Finished Star Struck

A commenter asked for a photo of the finished Star
Struck and here it is. It was so easy that I think I have
to make another one. I finished the binding and put
the label on yesterday evening while my boys were
over watching football with their dad. They (the boys)
have started hanging out at our house on Sundays.
They live together about 3 miles up the road and I do
love having them around. I usually cook a brunch
after church and something yummy for dinner. Last
night we had chicken barbeque. I must admit though
that since they don't have internet access at their
house that could be the reason they hang out with us.
They both had their noses in their lap tops most of the
day. That's OK. They were home and I was content.
Don't get me wrong. I do love our empty nest and I've
said many times that I like my grown children better
when they visit!!
Here is the label on the back. Have I mentioned how
important it is to label ALL your quilts. I embroidered
the top part. I'm still a novice machine embroiderer.
And while I'm here let me say that the Embroidery Library
is my favorite site for designs. They have the cutest
designs, lots of ideas and their site is one of the easiest
to navigate. I love them.

Until next time...
Susie

Apology

It's been two weeks since I've posted. I don't have any
excuses except that I tend to rebel when non-life-
threatening things hang over me. I also have had some
health issues, computer problems, camera problems
and been screaming busy at work. But I have had those
before and still managed to post.

I have also noticed that I have had more than 10,000
visitors and missed my 1 year blogiversary. This
weekend I will decide on a giveaway and announce it
next week. I don't usually get many comments on my
posts, so maybe this will generate some.

So dear readers (Hello...hello... is anyone there???) I am
sorry and will try to do better.

Now every time I thought to take pictures as I was
sewing these past two weeks I was working on
something that I had posted about before. I finished
the Carolina Crossroads, label and all that I will be
donating to our Guild Quilt Bingo. I decided not to
name it Carolina Rebel because some people might
take offense. I am now binding the Star Struck that
I will go to Leslie, a guild member and Red Cross
volunteer who actually has the privilege of handing
out quilts to wounded soldiers at Andrews Air Force
Base. I put borders on it and just now realized I
haven't taken its picture.

Pat and Debi, if you are reading this please don't
look at this picture.




Our guild is having a pin cushion swap this Wednesday
and I made this one. It was designed by Ami Simms.
I used real tart mini-pans (that Georgia gave me, if I
promised to make her one) and glued some heavy
washers in the bottom to give it some weight. I made
it a little differently than the directions (what a surprise!!!).
I also made this cute little pin cushion with a golf tee
that fits into a spool of thread. I got the pattern from
Arlette at Polka Dot Pineapple. She has the cutest things
and a few tutorials too. I need to raid my husband's golf
bag to get some more tees.

My cousin's daughter is getting married tonight so we
will be with all our family and I am looking forward to it.
(Especially since we weren't together at the beach 'cause
I got dragged to Alaska!)

Until next time... (and I promise it will be soon!)
Susie

Warning-sun damage

I've been collecting indigo blues for some time now
and I have finally found a pattern that will use some
of them. More on that later. I had been throwing
them in a stack on a shelf under a window. (After I
washed and ironed them of course) This window
was shaded by large bushes but must have
had a sliver of sun peek through because look at
what happened to just two FQs in that stack. I don't
know if they were on the top or middle of the stack
but boy did the fold fade. I can still cut around them.
I am just surprised that these two faded so bad.
So consider yourselves warned.
Have a great quilty weekend.

Until next time...
Susie

Tell and Show

Last week at our guild meeting I had a "tell" during our
show and tell time. I received an exciting parcel in the
mail from Peg Bingham. Last fall she came to teach us
her Celtic class. She was teaching her overhand knot
this time and I wanted to combine each knot and set
on point. Click here to see the quilt I made. She liked
my idea so much she added it to her book, calling it
Over Again! I am so flattered. So the book is now
printed and she even mentioned me in the front. I
have started pulling fabrics to make the table runner.
If you ever get a chance to take one of her classes,
jump at it. She is a great teacher and her patterns
are very easy. They might look a little daunting but
if you take it step by step they always turn out beautiful.

Here's my show.
I have finished the top of my glacier quilt and had lots
of curved triangles left over. They had to be hand cut
to decrease the bulk from the back. I have this
ScrapMaster Ruler by Judy Hopkins that I bought years
ago thinking it would be great for cutting up scraps.
Well, it is! The curved scraps are at the top right and
I got two sized triangles from them. I don't know yet
if I should sew them to each other or maybe I'll sew
them to a dark blue. Play time! I see perhaps a pillow,
or a picture frame for an Alaska photo, or a
wallhanging or...

Until next time...
Susie

Show ’n Tell

Last night at guild meeting I thought to bring my
camera to take pictures of the Show and Tell quilts.
We have such talented (not to mention prolific!) ladies
in our guild. This is just a sampling. There were many
more that I did not photograph.
Enjoy.
My bee, The Piecemakers (at least that is our name this
month, we seem to change it periodically!), made this
top for one of our members, Lori, who had back surgery
in April and is going through a long recovery. Still to
be quilted by Cathy (who just got a new Gammill--
lucky girl)
Wow, what a stunning quilt made by Loretto. It must
be King-size because it is huge. It is such a simple
pattern using gorgeous fabric. A previous member of
our guild, Diane, used to own a quilt shop. She made
the most beautiful quilts and her motto was,
"simple patterns, great fabric." Well Loretto, that
formula worked here!
Lisa finished her Star Struck from Bonnie Hunter's class in April.
Elfrieda is another wonderful (read prolific) quilter who
uses great fabrics and simple patterns. I also had to
show you a close-up of the quilting (below)
Susan made this cute football quilt from a pattern in
Quiltmaker magazine. (I think-I hope)
Dawna, who BTW is a new quilter, was told this was an
easy pattern to make her first quilt. Well, I think
someone surely lied to her because this doesn't look
at all easy. But it does look beautiful. She did a great
job on her first quilt.
Barbara, our chief art quilter, (there are more in our
guild and they have even started there own small
group and are having their own show soon) Made this
gorgeous wall hanging. She is always experimenting
with new techniques.

I had a "tell" during show "n Tell last night but you'll
have to wait...

...until next time...
Susie

PS Hi Debi

Retreats are good for the soul

Back in 2000, when I went to my very first quilt retreat
(the big one that my guild sponsors) I was asked to
write an article, as a first-timer (or retreat virgin we
now call it!). The title was "Quilt retreats are good for
the soul." And that hasn't changed. No matter how
long--a few hours or a few days-- or how many
people are sewing together, the world just falls away.
Well, not completely, because we all share our joys
and concerns about just about anything you could
think of in our lives.

So this was a mini retreat, just 7 hours on Saturday.
We all got alot done.
Guess who this is! Georgia is always hiding! Well, it was at her house and she really didn't have to get dressed but she looked fine to me! She is hiding behind her postcards for her exchange that she wanted to get done. She did. Aren't they cute?!
Terri was working on her Boxer quilt for her son.
She got all the topstitching done and started to put
it together. The fabrics are just the cutest things.
And here I am putting the binding on my Bingo
donation. I got the quilting done (I did start it on
Friday night) and the binding put on and started hand
sewing the binding while my husband and I watched
a movie that night. I will finish it, complete with label,
to take to guild on Aug 13. That will be crossed off
my list. I really don't do deadlines in my quilting life.
I work in a deadline business and my quilting is
supposed to be my relaxation. So if I have a deadline
for a quilt, it makes it feel like work. That's why I wanted
to get this done in plenty of time.

Next on my list is quilting my star struck RWB that I
made in Bonnie Hunters class when she was here in
April. Its all basted and ready to go. That one is for
QOV. And since I have to have projects in every stage,
(to appease my A.D.D.) I will start cutting my Glacier quilt.

So if you need some solace for your soul or just want
to have a relaxing time, plan a mini retreat. Just grab
a few quilting sisters, set a date, make a little food
and sew, sew, sew. (And laugh, laugh, laugh... and
talk, talk talk... you get the idea)

Until next time...
Susie

Mini retreat

A few times a year, my bee gets together on a Saturday
to sew. I had mentioned at bee this past Wednesday
if anyone wanted to schedule one and Georgia popped
up with, "How about this Saturday at my house?" So
three of us are going on a mini retreat!
This is Georgia....
...isn't she cute?!!!

Anyway, my first thought about this sew day is what
shall I work on. My guild, Southern Comforters, is
having another Quilt Bingo in October and we need
to donate alot of quilts for prizes. I have decided to
donate my Bonnie Hunter mystery, Carolina Crossroads.
I am calling mine Carolina Rebel because I had to
change it around a little.
I decided it didn't even need borders. And I am so
proud of myself for making a scrappy back out of
some black & white leftovers.
I don't usually do this but it really does use up stash.
So we pin basted it Wednesday at bee and I will be
overall meandering it on Saturday. I think I can finish
the quilting and start the binding on Saturday. I am
also taking my Glacier quilt to start on. I washed the
fabrics last night and started reading the directions.

I will take pictures of our mini retreat to share.

Until next time...
Susie