Friday Finishes & Libby Smith Coming to our guild to lecture and teach

 Quite a few quilts have gone home since my last Friday Finishes post. 

 

 This is a nap quilt made by my customer, Kelly.  Her father lives in Florida and covers up with a beach towel for his afternoon snooze.  He will now have this snazzy safari quilt to snuggle under. 

 

If dad gets a quilt, then mom needs one also.  Mom's quilt is lady-like with a floral print and rose garden quilting. 

 

My customer, Stephanie, made this cute sewing themed quilt.  I found an adorable thimble quilting pattern for it. 

 

This is another of Stephanie's creations.  Love the warm yellow and gray prints. 

 

This is Stephanie's star quilt.  This one is about queen size.  Its quilted with YLI confetti thread. 

 

This tumbler lap quilt was made by Gloria. 

 

This lovely gold winter quilt went home and I forgot to get a full picture.  It turned out so good using gold Glide thread and a simple snowflake pattern.

 

This is my own quilt that is ready to come off the quilt machine.

 

This is a t-shirt quilt by Joan.  Joan appliqued the t-shirts to the whole clothe quilt instead of using sashing.  We used a simple meader allover the quilt top. 

 

 I am excited to announce that Libby Smith will becoming to Princeton, IL, to give her trunk show on Stenciled Quilts on Friday, June 5th at 7pm at the Evangelical Covenant Church on South Main St.

On Saturday, she will be teaching the Log Cabin Star Table Topper from Not Your Grandmother's Log Cabin book.  Libby is a certified Marci Baker instructor and we are excited to have her share her quilt stories.  If you are interested in joining us the class fee is $25.  You may email me for further information at quiltcrazie@msn.com.  I'm so excited about this class.  I have completed a tumbling blocks quilt in the past and love the quilt on the front of the book.  I am looking forward to learning the technique on the Log Cabin Star Table Runner before attempted a bed-size quilt.

 

Libby will also be teaching at Susan's Calico Creations in Fulton, IL, on Sunday, June 7th.  At Susan's she will be teaching Fireworks, another pattern from Not Your Grandmother's Log Cabin book.  You contact Susan to join her class at 815-589- 2221 or email at susancalicocreations@hotmail.com. 

  

Today I am linking up with.....Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Link a Finish Friday, Freedom Fridays, and Crazy Mom Quilts.  

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

Thursday's Pet Lesson

This Blog post was written last Thursday, May 21st but I am posting it today, May 28th.

Good Thursday morning!  It is a little chilly outside this morning but not as chilly as yesterday.  It was only 40 degrees Wednesday morning.  I decided to fire up the oven and do some baking.  I try and bake items for our church's social hour.  I chose Chunky Apple Breakfast Muffins from the Stud Muffins book.  I also made two Danish Coffee Cakes.  The coffee cakes are my favorite because they are so moist due to buttermilk in the recipe.  Making two used up all the buttermilk in the refrigerator.

Getting the baking done, I moved on to planting the rest of my flowers.  I had to hanging pots for the front porch, one large pot for the front porch and one large house plant that needed to be repotted.  I knew we are expecting rain starting on Thursday (today) and wanted Mother Nature to do the watering.  I planted all my flowers in pots because we are expecting to do some remodeling on our house and need to be able to move the flowers out of the way.  I also planted one grape tomato plant.  I hope to have a few small tomatoes for  salads or snacking.

Then I headed down to the basement to work on quilting.  I am working on quilting two lap quilts.  I have the batting cut and one backing made.  The second backing is cut and ready to be sewn.

Have a great day!

Yours in quilting,
Terry

Work in Progress Wednesday

Hello everyone!  How's it going out there in blogland?  It certainly has been busy here.  I know, I know I haven't been writing regular.  Honestly, I don't know how Bonnie Hunter accomplishes all that she does.  I wish she could bottle her energy and share it.  I just run out of steam by the end of the day. 

I have been having trouble with my cell phone.  I took it into Verizon to change some settings and the phone quit talking to my computer.  That created a problem with blogging because I couldn't retrieve my pictures for the blog without emailing each picture separately to myself and then downloading them.  It was too time consuming with everything else going on here at home.  Finally, I have seemed to resolve the issue.  Hopefully, things will work seamlessly again and I will have pictures to show.

The last three Fridays, my friends and I have had sew days.  I am working hard to finish my friend, Kelly's quilt.  The first Friday I worked on finishing assembly of the blocks.

 The second Friday  I finished the layout of the blocks and started adding sashing.

The third Friday, I continued to add sashing along with hosting the sew day in my dining room.

Even the sashing is added Log Cabin style.  It is coming together nicely. 

I have five of nine rows laid out on the couch.  I have six rows sewed together, three more rows to add sashing to.

Here is the quilting pattern we are planning on using.

Kelly raises purebred Shetland Sheep, thus the sheep pattern fits.  Also, in the fabrics there is a Moda fabric with sheep on it.  I will be happy to complete this lovely quilt for my dear friend.  She is a woman of many talents but she doesn't quilt.  It is so much fun making a quilt for someone who appreciates what goes into the making of the quilt.  You can read the story about buying the pattern and fabric HERE. 

 

Today I will be linking with Lee at Freshly Pieced.  Come back tomorrow and Friday, I already have those blogs planned and partly written.  We have a new family member and I will be introducing you to him tomorrow.  On Friday I have an announcement about an upcoming event with Libby Smith, a certified Marci Baker teacher, will be teaching and lecturing in Princeton at my guild.  Stay tuned for more information or email mail me at quiltcrazie@msn.com

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry 

 

 

Vintage Thingie Thursday

Wednesday I got up in a hurry trying to pack a few things for a sewing day down in Peoria.  I had made a fresh fruit salad and strawberry muffins for our lunch.  Unfortunately, it was very foggy and we waited for a while for it to clear.  I also had a quilt on the longarm for  my customer in E. Peoria.  So I turned on the machine and started finishing the last two rows while we waited for the fog to clear.  My friend, Kathy O., who went with me to Paducah came to the house to wait with me.  She watched the longarm run while I loaded the car.

 

We drove about an hour to Washington, IL, to my friend's new home.  If Washington rings a bell, that's were the tornado destroyed many homes on November 17, 2013.  It is amazing how much of the town is rebuilt.  At least 75% of the damage is repaired and it is very apparent that the final 25% is being worked on.  You can see the damage in my blog posts starting HERE.  Three blocks from where we sewed at Cathy K's new home was the hardest hit area.  Cathy K's daughter lost her home and I had gone down to help selvage what we could rescue for them.  When we left to go home I drove Kathy O through the rebuilt area and showed her Cathy's daughter's home.  (I should have taken a picture of the new house.)

 

We all had planned to work on UFO's.  Kathy O bought a 1948 featherweight in Paducah and brought it for sewing.  Cathy K has had a lot of experience with featherweights and was looking over the new baby from Paducah.  Kathy O plugged it in and experimented with sewing with much dismay.  It wasn't sewing a nice stitch.  The two Cathy's started opening up the different compartments of the featherweight only to find out it was very dirty. 

 

Cathy K went and dug out all the necessary tools to clean the machine: old toothbrush, t-shirt material, q-tips, tweezers, etc. The next hour and a half, they dismantled that 1948 featherweight, cleaned, oiled, and adjusted. 

 In the back where the belt goes around by the motor, they found a bent needle wrapped around the shaft.  We are were very disappointed in the condition of the machine.  It was suppose to have been reconditioned and ready to sew. 

 

Thanks to these two women's perseverance, it is running quietly and stitching a beautiful seam.

Happy days are here again.  Kathy O continued sewing the rest of the day on her featherweight.

 

Kathy O and myself headed over to Peoria for the Gems of the Prairie Quilt Guild meeting.  This beautiful quilt was being shown.  Cathy K and her friend, Cindy, designed and promoted this quilt-making.  This quilt is in memory of the Washington Tornado victims and the rebuilding of the town.  The city has decided to use the money raised from raffling the quilt to rebuild the park in Washington.  You may purchase raffle tickets, $1 a ticket or 6 for $5, through the Washington, Illinois Chamber of Commerce.

 

Here is a close-up of the center house, Washington Strong! 

 

Today I will be busy planting flowers and playing in the dirt before the rain arrives.

 

I have linked up with My Quilt Infatuation.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday Tips-Tutorial for fabric box for fat quarters

I found this tutorial on how to make a fabric box on Mad for Fabric Blog.  Its a great tip on how to store fat quarters.  I keep all my fabric in Sterlite drawers.  Making these fabric boxes would help organize my stash within the drawers.  Right now, my drawers are bulging fabric and in no way is it organized.  http://www.madforfabric.com/2015/04/30/diy-fabric-box-tutorial/
I also have piles of fat quarters laying out while I was trying to pick out Lucy Boston blocks.

 

Every month I post the links for free block of the month ideas. 

http://farmchickquilts.com/news/may-online-block-of-the-month-ufo/

Quilt Doodle Designs:
http://quiltdoodledesigns.blogspot.com/2015/04/mays-block-my-favorites.html?spref=bl

Bitty Blocks:  Bear Paw
http://www.quiltmaker.com/content_downloads/BittyBearPawBlock.pdf

McCall's Freebie Friday:
http://www.mccallsquilting.com/blogs/blog/2015/05/01/friday-free-quilt-patterns-liberty-starshine-table-runner/
Here's a link to all Freebie Friday patterns.
http://www.mccallsquilting.com/blogs/?s=friday+freebie

I had made a commitment that I would quit drinking Diet Coke when I returned from Paducah.  My son has made the commitment to quit smoking.  I am showing my support by giving up my beloved Dt. Coke.  I went cold turkey when I finished my last bottle from the trip.  It has been one week.

 

Our first stop in Paducah was Hancock's of Paducah.  Along the back wall were these fabric stamps used for making batiks. 

Below is our scrumptious lunch at the Patty's booth.  They had a meal deal of pulled pork sandwich, a drink, and side order of new potatoes and onions.  Yummy!

 

 Thursday night we left the quilt show and headed out to Patty's Settlement for another quilt show and dinner.  They are famous for their pork shop dinners.

 

We had some fun taking each other's picture at the quilt show. 

 

I have been wanting to make one of the sinks shown on Pinterest using a treadle.  This table would have been perfect but no way to get it home. 

 

My friend, Cathy K., has been working on her Cathedral Windows quilt for a long time and its lap size.  I can't imagine how long it took to get this quilt King size. 

 

We crossed the street to Patty's Settlement and started to enjoy the gardens and scenery.

We headed inside to be seated for our meal. 

This cute display was at the entrance to the restaurant. 

The pork chops were melt-in-your-mouth good.  Dinner was followed by a choice of pies.  I had the Sawdust pie.  It was delicious.  It was pretty quiet on the bus trip back to the hotel.  With full tummies and tired feet, we were all happy to arrive back at the hotel for a good night's sleep.

 

Today I am linking up with Connie at Freemotion by the River and Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

 

Mickey Depre will be in Peoria

Mickey Depre will be the guest speaker at the Gems of the Prairie Guild this Wed., May 6th with classes on the following two days.  More information below.

May 6 — Mickey Depre (mdquilts.com) Award-winning quilter, teacher, and author Mickey Depre loves textiles and sewing of all types and kinds, but she especially loves pushing beyond the ordinary. Her current obsession is hexagons, and she takes them to a whole new level. Join her in one or both of the two offered classes as she takes you from the basics and beyond!
LECTURE/TRUCK SHOW: Tips, Tricks, & Other Stuff (May 6th)
Quilt artist, teacher, lecturer, and author Mickey Depre will share lots of tips, tricks, and videos in her  program that includes a trunk show and question-and-answer session.
     

Meetings are held the first Wednesday of each month at 6:30 pm at St Paul Lutheran Church, 1427 W Lake Avenue, Peoria, IL 61614
Doors open at 6 pm for guild activities.

Contact Laurie Baker for classes at 309-674-0092

~~~WORKSHOPS: May 7 and 8~~~ All classes will be held at EPIC, 1913 W. Townline Road, Peoria.

May 7 and 8, 2015

Award-winning quilter, teacher, and author Mickey Depre loves textiles and sewing of all types and kinds, but she especially loves pushing beyond the ordinary. Her current obsession is hexagons, and she takes them to a whole new level. Join her in one or both of the two offered classes as she takes you from the basics and beyond! See examples and preview the workshop supply lists online at mdquilts.com or visit the signup table to see the real thing. All classes will be held at EPIC, 1913 W. Townline Road, Peoria. Non-members can sign up beginning March 5.
 
May 7, 2015
Hello Hexies! Table Runner
9:00am to 4:00pm                  $40

• 
  

 
Discover the magic of English Paper Piecing by hand. It’s the perfect technique for take-along projects. This introductory workshop covers basic construction methods during the course of making a table runner that measures 7 1/2″ x 23 1/2″.
May 8, 2015
Pieced Hexies Buffet
9:00am to 4:00pm                  $40; (book “Pieced Hexies” required; available for $22 on the day of class)
Take the hexagon to a whole new level with Mickey’s patterns for fun and exciting pieced hexies! Three designs—Sparkle, Wheelie, and Jacks—will be covered in this class, but Mickey guarantees your imagination will be running wild with the possibilities for more. Some English paper piecing experience is helpful but not necessary for this class.

Yours in quilting,
Terry

 

Paducah Happy, Home and back to the Design Wall

Wow, Paducah rolled out the red carpet for the quilters April 20-25th.  The red-coated Ambassadors were extremely helpful, pleasant and courteous.  My favorite tip for attending Paducah is check a large tote bag at the bag check just inside the front door of the convention center when you arrive.  It only costs $1, $2 if you have a rolling bag.  Then go shop to your heart's content and just continue to drop your purchases off at the bag check.  The Ambassadors will bring your tote to you each time and then store it away safely until your finished for the day.  Just claim your tote as you leave the convention center for the day.  This process prevents you from having a sore back, shoulders and hands.  I need my hands free to stroke the fabric!

We took this selfie the last day in Paducah.  See our buddy in the red jacket.  He took care of our packages each day at the bag check.  He also answered our questions about how to get around, where to eat, etc.  Thank you Ambassadors you do a great job providing hospitality!

Look at Cathy B.  She looks for the booth with the hats each year and makes a purchase.  She really knows how to start out Quilt Week in style.

We couldn't have ordered better weather.  We ate lunch outside and soaked up sunshine while it was cold and rainy back home.

When the day was done, we loaded back on the bus for travelling to dinner and evening fun.

I have decided that each day this week I will include pictures from Paducah to spread them out since there are so many.

 

On my design wall is this beautiful block.

This block is a huge.  It is 20 inches square.  This is a block from the Country Threads 2014 BOM.  There is so much you can do with scraps. I am not buying fabric to make this quilt, just pulling from my drawers of fabric.  You can find the links at www.FarmChickQuilts.com.  Visit the blog sections for BOM patterns.  Tomorrow I will be posting more links to block of the months that I have been following. 

 

Today I am linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry