A couple of quilts for another stormy day ...

We have had some interesting weather here today.  Storms, meaning tornadoes, lots of rain, intense wind, and a lot of those tornado warnings.  

So I'm in the studio, mushroom style (in the basement), quilting away, and the weather doesn't bother me a bit.  

So while the winds howl and the rain pounds down, here's what I've done ...

 This one is a Yellow Brick Road for a customer's soon-to-be grandbaby.  I used the panto Alfresco on it to mimic those big beautiful pink flowers in the border.   

The next one is a Comfort Quilt that my church quilting group provides for those in need, especially those undergoing cancer treatment.  This one is so soft and sweet. I used Twofold Feathers on this one with a Glide thread (Salmon) which matched perfectly.

It was a fine day if you were a duck ...

Last week we had rain, rain, and more rain.  And during all that rain I had the opportunity to work on this sweet Ducky quilt!

The applique is fabulous and I didn't want to ruin that, so I did watery stuff around the duckies, some swirls in the ducky sashings, water splash in the blocks, and Terry Twists with another 'twist' in the 9-patch blocks.  I continues on with the water splash all along the border.

Cathy backed this one with a Minkee and the whole quilt is ... well, just Ducky!  Be sure to click on the pic to see it up close ...

Round 'em up!

It's been almost a year to the week ... I started this Cowboy quilt for Mr. Dancing Bear this time last year.  I attended the retreat at Quilting by the Bay in Panama City, and the guest lecturer/pattern designer was Pat Wys, and we were making quilts from her book Spotlight on Neutrals.  I chose the design Havenstone.  Geez, I always choose the ONE pattern that has a ga-zillion pieces; however, I had been collecting cowboy fabrics for a while, knowing that my cowboy needed his very own quilt.  So ... voila!!!  My quilt isn't quite as distinct in colors/patterns as Pat, but then again I used a boat-load of different cowboy prints ... and that turquoise blue just pops, doesn't it?

It is waaaayyyy too big to get an all-over picture (shall I tell you how I really really wish I could take decent pics?), but here are a couple to give you a sense of just how Yippie-Ki-Yay this quilt is!!  So a big thank you to Pat Wys and her tremendous book, Spotlight on Neutrals!  Hope to take another class with you soon!

Another one to drool over ...

Here's another beauty from Joanne ...  didn't she do a great job piecing?  Quilting it was like knife through soft butter ... so smooth!

You have to click on the pic to get a close-up view.  I used a beautiful pantograph that hopefully replicated those beautiful swirls in the fabric.  And I want to call this a Moda quilt ... it is Moda fabric, isn't it?

















So on to the next project!

Oh, I finally decided on what I'm going to do border-wise on my Easy Street quilt.  I absolutely LOVE living in this age of technology ... I went to my two fav fabric stores looking for a particular fabric and didn't find it, so came home and found in on the internet.  I like spending my fabric $$$ locally, but I also knew that I really really wanted this particular fabric.  So glad I finally found it!   So I'm waiting for this fabric to be delivered, and then I'll finish up the borders, and maybe in February I'll be able to get it on Max for quilting.  "The cobbler's children have no shoes ..."  and "The quilters quilts seldom get quilted ..."  LOL!  But we'll work it in somehow.  

And next up is the Cowboy quilt that I finished piecing this past fall, while Max was off for his spa treatment.  So maybe the quilter does get some quilts quilted after all!  This one is about 1 year old.  It's a big ol' cowboy quilt and I started it in Panama City in January 2012 ... I'm slow ... reaaaaaallll slow ...

Easy Street Mystery Quilt

I'm addicted to Mystery Quilts ... and this one by Bonnie K. Hunter is to-die-for!

Easy Street with Bonnie K. Hunter

Let's just pretend that September was yesterday ...

I've been blogging in my head for a couple of weeks now ... trying to figure out how to span an empty space of 4 months.  Do I try to catch up and fill in with everything that has happened?  Crikey!  No way!  Too much has happened and there is no chance in H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS that I can stay focused enough to fill you in.  Shoot, I can barely relate what has happened in the past hour ...

Ok, so here's the plan.  Let's just pretend that yesterday was September and that today just happens to be the Day After September ... or some day that resembles the Day After September.

So here's a picture for you.  I worked my fingers to the bone quilting customer quilts right before Christmas and then gave myself permission to spend some time on doing some sewing/piecing for me.  So I love mystery quilts ... I've had some good ones and some OH MY GOD WHAT WAS I THINKING ones ... but I fell into the Bonnie K. Hunter Easy Street mystery right at Thanksgiving and I have had a ball with it.  This pic is of the top without borders.  I plan to add a 2" black border and then a wider something-something border.  Sounds like I need a trip to a quilt store, doesn't it?  And I have a plan for the backing, but that's for later.  How fun can this be????

The famous Ms. Hunter used Lime Green, Turquoise, and Purple in her quilt.  Well, I came across a tangerine piece of fabric that had fushia (or is it magenta?) and a blue-green in it and I went for those colors.  I love the black/white pieces.   So tomorrow I'll see if I can find an outer border piece.  Any suggestions?

And today I finished up this wall-hanging for Patsy Ruth.  It is so beautiful.  The colors are so soft but the way she put them together makes a statement.

This is BEFORE Santa arrived ...

This is AFTER Santa arrived:

Oh oh oh!!!!  Can you see the white wire baskets to the right and to the left of Patsy's wall-hanging?   I added the two pics above, the BEFORE and the AFTER.  I am a brave soul, aren't I?  Santa bought me these beautiful storage units for Christmas!  I've given up the jewelry-as-a-present thing ... now I want (and dare I say NEED) things that make my quilting life productive!  And these units are just too great.  Everything is put up ... most of my fabric (at least fabric in this room) is folded, measured, and put in its proper place.  I finally know what it means to feel a 'lightness of being'.  When I walk into this room, I automatically relax knowing that I can work without stress, worrying about the mess that litters my area.  It's all GOOD!