Jessie's French Braid

Here's a look at Jessie's French Braid Quilt -- great color choices!!!

New Thread!

I'm trying out a new thread... LOVE IT. I spent yesterday just playing and doodling on the machine with this new thread. It is a trilobal poly with low stretch and I LOVE IT! So far it is GREAT! Here's some pics of the doodles (I added a dime for proportion).

Okay, now I'm going to try this new thread in the bobbin with my usual thread on the top. Lately my usual thread has been giving me such trouble. Hopefully this new thread will be just the help I've needed... hopefully! Either way I love the new thread and plan on ordering a bunch!

T-Shirt Memory Quilt

This is a special T-Shirt quilt for Eileen S. It was pieced by Pat of the Quilted Lily and it was made in memory of Eileen's Grandson. A very hard story to hear, but hopefully this will help Eileen and her family to get through this very difficult time. For now it's on its way back to Pat (Quilted Lily) for the binding.

AQS Knoxville Expo - Winners List

The winners list is official. Check out the link to the AQS website for all the winners -- these are some amazing quilts! Still overly thrilled for Madeline and myself! There were over 500 quilts and only 25 awards -- wow, pretty amazing!

http://www.americanquilter.com/shows_contests/knoxville/2009/quilt_contest/quilt_winners.php

Madeline's Quilt Takes a Ribbon at Knoxville...

Madeline just got a phone call from Bonnie of American Quilters Society (AQS) announcing that she took Second Place in the Great Embroidered Quilt category at Knoxville. WAY TO GO Madeline. I am so proud of her and also myself! I had the honor of quilting this amazingly beautiful quilt! In case anyone hasn't seen it, here is a picture of Simon's Folly, the award-winning quilt (this is a picture from a prior show) -- the pattern is from Simon Haskins/Jenny Haskins, Creative Expressions Magazine Special Edition.

Here's a picture of Madeline with the quilt and a prior ribbon.

Sally's PMS Quilt is done!

Sally's PMS Quilt is finally done. I haven't really worked on it since Wednesday morning. I had an awful migraine on Thursday and it carried into Friday -- only a very tiny bit of quilting got done. Honestly, only a very tiny bit of anything got done. But today I got busy and finished it - it looks great!

This is the third PMS (Patch Monthly Sampler-JaM Patch) that I've done. I still amazes me how different the same quilt looks just by changing the colors and layout. One day soon I'll post the pictures all together so you can see the differences.

Life sneaks up...

Just when you least expect it... everyday normal life sneaks up on you! Joe kept telling me that he needed to sharpen the lawnmower blades -- he wasn't lying... here's how bad our lawnmower blades were...

I don't think any amount of sharpening would help them!!! There isn't any metal left to sharpen! Notice the brand new blade on the right!

Happy Wednesday!

I know many bloggers believe in "Wordless Wednesday"... ha, its one of the only days I can actually take a short breath and speak! Today was the Crazy Quilters guild, and just in case I didn't already know, they reminded me that the show is a little over 6 months away! No reason to fret right... on top of my spectacular show quilt that's no where near done, and another that's still being planned, I am in charge of ribbons and show pins. Show pins is a little easier as it is on someone else's plate once the decision is made, but... ribbons, ahhh, I still haven't revised the prototype... hopefully I'll find a few hours this weekend. But that's only to work on the revised ribbon, I still have to find a gazillion hours to actually make the ribbons!... if I remember correctly, all 51 of them??? That's just a guess, I'm not sure exactly how many but it's in that range.

On top of all that... I rented a booth for the 2010 show. Some of you already know... in February I will be debuting my own whole cloth pattern line. Yes, apparently I am completely nuts. In addition to my already crazy life, I have decided to go and add creating and making patterns! I have a few already, but... yep I did say BUT... I still need to turn what's in my head into actual patterns -- it's like translating psycho-babble!

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot... I need to get my member challenge from the great idea that's in my head onto a piece of fabric!

And in addition to all that, I still have my business and everyday life to contend with. Now, I am not really complaining, I love every minute of this, I'm just venting so I don't scare myself into thinking I'm too busy to do anything! Sorry, we cannot have brain shutdown right now!

Anyway, happy "wordful" wednesday!

Sally's PMS Quilt

No, it's not done... yet! It'll be a day or two, but here's a peek at one of the sampler blocks

And here's a peek at the outer border -

Fran's Quilt

A very nice stack 'n whack kaleidoscope quilt by Fran - great use of colors.


I just love that pale lemon yellow with the border!

Pat's Quilt

Pat's paperweight quilt -- I really like how this turned out!

We'll have to wait and see what she finally decides on for the binding!

Our Ducks

The end of the day is fast approaching and I'm still not finished with Fran's quilt... ahhhh.

But, I thought you might like to see our ducks... they come everyday to steal food from beneath the bird feeder. We've started adding the bird food to the walkway so there isn't as much bickering under the feeder.

Fran's Rock & Roll

Here's a peek at Fran's "Wheel of Mystery" rock & roll quilt.

It's not quite done, hopefully by the end of today! But the end of the day is coming quickly!

Oh My Stars!

This house woke up VERY early today... yes, earlier than our normal crack of dawn! Anyway, I finished ONE of my UFO's... yeah for me! Madeline and I had started these together awhile ago... her's got finished, mine got buried, in pieces! It's not quilted, only pieced... I've got an idea for the quilting... for those of you that don't already know... quilts talk to me -- I know, weird - but true! This one was chatting away the entire time I was piecing it... you'll have to stay tuned for this one!

Carolyn's Squares

Here is a photo of Carolyn's Squares - such a simple quilt, but you can't go wrong with 6" squares!

Speaking of such, I think I have a bunch of 6" square charm packs - if I recall they are many shades of blue... shhh!! See, every time I see a "quick" quilt, my brain starts doing its own thing. I am not starting another quilt until some of the so-called "ufo's" and "nesy's" that reside in my home are DONE. Yep, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!