AQS Paducah 2012 Winners Announced!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31nuxmYKxQM&feature=youtu.be

Enjoy the show!


Congratulations to all!  Every single quilt is gorgeous ... 

Go Gators!

Go Gators!  (Boy, I hope I have that right ... i am so college-football challenged! Yes, it has that green gator face ... whew ...).


Barb gave me this cute college quilt to finish up for her.  She put a wonderful bright orange minkee on the back and it quilted up beautifully.  I really haven't had a problem with minkee.  But it does look like I got crazy with a bag of Cheetos in my studio!  Little bits of orange fluff which, from a distance, look like pieces of Cheetos!  And I don't care how many times you vacuum, some of that stuff runs, hides, and comes out later to tease and taunt you!  


Anyway, here's her quilt.  I used Magna-Glide threads, blue on top and bright orange on the back.  Love those threads!  Look closely ... no tension issues what-so-ever!  

Here's Pam's quilt that I started calling "Steve Jobs".  Lordy, don't ask ... i had a moment and just went with it.


Anyway, it's a beautiful muted batik - great for a guy - and I again used the Fil-Tec Magna-Glide thread on it.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Today is our Anniversary ... woo woo!  It used to be that The Sweetest Cowboy in the World (I could definitely be a charter member of the Sweet Potato Queen club ...) bought me diamonds and rubies ... little baubles that sparkle and shine ... NOW, at my request, my 'baubles' are now LONG-ARM toys!  And I'm so happy!  And TSCITW is happy ... if momma ain't happy, ain't noboby happy, y'all, doncha know?  


True Story:  We went to a fancy place for brunch this morning, and to the tune Happy Birthday, we sang Happy Anniversary ... soft, looking into each others eyes ... sweet, romantic.  And then I added a 2nd verse just for TSCITW ... real soft, low, and sorta funny.  Song over, we ate our brunch.  Yum.  Heading towards the door afterwards, I heard hubby laugh a bit.  Outside he said that the man sitting behind us, stopped hubby and said: "In my 55 years, I've never had a woman sit across from me and sing to me ... you are blessed!!!"  We giggled all the way to the car ... Happy Anniversary, Larry!


My newest present:  Micro-Drive handles for the machine.  And I'm planning on having me some fun ... 

Here's a couple of pics of some of the flowers on our deck.  I love this time of year ... if it wasn't so darn chilly and damp ... and these roses will be spectacular in about a week if we have some warm sunshine.  And the begonias in the red pots will be HUGE in about 6 weeks.  I'll check back later with you.

A T-Shirt Quilt

One of the things I really like to do is make T-Shirt quilts ... I know, I know ... maybe I should go lie down until the feeling passes, right?  I love the whole prepping of the t-shirts, the layout, the sewing, and finally the quilting.  I've told myself that the next T-Shirt quilt will be a 'random' placement of the T-Shirts ... I'm really excited to start that one.  Thinking outside the box and all that ...


This is the latest T-Shirt quilt, made for Melanie (thanks, Mom!).  Melanie and Mom bought me her gymnastic t-shirts and since she loves purple (woo woo ... another one who isn't afraid of a bit of color!) we did dark purple/light purple sashings, cornerstones, and borders.  Great backing and a lime green binding!


And then the quilting is the Circle Lord Swirls.  I really like this one for T-Shirt quilts because it really holds that quilt together without being really dense.  If the quilting is too loose (less dense) I'm afraid the t-shirts and their stabilizer pieces would separate.


Enjoy!  




Oh, that last picture is the great backing that Melanie chose for her quilt.  Purple background, lime green and blue birds, lavender flowers, red paisleys ... just makes me want to smile!

Oh my! Let's dance!

This video is absolutely fabulous!  I have to thank Pat Sloan for providing the link to this wonderful, colorful, dancing video.  Even if you aren't a 'dancer', you have to really appreciate the colors in this video!  


http://okgo.net/2012/03/29/skyscrapers/


Pay attention to the 1:54 minute mark ... makes me want to go take some tango lessons! I am a dancing bear but this is something else!


Enjoy!  I'm going to also post it on INFO SITE AND YOU-TUBE FAVORITES, somewhere over there on the right.

Crikey! Maybe there ARE Quilt Police ...

I was reading one of my favorite blog sites (Urban Elementz blog) and came across this article:


http://www.urbanelementz.com/blog/2012/04/03/whats-next/


You just might want to check this out.  I admit that I have not researched this in depth ... but we could see this train coming for a long time now, right? 


Lots of info and lots of situations.  Keep your eyes open!


My question is this:  I have a stash that could be its own store.  And I have fabric that I have NO IDEA who  the designer is ... hmmmm ....


Ok, so here's MY plan.  I'm going to keep on piecing and quilting.  When I know the info, I will give full credit.  When I don't know, I can't and won't.  


So back to reading and researching this.  It's always something, isn't it?  

So Like I was Saying ...

It HAS been a while, hasn't it?  So let's get all caught up. 


HAPPY EASTER to you!  I love the licorice jelly beans and I've been good so far this season.  Only one bag has crossed my lips.  Look at my tongue!  Oh, mom, that is sooooo gross!  Can't you just hear them now?


First of all, I've been busy.  Could have guessed that, couldn't you?  


Check out what I 'presented' myself with:  NEW SHOES!  Woo Woo!  I do love a new pair of shoes!  And the neon green is spectacular!  I just love looking down at my pretty shoes!


OK, these are 'magic' shoes, see?  They get me up in the morning, and get me to the Y, and get me on the treadmill, and get my feet moving ... yeah, that's the ticket ... it's the shoes!  Let me tell you, I bless the day that someone came up with the idea of putting a TV in front of me while I'm on the treadmill!  I get so darn bored just walking walking walking ... and no, being outside wouldn't be any better!  So I've had them for 2 weeks and I've been to the Y ... no, that can't be right ... six times??? What the ....???  Maybe if I wear them to bed ...


So I have earplugs in to listen to the TV, my Kindle Fire in front of me in case the TV bores me, and my phone at hand in case someone finds it necessary to talk to me at 6:00 in the morning.  It could happen ... 



So ... quilting items:


Terri handed me her DIL's grandmothers vintage quilt to finish off for her.  I think this is a belated birthday present for her DIL.  Anyway, this is one gorgeous quilt. Look at that zig-zag border.  She said it took 12 yards of binding (not fabric ... just binding) to finish it off.  Anyway, as I worked on it, I started to appreciate just how precise this piecer was in getting all these odd shapes to line up correctly.  This was all HAND-PIECED, by the way.  I know, I know ... it probably should have been finished by hand, but then again ...  so I tried to find a pattern that would just let the quilt do the talking.  A sweet panto fit the bill.  The backing is a cream muslin.  Vintage in its own right ...

And then I offered to teach one of my small quilting groups the Spicy Spiral Table Runner.  These are absolutely awesome!!  Check out our motley crew and their beautiful creations.  And these table runners are just the ticket for SID'ing (if that's your cuppa tea ... not me, baby!  I'll throw mine on the long-arm and get 'er done!) on your domestic machine.  I've seen the work that some of you do using your DSMs and I'm in awe!  There's Pat, Elaine, Jerrie, Ashleigh, Anita, and Rose.  Hi girls!!  They didn't whine too much and I think they had a good time.  I think they were amazed that they actually walked away with a finished table runner ... well, Anita ALMOST got hers finished!!  Well done, ladies!

So now we have MIL visiting and I'm trying to get some different projects done plus a trip to Savannah coming up.  Life is always interesting, isn't it?


So next up will be a T-Shirt quilt, a blue/yellow quilt, a batik ... another blue/yellow, and several more batiks ... and ... and ... I just LOVE this stuff!


Happy Easter!