Quilt Class

Another time change…..why can’t we just pick a time and leave it alone? I’m all messed up already. My biological clock doesn’t adjust that quickly. LOL. 

It’s been a good week. I’m working hard on getting caught up and quite a few quilts got done this week. I didn’t get pictures of all of them, only a few. We’ve had cooler weather, and it’s been so nice. I usually prefer hot weather, but I think I was ready for a change. I spent some time yesterday afternoon cleaning house….i didn’t finish, but it was nice to have a little more energy. 

I taught a two-day class at quilt guild. The subject was “How to Use Your Scraps”. I talked about how I process my scraps so that they actually make it into quilts. At the end of the discussion, I handed out books with patterns for potato chip quilts. 

In case you are wondering, I got permission to reproduce the patterns and hand them out at the class. Everyone had pre-cut some “potato chips” and could choose which pattern they wanted to try. Here are a few of them. 

I think it’s interesting to see the different color choices. I started on one myself, but when I started trying to put them together, I realized I had sewn them wrong, so I started a different one. I didn’t get that far, but I worked on it at home Friday night and yesterday and got five rows done.

I still need three more rows. I hope I can get it done this week. My intention is to use it for a Project Graduation quilt. There are about 30 quilt patterns in the booklet. I would really like to try all of them. Well, that’s a goal, but it might not happen. I’ll see how far I can get with it.

Last night, I sat down and took apart the ones I had done wrong during the workshop. I turned on a Hallmark movie. I didn’t want to do it, but it wasn’t too bad once I got started. I plan to re-stitch them today. 

Project Graduation Quilt

Happy Halloween everyone. I don’t celebrate, but I may be in the minority on that. My dogs go on high alert when anyone rings the doorbell, so I definitely don’t give out candy. Well, a large bag of candy is close to $10, so I’m also considering it a cost savings. 

I got a quilt finished yesterday. 

One of the charities my guild supports is the Day One Graduation Project. They give new luggage and a quilt to graduating seniors who are in the foster program. 

The minimum size for the quilts is 50” x 70”. Betty made the top with a Villa Rosa pattern called Shilo. The top was 54” x 60”. No problem. I added a five inch strip of red batik to the top and bottom. Problem solved. I bound it with yellow because the back is yellow.

It’s a bright yellow, but you can’t tell it from this picture. The finished size was 54” x 70”. My guild pledged 25 quilts, and I would like to make one or two more if I can. 

I’m Still Here

I have been under the weather for a little while now. I didn’t feel well when I got back from Houston, but I kept pushing myself until I couldn’t push any farther. I finally gave up and went to bed. After a few days of sleep, I feel pretty good again! I still need to get my energy back, but it will happen little by little.

Right now, I am trying to get caught up with the customer quilts. I got this one quilted and bound. 

And then, I finished these two. 

I need to keep the pedal to the metal until I get caught up. I got another quilt put on the frame before I left yesterday, and I’ll get it knocked out today, I hope. I have a lot of laundry and housework that needs to be done too. I am behind on everything.

The quilt Betty and I put in the church auction sold for $950. We were happy about that and ready to start on next year’s. The small pinwheel 

sold for $240. 

I went to the orthopedic doctor last week to see about getting another steroid shot in my hand. The trigger finger is still acting up. He wouldn’t give me another shot and said I need surgery to correct the tendon. I didn’t schedule it and told him I need to think about it. I guess if it gets worse I’ll have to do it, but I’m hoping I won’t have to. 

Donations for Church Festival

I have been working on things that can be sold at our church festival. I already showed a picture of the quilt I donated for the live auction.

 I actually donated another smaller one, it’s around 55” square. 

We also have a silent auction, which will have a Christmas section this year. I donated some items for that. 

The church is a snow globe and it lights up. The little tree also lights up. I will be interested to see how it does. 

Of course, I had some requests of things to make for the craft sale. I already posted some of that, but here’s the latest box I took. 

In this box were 25 crocheted dish clothes, 18 crocheted scrubbies, 

four baked potato bags, and 13 potholders. I still have one more table runner to make, and then I am done for the year. I had people requesting the dish cloths and scrubbies, so I made quite a few. My right hand is paying the price for that, and I will need to take a slight break from crocheting. 

Back Home

I’m back from my Houston trip, and it’s nice to be home again! It’s only about 120 miles from my house to downtown Houston, but it feels like a whole other world.

We went to the quilt show each day, so we were inside the George R. Brown building all day each day, immersed in a world of quilts and quilt-related products. There were over 250 vendors, most selling all sorts of sewing and quilting things, and a few selling miscellaneous things like tee shirts and massage pillows. 

I already forgot how many quilts were on display, but it was around a thousand. (Edit: I just looked it up, and it says over 1,300.) 

I took pictures of quite a few quilts, but I won’t post many here as you can find them online. Here are a few of my faves:

I didn’t get the info on this one….it was an award winner. The Innova award for contemporary artistry. 

We took a day to look at the quilts and a day to shop the vendor booths.

I was able to get the shop hop blocks….there were only eight this year. The finished quilt was hanging in one of the booths. 

The colors aren’t quite accurate in the picture. It has more of a purple tint to it. 

I also bought two quilt kits that I fell in love with.

Also, a few fat quarters and some miscellaneous notions. I don’t know when I’ll get the kits made, but I already started the shop hop blocks. 

Our hotel was a few blocks from the convention center, so we were able to walk back and forth. By the end of the day, I was just brain dead, and the short walk felt good.

Pink Quilts

I’m happy to say I got these three done:

I did the quilting and the binding on all three. The top one has been on my to-do list for a while, and I have several more to do for this customer.

I have been so overwhelmed lately; I’m in one of those cycles where I have more to do than time in the day to do it. I did get all the placemats dropped off at Meals on Wheels. 

They were happy to get them, and that’s one thing off my list. I have a few more guild things to attend to, but it will have to wait until next week or the week after. I am leaving for Houston tomorrow to attend the international quilt festival. Betty and I have a hotel reserved close to George R. Brown. We met yesterday to finalize who is bringing what—we are both getting excited. We stay in a hotel with a complimentary breakfast, and we both bring easy supper foods to share like salads or sandwiches. That way, we only have to buy lunches, and it keeps the cost down for both of us. I didn’t realize how much I was looking forward to the trip until we started talking about the logistics. When I get back, I have a long line of quilts to finish for other people, and I want to take a couple of my quilts to Yorktown to enter in the Western Days quilt show. My mom has scheduled herself for a surgery in Sugarland on the 14th, and I will need to take her and bring her home the next day. I truly need more hours in my days.

More Progress

I’m so happy I got the Boys of the Bible completely finished, binding and all. 

It’s so large I couldn’t get a very good picture of it. It is 106” x 110”. Betty and I took it to my church yesterday, and I filled out the paper to get it in the live auction. I hope it does well! I thought I had taken a picture of the back, but I must be mistaken about that. Oh well. 

I have 93 placemats ready to donate to Meals on Wheels. I am scheduled to take them tomorrow. 

They were made by quilt guild members, and I think we did well on how many we got made. 

Today I am taking my stepdad to Corpus Christi to a VA appointment. I’m still not clear on why he can’t do it here; sometimes I think he just accepts whatever they tell him and doesn’t push back much. It will be a long day for both of us I think.