October 2010

Oct

26

Going to the World Series!

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I have a habit of rooting for the underdog, so I heart the San Francisco Giants.  Watching them play this season was a real treat, even if it was torture watching them win their games at the last possible second.

Game Two (Thursday), field level, first base line, row 25 seats 1 and 2.  Woohoo!  Go Giants!?
Oct

25

Patchwork Posse Borders

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It was fun to see my borders pop up on the blog at Patchwork Posse today.
This is a round robin begun by Becky Jorgensen at Patchwork Posse.  The theme is whimsey.  She designed the center block.  I did the first borders.  They are only nine inches tall and five and a half inches wide, so it was a fairly small space.  I decided to use flowers to complement the center and keep the design in scale.  It will be fun to see what the next person decides to use. 
I am not sure what happened with the photos in the bio that was posted with my work.  The paper-pieced kaleidoscope quilt project I referred to is this
but Becky posted some other photos from my Flickr stream.  Oh, well.  It is still very exciting to be invited to participate in the round robin.  Thanks, Becky.  Follow the fun at www.patchworkposse.com/blog.
Oct

21

Patchwork Posse Update

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Here is my center block for the Patchwork Posse Round Robin:
The theme of the quilt is “Whimsey” and the center block was designed by Becky at Patchwork Posse.  Every other week a new designer adds two sides to the quilt. Next week is my turn to add the left and right side to this block.  Come and join us for this fun round robin.  It’s free. There are some great giveaways, too!
Oct

20

Makeover!

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You might notice that my blog banner has had a face lift. I want to thank artist, designer and illustrator Kirsten Peters McGrath for helping me find my new look. She came up with several very clever designs which I have been trying out and admiring today. I am really liking this block logo. Check out Kirsten’s work in her Etsy shop under her name and the name kpmdoodles. Kirsten has been featured in the Treasury on Etsy so you know she has some serious design skills (she also designs jewelry and costumes). When talent was being handed out, she was obviously standing at the front of the line! Thanks, Kirsten, for your help.

My round robin bee is having a secret partner swap of Fall/Halloween fabric and my envelope arrived today from my partner and friend Jane of Jane’s Fabrics. (See button on the right sidebar). I particularly love the Apple Tree fabric. Thanks for the wonderful gift, Jane!

Oct

18

More PIQF Inspiration

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As promised, I am back with more inspiration from the Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara, California this past weekend.
?You know how much I love color so there is no explanation needed for why I love this one!
Ditto for these two….
This quilt was constructed of one-inch squares. Amazing color transitions using tiny pieces of fabric.
My daughter was temporarily distracted by a booth full of really whacky sunglasses.
This 6 x 8 inch applique block was part of a very large quilt with a California theme.  This block looked so three dimensional I thought it was a photo until I got up close.  The fuzzy thread embellishments made great seaweed.
?This is another block in the same quilt.  The sky is hand-painted fabric.
This was my daughter’s favorite quilt in the show. She adored this quilt. When we got home she immediately started posing our two dogs and two cats (who, fortunately get along well with each other) in various poses with each other, happily snapping photos of them, to get just the right shot to be turned into a quilt for her.
Oct

15

More PIQF Photos

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Today I am sharing some more photos of quilts being exhibited at the Pacfic International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara, California.  Yesterday was opening day of the Festival and to say it was crowded would be an understatement.  Finding enough room to take a decent photo was a challenge, so I apologize for weird angles and poor photos!

This quilt was a blue ribbon winner.  It is a Christmas theme.  The colors in the star swirl out from the center which is an unusual technique for this pattern.  There are tiny appliqued Christmas icons in between the star points, and then a ring of Christmas trees in a circle around the star.  I felt the icons were a little small in proportion to the quilt itself, but the applique was beautiful. The quilt was quilted with metallic threads which made it shimmer, even in the poor lighting.  The machine quilting was extremely tiny and perfect.

This Baltimore Album quilt was stunning.  The center blocks are approximately six inches on point so this applique is impressive. Lots and lots of tiny details.
Very pretty, and again nice machine quilting.  It is interesting because I do not remember seeing a single quilt in this show that was hand quilted.?  Obviously the speed with which a quilter can execute complicated designs by machine has compelled most quilters to turn to machine quilting. 
I love color.  This quilt is not complex but I love the colors.  The light green split rail blocks in the background add nice texture to the surface.
Again, a simple quilt design but big visual impact.  An unusual color combination but very effective.
Another striking color combination.
I have a few photos left to share with you tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by!
Oct

14

Pacific International Quilt Festival

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My feet hurt!  Today I spent the day wandering the exhibit halls of the Santa Clara Convention Center, enjoying the Pacific International Quilt Show.  This is one of the largest quilt shows on the West Coast so there are lots of beautiful quilts to admire and such an unbelieveable variety of fabric and quilt goodies it made my debit card quiver.

I want to share a few photos of some of my favorites.  It was extremely crowded, as today was the opening day of the four day festival, so getting a decent photo was almost impossible.

You know I love color, so this lovely creation took my breath away.  Here’s a look at the quilting…
Lots and lots of variety in stitch design.  Wonderfully creative.
Then there was this tropical delight:
and just in case you missed him
And there was even some quilted royalty:
These beautiful quilts are so inspiring!  If I weren’t so tired I would head straight for the sewing room.
I will be back tomorrow with some more lovely photos from the show.
Oct

13

Not a Big Fan of Halloween

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I have to admit it, I am not a big fan of Halloween.  Ghost, witches and goblins…I can do without them.  My husband, on the other hand, loves Halloween.  He is the one that shops for the decorations and relishes turning our house into the land of the unliving every October.  Like these little treasurers that find their way on to the mantle in the family room.

Not to mention the fake headstones that make their way on to the lawn, the packages of ‘spider web’ that is pulled across the bushes and trees or the gigantic black spider that crawls across the front of the house.  He came home from work early last year so he could hang a hundred plastic spiders from the entryway so the kids had to walk through them to get to the doorbell. That’s right, there is a 12 year old boy trapped in my husband’s body.  But there are only two more weeks until I can quietly pack away the boxes of ghostly trappings and happily unpack the Thanksgiving decorations.  Ah, I love Thanksgiving….

Oct

12

Patchwork Posse Quilt

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Becky, Posse Boss at Patchwork Posse Quilts, has posted her center block for the new quilt-along…

By popular vote of her blog’s readers, the theme “Whimsey” has been chosen and Becky has provided a sweet mommy and baby snail in the garden as the center for the quilt. The fun starts now. Every two weeks a new set of borders will be posted until the quilt is complete in early January. Come along and sew with us!

Oct

11

The Baby is Driving!

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My baby is driving! She and her little yellow Lab are inseperable so the Lab goes along too, whenever possible.When her brothers and her sister hopped behind the wheel and sped off, it didn’t bother me. But this has me feeling sad. No more talks on the way to and from school, no more picking her up at the movies at 11PM, no more driving her to and from sleepovers or quick trips to Target for supplies for the latest school project…wait a minute! What am I complaining about? On second thought, this is great!