RED AND WHITE: THE WRAP UP REVISITED

 While I am traveling on a Cruise teaching job, I am sharing a couple of my favorite and most meaningful posts from the past.

This one was written more than 8 years ago. I wrote it mainly for myself, as a way to save and remember all the "feels" and memories of the Ruby Jubilee Celebration at International Quilt Festival in Houston, October 2014.

It occurs to me that many of those new to this blog don't know about this quilt and what it means to me and my "career" as a traveling quilt teacher. I often tell people, "If you want to know who I am, read just this one blog post and you'll know".

READ IT HERE

Having just read it again, it brings me to tears. My beloved friend, Judy Murrah, died in 2017, but not before she saw her prediction come true. 

I hope you will take the time to read this for the first time or to revisit it. It is probably my most "important" post. 

Let's quilt.

Barbara

More Quilts Going to Houston!

I just got confirmation that two more of my quilts will make the trek to Houston this fall--it's a Happy Dance kind of day!

Red and White--By the Numbers, was selected as the 40th Anniversary Commemorative Quilt, to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of International Quilt Festival and all the Ruby Jubilee activities we will have this year:

It's featured in all the advertising and on the cover of the catalog and will be on the terrific tote bag everyone is sure to want.  I wrote about that here, along with info on how you can still order the patterns. 

Today I received notification that two of my quilts will be in the Special Exhibit: 500 Traditional Treasures.  That is the title of a new book due out this September and I am honored to have 3 quilts selected for the book.  Two of those will be in this Special Exhibit:

Joyful Journey

 

A-Round With My Friends

 

Joyful Journey is from the pattern Washington Medallion by Sue Garman and is available here. 

A-Round with My Friends was made as a Round Robin with my two best quilting Buddies, Ellen A. and Sharon S.  It won Best of Show at my guild in 2011 and was exhibited in Paducah April 2014--I wrote about our trip to see it here.

This is the year I retired after 34 years with H&R Block, I turned 60, and all this great quilt stuff is happening.  I think this is my year and:   Life is so good! 

Let's Quilt--and I hope to see you in Houston this year.

Barbara

A Year of Red and White Quilts

I just learned of this today.  SewCalGal is doing a year of red and white quilts with contests and prizes.  All the info is here.  And for the next week you can see red and white quilts made prior to 2014.





For all of you who want to make a red and white quilt, this could be YOUR year!

Here's mine from the Just Takes 2 block of the month in 2012:

More close up photos of the quilting can be seen here.

Since I still have lots of red and white fabrics, I just might get inspired to make another quilt.

Enjoy and let's quilt!

Barbara

Best of Show Makes My Day!

"Our guild has its' bi-annual quilt show this weekend, October 11-13, 2013.  Our members are a very talented bunch and our show is a beautiful, exciting, and eclectic display of textile art/quilts.  I am thrilled to have received the Best of Show Award for my quilt, Red and White, By The Numbers:

 Inspired by the 2011 NYC exhibit “Infinite Variety”, these blocks were free patterns from 2 websites in 2012.  There are 2770 pieces and 59 different fabrics. 

It was quilted spectacularly by Pamela Joy Dransfeldt, the Joyful Quilter, from Camarillo, CA.  Here are a few detail shots:

On the Frame

So this weekend I get to enjoy this experience, do the happy dance, then it's back to normal on Monday. 

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

Red and White Excitement

During 2012 I worked on the Just Takes 2 Block of the Month designed by Gay Bomers of Sentimental Stitches and Brenda Papadakis of Dear Jane.  They released patterns twice a month for all 12 months of the year.  The patterns were free for a month then could be purchased.  They are still available here. 

They decided to do this after attending the 2011 exhibit "Infinite Variety" in New York.  Knowing they could never make all the red and white quilts they saw there, they figured it would be fun to make a single block of many of those featured.  More info about that exhibit can be found here.

The Top, 104" x 110"

It was a long process but I kept up most of the time and then finished with a complex pieced border I designed.  I kept track of all the fabrics I used and the number of pieces:  59 different fabrics and 2770 pieces. 

This was one of those quilts that deserves a great quilter so I sent it to a wonderful longarm quilter in California:  Pamela Dransfeldt, the Joyful Quilter.  I found Pam when a Facebook friend posted a link to her work in 2009.  We collaborated on a quilt that year: 

Joyful Journey

She did a spectacular job on this quilt so I knew my Just Takes 2 was in good hands with her.  She's been working on it for almost 2 weeks now and has posted amazing photos.  I have been blown away with the interest that has been shown on Facebook by so many people.  Here are a few of her photos:

 

 

 

You can follow Pam's incredible work on Facebook--her page is Joyful Quilter.  She has quite a few more photos of this quilt as well as most of her customer's quilts  She's a terrific person with a terrific, supportive husband too.  I feel so fortunate to have found her--the internet has certainly made this a smaller world--or maybe it's a bigger world.  Either way, I'm glad I can introduce her to you.

 

Let's quilt!

 

 

Barbara



Just Takes 2 Done!

I worked all week on it, and got the borders on my Just Takes 2 quilt top:

I spent a good bit of time figuring out the measurements for the floater borders so the pieced borders would fit.  They did.  It got pretty big--about 91" x 108".  It will be sent off to California for quilting--I know it will be super when it's done. 

Another look at the borders:

Now I can move on to all the Christmas stuff that has to get done this week.  My guild party is Thursday and I still have things to get ready for that, plus shopping and shipping and baking... You get the picture.

Check out Judy L's Design Wall Monday to see what others are doing.

Have a great week and let's quilt!

Barbara

Just Takes 2 is Done--Almost!

With all the patterns and the final construction instructions in hand, I got the Just Takes 2 red and white quilt top assembled.  There were several places to join with partial seams as there are no complete rows in the whole top so it took a little while to join it all together:

 

Now I am working on a pieced border to finish it off.  There are 2362 pieces and 59 different fabrics in the top.   It will be quilted by a longarm wonder woman.  I'm thinking of using red for the back--what do you think?

 

The only other thing I got done this week is the next block in  the Grandmother's Choice block of the week, which honors and educates us about the women's suffragist movement of a century ago.

Check out Judy L's blog to see what other's have been working on. 

 

Have a great week and Let's Quilt!

 

Barbara

 



Design Wall Monday December 3, 2012

It sure got to be December in a hurry!  My son, Andy, turned 32 yesterday, so it must be December.  We enjoyed having dinner with he and his wife and her parents and brother on  Saturday night.  At a sports bar--we were there for the last 15 minutes of the SEC championship game between Alabama and Georgia--wow, was it LOUD when the game ended with Alabama's victory!

Here's what I got done this past week:

The first 2 rows of Grandmother's Choice, the story of the woman's suffragist movement.  The blocks come each Saturday and if I don't keep up, I'll never get it done.  I'm using the tradtional colors of the English movement--I didn't know it was a world-wide struggle.  See Barbara Brackman's blog for more information.

Here are the Just Takes 2 blocks I got done last week:

 There is one applique' basket block I don't love so I am replacing it.  Thought I would put four 6" heart blocks together to fill the 12" space until I had the first one almost done and realized I had not put the heart on point.  So, back to the drawing board--I'll find something else.

The final blocks have been printed and I'll finish those this week and complete joining all four quarters into a top.  I plan to add a pieced border--will give some thought to that after the top is done.

This is my last burst of "pre-tax season" quilting time.  Have to get as much done now as I can since my quilting time will be seriously curtailed from January-April.  I'll get a few hand projects together so I always have something I can pick up at night--when I have the energy. 

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what other's have been doing.

Have a great week and let's quilt!

Barbara

Design Wall Monday November 26, 2012

It was a lovely Thanksgiving weekend--since I wasn't cooking much or hosting, I had lots of time to sew and there are almost no leftovers in the refrigerator.

I made these 2 little doll-size quilts as gifts:

These 4 patches are my "leader-ender" projects so I have many of those.

12 Days of Christmas, pattern from Temecula Quilt Company

 

Then I got to working on the Just Takes 2 Red and White blocks--I'm a bit behind.  I did the easy ones and now have to get to those more difficult ones:

Also made a Grandmother's Choice block--one more of those and I'll be caught up on that project too.

We went to see "Lincoln" on Friday--excellent movie!  The acting was terrific and the politics was interesting--it's the story of how the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery, was passed by the House of Representatives.  As I watched it, I was reminded how young our country was in 1864--less than 100 years old, democracy still considered a "test", perhaps.  It's worth the time to see this one.

Be sure to check out Judy L's design wall blog to see what other's are doing. 

Have a good week and let's quilt!

Barbara

Design Wall Monday October 22, 2012

This is the mad dash to get ready to leave home for two weeks--I'm headed to Houston this Wednesday for Quilt Market and Quilt Festival.  As usual, I keep thinking "I need one more (day) (week) (etc) before I leave".  Of course, it wouldn't matter--the more time I had, the more things I'd fill that time with. 

This is what I've gotten done.  The samples for the classes I'll be teaching January-April, 2013 had to get done.  This one I really pushed to get done the last few days and it still needs the left and right borders--a quick trip to the quilt shop this morning will make that possible.  I love this quilt--the traditional tumbling blocks sewn in straight rows only, no Y seams!  Of course, I made it very difficult by using different fabrics for the light diamonds--NO, use ONE fabric only and the layout will be much faster!  The pattern is in the book:  Antique to Heirloom Jelly Roll Quilts, by Pam and Nicky Lintott:

 

Next, I needed a photo of the Trash 2 Treasure sample--these blocks are just on the design wall--they'll get sewn together after Houston.  My plan is to make this a Quilt of Valor:

The class is based on Trash 2 Treasure by Gyleen Fitzgerald--not paper pieced, it's a great stash buster.  I changed the last round by adding a larger triangle to replace 2 small rows--much easier and I like the secondary red square where the 4 corners come together.

Then I got busy finishing the Just Takes 2 red and white blocks and sewing the 3rd quarter unit together.  The blocks in the upper right corner are just "place holders" for this photo--they may or may not be what goes in there when the last quarter is unveiled.  I changed out the placement of some of the blocks based on the fabrics I had used. 

So, there you have it.  Besides the usual therapy appointments, (I graduated!), haircut, cleaning up the potted plants and moving the tropicals back inside, cleaning out all the leaves I could get out of the pond so husband and son could put the net in place, and the usual running around, I also did 26 hours of continuing education classes online for my return to H&R Block and had my interview.  This will be my 33rd year.  Working sure cuts into my free time.

Saturday I spent with my beloved husband at a luncheon reunion of his high school class.  As they've gotten older, they thought meeting once every 5 years wasn't enough so in October the class of 1965, Fairview, AL high school has a potluck lunch.  There were 125 students in the class and most still live close to home, about an hour from us.  My Philadelphia high school, class of 1971, had a class of 1210, and I have no idea where most live--not in touch except through a Facebook group.

Check out Judy L's blog to see what others are doing.

Look for updates from Houston--can't wait to get there!

Let's quilt!
Barbara