Outstanding Quilters

On Saturday Judy and I rode to Jackson to go to a presentation for Mississippi Outstanding Quilters of 2012.  These quilters are all over 65 years old and have made many quilts, many of them are hand pieced and quilted.  They were amazing.

So here are some of the highlights of the quilts hanging in the AG Museum in Jackson, MS.  I'm not sure when this show will come down.  They hang the quilts really high, so it is hard to get a good photo, but here is my best effort.  I did not take all 20 quilts, so you need to schedule a visit to the Ag Museum.  Click here for more information.

Grandmother's Flower Garden by Marolyn White

Bird Paradise by Freddy Barnett

State Flowers and Birds by Frances Lockley (Deceased).  Frances
 embroidered a bird and flower on large hexes.  Wonderful!!

Lemoyne Stars by Marolyn White

Loved her creative border!

Floral Graden by Donnis Adams...makes me wish I liked applique!

Celtic Knot by Frances Lockley

Thougth this deserved a close up!

Dresden Plate by Helen Thames.  These were soooo small.

After we left the reception, we ran over the Art Museum to make a quick run through the Blame it on the Blues show.  One of the MQA members, Rhoda Blasingame, had entered 3 pieces.  She put pictures of blues artists on black fabric, then quilted in the lyrics of a blues song they had sung.  She was the only quilter to enter and she won second place.  One of my favorite things to see was these casts of the faces of the blues....they were so expressive.  It is in the old part the Museum of Art, but there policy is not to allow the work to be photographed.  I did not know this and took some cool photos, but they will just be for me now, since while I was looking for a link to the museum to put on the blog, I saw it...so I will not be putting those photos up.

Block of the Month (June and July)

Hey,

If you haven't had a chance to go see our quilt show it will be up till the 28th.  So go by the RAC and see the show.

Finally got this months BOM from Craftsy done.   This is the Block of the Month class by Amy Gibson.  I really liked them, but since I was doing them scrappy they took a while to cut the pieces.

I also went back and did last months.

 I really enjoyed doing theses blocks.

Stars over Columbus part II

We hung the remaining items in the PTQ show at the RAC and I was able to get pictures of the quilting on my Star Trick Quilt, designed by Barbara Cline (to see more about her click here)...so here they are:

I did parallel line in the white area next to the stars.  In the white border area I  did free motion.

In the lightest shades I did free motion leaves.

The middle color had a wave shape and the dark color a slanted orange peel.

In the dark purple I did large swirls, inspired by the swirly nature of the print.

I used variegated thread on the two outer bars of the yellow, and since I wasn't too wild about that, I matched the colors on the purples.

I bled on it when I was putting on the hanging sleeve, so I had to wash it, and now it is somewhat ripply, but I like it, once I got used to it.

This quilt is hanging in our annual show.  Go see it at the RAC or if you can't make it you can browse it on the our guild blog.

Quilt Plans

Hey all,

Hope everyone is surviving the heat.  We did get a gully washer yesterday.  Which helped here in Mississippi.  A friend of mine, Donna Burns, and I rode to Tuscaloosa to do some shopping and get some fabric.  It was so heavy coming down, that we had to pull over.  Always thankful for God's protection and a safe trip.

Do you plan your quilts on paper or the computer.  I usually do them on paper.  Which is weird, as I do almost every other thing on the computer if possible.  I don't know...it just feels more fluid to do it on paper.

So while I was in Boulder I made blocks by the method taught by Billie Lauder last summer.

Using 4 charm strips cut them in fourths, and sew them together in different orders so a different block is on the diagonal for each set.  Sounds confusing but was really easy when in the class.

I made these blocks while Celeste was at work.

There are 40 blocks that will finish to about 8 inches.
So my current plan is to put them together with tone on tone creams and dark blues.  If you look at the plan it will be some large creams, some large blues, some half squares blue and cream, and interspersed with the 16 blocks.  We will see.

Another quilt that will be in the works is the MQA sponsored class with Marilyn Doheney.  http://dohenypublications.mybigcommerce.com/retreats/
MQA is sponsoring the class called instant garden, just add fabric.  So we got an extensive list of pre-sewing to do to be ready for the class.  I have not done much, but, I did pick my background and borders.

Interestingly, Marilyn has you assemble your background and borders before putting on your garden elements.  So after I do that I will need to pull about 15 fabrics and do the other pre sewing.

Happy sewing all!

Boulder trip 2012

I know I am late on putting up my post on Boulder...I have a new computer and was struggling with the organization of the photos...but I had a wonderful trip with lots of adventures.  We went white water rafting, horseback riding, bicycle riding and ate at lots of good restaurants.  While Celeste was working I made 40 blocks for a quilt...that will be another post.  But here is our trip in pictures.

Beautiful scenery

my ride Hostess -- I called her cupcake.

vista from near the top of the ride.

Celeste!!

Ate at Snooze on Saturday before I left.

Ran into a coworker of Celeste's and her cutie pie son.

Sweet potato pancakes and a I think Celeste had a BLT

Loved that there are flowers everywhere in Boulder.

Star's Over Columbus

About 3 years ago, I took a class, hosted by Julia Graber, taught by her sister Barbara Cline.   The class was for a pattern she called Star Tricks.   I had picked these colors to make a dramatic quilt to hang in my classroom.  Well, about that same time, I had gotten a mid arm quilting machine and frame.  I was struggling with using it. I loaded the quilt on the frame and then was not happy with the way the quilting was coming out, so there it sat for the last two years.  In the mean time, I was paying Watana Cantrell to do my quilting, but still it sat, nagging at me to do something about it.  In the meantime, I had other projects and school work to do, so it kept being put back on the back burner.  Sometime during that two year period, Mary Anne Abrams who had also taken that class, brought her completed quilt to show.  I looked at her quilting, and quizzed her on what she had done.  She had done it on her home machine.  The more I thought about it, that is what I wanted to do.  So I ripped out the quilting that was on it, and started quilting it on my home machine.  I will post pictures of the quilting, in a few days.  It is hanging at the arts center now, but it is closed for the holiday.  I forgot to take close up pictures of the quilting.

Kaleidoscope challenge

The latest challenge from the Possum Town Quilters was to create a kaleidoscope block that would finish at 12 inches.  Most of the examples I found, were much larger blocks so the challenge for me was to create a block that size that would have the look of a kaleidoscope.  I started by drawing lots of possibilities on freezer paper...since it is large enough to be cut to 12.5 x 12.5.  You had to use a recognizable amount of the challenge fabric and surround it with a tone on tone black.  Everyone's packet looked a little different.  You could add any other fabrics you liked too.

After I came up with a drawing I liked I paper pieced my block....you can tell that others did other techniques, mine is not the first block, but is in the group.  The ones without numbers did not turn in by the deadline, so they will not be voted on as favorite.  These will be shown at the RAC as the Possum Town Quilters are the featured show this month.  Come in and vote on your favorite.