Houston Quilt Festival 2015

Mr. Muddling and I went to Quilt Festival on Thursday. We walked and walked and walked and saw so many beautiful, beautiful quilts.  There is a really nice blue and white quilt exhibit, but no pictures allowed.  The collage above is a small sampling of Victoria Findlay-Wolfe's exhibition of her modern take on the double wedding ring.

This one is titled "Kimmie's Dragonfly" by Vel Garrick. She make it for her friend Kimmie, who collects dragonflies. She's done a mosaic applique and watercolor quilting techniques (not sure exactly what that means, but it's what the description stated) to blend colors and it is longarm quilted.

Here is a closer look at a portion of it. The artistry is amazing and I love how all those unrelated fabrics blend so beautifully to form the big picture.

There was a display of miniature vignettes. Lots of them. I liked the 1950's travel trailer.

We both knew immediately how much Miss Ru would have loved this one, titled "Like Cinderella"! She did love her shoes. The maker of this one, Yukiko Maruhama, lives in Japan and it is all hand pieced, hand appliqued and hand quilted.

On Friday I went back with a couple of friends and did more walking. This one is called "Ablaze" by Helena Sheffer. Of course I like all those reds playing together!

This one, entitled "What Happens in the Swamp?" by Christine Holden, just made me laugh. If you can't see why - click on the picture and it should enlarge. I would say that egret has a rather precarious perch!

I know this doesn't look exciting at all, but click on the picture to enlarge it and look at that stunning quilting. Just amazing. Freehand longarm quilting. It is titled, "828 Valence St." by Laurie Tigner. In her imagination she saw what her presently not very impressive front garden in New Orleans might have looked like in a different time, and this is her interpretation of that vision.

Yep, this is me when I finally got home tonight. Of course there was much, much more to see, but I don't want to wear you out with pictures. (At least you didn't have to do all that walking!) I am so thankful to live right here and to have the privilege of visiting this bounteous display of quilty goodness!

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend and that you are doing something FUN!

Hugs and kisses,

Working on a Couple More

You may remember I had started working on these kite blocks a while back. Blogs tempt me and inspire me all the time. I first saw the kite blocks on Wanda's blog, and I decided I would get the Go! die and make a quilt from them. The blocks above I made from batiks and Kaffee Fassett and Phillip Jacobs prints. What can I say? I just lost interest.

Then this week I saw this post on KatyQuilts and I got interested again! I know that a lot of people have gotten bored with blogging and quit, but I learned to quilt by reading blogs. And I am so thankful for those of you who still take the time to share your experiences. 

I quilted this one - the nine patch/rail fence - and it did not make me happy! It is set on point and the corner setting triangles, no matter how carefully I sewed, 

s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d. I did the best I could, but I'm not altogether happy with it. Hopefully it will look all right once I get it trimmed and get the binding on it.

Just for grins, and to prove that we are everywhere - the latest issue of the AAA magazine features quilting in Texas. Of course I'm pretty sure the fact that the QUILT FESTIVAL!!!! (Can you tell I'm excited about that?) is next week, also plays into that being chosen for the cover.

Also just for grins, there is a small bunch of bananas from our yard ripening on the patio!

I hope you've had a great week with plenty of things that have had you grinning even before you got here!

Hugs and kisses,

Two Deliveries

I got the binding sewn on this one last night and today we delivered it to Mr. Muddling's sister. She loves it. She is a purple lover, like Miss Ru. It's taken me this long to be able to work with purple on this big a scale again. I know it's silly, but it's just the truth.

Of course I had Bruno's invaluable assistance. He is convinced I could not do anything without him right there with me, and he may be right! At any rate, he is very faithful to stay with me no matter how long I stay up. You don't even want to know what time I finally went to bed this morning.

Here's a shot after washing and drying in all its crinkly loveliness. My sister wants me to make a star quilt for her sister in law who recently lost her husband. I'll start on it soon, but I need a little break from stars first.

The second delivery of the day was made by the post office to our nephew and his wife for their little girl, due in January. Mom-to-be is kindly modeling it for me!

Our gardening season was such a dismal disappointment this year that I decided to give the garden another shot. As you can see, there are butterbeans and peas growing, and a few flowers, too, because we just like to see flowers. We don't ordinarily get our first frost until December, so we'll see how this second time around goes.

I had a very sweet email from the local USO wanting my "group" to make more quilts if we can and saying some sweet things about the ones we've made before. My "group" is my neighbor Sandy and my friend Phyllis and me. Big group! But we will, of course make more quilts for them. I made a U-turn with the leader/ender project I've been working on and decided to make it a lap size for the USO. That will be one and it shouldn't take a huge amount of time to get it all sewn together and quilted. I have some other things in mind and Sandy already has one ready to go, so I think they can count on us!

It's good to feel useful and it's really good when people not only appreciate, but take the time to tell you they are thankful for what you've worked to give them. I like that! I hope people are telling you lots of good things and that you are having a wonderful weekend.

Hugs and kisses,

Quilts and Dogs and a Cat

I have finished sewing the stars quilt together. As you can see I added cornerstones as well as sashing. I'm pleased with where it has decided to go and also a little bit tired of looking at it. Which I guess is just as well because I'm waiting for thread to get here in the mail for quilting it.

The little baby quilt did finally get its binding.

It think it's cute. This is made by the tutorial on Missouri Star, tube quilting - really easy and fast. I used 30's and 40's reproduction fabrics for the blocks and kept it scrappy. The binding is an acid yellow and white diagonal stripe.

I like the little forest animals enjoying the snow on the backing.  We have a niece scheduled to make an appearance soon and this will be for her.

We have a visitor this week. Charlie  Chester (no clue why I typed the wrong name in there) is our son and daughter in law's dog, and is staying with us while they are on vacation. He likes the bed in the office.

A lot.

Dinah remains unimpressed.

I'm working now on this leader/ender project. It had gotten this big just while sewing other things. Now that I've started working on it alone, it's grown even more. I'd like to keep this one here. We'll see.

We are still enjoying slightly cooler temperatures here, at in the mornings and evenings. Makes a nice change.

I hope you are having lots of fun with whatever makes you happy!

Hugs and kisses,

Not Much Happening

This little one has been quilted for almost two weeks. I still haven't made a label or chosen fabric for binding.

There are still pretties to be seen outside.

And our pets still lead a good life.

I've made some star blocks for a quilt I'm making for Mr. Muddling's sister. She loves purple. I was just going to sew the blocks edge to edge, but then.......

I tried adding some sashing and I think I like it better. What do you think?

And just so you know, we use our quilts around here. With three dogs and two cats, we try to keep as much covered as we can! Quilts are much more washable than upholstery. 

When I woke up this morning I was so pleasantly surprised to find real Autumn weather - cool air and brilliant blue skies. It's hot again now, but it was nice while it lasted. It will be cool again tonight. Hoorah!

As I said, not much happening here, but that's all right - more time to sew and play in the stash.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs and kisses,