Friday, September 30, 2011

Fair update

Last night my BFF Leslie, my older daughter Calista and I all went to the Tulsa State Fair to see if we (Calista and I) had won any prizes.  Calista is a knitter and spinner and this year she even entered a quilt.  She didn't win a prize on her quilt but she won the SWEEPSTAKES prize on her homespun art yarn.  It was her first entry in the catagory.  She won the blue ribbon AND the big purple ribbon.  We were all excited.  She also won one other ribbon for one of her knitted items.

My quilts:  I entered 3.  I posted pics of two of those a while back and the third was the one I made for Calista's birthday and posted back in June.  I won a blue ribbon on my red and turqouis wall hanging and a red ribbon on Calista's birthday quilt.  Nothing on the one with rick rack.  All in all, we were very pleased.  We wandered around a bit until our feet and legs hurt and ate a bit of junky fair food (the most important reason to go!)

Monday, September 26, 2011

Applique blocks

I'm working on the 20th block of my applique quilt.  After that one, just 4 more to go.  Then....the border.  The border could take the rest of my life.  But right now I'm just happy to be so close to getting the blocks done.  Here are the ones I've made in the last month.





Friday, September 23, 2011

Purse


I almost have an obsession with purse patterns.  I buy them and put them in a drawer and wish that I would make myself one of them.  Well, this week I did.  Here is is.  And I love it.  It's "Grids and Grommets" by Indigo Junction.  It's pretty big, but I need a big purse.  Now I'm inspired to make another one of my cute patterns.  Wish I had time to do that.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Fair quilts

The Tulsa State Fair is quickly approaching and I just put the finishing touches on this quilt in time for the entry deadline on Saturday.  I started this quilt back in February when there was 3 feet of snow blocking our front door.  I finished it as we had our 44th day of above 100 degree weather this summer.

My wonderful quilter friend, Donna T. worked wonders (as usual) with her longarm quilting machine.

Donna quilted this one, too.  It's a pattern from "Piece O Cake" designs.  I started it in a hand applique class by Jane Green at the Cotton Patch last September.  I finished the applique in June.  (Don't you just LOVE a quilt with feet?)

Here's a close-up of Donna's quilting.

She did all the quilting free-hand with the exception of the four corner squares.  They're computer generated.

Another close up of the quilting.

And I just had to finish with the head that belongs to the feet in a previous picture.  He has a wide wingspan so I always ask him to hold my quilts for me.  Isn't he cute?!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

More applique blocks



Three more of my applique blocks completed.  That makes 15!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Quilts for Joplin

Earlier this summer my BFF Leslie and I decided to make a quilt for a teenaged girl in Joplin, MO (remember--the terrible tornado in May).  We have a good friend whose daugthers, sons-in-law and 14 grandchildren all live there.  One of those grandchildren was in the storm, but she survived.  So...we have a contact.  We got in touch with our contact and she found out the name of a girl in Joplin whose family lost everything and who would really appreciate a hand made quilt.

We had a lot of fun making it.  Our contact (I'll call her Sheryl, 'cause that's her name) didn't reveal to us the whole story until we pinned her down for more info.  It turns out this teenaged girl has 4 sisters and 4 brothers.  Our hearts were touched and we  COULDN'T make just one quilt.  We enlisted the help of our stitch group (there are 7 of us in all) and we decided there HAD to be quilts made for all the kids and their parents.

A few weeks have passed.  All 10 quilts are underway!  We're getting help from one of our members who is spending the summer in Colorado.  We're also getting help from a dear friend of mine who lives in Reno, Nevada.  We announced this project to our guild and help has been pouring in.  We've had 3 volunteers for doing some the machine quilting.  Ladies at the shop where I work (Cotton Patch, Tulsa, OK) have donated batting and others locally and around the country have donated money to get the others quilted.

I'm happy to announce that the first quilt Leslie and I started is completely finished.

Our plan is to hand deliver the quilts when they're all done, hopefully, well before Christmas.  We have the names of all 9 children (ages 4-16) and their parents and are looking forward to meeting them all.

We're so thankful for all the help that's been offered.