those of you in the frozen tundra of the Midwest!!

School Spirit

Jaywalkers complete!! Bring on the Rockin' Socks Club!

DH put Baby K to bed tonight and I am going to sew for a couple hours. YAY! I remembered a project that I wanted to finish this spring...a leprechaun pattern by Quilted Quickies. I thought that would be a cute wallhanging to display in my classroom in March. But alas, I can't lay my hands on the pattern at the moment. Time to pull out the bins holding my stash and re-organize. Especially since DH has been in a hoarding mood and is trying to stockpile canned goods in case bird flu strikes and we are quarantined for a month. I don't mind having food on hand, but the pantry is my fabric storage location. A girl has to have priorities ;-)

Sunday Sewing

I won these colorful blcoks at my guild's February meeting. I decided I'd better do something with them ASAP...and it's instant gratification for me, just sew the rows together! There are several duplicates that I tried to separate, but I wanted to keep color families together. I started off with a row of blue, then ended up with "chunks" of the other colors. There were lots of burgundies that I just mixed in with the brighter reds. So, I could have been better on the layout, but it's a fun quickie.

Here's the six month Baby K bunny photo! Hard to believe how fast time flies.

Jaywalker update...I've started the toes, woo-hoo! Hopefully I can share finished pictures in a few days!

Jaywalker update

See, I told you in-progress photos are boring! Here we have 75% of my first pair of Jaywalkers. I think it's pretty cool that, although I knew I did not start with the same color, the stripes look amazingly match-y!! Just about one row off at the very top. Which makes it easy to measure the foot length ;-) Looks like I need three blue stripes before my toe decreases!

B. is out on a walk with Baby K right now. I got out of it because I had to take my car in for its emissions check. I was sitting at a stop light this morning, noticing the personalized plates next to me, when I had that sinking feeling that I had missed a deadline. Yep - a week late renewing my vehicle registration! Only an $8 late fee, not too bad.

Although, thinking of my missed walk, I definitely need the exercise! I am about over my cold, just the drippy nose stage now. SO, next week, I'll be back at the gym. Maybe I can actually make it the recommended 3 times per week! That hasn't happened yet in the year that I've had my Curves membership!!!

Abrupt change of subject - Could Grey's Anatomy have been any more depressing last night?!? B's comment was that, of course, Meredith won't drown, because then it wouldn't be Grey's Anatomy! I wanted to watch Men in Trees, if only to cheer up, but I was about to fall asleep, so we recorded it and we'll watch it tonight after the basketball game...or maybe save it for Saturday since there's generally nothing on then! I'm looking forward to the Amazing Race All-Stars which begins on Sunday.

Quick Finish

Here it is - the Patriotic Baby Steps, which now goes in the longarm pile! Of course, I need to trim the corners, then check if it's big enough for Quilts of Valor.

My Quilt Guild adapted my stash idea, although the focus is now on using scraps. And I won the raffle blocks!! Now I have three sets...maybe those should move up on the UFO list soon?!?

Thursday night in front of the TV...time to work on the Jaywalkers! I'll take a picture soon...knitters know that a few rows per day does not make a very interesting photo shoot.

Up from the depths

I found a UFO that I didn't have on the list last week. A sure sign that I need to finish these up!

The pattern is called "Baby Steps," a simple rail fence block set with plain squares. I chose red, white and blue, planning to donate this quilt to Operation Homefront Quilts or Quilts of Valor. My biggest oops was not pre-washing. I have leftovers so I can test the reds especially to see if they will bleed...then it's into a Retayne (tm) bath with lots of prayer!

Prewashing is one of those eternal quilting debates. I learned to quilt form my mom, and she doesn't prewash. I also worked in her quilt store, where I would show up in the morning, see all the new fabric, pick out all the supplies for a project and have it cut out by the end of the day. Instant gratification was the name of the game! (And "shop sample" is perfect justification for starting something new!!)

My last start-to-finish quilt was the batik Strip Club quilt, and I did take the time to prewash. I try to do all the charity blocks for my local guild, and those need to be prewashed also. It would seem that I need to spend some time washing my stash! Some people worry about fabric shrinking, but I am more concerned with dyes bleeding. Of course, reds and blacks are the worst offenders, especially when set next to white. Thus, my fear with the current project!! I guess if it turns into red, pink and blue, I could donate it to the local animal shelter as a doggie blanket, LOL.

As I was working on this last night, I thought of Bonnie's leader-ender project. She has a basket of squares that she keeps by her machine to piece in between her current project. When she has enough 4-patches or whatever, then she sets them into a scrappy quilt. Great idea, but it doesn't work for me! I can't just do a "few" of something. I need to have the whole project in mind before I start. So, I'm more attracted to something like Judy's Hour-a-Day stash-buster project, where you raid your stash to get all the fabric together and then I'm fine with working on it a little at a time in between other projects.

I like the idea of cutting my stash/leftovers into usable pieces. I started cutting one night, but didn't get very far, LOL. I'm thinking of suggesting this to my guild program committee - have the topic be "Tame Your Stash" and everyone can bring some fabric and cutting tools and start to get organized! Or have an "exchange" project, like log cabin blocks, where everyone brings lots of strips and we all share. OK. my mind is spinning, time to send these ideas to the committee!

As promised

The latest photo of Baby K. Yep, sitting up by herself! She is such an extrovert that she HATES to take a nap...no time for sleep, she might miss something. She's not crawling yet, and actually, her daddy is fine with that. Since he's home with her all day, he knows that life will be very chaotic once she's mobile.

I'm home from school today with a cold. I figured it was better to take a day off and try to rest than to push myself to exhaustion. Of course, the baby decided to wake up at 5am, an hour earlier than normal!

The gussets are almost done on Jaywalker sock #2! We're heading to the home stretch...

I haven't decided what quilting project to pull out of the UFO pile next. Some of the candidates: an Underground Railroad sampler, a bargello, a Marti Michell BOM from 2005, the peek-a-boo cats, or a blue storm at sea. Probably not today though, I'd have a guilty conscience since I brought some tests home to grade!

Finished!

Everyone asks for the bad news first, and unfortunately, the Phoenix Suns' winning streak came to an end tonight. I usually don't watch men's basketball until March Madness and the NBA Finals, but the Suns are just awesome this year! Steve Nash is on his way to a third MVP award. Hopefully we can win the Western Conference and get to the Finals this year.

OK, enough sports talk. I know you're all here for the quilts! (Except Aunt Gretchen, Ty and Jean...so sorry, I'll post baby pictures tomorrow).

This is one of the wall-hangings I am giving to our small quilt auction. I used left over Stack-n-Whack blocks. I had fun using ALL the scraps from the original project! I just bought some more of the blue background...it's basic enough to use in something else. Here is the second bit of leftovers. I had some of the full "treasure box" blocks finished, so I just made a smaller version of Bethany Reynold's original design.
BTW - you should really try taking photos of your quilts-in-progress. These kaleidoscopes look pretty neat on my computer screen! It's like a reducing glass, you can get a better feel for the overall balance of the quilt and the colors if you snap a quick digital photo.