Fun Weekend in Temecula

Can you believe this?  1/2 inch finished color spots make this one spectacular quilt by Mary Lou Ripper. Wow!! I admit Mary Lou did have the blocks complete prior to arriving.. but still!! They were done!!!!

Just plain gorgeous I'd say!!!  Some of us suspect Mary Lou is not human.... She completes quilts sooooo darned quick! ...and a lot of them.  ;-)

One of many fanciful birds on Karon Cornell's emerging quilt top.

 ...and then theres Carol Lundquist who also arrived with blocks ready to be pieced together. I LOVE this quilt pattern which is one of three quilts she put together this weekend. WOW!

Now,  my quilt ... no such luck... No pattern... a zillion different batiks. I'm building a color wave of varied size batik stars and filler blocks.  This will take some time!

 It's a puzzle in the making. Not all stars or filler blocks will perfectly intersect  at the top or bottom edge of adjacent blocks.  This may be no big deal for many.... but a nightmare for an art quilter painter that is making up the pattern and piecing odd stuff without much experience.  Oh well.  I'm the one who says "The Learning is in The Struggle."  I'll figure it out.. just not quickly as I have little time to do this kind of fun stuff.

A Birthday Day High Tea

This was so much fun. August was my month to host my Wanabe Quilters friendship group meeting and lunch. The meeting date fell on my and one others birthday ( Carol Brodie of Corona, Ca). Our dear friend and member Laurie Lyon of Anaheim Hills, Ca. has a spectacular home and dining room so Laurie and I  collaborated  to host a high tea and invited group members to dress for TEA, bring a favorite tea cup, and relax for the day.  They did. It was great.  The group L - R: Phyllis Reddish, Carol Culbert, Carol Lundquist, Mary Lou Ripper, Janmarie Halliday, Birthday Girl Carol Brodie, Karon Cornell, Our local tea authority brit... Hilary Field, Carol Pankow, Nancy Kastner, and  Laurie Lyon (our queen of elegant entertaining) .  'Tis I  pressed against the wall and behind the camera.

Click on photo/s for enlarged view.

Knowing this was ahead,  I bought specialty teas as I've traveled this year. We had 7 pots of tea to choose from ( yes only 5 shown) :

Menu included: 5 types of finger sandwiches... of course the required cucumber and egg salad, and then smoked salmon with cream cheese and dill,  2  quick breads with devonshire cream and jam,  curried chicken salad,  fresh strawberry slaw,  scones, jams and lemon curd,  desserts of fresh fruit tart, lemon crisp cookies and liquor infused mini cup cakes.  We may have outdone ourselves with work and prep but it was ooooo so fun and no better way to spend 2 friends birthdays with mutual dear quilting friends.

Great "Not So Young" birthday wish

You know how when you get to a certain age, birthday cards are largely about the dirty tricks age can play.  Well I received one Friday that celebrates wisdom that comes with time.

  Great tag line.... " Experience has it's advantages!!!! "   ;-)

Finishing a Mini Father Christmas

So I have painted a large version ( seen in previous post) and it was so fun I had 2 fundraiser pieces I wanted to contribute so decided a really small Father Christmas might be fun and I painted 2 more.   Now to get one of the mini's quilted and on its way to Houston International.  This 15" x18" quilt will be offered in a silent auction that helps fund prize monies for the International Festival.

(c) copyright image

click on photos for enlarged view

Now as to how I got here. First I added  1 inch wide strips to all four sides.  The strips are silver circles on darker silver  background and were  fussy cut in a way that when the quarter inch 'sashing' was added... a half circle would face inward toward the painted center.    thus....

Placing a 1/4" insert sashing is not as challenging as it looks. Step one was just adding the one inch strips.  Then with outer silver and white border fabric right sides together with the one inch strip already sewn on and pressed, we go to the back side of the outer border fabric and prepare to sew a 1/4" inch seam along the bobbin line of the strip already added. This seams odd I know but we are using the left side of the 1/4" foot as our guide.

When we get to the end of the strip added stitch line, a pencil line extended out to the outer border edge will keep things going the right path and you now use the drawn line to guide the left side of your 1/4" foot.

  After that it's all quilting. On drawn and stamped COAT items... I secured them with monofilament thread as colored thread would be a distraction.

Then a simple and very small background fill in white.

This was sure fast compared to the original large piece. 

Finally in dark teal thread a overlapping curved veil fill pattern that 'falls" haphazardly to the snow floor.

The joy of finishing is signing after adding a loose and fun what I'll loosely refer to as a feathered rose border fill. I added a quarter inch binding of the same as the outer border fabric and color it DONE!! This was lots of fun...about a three day project all in all.

Now to get paperwork prepared and quilt sent. If you go to Houston Int'l this fall, look for this silent auction near the red carpet prize row.  There are some bargains to be had.