Friday, March 31, 2017

Wooly Fun!


Here is a better picture of the gift basket we received at the Sue Spargo Event in Logan, Utah.  Each basket had a handmade wool pin cushion attached to it!  Someone went to a lot of work!


Following are pictures of Sue's work that she had on display.  I can't say enough how creative and talented she is.  The class was so much fun.  I'll share more of what we did in class tomorrow.




I fell in love with this one - so much so that I bought the book.  It was a block of the month a couple of years ago and there were several gals in the class who had made it.  It tells the story of when Sue lived in Africa.  I'll know more when I read the book and start the project!  Her animals on this quilt just come to life with her stitching.  Amazing....






Look at these cute crazy birds and how different they all are just because of different stitches!!



I do love this one :)

I hope to get up to my sewing room today and get the new threads I purchased organized :). Like a kid in a candy shop...  I had to take advantage of the 15% off Event Special!

Thursday, March 30, 2017

I'm Back!!

I am back home from my Sue Spargo adventure and no it didn't last five days but I stayed and visited family for another three days - lots of fun! The Sue Spargo Event was amazing and I have lots of pictures to share.  I also visited a red and white quilt show = more pictures, so stay tuned!  I learned that there are Sue Spargo "groupies" who follow her from class to class or do all of her blocks of the month every year.  There were several in our class.  I can see why because she's an incredible teacher and artist.  The hosting quilt store, My Girlfriends, was wonderful too.  We arrived to find gift baskets on the table for each of us, filled with snacks, fabric, a cup, notepad and pen.  It has a little hand made wool pin cushion attached (I'll show a close up photo later) and we each had a name tag with a wool decoration on it too.  Plus tons of food each day - not just the lunch.  I made new friends and had a wonderful time :)

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Sue Spargo - Here I Come!


Kim received her quilt and she sent me the most delicious box of Sherrie's Berries (chocolate covered strawberries)!  Mmmm.......

I've been having a lot of fun working on my "art" quilt!  I can hardly wait to share pictures :)


I've off to my Sue Spargo class - I'm sure I'll have a lot of pictures to post next week!  Have a great one!

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Does This Ever Happen To You??



Here is my granddaughter choosing fabric!  So many choices, it's hard to decide on just one, right?
And of course you have to touch them all first :)

Monday, March 20, 2017

Art Quilt

I am working on it - finally!  I promised my daughter Michelle that I would make her an art quilt for her home.  I've been dragging my feet because I was kind of nervous about "getting it right", but she designed it while she was here in February and I finally started it! I picked up some fun embellishments from Hobby Lobby and auditioned fabric... and I even started stitching, but I cannot share those photos yet or she won't be surprised!  I can say I am having FUN with it!  It's fun to be creative. I should break out of the pattern box more often :)

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Making Progress


Pictured here are the third blocks from the "My Girlfriend's block of the month".  Two more dolls!  This is a mystery quilt and I'm really wondering what it's going to turn out like! It's nice having all of the pieces arrive all cut out by the AccuQuilt Go and ready to sew!


A couple of weeks ago we took a hike up to this frozen waterfall with our son.  It was SO pretty!  It's been so warm lately though I wonder if it's still frozen?

First day of Spring is tomorrow!  Have a great day!



Saturday, March 18, 2017

Happy National Quilting Day!!

A year ago Sharon Wright came to our guild and gave a presentation and workshop.  I had taken a few classes from her at Quilt Fest (Utah Quilt Guild) and she is just a wonderful teacher and has SO many great ideas.  She challenged us to think outside the box and to be creative, even when using a pattern, to be creative with the setting or the borders or something to change it up a bit.  She showed us many, many examples that were so inspiring.  Then she had a "door prize" drawing, and those who were picked got to go pick something out of a huge pile of things she brought from her sewing room and they were challenged to make something out of it.  I remember Lucina made hers right away and I posted a picture of that some time ago.  At this last guild meeting Mary showed her Penguins on Parade - made from the penguin fabric she received from Sharon.


And Marie showed this beautiful quilt made from the nature panels she received.

I am being challenged creatively right now by making my daughter's art quilt!  I'm having fun though!  Yesterday I spent a lot of time picking out fabric and coming up with a plan and last night I began the hand appliqué!  The real fun is going to come with the embellishing :)

Have a fun day and do something to celebrate our love of quilting!!

Friday, March 17, 2017

Are Ye Wearin' Green??


Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!!  
I hope you're wearing your green!!









Thursday, March 16, 2017

Needle Case


I finished my Sue Spargo needle case (my friend Michelle gave me the pattern and needles ages ago!) and now I am super excited about taking her class next weekend!

I'm showing my work up close here but don't judge too harshly as this is the first time I've made some of these stitches.


The pattern called for certain types of stitches for the circles on the back, then I could get creative with the front.  My two favorite circles on the front are the yellow and dark green, including some bullion loops, fly stitch, French knots, coral knot stitch, trellis stitch and pistol stitch!



After going a little crazy on the front, I went back and added some more stitches to the back circles, including the Drizzle stitch and the seed stitch.

This little project was so much fun!  I've been collecting threads and embellishments and different types of fabric for the class.  I'm anticipating learning a LOT!  I'll share pictures!

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Vintage


A friend of mine recently gave me a box of vintage fabrics and patterns from, I'm guessing, the 1930's to maybe the 1960's or 1970's.  Mostly the 1930's or 40's.  Among the fabrics were some patterns, which were fascinating!  This one was mailed out from the Salt Lake Tribune's Household Arts Dept. (I wonder if they still have a Household Arts Dept.?) to Kemmerer, WY in 1938 for the cost of one cent!



Here is a 29 cent pattern for hot iron transfers.  I could not find a date on this one but it comes from Aunt Martha's Studios, Inc. in Kansas City, MO.





The Lone Star pattern in the box below has a 1937 date on it.  It hasn't changed much in all these years!  Just the cost of the pattern!


I kept some pieces of the lovely fabric and shared some with a friend who loves to make quilts with Vintage fabric.  When she moved into her home over a decade ago she found boxes of vintage fabric in the basement and has made some beautiful quilts.


If we want to talk even OLDER, check out this picture my brother sent me of a 1000 year old tapestry in the Vatican, in Italy. If he didn't tell me it was a tapestry I would have guessed it was a painting.  The detail is amazing.

For more interesting fun check out this YouTube video on The Art of Making a Tapestry:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIbu-dJuEh0

Monday, March 13, 2017

The Quiet Book

Check out this super cute Quiet Book that my daughter Megan made for my granddaughter!

Apparently she got some ideas from Pinterest, but she did not have a pattern and designed it all herself!  It's SO cute and I'm so impressed :)

Here is a doll with a closet full of clothes.

Put all the socks in the washing machine and find the matching pairs! (My granddaughter LOVES socks, and shoes!)

A mail box and a zipper board...


Counting beads...

The pink ziplock is  the back side of the piggy bank pictured below, so she can take "money" out and put it in the bank over and over again.

A zoo, with finger puppets...

Shapes and colors...

And a castle, complete with finger puppet princesses!


All for this little princess here :)