Playing Catch Up

I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this..... but I write the best posts in my head.  I think of witty things to say and add great pictures.  But sadly, the posts stay in my head and somehow, weeks go by and no posts.  I've had life happening lately - some good, some not so good.  But I don't want to let any more time go by without sharing about my sweet quilt being a calendar girl :)!!  If any of you own the 2013 calendar from That Patchwork Place, you've been seeing my special quilt every day :).

This is such a special quilt, has a great story to go with it (from Kim's 2nd book) and is just plain pretty.  It's such a thrill to be featured in a calendar, and I know I'll be a little sad on May 1st when I have to turn the page.  Until then, I'll enjoy.

Remember when it was hanging at the Dothan Quilt Show last fall?  Very exciting.

In case you didn't know, Kim Brackett's 3rd book has been released.  I was again blessed to be able to be a part of it.  And there is something else special about this new book.

When I opened the book I was blown away when I saw this.

If you're new to my blog, you may not know the back story, but Kim and I have known each other since 1996 and worked at the same law firm for about 12 or 13 years.  We became instant friends and have been a part of each other's quilting journey for all these years.  She is also a treasure in my life and her friendship is a gift to me.

Several weeks ago our local shop had a book signing day for the new book.  They graciously extended the invitation to me and to Nancy who quilted many of the quilts.

As you can see, we were hard at work.  They hung many of the quilts from the 3rd book along with several others.

The one in the top left corner (in the picture below) is one of my quilts from the new book - "Vintage Flowers".  The other one had travelled to Mark Lipinski's shop so it wasn't there.  It's called "Poinsettia" one and it was my favorite :).

It all looked so pretty.  Kim posted a lot more pictures over on her blog here.

I'm getting the rest of the pictures ready to post about the other things that have kept me busy (including 2 workshops with Cindy Needham and time with my grandchildren).

Hope you are all having a great day - stay tuned.

Karen

Here we go again

After working with those wonderful Civil War fabrics, I jumped to this!!  I've been asked to present a program to our Guild on this technique - "One of a Kind Quilts".  I've shared about this before, I love this technique.  I bought a new Christmas pillow panel to work with and then pulled fabrics from my stash that match.  I'm changing things up a bit and have made my own jelly rolls to work with (how fun is that?!?). The original directions call for a lot of templates, I'm trying to use some specialty rulers and see what happens.  The red, turquoise and green just make me smile!!

Here's the very early stages, I have many more blocks to make.  This is going to be so happy.

This is my last quilt I made using this technique - using these wonderful Kaffe pineapple blocks and lots of Kaffe fabric.  I actually sold this quilt when I was in Dothan, AL last October.  The new owner has graciously agreed to ship it to me so I can use it for my program.  Thanks Faye :). 

Never a dull moment around here LOL. I'm off to work, then I need to finish prepping for two workshops I'm taking with.............Cindy Needham!!

  I know - it's very exciting.  More later,

Karen

 

 

Border Time

My Courthouse Steps is done, now for the border decision.  I thought that maybe it wouldn't need a border, but after taking it into the office yesterday, I knew that it definitely does need one.  I keep feeling drawn to brown, something that maybe feels a little like Civil War.  Here are four pieces I had in my stash, I may not have enough of some but wanted to get an opinion on which direction to go.  I also feel like it might need a touch of red somewhere.  Any thoughts?

Here's a close up of one section.... see anything yet??

It's my sweet kitty - hiding in one of the steps. :)  Always love to figure out where I'm going to hide him.

I also finished piecing the Tumbler wallhanging.  Now that it's done, I really like this one too!  It is currently 42 x 55, I'm thinking it needs to be more square, so I may need to make a few more rows.  I don't think I'm going to border this one, I'll wait and see.

This section contains... wait for it.... do you see it....

yes, the kitty hiding in one of the tumblers.  This is a new kitty batik fabric gifted to me by one of my students at the workshop in Gulf Shores, AL back in January.  He makes a very good choice for this piece, and it's so much fun to find new kitty fabric.  Thank you so much for sharing.

I'm going to live with the CS on the design wall and see how it looks later in the day when the sunlight changes.

I'm off to applique the last few berries on "In Full Bloom" - the final pictures coming soon!

Karen

 

Plan B Progress

After taking in some tumbler blocks to my office and putting them up on the wall, I decided they did not look as good as I had hoped.  So of course I did what any quilter would do, I decided to start another quilt.  Since I'm working for an attorney, I immediately thought of Courthouse Steps.  I've had so much fun making these blocks as my Plan B for my office.  I took in a few last week, and I think they will be wonderful.

Since the colors were a good match, I'm using exactly the same fabrics as in the Tumbler quilt.  I went thru my stash again and found a few more lights and darks as this pattern uses more lights.

As I know many of you will agree, there is just something about a log cabin quilt that gets me every time.  I've never done a Courthouse Steps variation, so I'm quite excited.

It's so much fun to watch your blocks grow.

I'm up to 45 - I'm thinking the wallhanging needs to be at least 8 blocks square.  When I get to 64 I'll sew some sets together and take them back in the office. The blocks will finish at 5", so I may need to make this 9 x 9.

Until then, I have this to look at.  I'm kind of on visual overload, as these are some of my most favorite fabrics and colors.  When it's all said and done, I may have a hard choice.......  Of course, I could rotate them and end up being able to hang both :).  Decisions, decisions....

Hope you've had a great weekend, I'm back to work tomorrow.

Karen

Car Project - Office Art - Plan B

I have finally decided to do a tumbler quilt and this became my car project on my recent trip to NC.  I have been wanting to try this pattern for quite a while.  After starting my new job, my boss and I discussed hanging some art on the walls in my new office.  I told him that in the office at my former job, I hung quilts instead of art.  He was very open to the idea.  Imagine how excited I was to be able to hang "Office Art" again.  One of the quilts I brought in will work perfectly for one wall, so I needed to make a new quilt for the other - oh darn LOL!!

I immediately thought of the tumber pattern.  So using the oriental rug in my office as the starting point, I picked fabrics from my stash in that color palette.  The main color in the rug is a very dark navy and I had plenty of scraps that matched.  I have decided to mix batiks and prints.  Thanks to Edyta and making "In Full Bloom", I  have much more confidence mixing these.  I just still don't have a very big stash of batiks.

I was able to cut them all out on the trip and I started sewing as soon as I got home.

Loving the way this was looking...

and on Monday I took 3 rows into work to see how it was going to look.  Terrible!!!!!  So I came home, went back to the drawing board, and started cutting out a new project.  I have promised myself I will finish this (and not let it become a UFO)  and I will post pics soon of "Plan B".

In the meantime, my DDIL sent a few pictures of their recent visit.  Here is Miss Punkin when she has someone making her smile...

and here she is when we set the self timer :)!  But I still love it.

Have a great day,

Karen



I Came Home to This

While I was gone, the azaleas started blooming.  I think they are going to be gorgeous this year.  In case you're wondering, yes, this bush is as big as it looks.  See the road sign in the background, it's probably close to 9 or 10 fee tall.  Beautiful!!

Here's a recap of some of the rest of my Birthday road trip.... a trip to the Seagrove pottery area south of High Point.  What a beautiful winter day, cold but clear, blue skies.  We all came home with treasures.

Then it was time to help Mom with a quilting project.  The ladies at their church are making quilts for the homeless.

Mom got her machine out, and I gave a tutorial on how to bind a quilt using the backing.  We mitered and pinned the corners and she was ready to go.

We all enjoyed the beautiful day sitting at the table.

Does anyone know where to look up the serial numbers for the Singer Featherweights?  This is a sweet little machine.

 

And then it was time for one last picture.  We loved our visit to High Point and spending time with these precious people.

I wasn't sure I would make it, but I did manage to squeeze in a quick visit to Mary Jo's.

I picked up 12 new Civil War pieces to add to my collection.

I will share next time about my car project and my latest work in progress.

Have a great weekend,

Karen

Birthday Road Trip

We are in Day 3 of my Birthday Road Trip.  As a Leap Year Baby, sometimes my "non-birthdays" are not a big deal.  Not this year :).  My sister and I are 11 months apart - she turned 60 this year.  So this trip has turned into a dual birthday celebration for both of us.  Here we are with our birthday pie.....

my absolute favorite - rhubarb pie.  It tasted fabulous - maybe even better than that as it was hand made by my Mom :).  Perfection!  (My DD made me a cream cheese pound cake for my birthday which is my favorite cake.  So far I've been spoiled royally!!)

We are also travelling with our "adopted" sister - and here we are in Atlanta with my sister's newest grandbaby.  Such a sweetie.

He had quite a few smiles for us.

And here are my two munchkins - we made a stop in Charlotte too.

We are now in High Point, the celebration continues.

Have a blessed day,

Karen