Moving Along

After being gone almost two weeks, I had 6 Splendid Sampler blocks to make, to catch up.  Here is row 71-80, with one exception:

Block 75 is an embroidery block  I printed on the computer and will hand-stitch as time allows.  Hopefully, it will be done by this weekend so I can join this row to the previous 7 rows.

Saturday I'll be teaching Southern Super Star at Patches & Stitches, the local quilt shop where I have taught for 28 years:

I'll get a better photo this weekend--it's quilted now and looks great.  The pattern is Southern Stars from Calico Carriage Quilt Designs.  It is my go-to giveaway quilt for high school or college graduation.  I can make the top in a weekend and edge-to-edge quilting on this approximately 75" square quilt is not too expensive.  It looks great custom quilted but that ups the price more than I want to pay for a giveaway.  Students have fun in this class and get at least half the quilt done in the all-day time frame.  This one is mine--every time I  wanted to teach it I had to be sure I had one available as the sample so now there will always be one ready.

Here are a few more Houston International Quilt Festival photos:

Jodi Barrows gave a lecture featuring a lot of her family quilts and told their stories.  Here is what NOT to do if you don't want a hole in the center of your quilt:

DO NOT fold your quilts in half, and in half again, and leave them this way forever.  Fold them "burrito style" or in thirds, or rotate the folds every six months.  If you would like to see more of Jodi's quilts from the lecture, go to my friend, Lori D's blog:  Humble Quilts.  She took lots of photos of many of the Education Department classes, forums, and samplers so you can get a good look at all the many things you can do and learn at Festival when you venture up to the third floor.

If you have a spare bed that is rarely used, as I do, lay out the quilts flat--I put the top one back side up because of light from the window. There are works in progress, some tops, some waiting to be quilted, and some are rolled up across the pillows:

I call this bed the "Archaeological Dig" because you will go back in time digging down through the many quilts on this bed.  When I do need to clear it for guests, it takes a bit of time and I just dump them on the studio floor until the guests leave.  We do keep another guest room ready at all times so you are always welcome!

Here is the one pattern I bought at Festival and am eager to get started on:

It's called Star-A-Day Quilt from Somerset Patchwork from Australia.  These are 3" hand pieced Lemoyne Stars--the pattern suggests piecing one a day for 365 days to have all you need for this large bed quilt.  As I plan to teach this Summer 2017, I think that will be my plan starting January 1, 2017--I'll have half done by then.  They are quick and easy to piece--I'll just cut out the pieces as I am working on other projects that use reproduction fabrics.

I also fell in love with this one but they sold out of this pattern long before I stopped at the booth 15 minutes before the show closed:

Hexagon Star-A-Day. also hand pieced.  Both patterns include the adorable little window templates for easy marking of both the sewing and cutting lines:

I always have a handwork project ready so I can make use of the time I have to get things done, don't you?

Tonight is our monthly guild meeting and in honor of Veteran's Day the panel will be made up of several guild members who are military veterans.  We've been asked to tell how our military service has impacted our quilting.  I've been thinking hard on this for the past month and I'm not sure I can make a link between the two, other than that being in charge is something I'm accustomed to which might explain why I've been so active in this guild for 28 years.  And when there is a hard job that needs to be done, you send in the Marines, right?

All members are encouraged to bring red, white and blue quilts for Show and Tell.  Here are the two I have packed to take:

Strippy Stars

Red, White and Blue Circle Star

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.  It will just be my husband and I this year, he is pushing to go to a restaurant so we don't have dishes and pots and pans to clean up.  I love turkey leftovers so I'm not convinced that is what I want to do.  Better make up my mind soon...

Let's quilt!

Barbara