Brigham City Quilt Show - Part One

Last weekend we traveled to see family and attend an anniversary party.  I had seen an advertisement in the Utah Quilt Guild newsletter about a quilt show in Brigham City, as part of their Heritage Arts Festival.  The quilt show would be in the courthouse.  Since we were going to be traveling right through there, I mentioned it to Mike, and we made plans to stop for a quick peek!

The quilts were only labeled with numbers so you could vote for your three favorites, so I am not sure who to give credit to here, but there were some fun quilts to see.  I love this quilting related one - a quilt about quilting!

The wool pieces I am pretty sure were made by Sharon Wright, as she was a speaker, teacher and gave a trunk show there.  She does amazing things with wool!  She spoke at our guild a few years back and showed her wonderful work.  I remember back then at least, she dyed her wool using jello! She is a very talented lady.

As we were driving through town in Brigham City, my son-in-law said, "Why are we stopping here?  I thought we were going to Logan?"  My daughter patted his knee and said, "This is what we do.  We're going to a quilt show.  You're being initiated."  I appreciate my family's support and being good sports when I make stops for quilt shows and/or quilt stores!  He was a very good sport too, and to my credit, I only stayed there about a half hour!  That might be a record!

Cute baby quilt.

The quilt above is made of wool!




A lot of work went into this garden quilt!

I sure have a lot of projects I want to get busy and do!  Quilt shows are always inspiring!

I'm Back!

Just a quick note to say I'm Back!  I went to visit family this week so I haven't been very good about keeping up on my blog - or anything else for that matter!
They made quite a bit of progress on our sunroom while we were gone.  I will have some more updated photos soon as they've been working hard all day installing doors and windows.  Looking good!
So I will writing soon about the quilt show I went to, the crochet club, a couple concerts and other fun stuff :)  Have a wonderful weekend!

The Chess Table

You may remember a post several months ago about my friend Annie's thimble holder that her son-in-law, Jeff, made out of wooden spools, and his amazing wood work.  Well, about that same time, I saw another friend's chess table, that her husband had made, and my son starting getting back into chess and was trying to teach me how to play.  I thought it would be fun to somehow get a chess table, for my husband, but also something the whole family could enjoy.  I decided to ask Annie if she thought Jeff would be interested in making one!  She thought he might and gave me his contact information so I could ask him.  He agreed to do it and we corresponded via email as I gave him some very minimal ideas of what I was thinking of (really I was no help at all).
Just this week he delivered this BEAUTIFUL chess table, that he hand created, that far exceeds any expectations that I had.  His work is SO amazing.  This is a true work of art and will be treasured as a family heirloom for generations to come.  We had Jeff sign and date it.

Look at the little chess piece detail on the table legs!

One of the best parts is that I kept this a surprise to Mike for MONTHS!  Like Annie said, that's not my strong suit! :)  I was so excited about it that I was bursting to tell him several times, but didn't even hint at it until a week ago when I told him a "big surprise" was coming.  He begged me to tell him but I told him I had kept it a secret for eight or so months and I wasn't going to ruin it now!  He loves it!  We can hardly wait to get a game going!  We just can't get over looking at it right now :)

The main part of the table is cherry wood and the game board is made of two different kinds of maple - the lighter one being a very unique and beautiful type of maple.  I am so thrilled with the way this turned out and want to say a huge thank you to Jeff for creating this for us!  His work is simply amazing.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

Now I better go practice some chess.  I have not won a game since I started playing almost at year ago and I am very competitive at games.  I bought a book - Chess for Dummies.  Maybe that will help :)

Zentangle Wall Hanging

I decided to make a Zentangle wall hanging for the CWQG Challenge this year.  It's black and white and has some 3D flowers, as required.  For the three panels I traced an appliqué pattern by Karen Kay Buckley, but instead of appliquéing it, I Zentangled, or doodled inside the shapes with permanent Pigma markers.  It was very time consuming, but actually quite relaxing.  That is probably why they call it ZENtangle!

I plan now to give this away as a wedding gift and I hope they like it!

I took some better pictures of my friend Michelle's quilt - right side up!  She used a Ricky Tims conversion method for the background and made some beautiful 3D origami flowers by hand.  Also note the yellow Sashiko stitching in the upper left hand corner!

Our sunroom is coming along!  I think we are now at the stage where we'll start to see some big changes!  So far, so good!  Mike's giving it the thumbs up here :)

Not all of the windows are cut out yet....



Stayed tuned to see the awesome birthday/Father's gift I got Mike!  And my Zentangle shoes, which are coming along!

Black and White and Floral All Over

Last night was the Challenge Reveal for the CO West Quilt Guild.  The theme this year was Black and White and Floral all over.  You had to use a piece of black and white fabric that was in the challenge packet, and you could add black or white fabrics, but any other color had to be floral, or used to make something floral, and there had to be something 3D on the quilt.  Lorraine was in charge of this fun theme and here are the results!
I'm sorry I didn't catch the name of every quilt maker, but I will include the ones I got.

This is Betty's and as you will see - she placed!

This is mine and I will post some better pictures tomorrow and explain how I made it.

I remember the name of this one - The Cat's Pajamas!

This is Mary's and she took first place!

Another cat - this is Edith's.

This is Ginny's.

This is Lynn's and she placed also!

This is Phyllis' and she made me laugh when she said that when she received her black and white fabric of course she thought of troll's hair!  I love the little miniature "quilt show" that the trolls are visiting :)

This is Sharon's and I would love to have her explain the technique she used for the grass.  She also told us that all of her clouds have a "silver lining" :)

This is Michelle's. Unfortunately they hung it upside down!  I will have some better pictures of this one tomorrow too - right side up!

You got to vote for three and I voted for this one, because I loved the colors, Michelle's, because I love the flowers and Sashiko, and Phyllis' because I loved the mini quilt show.

This is also Ginny's.  She made two because she was worried her other one was too big and would be disqualified.

 And the winners are!!

Lynn

Betty

And Mary.  What a fun challenge and a fun evening!!  (Because it's a FUN group :)