Let Me Share

I have been visiting my sister in Memphis and my son and his family in Arkansas. I haven't had a chance to blog or do much fiber work while I've been gone. (I did get to work a LITTLE bit on my newest piece while I was at my sister's, but I don't have pictures yet.)

I do have something else I'd like to share with you. My friend Daren Redman was recently interviewed about her fiber art. Check out her interview here. I had a chance to see her beautiful fabric in person; it is fabulous. She was kind enough to allow me to use a lot of her hand dyes for my current piece. I am SO pleased with how it is looking. Daren's interview is very well done and doesn't take too long to watch. I think you will really enjoy it.

My daughter took some good pictures while we were at June Beth's for her 3rd birthday party. Here is a little collage of pictures from JB's birthday. My son, Ryan, rents a big water slide for the kids. That was REALLY a good thing this year since the temperature was 100 degrees that day! Emily (my daughter) and Cade (my 9 year old grandson) went down with us for the big birthday party. June Beth (my 3 year old granddaughter) and Cade are big buddies. I'm glad they had a chance to play together.

(That's Bianca (my 11 year old granddaughter) in the lower left corner.)

There is never enough time with family. I remember (back in the day) my great-grandmother crying when we arrived at her house (she lived in another state) and crying when we left her house. I never understood that when I was little. Now I do.

I have Stitch & Bitch tonight. Hopefully, I'll have some pictures of their UFO Challenge to share with you.

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Speaking Engagement

I had the opportunity to speak to the Olney (Illinois) Quilt Guild this week. I'm ALWAYS really nervous (and excited) before I speak, but once I get started I usually calm down. These quilters were VERY nice to me; they were warm and welcoming. They listened attentively, asked questions, and made me feel right at home. Several people came up to me after my talk to get a closer look at some of the pieces and to tell me how much they enjoyed the lecture and trunk show. I even received a couple of really nice emails afterwards. Cynthia was nice enough to send me these pictures. (Thanks Cynthia!)

I spoke about my journey as a quilter which began with VERY traditional work.

(This spring quilt is from a pattern by Country Threads.)

These are some Lori Smith quilts that I made awhile back. I brought ten of those along to share with the ladies. They really seemed to like them. I explained how much I learned about piecing and cutting as I worked on these small quilts. I also told them how I improved my machine quilting skills with each one--practice, practice, practice.

I showed string quilts, mystery quilts, baby quilts, seasonal quilts, animal quilts, modern quilts, Christmas quilts, table runners, miniature quilts, and more. I discussed following the "rules" and breaking the "rules." (Breaking the "rules" is a lot more fun!)

I showed an English paper pieced hexagon quilt of my own design. It isn't finished (and it might never be)!

I showed one of my most recent hand quilted pieces. (It is a bit blurry, but you get the idea.)

I showed a framed "extreme embroidery" piece and told its story. (I think some of them thought I was crazy to do so much hand embroidery on one piece. They wanted to know how long it took me.)

I really enjoyed my time with these ladies. I'm always scared to do these talks, but I'm a firm believer that doing things that scare me helps me to learn and grow. I just saw a quote (don't know the author) that really hit home--Give every opportunity a chance; leave NO room for regrets. Have you done anything that scared you a bit lately?

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Tub Party at My House

You've never heard of a "tub party" you say. Well, I was with some of my friends and mentioned the fact that I had TUBS of scrap fabric that needed to be sorted and cut up and that I just never get it done. I asked if anyone else had the same problem, and (of course) they all did. I suggested we have a "Tub Party" at my house where everyone would bring their tubs of fabric to "tame."

We started at 10 am and didn't stop working till around 7 pm. At one point, I looked around my house and couldn't believe all the fabric we had in a small space. (We could have started a fabric store!) Here is what it looked like at my house before the tub party.

Here are pictures during the party.

Everyone got lots done, we had a great time, and we definitely will do it again. What does your stash look like? Do you need to have a "Tub Party?"

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"Retreating" Again

I am SO fortunate to be able to go to several retreats a year. I get to be with friends, enjoy uninterrupted time to work, and eat great food. This year my quilt guild decided to try a summer retreat. It was not well attended, but those who were there had a MARVELOUS time--we had LOTS of room (I had two large tables to myself, which is good since I tend to spread out a bit!), and we had four full days to work.

I worked on my newest art project (which I'll talk more about in another post) and my 365 Challenge blocks. I was VERY happy with what I got done. It doesn't look like a lot, but I DID figure out HOW I am going to make my art piece--which is HUGE. (Oooooo, who does that sound like?) Just figuring that out took quite a lot of time.

Here is my progress on that. (I have A LOT to go.)

The white around the outside edge will be gone when the piece is appliquéd to the black background. I was so excited when I figured it out that I "forgot" to eat lunch that day!

I only worked on my 6-inch, light 365 Challenge blocks for one day. I got these blocks finished and two others almost finished. (I cut some of the pieces incorrectly for those two and didn't bring any extra fabric along to make the corrections.)

If you would like to see what everyone else did at the retreat, click here.

We always have people who drop in to see what we are doing. I'm amazed that people will just walk into a building (uninvited) that is clearly marked with a "Private Event" sign. With that being said, we really don't mind to share what we are doing when people do drop by and a FEW of those people were told about the retreat and invited to drop in by the workers at the event center. We particularly enjoyed a visit by a young new quilter. She was VERY enthusiastic and wanted to learn all she could. She visited one day and came back to spend most of the afternoon with us the next day.

Everyone gave Taylor a mini-lesson on what they were doing. (Wish you lived closer; we'd love to have you as a member of our guild.)

Another big plus for me was that my name was drawn out first for an attendance prize! Wooohooooo! I won 17 solid fat quarters. I often use solids in my art pieces and was thrilled to increase my solid fabric stash.

 

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Stash Builder Box

I can't remember how I found out about it, but I ordered a Stash Builder Box last week. (First off, I should say that I am not being paid for anything I'm saying about the box. I just like the box idea and the cause behind it.) I think I might have originally heard about them from Suz at her DesertSky Quilt blog or maybe I read about it on Sarah's Confessions of a Fabric Addict blog. Regardless of where I heard about it, I received my box this week. It is packaged very nicely and contains some really fun items (one of which I was about to order anyway). Here is how it comes.

The box is really nice and sturdy and filled with all kinds of quilty goodness. I found out that 20% of the price of the box goes to help kids in need. This information below comes from the Stash Builder Box site:

"Currently, we are donating to: MY STUFF BAGS

The My Stuff Bags Foundation provides comfort and a message of hope to abused and neglected children entering crisis and foster care through its unique program, My Stuff Bags.

My Stuff Bags are bright blue individual duffels filled with brand new personal items and a warm, often hand-made “security” blanket – all theirs to keep. Packed with items they desperately need as they adjust to their new surroundings, My Stuff Bags provide things to do and to hold during this difficult time.

The My Stuff Bags Foundation is the only organization providing rescued children nationwide with new belongings in duffels that they can keep."

This sounds like a worthy cause to me (and who doesn't like quilty goodness). There is more information on the site about what you can do to help more directly if you would like.

This is what it looks like when you open your box.

There is a cute little sack containing goodies and below that there is this...

another level of goodness. Here is what was in my box.

If you are interested in getting the next Stash Builder Box or finding out more about what you can do to help the cause, click here. Use the coupon code FRIENDS to get $3 off your first box.

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Back to Work, a Big Win, and a Finish

In a previous post, I told you about falling and hurting my hand. Well, when I got back from Florida, my hand was still hurting; so I decided to have it checked out at the doctor's office. (I can't take a chance with my sewing hand!) He sent me for an x-ray and found that nothing was broken or cracked; it was sprained--4-6 more weeks of soreness but (thankfully) no cast. He said to take Aleve, use moist heat, and take it easy with it. Of course, my question was, "Will I hurt it if I work on some hand sewing?" He said I could do as much as I felt like doing. Yeah!!! So...since June 12th I have spent nearly 21 hours hand quilting. I think it actually makes my hand feel better. I tried cutting out fabric for my 365 Challenge blocks, but that really did hurt my hand. Needless to say, I'm pretty far behind on those now.

Now, on to my big win. I commented on Sarah Craig's blog, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and won an LED light base and three quilt light panels from the Classic Metal Company. I got to choose which panels I wanted and chose those you see below. Wooooohoooooo!!!

Each of the light panels is clear; the color comes from the led light in the base. You can chose the color you want your light panel to be from several different available colors or pick the option to run through all the colors. It is VERY cool. Thank you Sarah and Classic Metal Company. If you'd like one of these for your very own (or something else from The Classic Metal Company--like a metal quilt block for your house), check them out here.

I finished this month's game board for the Play with Me QAL. Alida's instructions are easy to follow, and it was a fun project. The game board for this month is called Ludo. I've never heard of it, but that is part of the fun with this QAL. Alida gives you instructions for the game board, instructions for the game pieces, and explains a bit about the game.

I used a black piece of fabric that was rather thick. I had a hard time pressing the seams to one side, but I think it turned out okay. I like the block and think it would make an interesting quilt.

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