Sister's Choice Quilts

I'm Better Now

I had a bit of a melt down yesterday.  All the caregiving, cleaning, cooking and "doing" finally caught up with me, and I decided I was pretty much done with it all.  I needed a long weekend at a resort spa, complete with all the massage and grooming appointments time would allow.  That wasn't in the cards, but you know what turned my mood around?

A day of sewing.  I took a mental health day today and set up a sewing station in my kitchen.  I had Eva for company, but she did her own thing, and we checked in with each other regularly.  She is getting to be an excellent little companion.  Her main activity was removing the contents of my pantry and placing it in various other locations in the house.  This occupied her for quite some time, and allowed me to get a lot done with my sewing.  Don't ask what my house looks like.  I don't care.

Can you guess what I dived into?  You got it!  The Row Along hosted by Lori Holt at Bee In My Bonnet!  There are two rows to do every two weeks, and folks are on Row 7 right now, so I have some catching up to do.  I have made more progress than pictured here however.  My butterfly row has long strips of white running down the length of the row, and I have completed Row 3, which is a chevron pattern. 

I have Row 4 all prepped and ready to go, which is going to be super cute.  Apples, some of them with bites taken out.  So adorable!  Hope to show you some pictures Monday.  Sunday is going to be my sewing opportunity this weekend, and I plan to make the most of it.

What I can't decide is if I should continue on with the Row Along and try to catch up, or if I should try to make some sort of Christmas table topper.  I really need one of those!

Besides being able to spend the whole day sewing, I got a special delivery from my Brown friend. 

I took advantage of Fatquartershop's Black Friday sale and got Tavern Reds by Paula Barnes, Old Glory Gatherings by Primitive Gatherings, and the latest Primitive Quilts Magazine.  I am really happy now, yes I am.

Close up of Tavern Reds.

Can't wait to make the most of this Patriotic collection.

My advice?  If you have any interest in primitive fabric, crafts, or decorating, you must check out this magazine.  It is chock full of fabulous projects and ideas.

Happy sewing everyone! 

Lovely Blog, Lovely Person

You just meet the nicest people through blogging!  During my most recent stash sale, I was contacted by a lovely woman who lives in England about something I had for sale.  Typically my heart sinks when I am asked to ship anything internationally, due to the high cost of postage.  My customer "Gertie" and I put our heads together and figured out that if we packaged the items just right, we could squeeze them into a small Flat Rate mailing envelope for the cost of $16.95 instead of $48.95 for the box.  Fine minds think alike!  Her fabric arrived safely, as she pictured above, and the two of us exchanged a few emails.

Gertie has recently started a blog of her own, which I invite you to check out.  It is called "Quilting For England".  In her most recent email to me, she suggested I have a look at something she had written called "Things I Learned From Nicole", which both honored and tickled me.  She has been a blog follower of mine for years, and did a little compilation of some of my posts that she found instructional. 

One post that brought back a lot of memories was the one describing my disappointment in my pink and brown blocks for Miss Rosie pattern called Raise the Roof.  My fabrics did not provide enough contrast and despite a ton of time and effort, I abandoned this project.

Bad block:

Good block:

I am actually thrilled to have been reminded of this quilting mishap, because I have since pulled together some awesome blues and browns that will give me the contrast effect I need.  I will finish this quilt!

Oh yes!  This will work!

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While I adore getting your comments and answering them, I am away at the present time and won't be able to respond as usual.

 

The Quilt Show

The Buggy Barn hosts an annual two day quilt show that draws folks from all over the place.  The building in the photo above is their little shop.  Not only is it chock full of quilts and fabrics on the inside, on the days of the quilt show, they have quilts displayed on every available outside surface as well!

lol  Couldn't resist this quilt, for obvious reasons!  I never can pass by a Sister's Choice quilt.

You have got to click on the image below to zoom in on the amazing stitchery.  I met the woman who made this gorgeous quilt, and she was so humble about her acomplishment.  I think it is astonishingly beautiful!

Not only are quilts hung on the barns for this quilt show, they are also draped over fences and hung on clothes lines.  It is a huge endeavor to get them all up before the show.  Janet and Pam and all their family and friends gather on the farm at dawn the day of the show and get them all hung.  Obviously some advance planning goes into figuring out where to put them all, but somehow it all gets done by 9:00 AM the day of the show.  And get this---they take them all down Saturday evening and put them all back in place by 9:00 AM Sunday!

This is a quilt that is definitely in my future!  I have started to collect browns, blacks, reds and golds and am planning a fabric swap with my friends Thelma and Lisa.

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While I adore getting your comments and answering them, I am away at the present time and won't be able to respond as usual.

Crossroads

One of the fun things about taking classes from a quilt designer is that typically, they bring along some samples of their work, and you get to see a little trunk show.  Paula Barnes of Red Crinoline Quilts did just that.  Not only did she bring a number of gorgeous quilts, but a good selection of her patterns.  One pattern that I fell in love with instantly was Crossroads.  I actually did not see this quilt in person, but was quickly able to pull together fabrics which I thought would work brilliantly.

The reds, tourquoise and golds with that bit of black for sparkle just thrilled me!  I think 2013 may be my year of Paula Barnes quilts!

Here are some of the quilts she brought along to Washington as part of her trunk show:

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While I adore getting your comments and answering them, I am away at the present time and won't be able to respond as usual.

Halloween 1904

This is a quilt I have been wanting to make for several years.  The deal was clinched when Thelma and I saw this on display at the Buggy Barn.  The pattern is called Halloween 1904 by Blackbird Designs.  The blocks are a combination of piecework and applique, but I plan to chance things up a bit.  Janet Nesbitt, owner of Buggy Barn and author of many Buggy Barn books, showed Thema and I how to piece rather than applique the small star blocks, using her "crazy" piecing technique (a method similar to stack and whack).  This is great news to me, since any quilt that has more piecing than applique has a far greater chance of getting finished when I am involved.



Here are some additional photos of the quilt that I found on the Internet:

   

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While I adore getting your comments and answering them, I am away at the present time and won't be able to respond as usual.