Wisconsin Quilt Expo and WIPS

On September 6th and 7th, I took two days to myself and headed to the Wisconsin Quilt Expo in Madison. My schedule was jam packed with lectures, viewing the exhibit quilts and doing a little shopping :)

If you ever get a opportunity to hear Bob from Superior Threads speak, please jump at the chance. His one hour lecture was so informative on thread and needles (and also very funny). He has a newsletter you can sign up for if you are interested. (http://www.superiorthreads.com/) Since I bought my Janome 6300 I have always had an issue when free motion quilting with the thread breaking. He suggested a different way to thread my machine and different needles. I spent last week quilting my Dr Who quilt and did not have any problems! (I bought their Superior Needles Titanium Coated).

Another highlight was hearing about and seeing the work of Viola Colombe. She resides on an Indian Reservation in South Dakota and makes the most beautiful Lone Star quilts.

Photos of the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts - Quilted Yurt.

 

On Friday night I had the pleasure of hearing Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side (http://amyscreativeside.com/) talk. She discussed how she juggled raising her children and starting her quilting/book career.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some of the goodies that I bought - the Superior Threads needles, a pair of cute and very sharp embroidery scissors, 2 Moda Candy packs of Simply Style and some gray fat quarters.

I also got this beautiful aqua and red fabric with the Sassy Squares pattern to make. I fell in love with this fabric because it reminded me of a art project my oldest did in 1st grade.

 

 See - such wonderful red birds!!

 

I have been doing some sewing also. I just finished a Dr Who Tardis quilt for my niece who underwent surgery yesterday for scoliosis. The back brace was not helping her so the only option was to put a rod in her back to straighten it. She has been a trooper through the two years of the back brace and now the surgery. The surgery went very well - you would not believe the before and after xrays of her spine! She will have a long recovery in front of her but she is so strong. We are all so proud of her. My parents gave her the quilt right before going into surgery and she was very excited to receive it.

 

I did straightline quilting on the actual tardis and in the black I did stars and loops.

 

I also got most of the top together for the Ruby Pearl and Opal scrap quilt. I just need to get the large white border put on.

Love it when the sun shines through.

I also finished the top for a quilt kit I bought about 3 years ago. It was one that I loved when I bought but as I started putting it together I now hate it. I decided to have it as large tabletopper instead of a lap quilt.

With the leftover jelly roll strips I decided to create this scrappy jelly roll quilt that I saw on www.homesweethideaway.blogspot.com. I am about halfway done and am liking the material again!

 

I am still trying to use up my scraps from Mama Said Sew. I have two patterns in mind that I started. The below pattern is a tumbler Dresden mini.

Blogs I am Linking up to:

Fabric Tuesday

http://www.quiltstory.blogspot.com/2013/09/fabric-tuesday.html

 

WIP Wednesday

http://www.freshlypieced.com/2013/09/wip-wednesday-quick-one.html

 

Made By Me Tuesday

http://www.jaqsstudio.com/2013/09/made-by-me-96-linky-party-and-features.html

 

Really Random Thursdays

http://www.liveacolorfullife.net/2013/09/really-random-thursday-91913.html

 

Needle and Thread Thursday

http://www.myquiltinfatuation.blogspot.com/2013/09/needle-and-thread-thursday_18.html

Summer 2013 Part 2

Tonight I am relaxing and winding down from the Labor Day weekend. Yesterday I started working on a Dr. Who Tardis quilt for my niece. I have two weeks to get it done. But I will post more on that later.

Summer Trips...

We did three different trips this summer.

1. Milwaukee - We spent some time at Lake Michigan (which was very stinky due to some algea but still beautiful to look at). Went to the zoo, the boys got to ride a camel. Went to a Brewers game - our oldest got a ball from one of the players. Highlight of his weekend.

2. Cabin - We spent a weekend at a cabin with my family. The weekend started off rough with me getting into a car accident the day before we left. The passenger front tire and door were smashed in and the car was not drivable. I ended up with the soft tissue in my right leg being traumatized and have been seeing countless doctors and doing physical therapy. It has been almost 7 weeks and I am finally not having constant pain. I also have not been able to do much sewing so I have been going a little stir crazy just sitting around resting and icing my leg at night.

 

While at the cabin my oldest caught a baby snapping turtle which we kept in a cooler for the weekend, feeding it carrots and then released right before we left.

 

Then on our last night our oldest stepped on a piece of glass and cut his foot open. We had a stressful ride on some country gravel roads trying to get to the closest hospital. He ended up with four stitches.

I was able to make a trip to a local quilt shop and picked up a few items. Boho by Urban Chicks and Simply Color by V & Co. I have had a quilt pattern in my head for over a year that the ombre fabrics would be perfect for. Now I just need to put the pattern onto paper and figure out measurements.

3. Chicago - We ventured to Chicago the weekend before school started. First stop was Shedd Aquarium (word of advice if you ever go there preorder your tickets, you will avoid a 2 hour wait in line). The aquarium is huge and we spent about 4 hours there without doing the aquatic show or 4D movies. Our favorites were the beluga whales, penguins and jelly fish. The whales had a metal ring attached to vinyl straps that they would grab onto and swim around with. Right before we left we wend to see them one last time and the trainers were there doing exercises with them. It was so much fun watching them jump out of the water.

Before we left the Shedd we walked around Lake Michigan. What a beautiful day with all the boats out.

Then we went to the Skydeck. We also preordered our tickets but still had about an hour wait (It would have been close to 3 hours without). The boys were pretty ansty by this point and weren't very impressed with the view. We did venture out onto the platforms but it was a quick on and off for a family photo so I didn't even look down.

Now onto my other finishes for 2013.

Sweet Starlet - I have wanted to do this pattern for quite awhile but I struggled so much with it. I spent so much time ripping out stitches, not having my diamonds match up and as you can tell it has some ripples in it. I used Flea Market Fancy and some fat quarters for the fabric.

Wise Guy Owl - I am have been a collector of owls for almost a year now, so when I saw this pattern I knew I had to do it. It was made entirely from my scraps. I don't have a closeup of it but the white was quilted with tree branches and I attempted to have feathers in the body. My sister is a potter and she made some owl buttons that I used in the eyes.

Mama Said Sew Balancing Act - This pattern was from a quilt magazine. I think I used the template wrong because once I had the quilt together and went to trim off the edges to make it rectangular, I was not cutting half the triangle off as directed. This was just straight lined quilted.

Scrap Pillows - Just a few pillows I made with my scraps. I have been trying to work through the scrap basket but it doesn't seem to be getting any smaller. More scrap quilts to come!

Mama Said Sew Mini Quilts and Poof - Using up my scraps I made a poof pillow that was instantly taken by my youngest for his bed.

 

Asian Squares - I bought a small pack of charm squares from Connecting Threads a few years ago and finally made them into a small table topper. I found matching fabric at Joanns for the backing and binding.

Red and White Topper - I first blogged about this back in 2010 as my endless WIP that I had abandoned. http://hummingbirdhollowquilts.blogspot.com/2010/07/ufos-or-wips.html
I dug it out this spring and decided to just leave it the size I had it and added the binding. Last week I finally finished hand sewing the binding one. I don't know why it took me so long to make a decision on this quilt and just finish it already.

 

 



Scrap Quilts - I spent a week cutting out fabric from my scrap basket for three different quilts.

 

This pile is for a herringbone quilt.

This one is a snowball/nine patch quilt. I have seen them all over the quilt blogs but am not sure if there is a name for it.

 

These are for a Ruby, Opal and Pearl quilt from a Moda Bakeshop recipe. http://www.modabakeshop.com/2011/09/ruby-pearl-and-opal-quilt.html

 

I have all the blocks done and sewn into rows now I just have to join them all together.

 

Ok - I think I am finally caught up on all my finishes and WIPS for 2013 except for my Dr Who quilt. I will write more on that next time. Thanks for hanging in there on my long and picture heavy post!

 

Blogs I am Linking up to:

Anything Goes Mondays

http://www.marelize-ries.blogspot.com/2013/09/anything-goes-mondays-33.html

 

Fabric Tuesday

http://www.quiltstory.blogspot.com/2013/09/fabric-tuesday-you-all-cutsie-crafters.html

 

Made By Me

http://www.jaqsstudio.com/2013/09/made-by-me-94-linky-party-and-features.html

 

We Did It Wednesday

http://www.sew-much-ado.com/2013/09/we-did-it-wednesday.html

 

WIP Wednesday

http://www.freshlypieced.com/2013/09/breaking-news-molli-sparkles-blogjacks.html

 

Really Random Thursdays

http://www.liveacolorfullife.net/2013/09/really-random-thursday-9513.html

 

Needle & Thread Thursdays

http://www.myquiltinfatuation.blogspot.com/2013/09/ntt-and-dash-of-luck-finished.html