Last week was a busy week, here in the village. The first Friday night of December is always our annual Christmas parade. I look forward to that every year.
The Saturday after Thanksgiving, I went around gathering greenery to decorate our garden fence, and City Hall, which is right next to the garden. On Sunday, several of us gardeners got together, and made the decorations.
On Tuesday, I hosted my sewing friendship group, which is lovingly named by some of our husbands, and family members as "Quilt Cult". This involved some cleaning, and cooking. Sorry, I didn't think to take a photo of dinner, but is was a yummy pot roast. You'll just have to take my word for that.
On Friday it was time for the much anticipated parade, so we decorated one of the gardener's pick up truck. Rhea drove her truck, as Julie rode as a passenger, while Melanie, Marsha, and I walked and passed out our sunflower seeds. We had seeds that were roasted, and salted for eating, and other seeds that were meant for planting.
I am the one behind the camera.
Not much time lately for sewing though. I will get to do that soon, I hope. First, I have several more things I have to post on my Etsy site.
Tonight I am going to the Community Band holiday concert.
That is what I have been up to lately. I hope you all have been having some holiday fun too.
Thanks for stopping by!
Lately, I have been feeling like I am living in that TV commercial that says: Life comes at you fast. Fortunately, I have been doing many fun things that I should be blogging about. Unfortunately, I have been a very poor job of getting photos, either because I didn't have my camera, of phone handy, or I did, and it wasn't charged, or the light wasn't right, or it was raining. We have had SUCH a rainy fall. I feel bad about those on the other side of the country that are experiencing a drought. I think it might be because WE have all of their rain.
A week and half ago, I went to speak to the Altoona Guild in Acworth GA. I had a really great time there! Those ladies were so friendly, and welcoming. Talk about luck! I was there for the meeting where they have their covered dish Thanksgiving lunch. What a feast! What was even more fun, since they start their meeting in the morning, I got to spend the night at my friend Mary Beth's. Mary Beth lives only 15 minutes away from Acworth. It would have been too exciting for me to get there on time from where I live which was 65 miles away, during rush hour, through Atlanta.
I am proud that I have FINALLY added some tabs to the top of my blog. I think that was one of my New Years resolutions for this year.
I have done some sewing.
While visiting Mary Beth, and meeting with my friendship group, I have gotten a few more dresden plates sewn down on this quilt.
I have only one left to sew down, before I start connecting the sections, and sew down the second half of plates that I could only sew one side of since, they straddles 2 sections.
I also started another new quilt. I have written many times over the last year and a half over my wish to make a quilt about new spring leaves against the cerulean blue, clear, springtime sky. I guess this is a sort of ironic time to start that, but I have been collecting fabric for it for awhile, and I couldn't stand it any more. Here is a photo of my fabrics.
Here are a couple of photos I took of the sky and trees last spring. I was never able to get a photo that I thought really did it justice.
Last year my friend Eleanor ordered this quilt for her daughters wedding.
I have always wanted to make a quilt that used the central motif in the above quilt as smaller blocks. I am thinking I will make 9, or 12 blocks for this quilt. Here are the first 2.
Not sure if I like the brightness of the green in the block on the left. I will have to see how it fits in with future blocks. It may get the boot if it doesn't play well enough with the others.
I haven't forgotten this quilt. I started 2 new blocks. I am using these 2 quilts for leaders and enders for each other.
Ironically, both of these quilts are using smaller blocks from motifs that I had previously used to make a whole quilt. Here is the original quilt from the above motif, for those who may be new to this blog.
So, that is what I have been up to lately. Hope you have been having a lovely autumn. Thanks for stopping by!
It is time once again for The Blogger's Quilt Festival, over at Amy's Creative Side.
I am entering a quilt that I finished just a couple of months ago, called Lightning Strikes. I made this quilt as a gift for my best friend from high school's son, for his graduation from college.
It measures 72" by 96". I hope it will come in handy for him, since after graduation he moved to Chicago! He does not see some colors very well, so I organized the design into lights and darks. All of the strips for this top came right out of my scrap bin, so I am entering this quilt to the scrappy quilts category.
I am not the greatest at machine quilting. I am trying to force myself to learn, but really, I usually just send my quilts out to be quilted by my very excellent long arm quilting friend, Regina Carter. I joked though, that to get a professionally quilted quilt from me, you have to get married. Graduating just gets you one that I quilted myself. I quilted it on my domestic machine. It was about as big, or a little bigger than I can comfortably handle on a regular sewing machine. Here is a close up of my quilting, such as it is. Anyway, it was quilted with love, and won't be any less warm for some imperfect quilting.
Don't forget to check out The Bloggers Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side. There are always lots of beautiful quilt to see, and you can vote for your favorite in many different categories. http://amyscreativeside.com/2015/10/23/bqf-scrappy-quilts-category/
Thanks for stopping by!
A couple of years ago I made this quilt:
Then I made a pattern from it. I have been teaching this as a class, and folks really seem to enjoy it. I loved it because most of the quilts I make take many months to make. but I was able to piece this one in under 2 weeks. When I was writing the pattern, my friend, and long arm quilter, Regina Carter, suggested a more efficient way of putting it together. I decided to make another quilt to try out her ideas. Then I thought, why make an identical quilt? Why not do something totally different with the colors? So I made this version:
I have been curious to see what it would be like to make a quilt out of several smaller blocks instead of one quilt size motif. I wanted to give my students another way to use this motif. So, I tried it.
The blue, and green ones are the left are blocks in progress. I started working on 2 at a time, so I could chain piece them on the machine. I will always cut the block off the back of the chain, and add to it next.
Did you notice the difference in the black and white print in the new blue and green blocks versus the red block? I decided that I didn't have enough of that fabric to make the entire quilt, so I had better start working something else in now. Here are the two stripes together side by side.
Not sure how I will use the 2 prints. Maybe all of the red and purple blocks will be one stripe, and all of the blue, and green blocks will be the other color.
I have now cut strip sets in every color.
I now have a whole box of them that are ready to go anytime. When I go sew at a friends house, I can just take this box with me. I can grab it and go anywhere I can bring a sewing machine, and iron.
I pull out a strip set, and arrange the strips in the order I think they should go.
I have also been cooking this weekend. I made some sausage, potato, and spinach soup.
How lucky was I to find asparagus this thin! I couldn't pass it by!
And here is my latest yard sale find. We had a big group one in my town this weekend. All kinds of goodies.
Cute huh!
So that is what I have been up too. I plan to link to Patchwork times tomorrow. You won't want to miss seeing all the Design Wall Monday fun going on there! http://www.patchworktimes.com/2015/10/19/design-wall-monday-october-19-2015/
Thanks for stopping by!
Last weekend was the Madison show, and I promised I would show photos of my booth, and the new potholder display piece.
It rained intermittently. Not nearly as bad as last time though. Nevertheless, I spent the week hanging the quilts out over my loom to air out any residual dampness. The booth pieces too.
What else this week? Sent program info to more quilt guilds.
Roasted the sunflower seeds.
A friend came and helped me pressure wash my deck. I had never pressure washed anything before. I wish I had taken before and after shots. I didn't realize the difference was going to be so amazing!
The weather was perfect this week! Sunny(finally), neither hot nor cold. Cool mornings. Wish we could keep this for awhile, but it will be gone in a jiffy!
Planted my fall garden this week, a bit of lettuce, spinach, kale, swiss chard, broccoli, beets. It's about a month later than I wanted to plant, late, even for down here in Georgia. Hope some of it makes it!
That is what I have been up to this week. Hope it has been a productive, pleasant week for you too.
Thanks for stopping by!
I will be displaying my quilts at the Madison Chili Cook Off and Fall Festival on October 10th. I have always wanted to be in a show in Madison, Georgia. It is a beautiful little town. I have tried a couple of times, but the weather has not cooperated so far. I was in a show there last spring; the weather forecast was so bad that they TOTALLY cancelled it! Worse yet, they cancelled it AFTER I spent 3 hours setting my booth up. (I am a slow poke when it comes to getting that tent up, and the older I get, the longer it takes) I had not applied to the show this time because I was afraid I would be out of town, but it turns out I will be here during the show after all, so I thought I would give it one more try. Fortunately, they are able to fit me in at the last minute. It sounds like it will be a lot of fun. There will be lots of other artists, live music, family and kid activities, local produce, and fall plants for sale, and of course chili-yum. I am really looking forward to it. Wouldn't it be lovely if we had a crisp, sunny, beautiful fall, October day. Oh please please! Here is a link with all the official info in case you are in the area, and are interested. http://www.madisonga.com/index.aspx?NID=352
A few weeks ago, I went to a auction with my friend Rhea. They had this piece if slat board display, and I was the only one who bid on it, so I got it for $3! I thought it would be a good thing for hanging potholders in my booth. It sure is heavy though! So yesterday, I drilled a couple of wholes in the top. That way, I can tie it to the top cross bar of my tent. I got a couple of milk crates for it to rest on, I found a piece of fabric to hem, and cover the crates. I will take a photo of it in the booth later.
I need to buy more "S" hooks that size, or I would have put more potholders on it. I am thinking that the milk crates may be deeper than I want them to be, but I hope I can push them back in the space between the booths, so they don't show so much, otherwise, I may have to find something that is narrower. I will let you know how it all turns out.
I also worked a bit on my Dresden Plate background. Mostly, because that is the quilt I have made most of the decisions on, and I needed to finish just a bit of background, which was already cut, and waiting to be sewn together.
It seems like I used to be better at getting more of the quilt in the photo, when it is on the design wall. But for the life of me, I couldn't get that to work this morning. If I moved back, I just got more loom. Anyway, I made the rows of equilateral triangles you see on the top,central part of the quilt. There were also 2 more rows of equilateral triangles on the bottom left of the quilt, that you can't see because the loom is in the way. The background is all made, though, I still have to sew the sections to each other. I will not do that until I have all of the applique done that I can. I don't want to start holding that whole big thing while I am appliqueing, until it is absolutely necessary. I have 3 full plates left to applique. The light green plate in the top center, under the new section of triangles, the yellow one in the center of the 3 tiered plate, and a light blue one on the right side of the quilt, that you can't see in this photo. They are all the smallest 2 sizes of plate. Plus several half plates where the plate straddles 2 or more sections. I am enjoying seeing this quilt near it's completion. It has been fun, and therapeutic, having some hand work to carry around. I went a lot quicker than I thought it would.
So that is what I have been up to. Thanks for stopping by!
I did so many fun things this summer.
One was going to sell my patterns at a quilt show in Maryville Tennessee that was sponsored by The Smoky Mountain Quilters of Tennessee. Oh my gosh-that was way back in May! Anyway, I think I have said enough lately about how the passage of time has been kicking my butt .
My friend, Eleanor went with me to help me in my booth. We had a great time. Can you say ROAD TRIP! While I was working in the booth, she took my camera, and took some photos of my favorite quilts in the show, and some of hers too. I hope you enjoy seeing some of these lovely quilts.
Made in GSR26 by Emily Doane of Knoxville, Tennessee
The Disintegration of the Persistence of Artichokes, by Sylvia Schafer of Athens, Georgia -the quilting on this was amazing!
Graphic Mix by Patricia Anderson, of Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Out Foxed Forest by Patricia Anderson, of Oak Ridge, TN
Wilderness Walk, by Sandra Black of Tellico Plains, TN
Memories, by Sylvia Wyrick of Clinton, Tennessee
My Summer Vacation, by Phaye Geiger, of Clinton, TN
Pineapple Obsession, by Rose Remund of Louden, TN
Another Bonnie Hunter fan
Found Treasure, by Marian Sykes, of Knoxville, TN
Charming Chintz, by Linda Roy, of Knoxville, Tennessee- Hand quilted!
Radiant Summer Wedding by Doyleen Taylor of Knoxville, TN-I especially liked this one. I liked the was she varied the pattern with a smattering of gray.
My Majestical Sunflower, by Katheryn Gostola, of Chardon, Ohio
Heavy Metal, by Cathy Bullman Stines, of Marshall, NC
Who's Looking at Whom? by Diane Powers-Harris of Monroe, New Hampshire
Houston Raindrop Blues, by Gloria Felter, of Oak Ridge, TN
What have I been up to? I have been sending my information quilt guilds to let them know about my programs and classes. If you would like me to do a program, or class at your guild, ask me to send you my information. My friend Zuzana, was very generous to build a website for me this year. You can see some of the class info online at: quiltdesignsbycandace.com though, I am still adding to it.
I will be doing a program at the Altoona Quilter's Guild in Acworth, GA on November 3rd, so come and see me if you are in the area.
That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by!
It sure has been a fast paced, busy summer! Quilt shows, classes, rugs to weave, seems like I have been chasing deadlines all summer long. I am way behind on things I have to share with you all.
Up first, 2 weeks ago I went to a lovely wedding in Charleston, South Carolina. Susan, the mother of the beautiful bride was someone I have been friends with since we were in high school. Needless to say, I have know her for her whole life.
So, you know a wedding quilt was in order. I have been working on it for months and months, but was reluctant to blog about it much, because I didn't want to take a chance on spoiling the surprise. I did show it in a couple of blog posts in unit form, I think. It was made entirely out of HST, and 4 patches.This made it a wonderful quilt for working on away from home, and to use for leaders and enders, (a la Bonnie Hunter), at least until I had the blocks made. Then I had to get it on the design wall, and keep my thinking cap on to get the layout right. Even then my seam ripper still got a work out.
Susan said her daughter was planning to do her bedroom in blues and browns. I named this quilt: Long Live Love, to reflect my wishes for the bride and groom to have a long happy life together.
As it happens, the brides brother graduated from college this year as well. He got a quilt too. He is planning to start his working life in Chicago, so he will REALLY need an extra quilt. But, wedding quilts get professionally long arm quilted by my fabulous long arm quilting friend, Regina Carter. Graduation quilts get quilted by me on the regular sewing machine. Not my strong suit, don't look too close, but I keep trying. These lap quilts though are a bit large for me to quilt comfortably. I know others do it. My hat's off to them.
The name of this quilt is: Lightening Strikes.
I think I have shown this quilt in progress at Design Wall Monday, before. Well, I actually finished it!
So that is one thing, of many I have been up to lately. I hope you had a productive, or at least enjoyable summer.
There are lots of other interesting projects to see at Design Wall Monday, at http://www.patchworktimes.com/2015/09/07/design-wall-september-7-2015/
Take a look, and see if you get some inspiration!
Thanks for stopping by!
Wow, have I been running around a lot lately. I have been to 1 quilt show in Tennessee as a vendor, another in North Georgia, as a viewer, and a 4 day quilt retreat in between. It has been loads of fun, and I have lots to share.
First, since it's Design Wall Monday, I will show my Dresden Plate quilt. I pulled it out because I thought I would need some hand work while I sat in my booth at the Smokey Mountain Quilt Guild's show in Maryville TN a couple of weeks ago. Hard to believe that a bit over 2 weeks have gone by since then.
When I pulled it out, I was farther along on it than I remembered being. Woohoo! Here it is on the design wall:
I had the strip sets made for the strip section in the upper left hand corner, but I hadn't sewn them together yet. I sewed that together before I left for TN, and hand stitched those dresdens on while in my booth. I also added the blue plate in the lower lower left hand corner of the section in the upper right hand section. Have I lost you? I mean the smallish blue plate, just above the large 3 layer plate in the center. I made, and added the centers too. They are new. I realized that I have just a couple of background sections left to make. I have enough HST to add at least 3-5 rows to that section on the center left. Not sure how many rows I want there. I will decide after I see the first 3 added. Here is a shot of the lower portion:
Sorry it is so difficult for me to get a good photo of my design wall all in one piece. Some of you know that I am also a rug weaver, and there is a large loom in front of it. Since that is the largest, uninterrupted wall in the house, it is the best wall for my loom, and also my design wall. The loom weighs about 1000 lbs., so there is no moving it out of the way I, although, I sometimes use it as scaffolding to get to the higher parts of my design wall.
So that is some of what I have been up to lately. I will share photos of the quilt shows and retreats in future posts. Thanks for stopping by!
There is always lots of inspiring WIP to see at Patchwork Times. Don't forget to go see!
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