Lights, Camera, Action

Well, lights and action but no cameras. What is up with that? I had a house warming party, everyone and their dog has a digital camera or a cell phone, (same thing for many) and yet there is not one photo of my party!
The sun came out in the morning and warmed up the day, my father was here helping me prepare everything and by 2:30 the first of 45 guests had started to arrive and enjoy food and drink and friendship. The last guest left around 10 p.m. and we promptly went to bed. It's been non stop since first thing Friday morning. Thank goodness my dad came to help, I learned a lot about throwing a party and the organization of all the prep work. I also learned to plan for 10 - 15 less instead of more. There is food....oh my. We will eat well at work tomorrow and I will fill my freezer with lots of turkey soup.
It was wonderful to have my deck and yard full of friends and family and neighbors. Thanks to everyone for stopping by and enjoying the afternoon.

I will now return to my regular life, whew, the party is over!
Life is great!
Sharon

NW WA Fair Part II

Hooked rug, very nice job.

Loved the design elements on the border of this quilt

This one is mine, it's off to one more show in Tacoma, Innovations, and then it gets donated to the hospice fund raiser where my mom passed.  A good cause!

Way too cute, love the Hallow'een!

Very nice Wall hanging

Best of Division, this was a beauty

This one is mine, yippie, a blue ribbon.  Mixed techniques, machine pieced/quilted, hand appliqued

My favorite hooked rug.

Lot champion, beautiful job!

My table runner, all machine pieced,appliqued, quilted

This quilt is being raffled off for the 3 day/60 mile walk for Breast Cancer.

Jo B did an amazing job on this piece, she did the barn in my post yesterday

Lots of applique.

This one has chenille as a background.  The white.

NW WA Fair

Here is a collection of quilt photos from the fair.  They are in no particular order and I am not able to tell you what category they were in.

Enjoy

A Little of This and That

I've been feeling like I haven't accomplished much in my sewing room the last while. What with the hot days, the yard work and watering, work and just being plain tired, well, I haven't set the world on fire with my finishes. I'm still stitching away at my hand quilted feathers, but I managed to slip in an actual finish. Pieced, quilted and bound. It's a table runner that's only 12 x 36 but it's finished.  I managed to piece this with 2 charm packs and a strip of fabric that was in my bin.  I had to cut one 2 1/4 strip off a bolt of fabric to finish the binding.  What a great feeling to be using up things.  This will go off to an auction for a United Way fund raiser my sister has at her job.

This next little piece is finished with the piecing and applique.  Now it needs quilted.  Once again, I'm thinking "hand quilting" and then I look at my pile that is growing and think "maybe not".  When the mood strikes to pull this one out of the pile to start quilting, that's when I'll make the decision.

I've just finished quilting this top for my friend Norma T.  She took a class that I taught last year at the Stevenson Quilt Show.  This is Bonnie Hunter's  Pineapple Blossom.  I love this pattern, I've made one in browns, one in blues and I'm working on a red & cream one right now.

Here is a close up to show off the variety of fabrics Norma has used.  I love it. 

There won't be much quilting going on for the next couple of weeks, as I'm trying to get my place ready for an open house.  Yikes, that means picking up all my projects and spools of thread and pin cushions and, and, and.  Well, quilters know what I'm talking about!
Sharon

I'm Ready to Bust

I am so excited about this news that I typed a whole post, and then deleted it. So this is the short version of the exciting news I just got this morning. Gwen Marston is coming to Bellingham, WA to teach next May.
I have looked at her week long workshops and have tried to justify flying across the country to quilt for a few days. That hasn't happened yet, and now she is coming to my neck of the woods. This is because of the hard work of Lee, the owner of this shop, Two Thimbles. Only one of the two classes has been announced, but who cares what they are, Gwen it going to be teaching it so you know it's going to be terrific. I have many of Gwen's books but my favorites are her collaborations with Joe Cunningham. These books are full of beautiful hand quilting patterns and so much information on marking and hand quilting and vintage quilt designs.
Yes, this is a happy day in the life of a small town quilter!
Sharon

Too Many Projects......

It seems that I am always working on a project, and yet I haven't had a finish since I don't know when. Maybe I need to make a pot holder! Today I counted five, yes, five projects that are partially hand quilted. I need to pick one and make headway and have a finish. I'm going to pick the smallest one!
It's not that I'm not doing quilty things, I just finished this for my friend Nancy. (no blog) It's a Buggy Barn pattern. They are definitely on the more experienced level, as it's a challenge working with all these seams and using homespun fabrics. I love how this turned out and I think she might keep this one for herself.

A close up of the Bears Paw block. I love the wonky stars in the center of each paw.

What a variety of fabrics. Either you have to collect for a while, or purchase a kit. I'm not a kit kind of girl, but sometimes it's the best way for a controlled scrappy top.

This just looks like fall and a fireplace, oh so cozy.

I'm not a box baker, practically everything I bake is from scratch. However, I am having a party and thought I'd give these a try, brownies from a box. So easy, so good, I'm going to be a box brownie girl from now on.

Tonight I'm going to sit and do some hand quilting on my smallest project.
Sharon