Sheila's Quilt

Another beauty by Sheila -- I'm not sure of the pattern name on this one, but it is done in beautiful neutrals (totally my colors)! It is similar to a two cornered cross-cut snowball with smaller cornerstones -- if that makes any sense?!!

Oliver has wings...

and they've been a long time coming. My oh my have I been busy! I spent most of last night and all of today working for myself. It is such a wonderful place to be -- one that I don't visit often enough!

So here he is... he still needs some shading here and there and the bottom of the background needs to be finished; but, for the most part he is just about finished. That is the painting part is just about finished... now on to the invisible applique, and then on to the thread play, and then the quilting...

Soon... soon... if I say it enough maybe it'll be soon!

SOUTH FLORIDA FAIR!

Its almost time for the South Florida Fair... one of my family's favorites! Here is a link to their website http://www.southfloridafair.com/ make sure you click and check it out. The fair runs from January 15 - 31, 2010 and promises to be fun.

Okay, that was the shameless plug, but its true, it really is one of my family's favorites and this year I'll be entering something (not sure what, but something). Anyway, one of my customers is heading up the Community Creative Skills & Crafts division so she has asked me to send a shout out to all my other wonderful customers for some entries. You can view and download the handbook here. It contains all the information you will need, including Rules & Regulations, and also the Official Entry Form. In case you were wondering, entries are due January 2-4, 2010 and you can pick them up on February 1, 2010. Now don't you all want to win?!! Good, so get some of your awesome quilts and get them to the fair! Just a personal note here, these dates do conflict with the scheduled judging for the PSL Crazy Quilters Show; but you can always enter some of your winning entries from the PSL 2008 show since they can't be re-judged and they will still be back in time in case you want or need to show them again at the PSL Show. This is also great for all those over-achievers that have more entries than the rules allow, send the extras to the South Florida Fair!

If you need more info, you can always contact me and I'll do my best to find out, or you can contact Lorie at lorie@southfloridafair.com since she's running it, she would know the most!

Latte... done!

Wow! This is an amazingly beautiful quilt, and it is finally done (of course, we had a few dog-doctor detours). See, like I said -- a gazillion hours later...

This is only a tiny little part of the entire quilt. You'll have to wait until the PSLCQ Show - February 2010 to see the whole thing!

Updates... Latte and Owl

Here's the update on Mary Lou's Latte Quilt...

I didn't get as much accomplished today as I had wanted to... there just aren't enough hours in the day. But, as today was the last daily visit to the vet for post-op care, I'm sure tomorrow will be much more productive. A girl can always hope can't she!

Between last night and tonight I've been a bit productive on the owl project! Here's the latest picture -- it seems I only have a few more pieces and then some final background shading and then Oliver will be ready for quilting.... again, a girl can always hope...

Sheila's Quilt Takes a Ribbon...

FIRST PLACE to be exact! Her amazingly beautiful Be Colourful quilt (pattern by Jacqueline de Jonge) took a First Place ribbon at the 21st Annual Suwannee River Quilt Show, Stephen Foster State Park, White Springs, FL. You can view the original post of her quilt here. I'll have to get a picture of Sheila with the quilt and ribbon and I'll be sure to post it. Congratulations Sheila, well done!

Has anyone seen my mind...

because I'm starting to really wonder where I left it! I worked on Mary Lou's quilt yesterday, went out to dinner with my son, came home and was totally prepared to work on my owl project! You know what they say about the best laid plans... boy they weren't kidding!

I had been talking to Joe earlier and I told him I was planning on working on my owl. So here I was, full from dinner, sipping on a wonderful cup of coffee, preparing my workspace, and excited to be getting back to work on the owl. BAM, it hit me... where did I put my master pattern... oh no, confusion set in, took over, and it all went downhill from there... I looked in the large plastic bin which housed all the fabric, freezer papers, and other parts of this wonderful project -- no sign of the master. Now this is not a small thing I am looking for -- it is the exact size of my owl. So how many places can you hide a 38x50" piece of paper that is not folded up? Apparently I put it in a special place -- so special even I was never to find it! Many of you have never seen me in a tither -- not a good place -- I don't tither often but when I do, oh mine! I started ripping my entire house apart looking for this master. I looked everywhere. I was to the point that I began thinking perhaps I threw it away by accident during the clean-up... you know like when you throw the fork in the garbage and try to put the paper towel in the sink... like one of those moments. Now pure terror set in... where could this pattern be??? Trying to calm down and think what I did when I came home from the retreat... there it was, in the guest room safe and sound, and apparently protected from me!

We'll see what today holds in store... I'll let you know more later! Stay sane and beware of the special-safe places!

Latte... another peek

Here's another peek at Mary Lou's Latte Quilt -- its really starting to come to life now!

Not quite a quilt...

but still, lots of pieces! Here are a couple of pics that my fabulous husband sent to me from his hunting trip--

No, he's not hunting beaver! He just knew I would enjoy seeing and sharing these awesome pictures... since we moved to Florida I haven't seen much woodsy-wildlife so these pictures really made my day!

Latte... the beginning

Today I started on Mary Lou's Latte Quilt (by Kerrie Hay). I will be working on this for the next gazillion hours or so. For those that don't know me well, I tend to exaggerate things... a gazillion hours translates roughly into the next week or so! So here are a few peeks (some of the meandering was done by Mary Lou)...

Okay, see all that onion skin, bouncing bananas, mctavishing (whichever you choose to call it) -- that was not my original idea for the background filler. BUT, here comes that pesky but... this quilt was originally intended for quilt as you go (Mary Lou started this almost 10 years ago...), needless to say, there is a lot of batting in those seams and one of the best ways I know to make it behave is to work with in, not against it... hence all that onion skin quilting!

Jan's quilt is DONE!

Finally... a little delayed due to emergency surgery on one of the dogs and also the dreaded computer malfunction (my desktop is about to crash; it is stuck in a loop and won't get past the Windows XP boot screen) -- so all in all it's been a crazy weekend and wacko day! Okay, here is Jan's beauty... WOW! Please excuse the poor over-lit photo -- I took it outside so you could get the full effect of the quilting -- that darn sunshine!

Only a peek...

that's all I can manage to share right now. This is Jan's quilt, she has dubbed it Mexican Fiesta and it is a show quilt. Would love to show you the entire quilt, but its not done yet...

This quilt is AWESOME! I love all the bright colors (hope they show) and the shimmer of the black sateen -- helps to make my quilting jump right off the fabric. Can't wait til its done!

Hearts Askew...

Here is Gerri's adorable heart quilt -- so cute!

Jeanne's PMS Quilt

Check out Jeanne's PMS Quilt a monthly sampler from the Jam Patch. PMS stands for Patch Monthly Sampler - this is the 4th PMS Quilt I've quilted so far.

Jeanne decided to be different and set the blocks on point -- she also didn't use all the connecting blocks which gives the quilt a totally different look -- one of those simple things that amazes me! She did, however, utilize 5 varying width borders -- very nicely! She also used some really rich colors -- I hope they look as good in the picture as well as they do in person.




Okay, I know I've been promising this for a while...


Here are the other PMS quilts I've done lined up next to each other -- check out the differences colors and placement make... amazing! They belong to Madeline, Mary, and Sally.