Previously finished projects

I forgot to share a monumental accomplishment! I finished the first block of the Baltimore Halloween applique quilt that I started almost 2.5 years ago! All that needs to be done is embroidered legs on the spider and feet on the owl. Ta da!!!

In the time that it took me to finish one block, an amazing hand appliquer friend of mine from my quilt guild finished and hand quilted the Ladies of the Sea quilt and has also finished the applique portion and is currently quilting the Baltimore Halloween too. She told me that I started with the hardest project, especially since it's my first ever hand applique. She also gave me some great pointers about using Ultra Suede to do the bitty parts like the beak and eyes and such.

Ladies of the Sea:

The Pirate Ship block:

Baltimore Halloween:

She pointed out how much bigger the pieces are in the Ladies of the Sea. They were indeed larger than the pieces in the Halloween quilt, but I think she was just being nice. I mean, those floral borders alone are insane! (Those aren't her quilts, just pictures of the pattern quilts).
I also finished my Limeade quilt made with silk dupioni. I hung it with 3M's picture hanging velcro strips, which totally rock. It's in a little nook/hallway going from my family room and bathroom. It's a weird angle with not much light which makes it hard to get a decent photo. The fabric glows and really brightens up that nook.

I don't know if you can see it or not, but if you look closely to the left side you can see that I used left overs from the blocks to make a scrappy binding. I had put aside one of the silks to use as a single fabric binding, but just couldn't use it all up on one quilt, so I saved it to use in the second quilt I'm going to make with what's left from the fat quarters I bought. I see something wavy in the remaining silk's future.

Here's a close up. I used a gorgeous turquoise metallic thread. The block in the upper right corner is really a peacock colored teal and a red/blue colored silk. The contrast is much greater in person.



My Civic duty

I had jury duty this week. I know people always complain about it, but I seriously don't mind it. I prepared my Halloween Baltimore applique block so that I could work on it w/o scissors, and purchased one of those circular thread cutters and are airplane approved and little bitty applique pins. I had been told that some county courthouses don't let you bring in sewing needles. I think that's silly because I'm always poking myself w/pins and needles, and they aren't exactly a weapon to hold people up with. I could take on someone threatening me w/a sewing needle.

The courthouse security guards were really nice. I told the guy I handed my bag over to at the x-ray that I had brought my applique with for jury duty, so there were bitty pins and sewing needles in it. He checked it out and said I was all good.

You do a ton of absolutely nothing during jury duty, and the tv's in the waiting room always have ESPN or some awful talk show on them. I sat there for a couple of hours listening to: the Laker's won, what will Phil Jackson do now, and the bonehead football player that was arrested for accidentally shooting himself with (ready for a shocker) an illegal handgun while he was partying at a nightclub. There was this whole debate about whether or not he should be allowed to play and the teams that were interested in him, including my hometown football team. It was enough to drive me over the edge. They just kept repeating those two stories the whole time! This is a prime example why I can't stand professional sports and most of what's on tv.

Lucky for me though, I had my applique and could tune it out (for the most part). I got my tree, leaves, owl head and eyes all in place and pinned down and part of the tree sewn, but that was all. It ended up being a much shorter jury day than in years past since I didn't make the jury selection. We were let go around lunch time and since I was near the lovely town of St. Charles, I called DiscoJen and she and her little guy joined me for lunch, chocolate, wine and wandering in downtown St. Charles. I had to share this photo I took of DiscoJen's little guy eating his chocolate covered pretzel. He was soooo cute! And agreeable, especially for a 2 year old. We did a small wine tasting at a wine store specializing in local wines, and he just sat there playing w/his toys the whole time.

It turned out to be the best jury duty day I've ever had!

quilting over kill

This is what I've been working on lately:

It's the "You go girl" pattern by Tammy Tadd Designs. The fabric is the pink Lakehouse hydrangeas. I thought about cross hatching the fabric, but decided that it didn't do the fabric justice. I instead quilted the white areas around the flowers, thinking that would do it, but that left big areas unquilted. So then I quilted the leaves, but that still left a lot of area unquilted and it didn't highlight the flowers enough. I decided to quilt the flowers, which of course took 2 different colors of pink.

This is the result:

It's gorgeous, if I say so myself, but it took me 10, yes 10 hours to quilt! And I have one more to make, in the blue flowers. The blue will require 3 different blues.
I needed a day or two off from the bags to get my quilting mojo back, so I decided to actually start my Baltimore Halloween. Here's what I've done so far:

I'm pleased with the moon, but not so happy with the body or vest. I may like it better once I get the wings and head on. I chose the needle turn applique method, but I think I'm going to have to do a combo of needle turn and freezer paper so that I get my shapes just right. Here's where my type A quilting personality comes in. It's my first real applique project, so you'd think I'd cut myself some slack, but if I'm going to invest the time and money into this project, I want it to be the best that I can do. I think my stitches are ok, but I'll have to have my friend Debbie and the teacher of the block of the month look at them and see what they think.

And just because I think he's so darn cute:

Robbie figured out how to open the screen and let himself in. Isn't he clever?

Insanity 2009

It's not like I don't have enough going on to keep me busy for the next 40 years, but I have decided to join two Block of the Month clubs (BOM).

The first is through a local quilt store so that I can learn how

to do hand applique. I was actually surprised that this particular shop decided to do the Halloween Baltimore quilt by Pearl Pereira. Pieceful Gatherings ,in Fox River Grove, specialises in Civil War reproductions and darker fabrics with some 1930's repros and wool thrown in. They don't usually do Halloween that I know of. It's a nice little shop and they are the only ones in the area that are open on Sundays. Their applique teacher does beautiful work and talked them into having this class. Boy am I ever glad! Have I mentioned that I love Halloween and bats? This quilt has a ton of bats too! I hope I can do it justice! Pearl has a really cute "Little Red Riding Hood" quilt on her site as well.

The second BOM I've decided is a free, yes FREE, online sew along from Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs. It's called "A Tisket, A Tasket, 12 Months of Baskets" and is the first one cute, cute, cute! I've been following Anne's designs for a few years and think she's just wonderful. I have the kits for the "Pumpkin Hill" and the "Rabbits Prefer Chocolate" BOM's that I haven't made yet because of my handwork phobia, and I really think the Rabbits need to be hand done as opposed to fusible webbed. Since I've been participating in the embroidery club at Tammy Tadd's, my fear of it has lessened quite a bit, and I'm finding that I enjoy it somewhat, so I think 2009 will be the year I learn some hand applique! Maybe if I get these three done in my lifetime, I'll make the Baltimore Bunnies too!