I entered the Quilty Pleasures blog tour last week and won a copy of Quiltermaker's 100 Blocks magazine.   It arrived at my home this past weekend.  The blocks included are fabulous including the Butterfly Cabin block designed by Jackie Robinson of Animas Quilts. (I won the magazine by visiting her site).  Almost makes me want to do a Dear Jane with a bunch of these....ummm, maybe next year.  The magazine is definitely a keeper so look for it at your local quilt shop or bookstore. 

And.....wooohooo.....I received mail from the Quilters of Alachua County Day Guild.  This guild is sponsoring Quilting Natural Florida II, an exhibit in the Florida Museum of Natural History from February 6 - April 25, 2010.   My quilt, "Blackened Palmetto" was accepted.  Hubby wants to go to Sun N Fun in April, so we'll be able to go see the exhibit in person as well.

Quilting Therapy for a hectic life....

Okay, so Mom went to the hospital for a week in October and dutiful daughter that I am....I spent every day visiting and fetching stuff from her apartment.   She's home now with new meds recovering from her stay in what she thought should have been a four-star hotel...but alas was just a hospital room.

Charity quilts completed this month included 4 quilt tops with fabric donated by Liz (left column), 2 cheater panels quilted and bound, 2 quilts made from donated blocks, and a bunch of preemie blankets with fabrics donated by Kathy.  This bunch of charity quilts completes the use of fabrics donated by Liz a few months ago.

I wanted to call attention to this charity quilt.  The blocks were donated by Diane Heller, who obtained them by participating in an Internet block exchange in 1995.   All of the blocks were signed.   Here are some of the contributors: Marilee Sherwood, Jessica Drennan (Ithica, NY), Pat Newbon (Pagelcyn, CA), Sue Trandt, Colleen Gaskin, Sari Goldbaum, Karen Kutzner, Miriam Siebenthall (San Jose, CA), Lynne Capehart, Cathy Slater (Little Rock, AR), L. Obetra (Chicago, IL), and of course Diane from Wheaton, MD.  It really is a small world, isn't it?

On a final note....Imagine my surprise when my senses woke up last week and I discovered that Fall had arrived in our neighborhood. I just love the crispness of the air.

Quilt Festival: Fall 2009

In November 2008, Friendship Star Quilt Guild sponsored a class from Jennie Rayment titled Tinkering with Texture. I barely finished this piece in time to submit it in our annual quilt show.   I couldn't think of a name for it, so I relied on one of my fallback naming systems.  I named this one after one of my favorite cartoon characters: Boris Badinov (the short soviet spy in Rocky and Bullwinkle).  But, instead of just using his name, I called it Boris Bad Enough.  Why did I pick him?  Well, I had just retired from working at an Agency where I belonged to a quilt guild named Undercover Quilters.  Having worked there for 37 years including durng the "Cold War", it just seemed fitting to pick Boris.

The lull before a new project

This is a quilt I completed last year for an auction at my son's high school. I learned a lot from this quilt....okay so I paper-pieced the building and then had to sew all over it to make it look right...big mistake. I understand it was a big hit at their Grand Celebration event. There's another grand celebration this year and I've got until March to complete it. Yesterday, I designed the new quilt:

Today, I'm going to the Sewing Expo near Dulles Airport in Virginia with my friend Chris. I'll be looking for some of the fabrics for this piece. I received permission from the school to use this photo, that was taken by staff members for some of their publications. I hope to incorporate some of the thread painting I learned on my last project to create the "grey" gradations in the statue.

There's a giveaway on the Quilts etc. blog. Why not check it out? http://karensquilting.com/blog/a-give-away/comment-page-1/#comment-2730

Cutting it close....

Here's my quilt with lots and lots of thread painting (see previous post for picture I took in Florida in 2008). Images of entry must be postmarked on Oct 1st and I still need to bind and add sleeve and embellishments. Here's some close ups of the threadwork.

Yes, it's pretty much threaded to death. I think I used close to twenty different thread colors, not including the three variegated threads.

Check out http://parkcitygirl.blogspot.com for the upcoming Blogger's Quilt Festival.

In addition to thread painting...

The following were handed in at my guild meeting this evening. Two quilt tops with Liz B. fabric. Four pillowcases and a bunch of preemies (most of them made with Kathy F. fabric). One quilt as you go yellow/blue unfinished blocks contributed by a guild member. Another snoopy cheater panel (oh so cute).

I've been thread painting all week.....weeewww....is that a lot of work. I haven't ruined it yet, so only time will tell (see my previous post on Creative Challenges.) I'll post an update soon. Our guild is taking a bus trip to the PA Quilt Extravaganza in Oaks, PA on Saturday, September 19th.....can't wait.

Creative challenges...why oh why?

Ok, so I thought I was a better quilter than I am and decided about 6 months ago to enter a quilt in the Quilting Natural Florida II (QACDG.org) Spring 2010 exhibit. A picture of the quilt is due to them on October 1st....nothing like waiting until the last minute, is there? Anyway, I was born in Florida and my husband and I visited in Spring 2008 where I took some interesting pictures. Here's one from a hiking trail at Fort DeSoto Park:



When I came upon this scene, it looked like a fire had destroyed a bunch of palm trees. When I got home, I found out that the park regularly does this to keep the palm tree population to a minimum. What struck me about this picture was the contrast between the blackened tree trunks and the vivid green new growth from those charred trunks. Here's my Phase I interpretation of that photo:

The green crocodile batik on the left hand side will be the border for this quilt. I still have a long way to go with thread painting and other artsy techniques for making it look more like the quilt in my head. If I could start over again, I'd have done a lot of thread painting on the sandy area in the lower part of the quilt....hindsight (oopsy). So, I'll just have to do the best I can with what I have and go from there. If it doesn't get ruined while I'm thread painting, I'll send the picture and hope for the best. If it does....well then I've already learned alot. Your suggestions for saving this creative mess (I mean challenge) are welcome.