Guild Show Viewer’s Choice Awards

My local quilting guild, the Gold Bug Quilters, had their quilt show this past weekend.  I had entered 2 quilts of my own and sponsored a quilt for Barb that I had quilted.  I also had a dozen or so more quilts that I had quilted in the show- including many featured in past blog posts.

The show was not judged, instead all the guild members and attendees vote for their favorite quilts.  Imagine my surprise when my quilt, Tropical Poppy, earned the Viewers choice for lap size quilts!  It didn’t enter my head that it would win, in fact, I didn’t even vote for it- LOL!

Remember the recent Valentine Quilt I quilted for Jayne?  It was the big viewer choice winner in the show, winning both Pieced, Machine Quilted quilt and also the equivalent of Viewer’s Choice Best of Show!!  Woo-hoo!! I don’t have a picture of the 2 ribbons, but here is are 2 pictures of the quilt hanging in the show:

I also appreciate that the guild made me a special name tag that identified me as having quilted the Guild’s Opportunity Quilt (see top picture above).  That was so nice of them!   I still remember the “incident” where a volunteer ripped the quilt, fixed by a fiber and beaded dragonfly!  I’ve already been asked to quilt the guild opportunity quilt in 2010,  that sounds and feels so far away.

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In the next day or so, I will show you some wonderful quilts that were hanging in this show.

Regards, Carla

Valentine quilt finish!

I am happy to report that I finished the antique Valentine quilt for Jayne! I confess it was a lot of work, but do think it has potential as a local show quilt. I’ll let you know how it does in the guild show later this month. Here is a picture of it on my dining room table as I was clipping any stray threads:

My friend, Jayne, was ecstatic with the quilt and I made sure to praise her for how well this quilt behaved on my table and her appliqué work and piecing. Some quilts are so square that you know they will hang perfectly in the show as I predict this one will.

I promise to share more pics later and yes, I have some pics of the back, too.

I have some work-in-progress to share from my metal art class. Our first piece is a hydraulic press piece where you create designs with wire, then press a copper sheet over the wire design to make this:

First, I had to make a birdy:

And a leaf shape:

I’m still trying to decide what I will do with the above pieces, but I thought i would show you the kind of stuff I’m doing in class.

My first finished piece will be to make some metal beads, then create a metal and fiber necklace with them. I’m also texturizing small pieces to make a metal collage diva pin.

I’m just going to be myself and make what I like. I have a very cool sketch of sterling silver chopsticks holding a metal sushi roll. Of course, I have to first learn the techniques to create my vision. LOL!

I bought Joe a smoker about a month or so ago. He has been teaching himself the art of smoking and how to fix certain recipes. His skill level has improved considerably since his first 2 attempts, so this weekend he is fixing pulled pork- Yum!! Of course, that also means I don’t have to cook- which I’m all for! It’s a win-win!

Enjoy your day and a shout out to all the readers dealing with hurricane season, especially Hurricanes Ike and Hanna!

Weekend already?

Wow! The week went fast! This morning I’m off to the metal arts class, I think the lecture is on soldering. For the studio portion of the class, I’ll start making my first project. It will be a mixed media piece combining metal with fiber.

Quilt project- If you have been watching the changes from day to day, sorry, no pictures today. I spent the day yesterday doing SID work on the quilt and providing texture to the applique blocks. I am now about 95 percent finished- so I will finish it after my class today.

I will take some overall pictures before it goes back it Jayne. You might remember the last quilt I did for Jayne was the wedding ring one quilted last January.

Both of these quilts will go to her children. I had the pleasure to meet her son and DIL in February at the Folsom Quilt show. it is nice to know that your work is appreciated.

Btw, The opposite of this are horror stories of women who give quilts to their offspring, only to visit them and see it used in the doghouse. Anyone have a good story to share about this topic?? Or, is this simply an old wife tale to scare new machine quilters?? LOL

Off to school!! Hugs, Carla

Quilting Day

I was working last night when my machine encoder line snapped on my quilting machine. No worries, I can run down to Walmart and replace it with 50# weight fishing line. This morning, I do just that, then realize that my encoder hex screw was stripped, too. Thank goodness this is an easy fix, too!

I really need to finish this quilt. So I quilt most of the day again. I get to the bottom border and think about what quilting design would give me a good bang for my buck?? I want to to do something different from all the other quilts I’ve quilted at this particular show.

I try to remember what quilt goes to which show so I can change the designs from quilt to quilt and not be too predictable.  My feeling is that if all my quilts look alike (at the same show), then I become too static and the viewers get bored.

Aha! I remember Molly’s quilt and the border on it. This will be at a different show, so no one will know I’m using it for inspiration, right? :

Here is a picture of my current quilt I worked on today:

So, this is my progress today. Tomorrow, I finish the borders, do my SID and applique work and color it done! Woo-hoo!

Hugs, Carla

Quilting etc.

I put in a full day of quilting today! I got as far as the block fills- here’s the middle of this quilt:

Still have the to SID the borders, blocks, applique etc… Then I need to add interest and texture to the applique as well. I’ve ended up doing this quilt 100% freehand and hand guided, which means no no computer, no machine to make it move- just good old fashioned machine quilting!

Tomorrow, I’ll show you my progress – hopefully I’ll be close to finished. Hugs, Carla

Valentine Heart Quilt

Next up on my machine quilting table is a lovely Buggy Barn pattern quilt by a friend, Virginia:

Before I talk about my quilting plan, here are some close ups of the block pattern:

I love the whimsical feel of Buggy Barn patterns, so this will be a happy quilt to work on.

Next step is to pick the thread and also the quilting pattern. I promise to show you what I’m thinking, quilting design wise, but I first need to draw and email them to Virginia so she can have some input with her quilt. Keep watching! Hugs, Carla

PS: Ok, here’s the proposed quilting design options for this quilt- as indicated by the black lines:

Be sure to notice the numbers…any guess as to which number or elements she will chose?

Thread: I’m thinking I might go with either a lighter shade of thread for the light areas and a darker red for the dark parts. This will maintain the values and contrast in this quilt and just give it some lovely texture.