Rainy Days and Mondays

Are great days to quilt.  Here is my first block in The Splendid Sampler for Stella:

It's machine appliqued and uses the bright fabrics I selected for this year-long project, see my post on my fabrics here..  Find out more info here.  The Facebook group has grown to almost 14,000 members and the other day Pat Sloan wrote there were more than 17,000 people signed up by email for this 100 block Mystery Quilt from 84 Designers.

Look at this great tin I am storing my blocks in:

It is a"Baltimore Album Quilt Limited Edition Canister" from 1997 that originally came packed with Milky Way bars. Can't say what happened to the Milky Ways, but I've had this tin since then, using it to store various quilt-y things.  Luckily, it was empty this morning and ready to go to work.

People who know me know I am a "numbers" person, I just think in numbers.  While making my Red and White--By the Numbers quilt in 2012, I kept a spreadsheet listing all the patterns, the date I made them, the number of pieces and number of fabrics.  When it was done I knew there are 2770 pieces and 59 different fabrics in that quilt.  Now, I would NEVER count pieces in a quilt when it was done, but keeping up with each block as it's made is easy.  I am doing the same with this Splendid Sampler for Stella.  My spreadsheet lists the Block #, Block Name, Designer, number of pieces, number of fabrics, and date completed.  I also have columns for the cumulative number of pieces and fabrics.  Block 1 has 9 pieces and 6 different fabrics.  Just a thought as you start this journey...

Look what else happened today:

 My Rajah Revisited Center is featured in The Quilt Show's Newsletter for today.  If you are just finding my blog from this link, Welcome!  I hope you'll stick around for a bit.

The Quilt Show Newsletter February 15, 2016.   They also provided a direct link to the post I wrote about the Red and White Quilt Experience, what it meant to me, one of my favorite posts:  Red and White The Wrap Up.


It is also important to note the passing of a wonderful woman and amazing quilt artist, Yvonne Porcella:

She has so many awards and accolades but among them was being the International Quilt Festival's Silver Star Salute Winner in 1998 and  The Quilt Show's Quilting Legend in  2010.  To honor her and so you can learn more about Yvonne and her art, The Quilt Show is providing the Legend show free for everyone to watch through February 29, 2016--I can't recommend it highly enough:

2010 Quilting Legend Show.

"I am a part of all that I have met" and I'm so glad Yvonne was part of My Joyful Journey.

One other funny thing to tell you:  I don't always read all the instructions.  Friday I posted this photo on Instagram, about the Circa 2016 quilt from Temecula Quilt Company:

 It is 18" square and my comment was "All Done".  A couple of friends alerted me I WAS NOT DONE YET!  This is just the center medallion of a quilt which will be 48" x 55".   Thanks, Rhonda and Kathy.  Imagine how surprised I would have been this next Friday when more instructions were posted.  So glad I didn't add an outer border and start quilting this!!   Note to Self: always read ALL the instructions before beginning.  So glad I have lots of fabric so I can keep going.

Let's Quilt!

Barbara