Mystery Quilt Weekend

Friday afternoon 7/20/12

Friday evening 7/20/12

And so we began

Since the kit was cut we knew we would be able to get  a lot of sewing done.  Michelle's children were gone for the weekend, and when we stopped for dinner we had put together the first 4 clues



Saturday- worked on the mystery quilt until about 11:30am. Then we drove to Gilbert to attend the Phoenix chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild.  We left there around 3:30 to get home before the afternoon monsoon storm (actually today was  a big dust storm). Worked until late Saturday evening and VOILA!!!!

Michelle's is Black/White with Red accents
My quilt colors are Purple, lavendar and Hot Pink accents


Enough sewing for the night.





 Sunday we woke early and went to the airport to pick up Rachel, she was coming home from a visit to Florida. We had breakfast, went to the fabric shop and then returned to Michelle's to start our quest to finish the top of our quilts.

When the other two kids came home about noon- Rachel, Marshel and Kellee were taught to use the sewing machine and do straight stitching- we made each of them some super sized pillowcases.  They did a good job and I was able to spend some time with each of them individually.  Here are photos of their final projects.

Marshel

 and Kellee

           A fun and successful weekend in July

I finished the top of my quilt....  Michelle was busy finishing her borders when I left her home, will post her photo when she sends it to me.... until then, why not plan your own weekend family quilt weekend and see how excited the kids get when they too can show their creative side (by the way, each of the kids chose their own fabric for their pillow covers).
Here is a photo of Michelle's finished top....now to the quilting and binding ....

                     


                                

One would think I have been 'unbusy' due to my lack of blogging, however this is not the case.  I have been extremely busy and productive, just nothing physical to show for it... I have two items to share today.

The Bed Runner - design found in 'Make your Bed' is the Irish Rose Chain I did it in chocolate and cream colored batik, it is two fabric choices.

I purchased some Pashmina shawls on my cruise earlier this year, and decided they needed a bit of embellishment- this is one of them, more techniques on them to do as I learn more.

The One That Got Away

I fell in love with this applique embroidered design last summer while visiting Alaska, on our Quilt Retreat at Sea trip. It is a Lunch Box design. Bill and Mark went fly fishing while Barbara and I went to the quilt shop, imagine that!

Anyway, I decided to make this wall hanging for Bill so he could always remember the fun he had with 'The one that got away'.

Gigi- 1998 to 2012

My sweet little Gigi, went to sleep for the last time today. She had finally shown signs of a tumor that had been growing for some time, and today the Vet told us that she is 14 yrs old, she has a tumor that would require treatment and there is no real hope that would help. We had already talked about it and decided that she would suffer no more and not have a quality of life that she deserved. I hurt so badly, I can't stop crying, and even though I know it was the right thing to do.... I can't help but think ' was it the right thing to do? In my heart I know it was best. She had been having so many problems and I just miss her so much. Gigi came to us over 7 yrs ago... I adopted her from one of my hospice patients...he said that if she didn't have a home she would be cremated with him.... she had 7 more glorious and fun years...she brought Bill and I such joy and such unconditional love that I couldn't have asked for more from a pet or a human. I love you Gigi, I will see you again soon, and until then chase the birds, wag your stump of a tail and know that you are so loved and so missed by me. Sleep well my Best Friend. 

Gigi- Born November 1998 

Died - March 26, 2012

Pedigree- Rat Terrier

Moved into our home and our hearts November 2005. Adopted from ‘Ernie’.

Our first Christmas 2005

Gigi 2006   * 8 years old

 Always in our Hearts

AnDe's Hawk

My sister, Ande Herbert  http://www.facebook.com/pages/AnDes-Studio and J. Michelle Watts www.jmichellewatts.com, have collaborated and transformed AnDe's art work of "Hawk" into a pattern for Applique.  I was privileged to be able to test the pattern that J. Michelle wrote and published. 

Be sure to check out AnDe's art work, and J. Michelle's designs.  We are all hoping for more combined efforts from these two wonderfully talented women.

I made the trial version and Saturday I taught it at a class at my local quilt shop- Heartsandhandsquilts.com .  Here is a photo of mine and I included photos of  3 of the class participants works in progress.  

Lady Liberty Quilted Wall Hanging

A tribute to the "Lady".  Design by Eileen Roche- embroidery digitized quilt in the hoop quilt as you go.  What a beauty she turned out to be.  Made from all of my stash fabrics, it is a jewel.  I love it. Hope you enjoy the view. 

 She measures 29x30".  Please ignore the little red/purple strip on the left side, I took the photo on my design wall and part of another project can be seen.  Didn't say I was a photographer...

Pearl Cotton storage

I have been following Pat Sloan's blog regarding 'Storage and Organizing Tips' presented through Quilting Gallery- Michele Foster has worked very hard in keeping all of us Quilting enthusiasts involved around the globe, check out the webpage here http://quiltinggallery.com/2012/02/28/thread-storage-studio-organizatio/


So in response to all this 'organizing' I made some
adjustments to my own way of storage and
keeping my work area usable.
One way was to put my Pearle Cotton Floss
into a thread storage container-


I found that the empty spools were
very useful, they also allow for the
tail end of the floss to be tucked into
the slit at the bottom of the spool.



Feel free to share and tell me about your ideas and your storage/organization hints.

Until then, Sew away.