Durand Quilt Show 2011

I took the day off today  to enjoy sewing and attending the Durand (Michigan) Quilt Show.  I’m SO glad that I did!   There were so many quilts there that were beautiful, and I spent about an hour and a half viewing the show and taking pictures.  Lately, I find myself being drawn to the color grey, and this quilt popped right out at me for that reason. 

Then I spotted the quilting!  I just loved this quilting design!

Most of the quilts at the show were machine quilted by a longarm quilter.  In fact, I am hoping that my two quilts in the show were not the only ones hand quilted, but I didn’t see any others with hand quilting.  It could be that there were more and I just didn’t see them.  when I was there it was VERY crowded (a good thing for the show sponsors!).

To see the rest of the photos that I took at this BEAUTIFUL show,

click on the link below.

I tried to get a good photo of the description sheet for each quilt I took a photo of, so those photos are also included.

Davison Quilt Show 2011

Quilting Gallery Contest

The Quilting Gallery is having their “Quilt of the Week” contest.  This week’s theme is “Flying Geese.”  My quilt (Ocean Waves) has Flying Geese in the border.

 Check out the contest and vote for your favorite!

Two completions!

I've been busy finishing my grandson's quilt.  He's due to arrive in early November, but I wanted to make sure this quilt was ready and waiting... just in case he decides to make an early appearance!  I'll get it boxed, wrapped in in a bag in the car so it's ready when we get "THE CALL."  I love how washing a new quilt softens it up and makes it really snuggly, don't you? 

 

My quilt guild - Evening Star Quilters - is working on next year's raffle quilt, and I volunteered to applique one of the borders. The little squirrel gets a tiny black button for his eye.  This is now ready to hand off to Lisa Burmann who designed the quilt and will be sewing it all together. I love the autumn colors in this - my favorite season of the year!  It doesn’t show up very well in this picture, but the background is a yellowish gold mottled fabric.  Very, very pretty!

Now to finish up my guild challenge quilt!  It's almost completed, and not due until our November meeting, but remember there's that new grandson coming!  I need to sew Samantha's "Pippi Longstocking jumper," hand quilt my spools quilt, and finish the top of my Barn Owl quilt.  I have a list of about 7 items to complete.  Better get started!

 

How many projects

are on YOUR list?

The Demise of the Printed Word

It's no surprise that the printed word is disappearing.  Take a look at the number of newspapers that are disappearing with the popularity of the Internet.  And with the advent of eReaders, many people are choosing to purchase electronic books rather than the traditional printed and bound tome.   I will admit to being one of those individuals.  Will this change in how we read impact quilters and other crafts people?
Absolutely yes.  I found that out this morning.  I've mentioned before that I let Google Alerts help me find interesting quilting news on the Internet.  Every morning, Google Alerts sends me an email with a list of articles and pictures based on my choices of keywords: 

Quilting, quilts, quilt

As I normally do, I read through the list of some 16-20 article links.  The first four that I chose to click through to read gave me about four lines of text.  When I finished reading those four lines, I had to subscribe to the newspaper that had published the articles, if I wanted to read any more of the story.  No, I'm not going to pay subscription fees to all these newspapers around the world to read the rest of a good story.  I'm not THAT dumb.  But I really would like to read the articles!
What about all the quilting magazines that are on the shelves of grocery stores and in the bookstores that are left (Goodbye, Borders!)?  Who is buying those?  I buy only one magazine, and that is from AQS.  It is delivered to me via the United Postal Service (also disappearing soon) as a part of my membership fee.  If I want to look at other quilts, I go online where I can see plenty of beautiful quilts.  The quilts I see that make me swoon are saved to my Pinterest page for later viewing, OR saved to my computer in my Inspirations folder. 
What about quilting books?  I rarely purchase a book for its patterns.  I may be unusual in that respect, but my personal preference is to design my own quilts, not make replicas of someone else's work.  I may leaf through a book in the bookstore, but it has to be pretty fabulous for me to purchase it.  I have spent so much money in my lifetime on quilt books, and my shelves will only hold so many.  Again, I turn to the Internet to get my quilt photo fix.  I am also seeing more quilting books in electronic format.  If you can read a quilting book on your Kindle (or other eReader) or computer, and you have the option to print a page or two on your printer, that will work for getting a pattern from the book.
What do you think about all these changes?  Share your thoughts below by leaving a comment. 


NOTE: I have mountains of old quilt magazines in my basement that I need to part with.  I'm not moving them from house to house anymore.  If you're interested, let me know.  A good deal is to be had!


Edited 9/28/2011 to add this link to an article by TechCrunch.com:  The Future of Books: A Dysotopian Timeline   Worth reading!!!

Smelling the Roses

Have you ever had a big eye-opening, mind-clarifying moment that really caused you to think and reach a big decision?

I had one in the past week... It wasn't earth-shattering, but it confirmed something for me.  I like hand sewing.  And in as much as I love beautiful machine quilting like Diane Gaudynski's

(see this post)

it just isn't me.  I have a Pfaff Hobby Grand Quilter and a big frame for machine quilting.  But I don't have a dozen hours to quilt every day, and machine quilting for me tends to be choppy, not smooth, and I don't like the end results.

I don't mind piecing, but I prefer applique.  The thing is, I'm using an old Bernina Nova that I've had since 1977, and it has tension issues, among other things.  I love regular sewing on my Pfaff, but it's on the frame and a real pain to take off and put back on. I adore hand quilting - I find it so relaxing, yet it takes longer.  But that's alright.

I am hereby declaring that I am going to slow down in my quilt making process.  I have some quilts I want to make...

FOR ME!

I have some things I want to finish up, but I have a few quilts I want to make slowly, enjoying the whole process from start to finish.  Like a fine wine, I want to sip my way through, not gulp.  I'm toying with parting with my big "Next Generation" quilt frame, but I'm going to think about it for awhile.  I haven't used it as much as I thought I would.  I'd like to put my big wooden frame upstairs to sew on, but have to see if it will fit in the front bedroom (the only place I can put it). 

When I finish making my grandson's quilt and our guild's challenge quilt, I'm packing up my Bernina for awhile.  My mom has been gone for over 4 years now, and her old Singer featherweight has been sitting in my sewing area very patiently.  I think I'm ready to open the box and pull it out.  Mom used to make most of my clothes when I was young, and my granddaughter Samantha wants me to make her a jumper so she can look like Pippi Longstocking.  I think I need to do that on Mom's Singer.

I'll still be blogging on a regular basis, but don't expect to see continuous amounts of new quilt accomplishments.  Remember, I'm going to slow down and enjoy myself.  There are roses along the way to sniff.

Now taking suggestions

 

How should I quilt this?

The back of the quilt has the tan stripe

running through the middle from top to bottom

(the long way)…

The Front

This is going to be machine quilted.  I’m looking for suggestions.  Anybody?  I don’t want the quilting so dense that it’s a stiff quilt, yet I’d like it quilted enough so that the quilting reflects an all-over pattern.  Your thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated!  Please leave a comment below.  (Note:  the quilt will not have an outside border, just a tan binding)

Cool weather riding, soup and a scarf: They all go together in Michigan

In just a few more days it will be officially autumn in Michigan.  The leaves are beginning to change here and there, and the crispness is already in the air.  We took the bike out today for a ride… visiting our son in Waterford, then went through Clarkston, Holly, Fenton, Linden, Argentine, Gaines, Swartz Creek and back home to Flushing.  It was a bit chilly riding, but not intolerable. We stopped at Panera Bread in Fenton and I tried the most delicious soup:

Cream of Chicken & Wild Rice

Long grain and wild rice, celery, onion, carrot and diced chicken simmered in chicken broth embellished with cream and select herbs.

Yummy!!!  I’ve been thinking about making soup lately, and this just furthered my desire to toss a soup together in the crock pot and let it simmer.  Nothing like a good soup and some crusty bread!  I found a recipe I really want to try:

Lemon chicken with Orzo.   Mmmmmmm.

Click the link to try it yourself!

I decided I need to make myself a knitted scarf to wear riding… you know, one of those that you knit on a circular set of needles: A cowl scarf (it has no ending and no beginning).  It will be a good project to work on in the evening when I’m too tired to do much more than sit.  I probably won’t have it ready for this fall, but for cooler rides in spring it will be perfect.  Here’s a simple pattern that looks good, though I think I want mine in black, grey and white:

http://www.knittingonthenet.com/patterns/misccowl3.htm

I’m off to create the backing for my grandson’s quilt that I showed you earlier.  Catch you later!

Art of the Barista

The Michigan Quilt Artists Invitational 2011 is now in the Greater Flint Art’s Council gallery in Flint, Michigan, to begin touring for the next year.  I managed to make it to the gallery after work on Thursday and take some photos. I’d love to show you more, but I won’t show other people’s work until I get permission from the curator of the exhibit.  For now, here’s my entry, called

Art of the Barista

 

If you get a chance to see the exhibit as it tours the state of Michigan, please take the time to enjoy the artists’ work.  Lots of great ideas in this show!

Kitty-approved crib quilt

I finished sewing the top for my grandson’s quilt today… it actually went together pretty quickly, and a couple of hours today saw it done.  Now to put the three layers together and quilt it. I know the colors aren’t “baby like,” but for the first year he will be living in the master bedroom area, which is brown.   I’m hoping to have the  machine quilting completed by the end of next weekend.  The little guy isn’t due until early November, but I wanted to get it done early so I don’t have to worry about it.  And, I have other projects in the works as well.

Just so you know, it has been carefully checked out by the local quilt inspector.

The backing will be a blue print, the binding in the tan color. 

More photos when it’s all done.

Brown, blue, tan, fabric, thread

That’s better… I finally got some sewing in!  This quilt should grow a little more over the next couple of days.  My goal is to get it quilted this weekend.  It’s going to be crib size when it’s finished, as it’s for my grandson who is expected to show his cute little self in early November.  His bedroom is done up in browns, but it’s hard to make a baby quilt in brown!  So this is scrappy in tans, browns and blues. 

Check back later in the week for the rest of it to come to completion!

Out and about, little sewing accomplished

I’ve been enjoying the outdoors on the weekends lately… and while I’m having fun, not many stitches are being sewn.  Dang! No, I don’t drive the bike. I ride on the back behind my talented hubby.  I am good at holding on!  I think this bike is a little too big for me… it weighs a LOT!  How do you like the helmet hair? This pic was taken at Buell Lake in the northern part of Genesee County, Michigan.  Beautiful, quiet, serene lake.
We did make it in to see the quilt show at Longway Planetarium Saturday, but I didn’t take many pictures, so there’s not much to show you.  I had planned to see the “Art of the Kitchen” exhibit at the Greater Flint Arts Council on Friday or Saturday.  We didn’t make it Friday night for the opening, but planned to go Saturday.  We stopped by after visiting Longway, but the lights were all off and we didn’t see a soul inside.  I have a quilt in the exhibit… and their hours are all weekdays, closing at 5:00. 


I’d like to be working on this quilt:

Perhaps if you check back in a day or two I can show you more. 
After all, it IS supposed to rain tomorrow, which means I will be home in the evening after work, perhaps sewing. 

Slice, press, chain stitch, sing, press some more…

It was a relaxing John Taylor – John Mayer kind of evening. 

Lots of singing, sewing and pressing going on.

The perfect way to relax from a stressful day. 

More to come.

Pinterest

 

Have you heard about Pinterest?  Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard. You know, like a corkboard, where you put up pictures of things you like to look at.  I just joined this weekend, and I can see some great ideas coming out of this.  Give it a try and see if you like it:  http://pinterest.com

Here’s a sneak peek at a little corner of my board called

 “Quilts I love.”

Consider Participating

Commit to Fit! is a community-wide health behavior improvement initiative launched by the Greater Flint Health Coalition and its collective of partner organizations. By engaging local residents in fun, simple ways to practice healthy behaviors, residents can realize that a few simple lifestyle changes can set the path to improved health. The Commit to Fit! plan suggests 99 easy ways to better health, outlined in simple tools the community, businesses or your school can adopt and make their own. It also urges proper nutrition, hydration and rest as realistic ways to sneak healthy behaviors into your life.


I'm in a mission to become healthier, and have already lost 112 pounds.  There is a Commit to Fit program near you... go find it and join me on the path to fitness!


Published by Caron Mosey at Michigan Quilts! 2011