Monday Design Wall-Lucy Boston Fever for Fabric

Good Monday Morning!  The sun is shining here in Illinois.  Its about 36 degrees with a promise from the weatherman to reach 67 degrees today.  The dogs have been in and out several times because there is no wind and the sun is warm on the back deck this morning.  Indy has decided to lay out on the deck and watch over the neighborhood.

I have a lovely quilt on the machine downstairs calling my name to get finished quilting.  But, blogging first is my duty.  How did your weekend go?  My Thursday, Friday and Saturday were so much fun.  Thursday and Friday, I worked at the International Quilt Show in Chicago.  Through a mutual friend, I had the great joy of working with Diane in the Sew Batiks booth.  I worked with their rayon batiks for clothing.  Its just yummy to stroke, has beautiful drape, and easy care.  Also, check out their Nuance Gradations and 112" wide backs.  Looking forward to seeing Diane again in Paducah!  Check their website for their travel schedule for a show near you. (This is not a paid ad, this is my opinion on a great product.)

I drove home Friday night and slept in my own bed.  Saturday, I hopped on the bus at 8am with my local guild and headed back to the show to shop.  The view walking into the show was breath-taking seeing the Ruby display of red and white quilts.

 

The piecing, quilting and fabric selections were fabulous. 

 

We headed over to my "Easy Street" quilt for pictures while we were fresh. 

Pictured above from left to right, Kathy Olson, myself, Maribel Kern, and Cathy Kieser.

Pinch me is this really happening? 

Cathy Kieser and I shopped for the fabrics together, texted back and forth from our sewing rooms and provided lots of moral  support while we both made Easy Street.

Cathy had the idea to put in secret messages instead of several four patches.  This is the "You can do it!" block.

I may never experience this again so I took lots of pictures.  This was living the "bucket list" dream to have a quilt in a juried show.  Thank you for all the support and kind comments I have received on Facebook.

 

Before leaving the show, I picked up a t-shirt to commemorate the occasion.

 

We shopped on Saturday and I brought home about five Civil War Repro fabrics and two 1930's fat quarters.  My dining room table became my design wall......

Since I have caught the Lucy Boston Block bug, I laid out my many fat quarters and started to pair them up for future blocks.  Now I will need a cutting day.

Two boxes of more fat quarters and that doesn't include all the dark ones downstairs in the drawer.  Kathy O, Cathy K and Maribel K, I think I am ready for the cutting day and have plenty of selection!

 

Today I am linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times, Nurdan at Hug-a-bit Quilts, and Beth with Main  Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts.  Have a great Monday. 

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

 

 

Super Saturday

I have worked at the Chicago International Quilt Show for the last two days in booth 1331, Sew Batiks from Mayville, ND.  Stop in and see Diane the owner if you are at the show, tell her Terry sent you.  I will be on a bus early tomorrow morning headed back to Chicago to enjoy shopping with my friends.  So glad to be sleeping in my own bed, Friday night, before a big day of shopping.

While in Chicago, I did get to sneak a peak at my quilt hanging in the Midwest Marvels Display.

 

 

So here we are, the quilting peeps.  Watch out Windy City, we will be blowing into town.

 

Have a great Saturday.

Yours in quilting,

Terry

 

Work in Progress-"See My Work at Quilt Festival Chicago!"

"See My Work at Quilt Festival Chicago!"

 

 

On March 9th I dropped some clues HERE to something important coming up in the future.  I can now share to good news that my "Easy Street" quilt has been juried into Quilt Festival Chicago at Donald Stevens Convention Center.  Easy Street was chosen along with 28 quilts to be in the Midwest Marvels display. Below is the invitation received through my guild.

 

"Midwest Marvels would like to invite you and your guild to have your best work shown in this exciting exhibit focusing on Marvelous Midwest quilters. This exhibit is open to quilters in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan."

 

As Paul Harvey would say, "now for the rest of the story".  When I received the emails from the Gems of the Prairie Guild and Quilts, Inc. about the entry forms and pictures, I was literally walking out the door to a funeral for my friend's son.  I was distraught and didn't see how I could possibly meet the deadline less than a week away.  I responded to Quilts, Inc. and they were so understanding. They gave the quilters another week to get all entries sent in.  Not only did I have a funeral to get through, we had a major snow storm.  Trying to get professional pictures taken of this extremely large quilt was almost impossible.  I took it up to the local quilt store and hung it off their second story bannister, which created a bend in the quilt.  Plus, my friend's professional camera malfunctioned so no appropriate pictures.  Then the roads were icy and it wasn't safe to travel. Next we took it out to our church and hung it on the wall, but my friend forgot the camera.  When her daughter brought us the camera, it wouldn't work.  Argh!!! 

 

Between doing everything but ride a snowmobile to take pictures and fancy cameras that didn't work, I was about ready to throw the towel in.  My friend, Corry, suggested that we try using my cell phone camera as it was a high quality camera.  Bingo!  We had great pictures.  I ran home quickly, cropped pictures and completed the entry form.  Yippee!! the quilt was entered with confirmation  received.  Now the waiting began. 

 

The entry form stated we would receive notification on February 13th, whether our quilts were juried into the show.  On that day we were shop hopping and I purposely did not check my email.  Late in the day I finally gave in and checked.  There was the response but I was hesitant to open it afraid of rejection.  Instead of rejection, the email said "Congratulations!" your quilt has been accepted for the Midwest Marvels display.  Whoopee!!!

 

The quilt was prepared for shipping according to their instructions and was received in Houston on time. 

 

Tomorrow I will be  heading to Chicago to see my quilt hung in the show and work at the Sew Batiks booth for Thursday and Friday with my new friend, Diane.  If you are at the show, stop by and say Hi, I would love to meet my readers in person.  I also will be across the aisle from Handi Quilter, my favorite longarm dealer.

 

I get to come home and sleep in my own bed Friday night and then take the bus with my guild friends back to the show for a day of shopping. 

 

Today I will be linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry