Joys of Summer

 Sweetie and I are having a wonderful summer.  Brian was home from college (UC Santa Barbara) for a nice long 3 week stay, (of course, never long enough for me).  We relaxed, ate well, got trounced in scrabble by Sweetie, and went to a quilt show in Alamogordo where Brian learned how to use the longarm and schmooze the customers.  Thanks Brian for all your help!  He is now working at his uncle's restaurant in Northern California, and will be back for Labor Day week before the fall quarter begins.

Next, our best friend Kim came for a way too short visit.  One week was not enough time to sew all our our quilts, eat all the food we wanted and drink all of Sonic's Diet Cherry Limeade.  ALAS!  While she was here, she organized our Modern Quilt Guild charity sew-in, by getting all of our piles separated and aligned so that all the ladies had to do was sit n sew.  Pattern is by the husband and wife team of Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr, and was published in a recent quilt magazine, but I can't recall which one.  Fabrics were selected by the group last month based on a magazine photo of a flower in partial bloom and this quilt was on its way.

Watermelon Patch

 Then a few of the members of our Modern Guild got together and pieced the top, in one day! And we still had time to eat yummy enchiladas made by Sweetie, and his beanless bean dip.  ha ha.  This will be quilted by me, bound by someone other than me ;-) and then auctioned off for charity in November.  Would you like a ticket?  Let me know. . .
We had originally thought the color pallete was a very nice fall into Christmas colorway, but after we had it pieced, Sweetie said it looked like a watermelon patch!  I think he is right.




Next, we have an in-progress quilt that I am working on.  I taught this class at Gathering Stitches and decided to make one along with the group.  Sweetie named this one, too.  He said, "it looks like a Koi Pond" so there you go, Koi Pond.

Koi Pond

I started with an Amy Butler print and went from there, varying lights and darks, small and medium prints, and a couple of "weirdos' to add interest.

Here are the participants' PhD's  (projects half done):

S's fabric choices, mild to wild!

Strata-fied.  Foreground is S's

First day playing, she wasn't sold on her quilt.  Hang in there!

T's color wheel selection

Beginning to work with pieces

Aha! Now it is coming together.  Love that circle reverse applique at bottom row

D's Quilt:

Selection process

Stratas completed

In progress

D's final layout, all stitched together because she is an over-achiever!

Next we have C's quilt:

Fabric Selection Process

Final Layout of quilt (?)

This is an upcoming class at Gathering Stitches.  August 16 I think.  Call me or Julie to confirm the date. This is made from 2 jelly rolls.  Fast and Easy.  Quick n Dirty.  I love the Robert Kaufman fabrics I picked for this one.  Got them in Napa at the former Quiltworks.  :-(  No longer there.

This quilt is all pieced, just need to get it on the Nolting!!

I am also teaching a new original pattern, "Fall In Stars" which features beautiful fall colors and just two different star blocks, but one of the blocks in two colorways to give an interesting effect.  Stay tuned.  Class sample coming.

Finally, We have our table runner of the month club coming up on Friday, August 3.  At 3 pm, we will unveil the August Poppy tablerunner.  Here is a hint:  It is southwestern in feel.  Includes an original paper-pieced center, some original traditionally pieced blocks, and some applique.  Hooray for poppies!

Who is this Dude?  Why is he yelling?  He is a drawing I am working on for a quilt guild challenge.  The VVQ are having a quilt show soon and we decided to make little quilted signs to remind visitors not to touch the quilts. Well, I recalled a story when the kids and I were in a museum in France, and Anthony was pretending to "shoot" a machine gun that was on display.  The guard got frantic and started screaming, "Ne pas toucher!" and running down the hall.  Now that is what we tell Punkin when she is trying to reach out and touch something in a store.  So, I decided to make a cartoon guard yelling at the folks.  I will be transferring this guy to fabric and he will "yell" to not touch the quilts.  I tried to print him on fabric last night with all the lettering done with cool wordart fonts and stuff, but I messed up and set the printer for t-shirt transfer and it printed out backwards!  Our guild is doing this as a challenge and the winner gets a free lunch.  Motivation to finish it!

I have so much more to tell, but I must go DO.

see u soon