Ready to Explode

Ok, so I took a bit of a break for that whole holiday thing and a running of a half marathon thing (more walking than running to be honest). And then there were the children home and houseguests - so not a lot of free time for quilting - this is how I keep justifying my lack of work. I did manage a small mini christmas quilt - but we can talk about that later (oh and I finished it in January.)

Last Friday I headed down to Old City Quilts for a fabulous quilty experience! First up was a Gallery Show featuring Luke Haynes' quilts and Thomas Knauer's quilts. AMAZING! So much inspiration! Wow! As if getting to see them was not enough - we got an audience with Thomas - a meet and greet if you will. He walked us through all the quilts. The stories he told about his were all so wonderfully personal and had so many different levels, textures and intricacies. Needless to say many of them spoke to me - I got them. And now I want to make quilts like them. Deep, meaningful and right.
Ok, we will see how that goes . . . .

A few photos of inspiration  - all of them are Thomas' -

You Are Here 

Ampersand 

Quilting detail from one of his amazing Marriage Series Quilts featuring the text form the original Common Book of Prayer.

It Takes a Million Stitches to Tell You How Much I Love You

Sunday Funday!

Yesterday was the sew-a-long with Kate Spain feature her new line Solstice for Christmas. Christie hosted the day at her shop.
Kate brought quilts to see and explained her design process. Wow! Very exciting - there just might be another class to come out of that! The Christie let us loose on the fabric strips for our stocking project. A little designing, a little dewing, a little (or a lot) of quilting, cutting and voila! New stockings! We even got personalized/signed goodie bags - bet we can make another one! Best part - finished project!
Such a fun afternoon - cannot wait to play again!

 

It was inevitable that Kate realized we were meant to be BFF's! Thank you for playing along!

Tiaras at 10!

Today was class #1 of 2 for Miss Connecticut.
3 lovely ladies arrived at Christie's Quilting Boutique with their kits in hand ready to go!
We played for 2 hours throwing squares up on a design wall and the design table top.
And of course you cannot be a Beauty Queen without a tiara  . . .

A little bit of homework and next class we sew!! Tiaras and all because isn't everything better with a pink tiara?!

Thanks Judy!

Big props to Judy Irish again for her Machine Quilting Class! Of course I rushed home and quilted this little quilt 10 days later - was my plan to quilt it the next day - keeping up with that whole concept of practicing every day - oops!
But it is now just ready for binding which is already cut and waiting to get put on - it could be days till that get's done so thought I would throw it up now.
Now of course this was a UFO from my Portugal days - that would be 2 countries ago but who is keeping track? I paper pieced this little baby while I waited to pick up my babies from school (they were at least 12 and 9 then). Got it sandwiched and ready to quilt and then put it away - I had not gotten my Aurora baby yet and just was not sure how to finish it. And so it sat and got moved, twice. And then I met Judy . . . done!!

Oh and no BSR! So proud!

Good, not great but again not bad!

I am sure there are more tops around here to practice on!

Quilt Class!

Saturday saw me trudging into NYC to go to City Quilter for a Machine Quilting Class with Judy Irish!
What a fantastic class!
I got off on a great start being 90 minutes late to class (the train was way late - problems on the tracks - oh and I left early). Sorry again for that -
What an amazing quilter and teacher - the rest of the morning flew by followed just as quickly by the afternoon. Suddenly it was 5pm and time to pack up my toys. Not to mention settle up for my new toys.
We quilted our sandwiches all afternoon. We were all very talented by the end of class.
Here are my efforts for the day - kinda a When Judy Met Jenny combo of styles - but I was thrilled with my stitches - and for the record - no BSR. Yes I will practice more without that wonderful foot!

Love my carp!!