As I mentioned in my last post, the printing was messed up for the patterns for the South Bay Quilters Guild, so I wanted to send a little something to say how sorry I was. My friend Simone’s On Your Mark fabrics folded up into sweet little triangle bundles, which I’ll send along with accurately printed patterns. I’m posting this not only because they are cute and you may want to do it sometime, but also so I don’t forget where to find the instructions.
All of this is on Wanda Dotson’s blog, Wanda’s Life Sampler, where she had this amazingly cool shot of a quilt at the beach.
I finished Frivols 8, and haven’t yet named it, although Moda calls it “Brio” or something like that. But all those Bear Paw blocks are so fun and alive, I need another name. How about…
…Baby Bear?, especially after my daughter-in-law posted this picture of her youngest son (my youngest grandson) helping with dinner, complete with bear earmuffs. He’s a character.
I finally was able to get to the quilting (see below).
I found some old 1940s prints in the stash, and chose a blue to match the lightest blue in the quilt for the binding. That’s one of the troubles with doing these frivols after the fact: the fabrics to complete them are AWOL, but I made it work.
Now the requisite Beauty Shots. The print above is titled “She Will Find What Was Lost,” and is a print by Brian Kershisnik, a favorite of mine.
Eight are done!
But since this is your two-for-one post, here’s the intro for Frivols #9, our little box for September.
Look! No Half-Square Triangles! Okay, there are some triangles that are snowballed on, and a few Flying Geese, but hooray! I couldn’t face making another quilt with prints on a white background, even though I do like the look, so the background for this one will be a peach woven-looking print fabric.
This collection is by Lella Boutique. More info is found on Moda’s Blog.
And in other news this past while:
survived a “Meet N’Greet” when a young woman rear-ended me in stop-and-go traffic on the freeway. After spending too many hours on too many phone calls with her insurance company, I called mine, and the car will go in next week to be fixed. They’ll fight it out later who gets to pay what.
agonized when I discovered that all the patterns I’d given out in my workshop in August were too small. It was only after a phone call to corporate headquarters for the printing company, and two visits to the local outlet that I discovered what had happened: they had set the button to “Print to Fit” which ALL quilters know means at about 96%. They graciously printed out new, accurate copies, which I’ll collate and get over to the Guild. Then I’ll put a paper bag on my head and try to remain incognito.
created another tiny quilt in order to review a book by Kerry Foster, titled Paint-by-Numbers Quilting. My day on the Blog Hop is September 24th, and we’re doing a digital giveaway that day, so everyone can enter — US and international quilters. Check back then.
rearranged nearly everything upstairs in my house:We swapped the old guest room for the new office, which meant that all my stuff in the old guest room had to go in the hallways and the Master Bedroom, and the old office, and yes, even the bathtub. (I won’t show you the rest of the mess.)
Lately, I wake up every day feeling like I have about 400 things to get done that day, and fall into bed exhausted, having only accomplished a few of the things on my list. I know this soon will end, once my home is back in order, the big projects finished, the trips taken, the car fixed, the weeds pulled, next month’s Frivols finished, and everything crossed off my To-Do list. Right.
The following pictures tell you why I’m saying Uncle on this project, as there is No Way I’m going to be able to quilt it and bind it and label it, all before the end of August. Which is tomorrow, in case you didn’t notice.
Cutting. And I only made one mistake. Not bad, not bad.
What is with all these half-square triangles in everyone’s design? HSTs! HSTs! AAAAGH!
I got one block this far late one night, then went to bed.
The next day I got this far, all while listening to Book 4 of Bruno, Chief of Police. And that little habit is all due to Bette, who suggested I might like them. I do. The real title of that book was the Devil’s Cave. Our hero, Bruno, saved the day.
Twenty-nine thousand pieces of sashing, and eight million borders are sewn on. It’s actually looking cuter.
It kind of like died here.
I cut the batting last night, organized (but didn’t sew together) the backing. But I had to finish up another quilt, and take photos, and meet a bazillion deadlines, the least of which is to revamp this entire room, which used to be the guest room, but will soon become our office. Well, mostly my husband’s, but I will have a desk too, and all our modemrouterprinter1printer2extrapaperofficesupplies will soon leave my sewing room and live here. Can’t wait. See me about November for the finished product/project.
I’ll get to the Frivols #8, but just not by August 31st. But I did try.
Last week, I had a great time, visiting and teaching with the South Bay Quilters Guild, with a meeting on Tuesday evening (August 21) and a workshop on Wednesday.
My hostess for the event was the ever lovely Melanie, the VP of Programs. I arrived at her house in Torrance in the afternoon, where we visited before I freshened up and we headed to the meeting, held in Redondo Beach.
First up (after a fine dinner at a local restaurant, where I was able to meet several guild members) is set up, and above you can see my quilts, all laid out in order. I think I brought 40 quilts, a mixture of large and small, for my Quilt Abecedary trunk show.
Once I was ready, I strolled around their guild as they have a “happy hour” before the meeting starts. Their Opportunity Quilt for their annual quilt show is shown above, titled Jovial French Bluebirds. Their quilt show is February 16-17 in 2019–I’m impressed that they do this every year.
She wore her handmade costume for Show and Share. You should have seen her shoes!
They made flowers for all the Board Members to wear, so that people could find them easily if they had questions (I blurred out their names).
I did my Trunk Show and from the looks on people’s faces, they were engaged — it was a most satisfying experience. Then the meeting went on to business, and the installation of their new board for the year, as this was the first meeting of the year. They have an ambitious slate of classes and events, and an enthusiastic guild.
South Bay Quilters Board
After my talk, it’s always fun to see people look closely at the quilts.
The next day we headed up to the Palos Verdes Library, where the workshop would be held. I’m always impressed by art in public spaces, and this library was beautiful. My workshop was Two-For-One, where I teach a small quilt of my own design and Free-Motion Quilting basics.
I set up my quilts and supplies in the classroom with the help of Sue, the Workshop Chair, and Melanie. The classroom was spacious with a large bank of windows on one side, giving lots of light. We got to work, and below are some of the results of the morning:
FMQ kits for the afternoon
In the afternoon, we switched to free motion quilting, and after a series of nine separate lessons, many were feeling comfortable with the technique. I enjoyed how positive everyone was, as well as interested in learning a new skill.
By the end of the workshop time, everyone was tired and ready to go home. I snapped this photo upstairs as we were ready to head to the parking level: the sun had come in through an atrium, shining through to the sphere.
Thank you, South Bay Quilters, for a wonderful time!