2015 Fall Quilt Festival: Part One

Preparations for festival workshops always overwhelm me. The lists are so specific and often so excessive. Somehow, we never use half of what the instructors include on their supply lists... But preparation is also the difference between chaos and readiness. 

So every year it is the same. I obsessively select my fabric... Gather my supplies... And shop for more than I need because it is one of my favorite parts!

And then- I torment myself at the last minute making quilt sandwiches and cuts...

And every year- I mutter under my breathe... I will never wait until the last minute again... (And then the cycle repeats). So why did I expect this year to be any different?

I flew in to Houston on Monday and the quilt fest has not stopped since!

I actually have my own hotel room this year. My dear friend was unable to join me... 
& I switched over to the Hilton attached by walkway to the convention center. That bridge has made a huge change in the festival experience and I am never going back to the shuttles between hotel and convention center again!

My first event was the Iron Quilter Challenge. It was so much fun to watch the teams compete for a 2 hour quilting frenzy to make a quilt topper for the coveted bedazzled iron trophy!

Pam Holland's team:  "Pammy's Possums"

This Possum centerpiece was painted at event!

Charlotte Angotti's Avenger's

Marti & the Cut-ups

 John Flynn's Fly'n Fabrikas

Marti Michelle and the cut ups! 

Pammy's Possums final pinning to design wall

With the exception of John Flynn's Fly'n Fabrika's... 

all teams completed & presented their toppers

The official marble vote

I even won a door prize and ran in to members from my local guild!

VICTORY!!! 

Charlotte Angotti (Angotti's Avenger's)

My very first days of workshops were

FANTASTIC FREE-MOTION MACHINE QUILTING with Philippa Naylor

I learned soooo much! 

My free motion skills are poor- So there was plenty of room for me to find my place on the learning curve!

We started with swirls... And moved on to hearts and flowers...

I loved learning different ways of trapunto. 

A layer of cheesecloth 

was basted to the fabric to create the channels. 

Next you insert wool to create the raised accent lines

*****

For this piece we traced the pattern,

double batting it and sewed outline.

Trim to the seam to create the raised trapunto finish

*****

And finally...The dreaded feathers... Always intimidating for me...

We started out drawing 3 evenly spaced lines to create feathers...

followed up on narrower

later we explored feather patterns in shapes

 and adding to open space

Two days later... Exhausted, I was quite proud of all I had accomplished.

swirls...  hearts and flowers...

trapunto & feathers...

My Thursday workshop was 

Jumpstart your Creativity with Barbara Olson.  

Her turned edge multi pieced puzzle style of applique makes me gleeful!

We needed to bring at least a dozen fabrics that made us smile...

Each pattern piece is traced on a fusible... to be cut a part & later "edges turned" and sewn in place

I absolutely love this project and it will become my 

November "Lovely Year of Finishes" goal

Myself, Barbara Olson, & my flourish

Later that night was the Quiltapalooza IQA fundraiser with a pajama party theme. I posed with the Target pj gals... All who happened to buy same pjs at Tarjay...

This poor woman got stuck being our "table topper mannequin"

We could use anything on table to create her ensemble for the runway...

I am exhausted!!!!

But it's not over yet!!!

To be continued...

Posters with photos & quotes displayed on show walls,

created last year with the faces of quilters as part of "40 years of quilting"

Selvage Shoes!

Storms are flooding in to Texas (LITERALLY)!

We have already been pounded with over 10" of rain this weekend... and there is still no let up!

We need it... just NOT ALL AT ONCE!!!

I FINALLY created my Selvage Shoes!

A very special Thank you to Michelle Stoffel of Firetrail Designs  for posting her tutorial!

You can go check it out at:

https://firetraildesigns.wordpress.com/2013/10/20/selvage-shoes-tutorial/

I am always collecting selvages and have been planning to make these shoes for a very long time.

My dear friend Tricia and I started out with trips to JoAnns for supplies & purchased pairs of Bobs.

Then we enjoyed a fun "childlike" playdate cutting selvages, pasting & getting messy with mod podge, laughing & smiling!

We piled a bunch of selvages on the table.

I think she was stunned by the amount in my collection...

I did not tell her I had more bags in the back of the house!

My dear friend Tricia on our mod pod edge selvage playdate

The shoe has a definite pattern and shape... 

so we followed it...

Tricia is neat and preplans...

I just paste, shift, and got quite messy!

We saved the toes for last...

and... fully selvaged!

Once I was finished placing selvages & liked the layout, I covered the entire shoe in more layers of Fabric Mod Podge. 

***(Too many layers in fact... they are a bit sticky)

The mod lodge is forgiving at the beginning 

& you can adjust things, 

They recommend a thick coat of mod podge  

afterwards to set it all in place.

I lets them dry a few days and then:

TA DA!!!!!

I can't wait to wear them to my guild meeting & International Quilt Festival next week!

Binding & Boxing

Busy week in the sewing room. I got a lot done. (Not much elsewhere in the house... sadly it shows... oh well...)

I actually finished the queen sized quilt I made for my son for his first apartment!

 I had fallen in love with these two layer cakes and planned a simple patchwork queen sized quilt. 

Grunge BasicGrey for MODA & 

Modern Background- INK ZEN CHIC for MODA

As I explained in a previous rant... my seam ripper and I spent far too many hours together fighting it out- as I tried unsuccessfully & repeatedly- to quilt this thing on my standard sewing machine.

There is simply not enough space to manipulate such a large quilt and I thought I would go crazy.

So I bit my lip and passed it on to a member of my Modern Quilt Guild. 
My plan had been straight line quilting... but she explained that was hard to do on a long arm. 
Since my son is a musician, we decided on a music theme!

She sent me this image to show me her progress!

She actually quilted the whole thing & had it back to me in less than 2 weeks!

Pieced music fabric for the quilts back!

I love the quilt stitched music details

Now it was back in my hands...
I decided to piece the binding from all my remaining scraps!

I cut all my strips at 21/2" before joining them

After all my binding scraps were sewn together...

I ironed my seams flat-

& then I folded the binding strip in half.

As I pressed, I wound it around a card 

Gone are the days when I compulsively hand stitched my bindings for "everyday quilts" meant to be used & loved...

I LOVE my quarter inch edge foot!!!

After I had sewn the binding to the back of the quilt, 

I clipped it over to the front... 

and finished that binding by machine!

That final stitch always makes me feel

 such a sense of accomplishment!

This quilt is so much heavier than it looks...

(my grimace is because I came so close to dropping it!)

*****

I shipped it off to Boston yesterday...

now- all I can do is wait 

and hope it gets there in one piece- 

ready to keep my son warm & loved

Today... My friend Tricia & I started a new project! 

It is brightly colored, 

icky-sticky, 

messy, silly... 

and

to be revealed... 

NEXT WEEK!

So come back!

**** October 17, 2015 ****
My son texted me last night!

"It arrived! Thank you!!! It is lovely" ... 
photo inserted of quilt on bed...

heart emoticon "I am glad. However... That is the BACK!" heart emoticon

"It's pretty! I didn't realize XD"

frown emoticon (At least he knew it was stitched with love, but I guess I should have kept hoarding my favorites!) heart emoticon