Sunday, June 28, 2015

STASH REPORT SUNDAY

Nothing new this week!   Net used 2015  38.625 yards

I've been machine quilting small quilts for my guild's community quilts program.  We have lots of members who enjoy piecing the tops, but not so many who are comfortable machine quilting, so I volunteer for the job each summer, to help with the backlog of quilts.  This year, I have another member who likes to hand sew the bindings down, so I'll be sending these along to her soon.  Three quilts ready for the next step, and two to go!

I'm counting the days until DS1, DS2, DDIL2, and our grandson arrive - can hardly wait for Thursday to arrive!!!!!
I'll be making a couple of flannel sheets for the play yard, so he'll have a cozy, safe place to sleep, and we have to get some other items set up and ready for his visit.  DS1 has to return home on Sunday, but the rest of the family will be staying for over a week!
We have simple plans - visiting  friends, doing some local sight-seeing, attending some local festivals etc.  I don't imagine I'll get much sewing done, but I'll still try!

Check out others' progress at Judy's blog, Patchwork Times.

Monday, June 22, 2015

DESIGN WALL MONDAY

Nothing currently on my design wall!  Just finished a quilt......

This quilt used all the bonus half-square triangle units that I made when making "Grand Illusion" last December.  I promised myself that they wouldn't end up in another zip-lock bag.  Nann suggested that I call it "Good n Plenty" after a US licorice candy with pink and white coating.  Seemed like a great fit.  

It finished around 50 x 60 inches.

I had a large cone of heavy weight black thread that ended up in my sewing room.  Not sure where it came from, but some of it finally found a home in this quilt.  I had to use a size 16 topstitch needle to accomodate this thick thread, but I love how it shows on the piano key border.

Check out all the shared creativity at Judy's blog, Patchwork Times.

Sunday, June 21, 2015

STASH REPORT SUNDAY

Fabric used this week  8.625 yards
Fabric used year to date  102.375 yards
Fabric added this week 1 yard
Fabric added year to date   63.75 yards
Net used 2015  38.625

I can't believe how tired I've been after the quilt show!  My age is showing, as 6 days of odd hours, physical labour, meals at odd times, etc., has made its mark.  I'm still running at half speed!
I finished stitching the binding on my latest project today - picture to come. 
Nann suggested calling my pink, black and white quilt "Good n Plenty"!  I like the name - they don't sell the candy in Canada, but I've had it when I'm in the US.  Love licorice!  
I was going to take a picture of the finished quilt outside, but the sky turned really dark, and we were having huge raindrops falling, so I guess the photo session will have to wait.


I made pink "piano key" borders, and I've finished it with black binding.

I even added some pieced blocks to the back, choosing ones from my orphan basket that had pink.

I was good and only picked up 1 yard of fabric at the vendors over the past weekend.

Check out all the comments at Judy's blog, Patchwork Times.

Monday, June 15, 2015

OUR QUILT SHOW IS OVER.....

Our two local guilds just finished our joint quilt show yesterday.  In some ways it seemed like a long week, and in others, I can't believe it is over!
Things began last Wednesday, with all the quilt stands and poles, along with tons of other gear had to be transported to our local curling club.  We spent the remainder of the day, getting all the stands in place, making sure that the correct height pole was in each location, and that the bars for hanging quilts were ready in place.  We also hung backdrops according to the plan, and several steamers were there to help with wrinkles.  Supplies were delivered for our lunch room crew, and boutique as well.
Thursday morning, we were waiting for the doors to be unlocked at 8am.  The serious work of hanging the quilts began.  DH and I helped the hanging crews for a while, then began finding the 80 or so quilts that needed to be photographed.  We held 4 photo sessions during May, and were able to get almost 200 entries photographed with professional lighting - much easier that at the show venue.  We continued to help with hanging quilts, but our part was finally finished by 3:30, so we headed to home so I could edit the final pictures, compile the file, so that we could begin burning CD's that would be sold at the show all three days.  The rest of the crew continued to hang signs, add labels, set up small vignettes in various areas around the show, and tons of other small jobs that needed to be done.  Our kitchen crew were making sandwich fillings so they'd be ready to serve.  The boutique ladies spent lots of time making the shop area inviting, and finding ways to display the piles of books and magazines that arrived to be sold as well.
Friday morning DH and I arrived by 9am.  We set up the CD sales table, with a tablecloth, sign and our rack full of CDs.  I also provided 2 copies of the CD to the curling club manager, and he set them to run as a slide show on 2 overhead monitors in different areas of the venue.  It was remarkable to see the change that had happened overnight.  We had various volunteers selling CDs throughout the show - it was a good "sit down" job for those who wanted to help, but couldn't stand for long periods.
For the next 3 days, I was a "white glove" person, patrolling the quilt display areas, talking to our guests, answering questions, giving directions to our various show areas, all while being surrounded by wonderful quilts!  I ended up organizing the "white glove" teams at every change-over as well, and even sold lunch tickets for a shift.
Once the final draws were made on Sunday afternoon, and the final 2 quilting awards were announced, the show was declared over for this year.  All the helpers for "take-down" met in the lunch room four our final instructions.  Amazingly, it only took 1 1/4 hours to take the whole show down!  The quilts were carefully folded and returned to their bags or pillowcases, being organized on tables alphabetically by last name of quilter.  Poles and stands were taken apart, and stacked near the loading door, and various tables, chairs, accessories, plants and too many things to mention, were packed and loaded into cars.  Finally, at 5:30 the doors were opened so that quilters could pick up their quilts.  Everyone had been given a receipt when they handed their quilts in, so they were very careful returning the quilts.  DH helped to fold and stack the rented tables, and we finally arrived home by 6:30.
This morning we were back at the venue at 9am.  A parade of trucks, trailers, vans and cars arrived with volunteers to load all the gear and transport it to the storage lockers.  My guild had rented a larger locker, as we had outgrown our former one.  Everything was divided up and returned to its storage home.  The old locker was cleaned out, and it was a great time to sort the remaining contents.  Some went home with our guild president for further sorting, and a whole lot went for garbage or recycling.
We managed to sell 170 photo CDs, and I'll be selling a few more over the next week or so.
I'm anxious to hear how we did financially, but our treasurer is taking a few days off, as are we all!

Monday, June 8, 2015

DESIGN WALL MONDAY

I've been sewing in "fits and starts", as my grandmother would say.  Preparing for the quilt show has been taking most of my time.
I did manage to get the top this far, adding sashing and cornerstones, and then 2 borders.  
I discovered that I had cut all the sashing strips the wrong size, so I used them in the second border, adding a cornerstone in between each.

It is still a fairly small quilt top, measuring 36 x 46 inches, and I'm not sure what I want to do with it.....I guess I'll just have to look at it and see what it wants next.  My supply of bright pinks is pretty low after making Grand Illusion.

Check out all the creativity shared at Judy's blog, Patchwork Times.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

QUILT SHOW IS GETTING CLOSER!

Tuesday was the day to hand in all the quilts for the show.  The registrars were busy pinning number and location cards on each quilt and bag, and handing receipts to each quilter.  They had others collecting the quilts, and organizing them by location code, and then they were loaded into waiting vans, and taken to be stored until the set-up day.  By the end of the day, they had MOST of the quilts.  Some of the out-of-town quilters were coming for my guild's annual spring dinner on Wednesday, so they were set up early to do more intakes.  Now they are trying to locate the remainder of the quilts.  A few had been in other shows, and won't be arriving until set-up day.
I spent Wednesday editing the "artist statements" (printed labels), turning them into a format that can be used on the photo CD.  I've also been making changes to all the lists, etc., as a couple of the quilts were withdrawn from the show.
Wednesday night I headed to our meeting hall early to help set up for the spring dinner.  The executive members do the catering, and my job was to make bean salad for 100!  We had a huge selection of salads, cheeses, ham and roast beef, homemade pickles, and wonderful pumpkin rolls.  The social committee for June provided a great selection of desserts as well. 
Our guest speaker arrived, and presented a slide and trunk show about the Modern Quilt movement.  She is a member of the new Modern Quilt Guild of Ottawa.  There will be pictures on our website in a few days.  There weren't too many show and tell quilts, but community quilts had a large display.  
Next Wednesday the work begins - we'll be picking up stands and other items from the storage locker and setting them up.  Then Thursday all the quilts will be hung, the boutique set up and the kitchen loaded with supplies for the show.  We'll be photographing the rest of the quilts (about 80), and I'll spend the day editing and compiling everything for the CD. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I'll be at the show working, and DH is helping to take down the show on Sunday evening.  Monday we'll return to transport everything back to the storage locker.  Lots of fun!!!!
I guess I'd better get busy!!!!!

Monday, June 1, 2015

DESIGN WALL MONDAY

I just needed to work on something "newish" - I've done little sewing, with all the quilt show preparations.
I took out some small blocks that I pieced before heading north.  The were made from the bonus half-square triangle units from my version of Grand Illusion, all in pink, black and white.


I placed them in an on point layout, then rotated them until I found a design that I liked.  I plan to stitch them together, using white sashing with black cornerstones.  I made pieced side-setting triangles, pink on the long sides and black on the short ones.  I'm not sure where I'll go from here, but I do want to make it a bit larger.

Check out all the creativity shared at Judy's blog, Patchwork Times.