Quilt Show!

Our guild's annual quilt show was the second weekend in October as part of the Arrow Rock craft festival.  Here are some of my quilts and others that I quilted.

Above is my River Path quilt.  I was proud of all my curved seams.  Below it in the photo is my friend's bunny table runner that I quilted.  In the photo below is another of her table runners, a patriotic one, that I just gave advice on.

In the photo below is the same friend's Christmas Lights quilt.  I picked up the backing for her at Marshall Dry Good this summer.

Below is my log cabin star.

And Into the Woods

Below is the farm animal panel quilt that I made using the Circle of Nines book.

And this is a quilt I quilted for someone else.  It was mammoth flannel on the top and the back was a cuddle fabric.  It is a very heavy quilt.

And my Vintage Christmas with the trees and red trucks.

Upscale Plaid......

The Snowmen embroidery blocks......

Solstice............

And a challenge project that I quilted for someone else...........her catchphrase was "A Dime a Dozen."

And of course, my challenge quilt.

And those were all my photos from the quilt show.  It was a beautiful weekend for the festival.  I'm ready for some cooler weather and we really need rain.  Hopefully that's coming in the next few days.

Christi

Of Cats and Dogs

 I know everyone is missing my furry friends............

Esme is always ready to help in the sewing room.  She is especially helpful in using her long hair to sweep the sliver trimmings off the cutting mat.

And she can hold a pattern for you.

She and Cici both volunteered as color inspiration for this quilt called Cat Scratch.

She will even hang out in the kitchen........admiring her belly reflection in the frig.

Sarah's cat stayed with us for a week while Sarah had some painting done at her house.

She would turn up in the most interesting places.

She liked to hang with Cici, but I never caught her with Esme.  I think the amount of fur Esme has was a little disconcerting.

I learned that this pose means "Rub my belly, please."

And Willow...........

Her most recent checkup at the vet revealed that she has topped 100 pounds!  So I used her to show just how large my pumpkins were.  I raised these myself!

One night this week, Willow did some a lot of barking at something in the yard.  The next morning we found this booboo on her head.  

I cleaned it up with some peroxide and applied antibiotic cream (same thing I do for the hubby).  Now she looks like she either has a third eyebrow or that she's arching that brow.

And that is all I have of cats and dogs!

Christi

Last UFO and Retreat!

 I finished my last UFO for 2024 in August before going to the Missouri Star Retreat in Hamilton.  I had made a list of all of my unfinished projects at the beginning of the year.  I have done this for the last few years, but this is the first time I got everything on the list completed.  Last year I worked really hard and got all but one completed.  That made it possible to get everything done this year.  I took the quilt to Hamilton with me to photograph it there since it was a Missouri Star pattern called Solstice.

This quilt was also part of my goal to work on curved seams in 2024.  I was really happy with how it turned out.

While at the retreat, I also pieced another Missouri Star pattern with curved seams called River Path.

I pieced the center at the retreat and then added the black border when I got back home.  I was really happy with how this turned out.  I love the striped binding as well.  This hung in the quilt show and now it's headed to Sarah's house to hang there.

I also pieced the blocks for a quilt called Marbled Cheesecake while at the retreat.  This one is now waiting to be quilted.

Another person from Florida who was at the retreat shared this quilt that she had pieced.  

We got to tour the quilt museum in Hamilton.  This was the most unusual quilt.  You had to stand across the room to see Einstein.

One of the workshops at the retreat was for this quilt called Into the Woods.  I pieced the entire thing at the retreat.  I love this quilt.  The sample quilt was made in Christmas flannels, but I went with a fall vibe.

I got it quilted and finished in time for the quilt show.

I did a mystery project at the retreat.  It was this table runner.  I made one in patriotic fabrics and one in fall fabrics.  

The retreat was fun and I'm really glad I did it.  

Christi

Through Thick and Thin

I should take a moment (or an entire blog post) to share about the guild challenge project this year.  It was called the catch phrase challenge.  Everyone drew a catch phrase and then made a quilted project depicting that catch phrase.  Mine was Through Thick and Thin.  

I chose a very literal translation of the catch phrase and used the Mobius Radial pattern.  The Mobius strip, discovered by mathematician Ferdinand Mobius in 1858, is a non-orientable two-dimensional surface with only one side, often referred to as the impossible shape.

This first step was creating the 2 paper pieced panels.

Then there was the paper removal process which was completed under the supervision of my trusty sewing cat, Esme.

Then I had to cut the center piece and the outside piece to fit the paper pieced sections into.  At this point, I had 4 pieces to sew together.

Lots of pins were used to fit those circular seams together.  You can see that this was exhausting for Esme.

And then it was a flimsy!

I did some straight line quilting in the background and followed the black segments of the Mobius Strip.  

I didn't win the challenge, but it did hang in our quilt show.  It's hanging in my sewing room now.  I'm still amazed that the pieces fit together and it worked.

Christi

I'm Back!

 I wish I had a really good excuse for taking so long to blog again, but, well..............life, I guess!  I just reread my last post which was mostly about bags, so maybe we'll just continue with more bags!  (Last comment NOT related to this photo at all!)

Here is Mercedes with Sarah and I (yes, we are wearing our matching pumpkin patch t-shirts).  Mercedes loved her mondo bag.  (I have even made another since then, but didn't get a photo before it was gone.  I seem to change up the making of each one and just like each one better and better.)  We had a great family reunion over Labor Day weekend.  Mercedes even bought chances on our guild raffle quilt.  Guess I'll have to go to Spain if she wins!

Mercedes had been making bags as well.  I got this adorable zipper bag that her mom handstitched the cat on. 

 My Dad liked his bag for church as well, but wanted to know where the little matching zipper bag was???  I had used it for keeping all my charging cords in, so I just emptied it out into my new cat zipper bag and gave it to him.  He wanted to keep his pens and pencils in it with his other bag.

And all those other zipper bags............were put to use when I attended a retreat at Missouri Star the week before Labor Day.  At the retreat, I purchased (ok, I was there for 4 whole days, I HAD to buy something!) a Sallie Tomato purse kit.  I decided to really challenge myself on this one.  After watching the video about 3 times, I headed to the sewing room and started to work.  It wasn't long before I had the video pulled up on my tablet and I just let her talk and show a little then paused it and went to do it for myself.  This was how I put the entire purse together (over a span of 3-4 days).

It's really hard to take a good picture of a purse.  

I only bent one needle so badly that it wouldn't go down in the plate while I was doing the leather corners on the bottom.  It also has 2 inside zipper pockets.  I love it.

I might be addicted!  On a recent trip to Hamilton, the only thing I purchased was more purse parts and leather to make more purses.  And I ordered cork fabric to try as well.  Stay tuned!

I had also been pinning bags and purses made from old jeans to my pinterest board.  This past week, I made this cute little bag.

First I should explain that I didn't do the Pooh block.  We had a white elephant show and steal at the Missouri Star retreat and I received this block as well as A-G in the Pooh alphabet.  I was a little uncertain as to what to do with only 8 alphabet blocks, but made this for a cute little girl named Jenna!

I used the cut off legs from some of Sarah's jeans we had turned into shorts a few years ago.  Jenna LOVES pockets, so I took a pocket from another pair of Sarah's jeans and put it on the other side.  The lining (which you can't see) is a red polka dot.  

It turned out way cute, if I do say so myself!  I have a pile of old jeans to sort through for more bags and plenty of ideas pinned.  As for the rest of the Pooh blocks, there is an idea in the works for the remainder, so stay tuned.  

And if you have now picked yourself up off the floor from the surprise you received at a new blog post, I wish you a delightful day!

Christi