Hiatus

I can't believe it's been almost a year since my last post. A lot happened last year, the biggest thing was my mom's health declining significantly until she lost the battle with her diabetes related liver disease May 30th.

Losing a parent is a big life event, and one that you really can't understand how it will effect you until you've lost one yourself. I haven't really felt like blogging in a long time, but lately I've been thinking a lot about it, so here I am!

The last couple of years have been a trial for me filled with change, loss and a lot of betrayal. Every time someone would say 'It will get better!" something even crappier happened so I forbade people from saying it to me! But as the saying goes, nothing good or bad lasts forever, even though it seems like it at the time. And as Train says "I stopped believing although Journey told me not to. Before I call it day, maybe this'll be my year." 

Thanks to my family and friends, and running away to Scotland for a month, I've finally found the good things in life again and have become a stronger, better person for it. This year is starting off pretty amazingly. I'll go into that soon, so stay tuned.

I still haven't posted the latter half of my Scotland trip, so I will do that soon. I really want to introduce everyone to the wonderful quilters I met there! 

Here's a little recap of my projects from the last year for you. It's going to be a quick and dirty synopsis, so please bare with me!

This is a quilt I made for my darling Emmett's wedding in Sept 2012 that I just finished in time for his sister's wedding this January! I baby sat both Emmett and Liz since they were born and they are both very special to me and I love them tons. I can't believe they are both old enough to be married since I'm totally not any older!

Ironically enough the quilt pattern was designed by a quilt shop owner in Austin, Texas which is where Emmett got married! (I can't recall the name now, I'll update it when I find it again) Michelle and I discovered it when we were hitting all the quilt shops in the Austin area!

I used the first David Butler line w/Basic Grey' Grunge. I freaking love Grunge! It always come through for me when I can't find the perfect coordinate to pull it all together. It's white Minky on the back. I made it extra large because Em is ridiculously tall, and I wanted it big enough for he and Chrissy to be able to cuddle up together underneath it.

I quilted this vintage quilt top that a friend of mine found in the attic of her family's farmhouse which several generations of her family lived in. I couldn't believe what gorgeous shape it was in after being packed away for so many years!

I quilted the empty blocks with a traditional wreath pattern. It took me a long time to decide how to quilt it because I wanted to do it justice and be age appropriate (probably the only time I am age appropriate!)

I thought it photographed well on my grandmother's buggy bench.

I've had a terrible case of project ADD lately. I recently started working on this wall hanging. It started out as an entirely different quilt set on point, but I wasn't thrilled with that, so now it's straight set and will have applique when I get done. 

I've also been working on this for my baby cousin's baby quilt. She turned a year in November, so I'd best get it done before she's too big for it!!! I can't figure out how to rotate it, so you'll have to turn your head. I think I'm going to continue the pink down the tree trunk.

I've also been working on some wool applique when I travel or go to guild. 

This is the pattern:

I'm using a variety of 3 Sisters by Moda (because you know, I have quite a variety of it in my stash!) I think I'm going to change around that top left corner block too, because I'm not much of a heart person outside of Valentine's Day decorations.

On the home front, I've been quite busy as well. I found this cabinet at a barn sale for $50.
The bottom is now my sink in the Tiffany bathroom. The top will eventually be repainted and hung in the laundry room.

I have custom molding for the edges of the sink to put on and the backsplash tile to install, then it will be done!

I got the knobs at Anthropologie, I think they cost as much as the sink did in total!!! The 4 corner ones are mercury glass and the center is all blingy and rhinstones. Now if I can just figure out how to put a chandelier in there....

I went with the one on the left.  It sparkles in the light. The photo doesn't do it justice.

I finally finished painting the master bathroom. Say goodbye to the last of the Avocado Green!!!!

And hello to the gorgeous Farrow and Ball  Blue Gray! I thought I took a photo w/the mirror up, but I guess I didn't so I'll do an official before and after when I do that.

Ahhhh, that's better, isn't it?

I was going to go into the outdoor projects, but I have a feeling Blogger will explode if I try to add more photos, so I'll do a separate post on that. Also, I can't seem to get the font out of red and underlined. I'm not sure what' up with that. Apparently Google and Apple don't play nicely together, still.

August!

How did that happen? Why is it that time goes by so much faster the older you get?
In July I turned 40, had my 10 year wedding anniversary and celebrated my darling nephew's 2nd birthday.
I gardened and watered all of my plants a lot. Other than a few measly days in July, it was disgustingly hot. As I've mentioned, 82 to is my limit, and since 85 was considered 'cooling down' by the local weather guy, there was a lot of whining coming from me the entire month. Ok, it was more than whining, it was really bitching, to be honest. And as bad as we've had it in Chicagoland, I am thankful everyday that I don't live in Texas. One of my coworkers who is based down there said the other day it was 110. Yuck, with a ginormous capital Y! And the poor things have had over a month of that kind of weather.

At the beginning of July I started what I thought would be a quick quilt. I figured it would take a week at most. Riiiiiggghhhttt.  I'm starting to think PittiPat is right. She always says that she thinks we all have delusions of grandeur because we bring 10 projects to work on to our weekend quilting retreats. I tell her it's really because we are optimistic, glass half full kind of girls.

I've been eyeing the daisy quilt on the cover of Quilting for Joy since I bought the Barbara Brandeburg / Teri Christopherson book over 2 years ago and thought it would be fun for the Riley Blake contest. I've also wanted to do a turquoise and red quilt for some time, so I went with that combo.

The pattern called for 12" blocks but I only had quarter yard cuts, so I had to resize it down to 8" blocks, which meant that instead of 16 blocks, I had 36.

Each of the 36 blocks has 5 appliqued daisy pieces and 5 centers for said daisies. It took me 14 hours just to cut out the daisy pieces and another 12 to applique them down. Luckily I have a Sizzix circle die that worked perfectly for cutting the center circles or you could have added a few more hours devoted to cutting circles out.

When I put the blocks on my design wall, I realized that my lay out would not work w/the different block background and alternating centers. Since I'm symmetry girl, I really struggled with the layout. The lesson there is to slap the blocks on the wall pre applique to decide what you need! Who knows if I'll remember that next time.

Like any quilter with an issue, I took it to my quilting friend Michelle's house, where, after laying in the pool and drinking margaritas,  we decided it didn't have to be square and taking off a row would make it work. I think the margaritas really helped the decision making process.

Phew. I finished the top Thursday night, and hope to have the quilting finished this weekend since it's due by the 17th. Wish me luck!

A lovely place to quilt

Jennie and I took a road trip yesterday out to Janesville, Wisconsin to check out the Evergreen Quilting Retreat that I had picked up a flyer for at Life's a Stitch Quilt Shoppe in Janesville during last fall's infamous bus trip from Tammy Tadd Design's quilt shop.

Both Jennie and I were totally and completely smitten upon walking through the front door!

The place is gorgeous and completely well thought out for quilters. We usually go to local church camp for our retreats, but we have to haul literally everything there when we go. And I mean everything: iron, ironing boards, chair, table leg risers to make an the cutting table taller, cd player, lights for night time sewing, extension cords, pots and pans, towels, soap, and the list goes on.

The Evergreen supplies all of that and more! They even have a washer and dryer in the kitchen so that you can prewash your fabrics that you A) forgot to wash prior to coming or B) just bought at one of the two lovely local quilt shops and you just absolutely have to make it now, instead of working on the ten projects you brought with. They even have a little 'honor' basket of quilting supplies that you may have forgotten or run out of late at night that you can leave money for.  And they don't have the power issue that we usually run into which requires that we only have 1 or 2 irons. Kathy really thought of everything to make this a quilter's heaven.

Can I just tell you how absolutely darling this place is? I mean it is adorable!!! And reasonably priced too.
Describing this place can't do it justice, so how about some pictures!

The Downstairs 1930's decor bedroom:

 The Rubber Ducky powder room:

 The Dick and Jane themed bedroom:

 

The Reproductions bedroom:

The ridiculously fabulous kitchen:

The Full bathroom (done in my favorite brown and blue):

The Cutting/Ironing room:

The Sewing Room:

The Storage room (this is a marvelous idea since we quilters travel with quite a bit of stuff):

Well, was I wrong?

I didn't think so.

Jennie and I also stopped at a couple of nice quilt stores in the area and had lunch in Walworth (at least I think that's where we were) at a cafe in the town square. I just love exploring small towns and local shops and such.

On the way through Harvard, practically across the street from where Robbie tried his darndest to be the dog version of Braveheart, we came across this:

No, your eyes are not deceiving you, this is indeed a photo of a castle in the cornfields of Harvard, IL. I did say Harvard, ILLINOIS. Jennie tells me it's a bed and breakfast hotel. I have no clue why you would build a B&B CASTLE in Harvard, ILLINOIS, but there you have it.

This is my totally favorite shot, I personally think the grain silo and the RV next to the castle make the photo, don't you?

Well, I'm off to quilt now. I have the day off today and am enjoying the lovely snow that is coming down in droves from the comfort of my home.

One last parting photo of the Beaner watching the show White Hawk, White Wolf on Nature the other night. She was totally into it. I'm telling you, this dog cracks me up.

Springy Easter quilting

I finally took a photo of my Bunny's Day Out quilt. Isn't it cute?

It was a free pattern from the manufacturer, and the bonus is that it was actually right! I can't tell you how many of the free patterns are only created electronically and have never actually been made with real fabric. Many of them have totally incorrect fabric amounts, cutting directions, instructions, etc...

I quilted the bajeezes out of the areas around the bunnies because I wanted the bunnies to really pop out. I did a terrible job tacking down the binding on this one though, so once it's off of display, I'll have

to rip it out and re-do it.

I also whipped up this cute little runner out of the Darla and Ava Rose fabric lines from Tanya Whelan. The pattern is the Table Treats for Spring by Bunny Hill Designs. Anne's patterns are just wonderful! I haven't stitched the embroidered handles on the baskets yet, and I'm not convinced that they need them. Thoughts anyone? I wanted to use the mini ric-rac (on the pink polka dot basket), but the curvature of the handle is too great for even the smallest ric-rac to handle. (get it, handle?)

Here's the mini swap quilt that I made for February. I'm pleased with the

way it turned out. The ric-rac on it is chenille! It's really excellent. I was going to photo copy a cupcake on the fabric and enlarge it, but a magazine did it for me, so I thought, why re-invent the wheel, or cupcake, if you don't have to!

I tried to trapunto the cupcake, but I only used Warm & Natural batting as the first layer, so it didn't poof out from the quilt the way I had wanted it to. I think I need to use a poofier, poly batting next time.

The pink chenille ric-rac was a coup. I bought it from when the Hancock's (not the same as the Hancock's of Paducah) closed in Arlington Heights. Binding Guru Karen had used the red chenille ric-rac as ribbon on my Christmas gift a few years ago. It was really a nice touch. So when Hancock's had everything on super clearance I bought up all the chenille ric-rac they had! I really thought the border fabrics needed something in between the pink and the black, so I went to my ric-rac/ribbon jar and there it was!

I really love these mini swaps, it's a good time to try out something new with out a major investment of time or fabric. And you get a darling little quilt from someone else to boot! Everyone sends little goodies with the quilts that are really fun as well. The hubby doesn't quite understand the concept. He said "so they send you crap and you send them crap?" I explained to him that fabric and sewing/crafty items are not considered "crap" by those of us participating in the swap and that we enjoy this crap!

Happy Easter everyone!

Vicki

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!