LONE STAR DONE!

Sisty gave me this quilt months ago.  In fact, it was so long ago that I forgot that I had it, and at one time, I even asked my guild whose quilt this was!  Then, finally, sisty came to visit me, after four years of being here, and she saw the quilt and asked when I would have time to do it.   Talk about egg on my face!  So I made a promise to myself to do it immediately after I finished my contribution to the Outreach Program quilts.

Missy has been quilting for over 20 years.  I'm a rank beginner compared to her.  She started quilting before the time of rotary cutters, when you had to cut each individual triangle or whatever with scissors. She had tried to get me interested in quilting at that time, but I just was not going to survive the painstaking efforts it took way back then. 

The first picture shows her Lone Star quilt, straight off the frame.  The second is a close up of some of the feathers in the open spaces in the quilt.

When I saw the Lone Star, I thought of Texas, of course, and the song "Deep in the Heart of Texas", so I put feathered hearts in the corners.

Of course, when it comes to all those rhomboids in the points of the star, the only quilting that really shines is CC, or continuous curve, so I spent HOURS doing those for her.  And today, I finally finished it!  As soon as I find a suitable box for this quilt, it will be in the mail to her!  Hurray!

WATCHA DOIN'?

The embroidery on this wall hanging was done by my BFF, Mary, many moons ago.  I had always intended to frame it with plaid and hang it with an interesting twig.  So I framed it and bound it last week, but when I went to go outside to get an interesting twig today, it was raining.  Our home is on a lake in a woods -- peaceful and beautiful.  We have always called the rec room downstairs "The Lodge", so Mary's embroidery was wonderfully apropos.

No thunder or lightning today, so I sequestered myself in my lurkim and quilted Joyce T's Outreach Program quilt for her.  I love McTavishing but my freehand doesn't look much like the real thing, so I used my IntelliQuilter to do this pantograph.

People don't seem to realize how nice it is to have some plain areas in their quilts so that the quilting can shine through.  This quilt had plain medium blue borders, so I used a variegated thread and gave it a little pizzazz!

Our Outreach Program quilts this month will be going to the VA Hospital in Durman, NC.  Just another way of saying Thank You to our men and women in the armed forces.

So what did you do today?

CARIBBEAN CRYSTALS

In November, sisty and I went on a lovely Caribbean cruise with Bonnie Hunter and Pat Sloan.  Bonnie taught us a pattern she named Mai-Tais in Paradise.  I decided to call mine Caribbean Crystals, since I just couldn't see mai-tais in mine.  One of the punch colors in the border is a bold lime green, so I backed this quilt with lime green flannel.

The McTavishing is a little dense for this quilt, but I used a variegated thread, and everything blended in nicely.

Tomorrow I will put the purple batik binding on this quilt.  I also have a small wall hanging that I will finish and show you as well.  Stay tuned.

And don't forget to leave comments so I know you've visited!

SLUDGE CHALLENGE

The ladies of the Lake Gaston Piecemakers Quilt Guild were given a challenge:  to take a fat quarter of that mosaic sludge material you see on the pillow above and add two fabrics that match the crayons that came with their fat quarter (sight unseen), add two more fabrics to those and make something quilted.  Well, as usual, the creative spirit of the guild went into overdrive and here are some examples of what we produced.  By the way, that's my pillow up there, and it won a prize in the home dec category -- a $10 gift certificate to Quilt Lizzy fabric shop in Henderson!!! Woo Hoo!

I love this pillow by Phyllis McK.  She had shown us earlier this year how to achieve those ruffled flower centers, and her fabric choices sure highlighted the sludge, didn't they?

True to form, Jan W made a striking jacket in the wearable art category, not only using the sludge, but effectively combining it with the crayon colors of a deep sea green and shocking pink.  She used the Marilyn Doheny 9 degree ruler to make a fan flower below and a remarkably kaleidoscopic hummingbird above.  Gorgeous!

Dot F makes the most interesting purses, and for this challenge, she not only made an organizer purse with beautiful and difficult bullion embroidery on it, she also made the companion pieces for eyeglasses, tissues, makeup, and coin purse.

I don't know who made this, but it was so whimsical and adorable that I thought it must be for a little girl's treasures.

Fabric bowls are one of the nicest projects to make.  Vanessa G is going to teach us how to do these in April.  You can see the sludge fabric pretty well in this combination of bowl and napkin holder.

This had to be the piece de resistance!  Alice P calls it Metamorphosis Y'all.  It depicts the three stages of a butterfly's life:  caterpillar, pupa (or crysalis) and butterfly.  I didn't get the butterfly in the picture -- it's perching on the topmost branch of flowers.  The leaves have a fall color on one side and the sludge fabric on the other.  This was hands down the favorite entry across the board!

FOUR DOWN, ONE TO GO

Quilted and bound!  One Outreach Program quilt for the VA Hospital in Durham, NC.

Quilted and bound! My Fons and Porter quilt, which I have named Garden Song.  This quilt will go in my guild's annual show at the South Hill Library in March.

Here's a bit of the stippling and geometrics in the pieced blocks.  I figure I must have over 60 hours in this quilt.  Once it comes back from the show, it's going to spend a year on my diningroom wall, and Lucinda Brodie will retire from there.

Now to see if I can put the borders on my cruise quilt with Bonnie Hunter from November and get it quilted and bound before tomorrow's guild meeting.  Tally Ho!  Off to my lurkim!

PRE-GAME FINISH

It's a rainy, dreary day outside -- perfect for getting another quilt finished.  This one is called Bali Love Song by Elisa Wilson of Elisa's Backporch Design.  It's a freebie on http://www.hoffmanfabrics.com/.   Lots of neat patterns there.  Try them out!

This quilt goes to the Durham (NC) Veterans Hospital, which is the Outreach Program recipient for the quilts made in the month of February this year.  The grey looking areas are actually a dark brown and white gingham plaid.  The backing is a gold homespun plaid with threads of red and brown in it.  As soon as I finish up my Fons and Porter quilt, I'll get this one done, hopefully by the time of the guild meeting on Wednesday.

ALMOST THERE!

I am happy to tell you that I have almost completed the quilting on my Fons and Porter quilt -- all but the top and bottom borders!  I had to stipple everything in the three flowered panels -- ugh!  Took forever, but it's done now.  Tomorrow I'll finish it, take it off the frame, and start on the binding.

I ordered one of those wonderful retractable design walls for my studio, and when it arrived, it had a dent in it.  The dent is smooth and sanded, so I don't think it was done by the shipping company.  I'm negotiating a partial refund now.  These things are pricey, so I expected perfection.  Am I wrong?  Anyway, the company that handles the orders is very helpful, but the manufacturer is less so.  I'll keep you posted on what happens.