Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy Jig

Well, I'm back home again safely. I had a great visit with my aunt and uncle and a great time at Quilt Market. As for traveling on United Airlines...let's just say I had not planned to see San Francisco at 2:00am on my way to Portland.

My aunt and I went to Quilt Market on Saturday, almost straight from the airport. (I had been scheduled to arrive Friday night. Instead I arrived Saturday morning with no luggage) On this first day I really just wanted to take it all in. We walked the whole show to see who was there. I stopped to talk to some of the batting companies as I have recently purchased a Gammil longarm machine. (It hasn't arrived yet, so I am planning ahead.) I was putting together a plan for Sunday, when my bags should have caught up with me. We talked with quite a few people on Saturday. I certainly came home with a bag full of literature. I haven't been through all of it yet so I still am not sure what is there.Saturday night we had dinner with my cousin A. We have been trying to figure out how long it has been since we have seen each other. I think since 1984. Way too long, that's for sure.

Sunday was the day to get things done. My aunt had a piano recital so she could not come along. I followed my trusty GPS downtown alone. Geography is not my strong suit so I was very happy to have it along. I had a great day talking with Benartex, Blank Quilting and Fabri-Quilt. I used the Flower Show II collection from Benartex (http://www.benartex.com/) for my Floral Delight quilt and I used Fabri-quilt's Suede for a watermelon design that should be in Quilter's Home (http://www.quiltershomemag.com/) next summer. I also had a chance to talk with the Pattern Peddlers ( http://www.patternpeddlers.com/) and two of the print houses. I bought the Quilters Hangup sleeve to try out and Mary Ellen's Best Press starch alternative, as well as a few other things. I met Nancy from Nana's Pretties. She was so nice and so helpful. (http://www.nanaspretties.com/) She also has the cutest patterns.

I was worried about the trip to Quilt Market being worthwhile at this point in my quilting career. It was so far beyond my expectation. Not anymore, now I am now planning my trip to Houston in the fall.

Quilts or clothes?

How did you start sewing? Did you start with quilts? or with clothes? I started with clothes. Doll clothes to be more specific. By the time I was in high school, I was making most of my clothes. I went to two proms. My mother made my dress for my first prom and I made the dress for the second. Somewhere in that time frame, I decided I was not good enough to want to wear what I had made. I know now I had missed the mark on what the problem was. I did not have a skill problem, I had a patience problem. Good enough while I was making the garment was not good enough to wear. Funny how I can see that clearly now. So I am back to making clothes . Now I have a time issue more that a lack of patience. Here is my latest creation. I just received my first Burda WOF magazine. This is such a cute little top. It would be cute without the elastic at the waist as well. You may see that later. Honey asked me the other day if I ever use that dress form.

I've been working hard to get my quilts finished before I go to market. Floral Delight is finished at at Benartex. Chocolate Creams needs to be quilted. Here is a sneak peak of my current projects. The red flower is a poinsettia quilt. I have been trying to find time to make myself a holiday throw and never seem to get it togther around the holidays. I figured if I didn't get it done now, it would be another year. I am going to redo my sample in fall colors, more like sunflowers. I just found this poppy fabric last week. I have big plans for it as well. It's already committed to go to Millcreek Vac and Sew when I get it done, as a sample for my pattern.

I ran across this picture the other day and thought I would share. It is from Christmas at my parents 2 years ago. Honey and the BooBoo Boy, reading a story. So cute!

To Market, To Market...

Well, I've made my plans...I bought my plane ticket, registered and have a place to stay. I'm going to Quilt Market next month. This is my first time. I'm not really sure what to expect, other than being overwhelmed by it all. I know that will happen. I have a list of the booths so I know most of who will be there. I'll have to go through it and make a plan. If I don't, I'll probably wander aimlessly for both days. I won't have a booth for this show. My plan is to scope it out so I know what to expect in the fall. I want to have booth in Houston. I'm not worried about working a booth at the show. I have done enough of those. In another life, I worked the motorcycle show circuit, selling shirts. I'm more concerned about what to bring to a show like this. Since I won't have a booth, I also want to take advantage and make as many connections as I can. That's the hard part. So, alot of planning up front is the only way.

I finished my Floral Delight quilt. I used the Benartex Flower Show II fabric. Boy do those flowers stand out. Here are the focus fabrics I used. I fussy cut the flowers and centered them on a snowball block. Sorry, you will have to wait for a picture of the quilt. I sent it off to Benartex for use at market. (Whoo hoo!)

I'd better get busy planning!

Missing Pieces

My baby quilt for Maggie, the Yorkshire Terrier is almost finished. It would be finished except for one minor issue. I seem to have lost a block. How can that be? I have 11 of one and 12 of the other. I should have 12 of each. I know I cut out 12. I don't have any stray pieces left. It has just disappeared. One block, gone. I know I'll find it, but I am also sure that will be AFTER I remake it. Isn't that just the way it goes.

I've been working hard on another donation quilt as well. My niece and nephew's school has a raffle every year to raise money. It helps keep the tuition down. After a little "pretty please with sugar on top" I agreed to make on of the quilts. Their mother is making a few others for them. I have pictures of the children in one of the classrooms ready to be printed onto the fabric paper. I am going to use them in the center of a snowball block. Here is the alternate block. I am hoping it will have more color when I put the pictures in. I'm still deciding on how to include the names. I think I will type them under the picture and then print it out. I have to have the quilt in Cleveland by next weekend. I don't think I'll have the time to embroider them.

We're headed out to clean up the yard today. There are still quite a few winter leftovers to get picked up, branches and stuff. I need to start figuring out my vegetable garden. You know, how big to make it. How many tomato plants I need (and that is NEED you know). Now about those tomato plants. Here's the story. There are two adults in our house, no children. They are all grown and on their own. We eat our fair share of tomato sauce. My husband is Italian, spaghetti and gnocchi are served frequently. So every year I think we need lots of tomatoes. I was looking at a packet of heirloom tomatoes a few weeks ago. They were so beautiful, I thought they would be perfect. There were nine plants in the packet. WHAT was I thinking, NINE plants. I'll have tomatoes for years to come in the freezer, especially if I follow the directions and give each plant the room it needs to grow (I've been known to crowd them in the past, like 6 plants in about 4 square feet.). I'll be giving tomatoes to the neighbors. Of course Diane Next Door will like that. She comes over and takes what she needs anyway. There are always too many tomatoes, but this will be ridiculous. But, once you have the plants, you have to plant them. You can't let them die. I'm planning all this and in our climate, I can't even plant them for another 5-6 weeks.

I never laughed so hard...

I laughed so hard my cheeks are still sore. Mark Lipinski was in town today. If you have ever seen him speak, you understand what I mean. If you have not seen him speak, you should find out where he will be next. We heard the story of his quilting life today. He even showed us his very first quilt, as well as many others that he has done. They were, of course, spectacular. His stories were even better though. I loved his story about teaching in Lancaster, Pa. (the heart of amish country). He explained how his classes became rated R. He took us through the quilts that have been in magazines and explained how he sees quilts all around him. I drove 100 miles to see him today and would do it again tomorrow! Oh, how I wished I had brought my memory card for my camera. I had my camera. Alas, my memory card was at home in my computer (heavy sigh).

I think I mentioned my dear friend Jan has a new little puppy. I started a little baby quilt for Maggie. I think these 5" blocks are the smallest I have pieced so far. When looking at some of the miniature quilts at the show today, I was thinking of these blocks. They sure feel miniature to me. I did get a little help from the boys on this one. I think Boo knew who it was for.

I believe I have also decided on a new iron. As I explained last time, my poor iron gave up the ghost. I was pressing the hood on one of the raincoats for the little boys at the time. I thought I had the temperature up to high for the fabric I had used. It scorched, just a little, and it smelled funny. I thought maybe I had melted the fabric a little. You know how cotton/poly can get a crusty if you scorch it. Well, I went back to press the next section (I did remember to turn down the temp). No heat. nothing, nada, zippo. Cold as can be. Well that's very strange, I thought. I didn't think I had turned it off. The light was still on.So I horsed around with it for awhile. Tipped it down, and back up, turned it upside down to make sure the holes weren't clogged. All looked well. Alas, all was not well. The poor thing was gone from this world an on to the next. After much searching, I found my husbands old sunbeam down in the basement. I know, I should be thrilled he had an iron to find. It served him well. It's a light weight steam job. It heats up quickly and no auto shut off. I still hate it. It's too light and it runs out of water very quickly. Soooo, I've been looking for a replacement. I liked my Rowenta, but thought I might like a cordless iron this time. Weel, the maytag isn't avaiable anymore and I didn't like the other options. Maybe that new Oliso...or... a steam generating model. Yup, I think I'm going to go with the Rowenta Pressure Iron and Steamer.

What else am I working on? I finished the top for the Corry YMCA donation quilt. It still needs quilting. I'll get that started tonight. I have an embroidery quilt design disk I think I am going to use for it. You've probably seen them. They are embroidery designs that look like a quilting design. You hoop the quilt section, batting, backing and all, and embroider away. It's cheating, I know. It is a donation quilt though and the designs are beautiful. They are just the right size for the blocks. Then, I'm going to put a green binding on it to finish it off. A quick label and it's ready to go. I am really hoping to get it all finished up this week so I can take it out to them next week.