Happy Easter!!

Check out these cute bunny vases my daughter Megan made!  I do hope you're enjoying a fun, relaxing Easter weekend :)

It's a Mystery!

I had time this week to catch up on my clues for the mystery quilt at Hi Fashion.  In fact, I went one step further and finished the star block because that's what looked like should happen next!  I hope I'm not "April Fooled" and have to unpick a lot of seams! I'm pretty sure it must go together like that though - how else would it be?  I think the mystery will be solved soon!  Enjoy your weekend :)

Sashiko

Laura invited me to do a Sashiko program with her at the Mesa County Library last night.  It was great fun and we had a good turn out - 24 people!  We set up this display of her work and some of mine, and she prepared small kits so everyone could try it.  I think everyone who came enjoyed it - they seemed to anyway!

The quilt on the left is Laura's and the one on the right is mine.

The piece above and to the left are both Laura's - beautiful!!

Laura's Mom Val stitched the squares above.  To the right - the one on top is mine and the one on the bottom is Laura's - both from the book Paradise Stitched.





Laura designed the quilt below, which has wool appliqué in it - one of her specialties.  I haven't done any Sashiko for awhile but I'm inspired to now!  After I finish up a few other projects....

Laura Pedge

This month at the Colorado West Quilt Guild meeting our speaker was Laura Pedge.  Laura is very active in our quilting community here in Grand Junction.  She designs her own patterns, is an excellent teacher and makes beautiful quilts.  She does a lot of wool appliqué and Sashiko.  Her trunk show took us through her quilting journey which just began about 15 years ago.  It was a fun evening!

I've taken many classes from Laura the past several years and you just can't find a better teacher or a nicer person :)






I got my final Woodland Whimsy packet in the mail yesterday.  I'm so excited to get that finished!  I'll keep you posted!

A Gift from a Friend!

My friend Lori made these adorable wallets!  One is for me!  And the other is for another friend :).  This illustrates the point Patty Murphy was making about handmade vs. homemade.  Everything Lori makes looks professionally done, but is meticulously and thoughtfully done by hand.  She is amazing.  On these wallets, she said that wanted to make the outside more plain and sleek and the inside fun.  She definitely accomplished that!  I love mine and the other lucky recipient loves hers too!  Thank you Lori :)

Julie Silber

Julie Silber taped two segments on The Quilt Show - one on antique baby and doll quilts and one on signature quilts.  She is not a quilter, but she is an antique quilt collector, and is so knowledgeable about antique quilts - it's fascinating hearing her stories.  And good news .... She's coming to Grand Junction in May!!  I'm so excited to hear an entire lecture from her.  She will also be appraising pre - 1960 quilts, which ought to be interesting if you have any!!

This quilt on the right (which is not a very good picture because of the lighting) is one that Ricky Tims made, inspired by one of the antique quilts in Julie's collection.


You can find out more about Julie on her website:
https://juliesilberquilts.com/

More Quilts!

John Anderson is charged with entertaining the audience during The Quilt Show taping lulls and breaks.  He does a fantastic job!  We learn trivia, get to see amazing quilts and win door prizes!  Here are some of the quilts shown - this one was made by Ricky Tims - as I'm sure you've guessed!


Below Alex is demonstrating her Quilter's Select rulers and mats.  She will be coming to Grand Junction in June, courtesy of Hi Fashion!

Another quilt made by Ricky.

This beaded ball was made by an audience member who was inspired by Paula Nadelstern on The Quilt Show!

Above is one of the TQS block of the month quilts designed by Sue Garmin.


This quilt and the one below are made by Alex Anderson.

This quilt was made by Ricky, thread painting over one of his photographs.


I hope you have a nice Sunday!!

Handmade vs. Homemade

The second show taped at The Quilt Show Monday featured Patty Murphy.  She talked about "handmade versus homemade".  Handmade is doing your very best workmanship and creating quality results!  Her quilts were beautiful - in fact this pink and gray one will be competing in Paducah this year!
You can read more about Patty on her website here:
https://pattymurphyhandmade.com

Enjoy photos of her other quilts below.

This one almost looks like Log Cabin squares but she just sewed strips of fabric together to make a "new" fabric and cut half square triangles.

All of the audience members got to take home the pattern for this one!  Thank you Patty!

This is her book, which like it says, is simple tricks to fine-tune your patchwork.  On the show she demonstrated a few of those fine-tuning tricks!

Stay tuned - there's more!

Ebony Love - Quilter

The first guest at The Quilt Show taping on Monday was Ebony Love. (She said not to google that unless you type "quilter" after it!). You can find out more about her at:
http://lovebugstudios.com/

She was a fun, enthusiastic and delightful person. She talked about making quilts using die cutters and dies.  They also kept feeding her Twinkies - you can find out more about that when you watch the show!  She is a singer too, and they played one of her songs - very fun lady :)

All of the quilts pictured here are quilts she made using her Sizzix die cutter.

This quilt was made using Downton Abbey fabrics, as she is a huge Downton Abbey fan. (I need to make my Downton Abbey quilt!!)

She showed three different techniques for making quilts with die cuts:
Raw edge fusible
Turned edge fusible
and
Piecing
Of the three, I think I liked the turned edge fusible best.

I really like the orange quilt to the left of Megan in the photo below....

The picture below is the back of this quilt.  She said she doesn't waste any fabric - just uses it for the backs of her quilts!

After the taping of her show she gave away a Sizzix die cutter and some dies to this lucky lady!  Fun, fun show!