Duke Smyser Chili Blast Open

OK, I lied! Just one more...

Here it is all packaged up and ready to go to the Duke Smyser Chili Blast Open on September 4th. I wanted it to have a great presentation at the event, so I put a dowed rod in the sleeve and hung it on a hanger. If you are interested in more information, here is a little history and the link above will get you to the website.

$65/person for golf at the Ravines and dinner catered by The Pub.

This event is held annually to commemorate the life of Duke Smyser. Duke was a Lafayette banker for almost thirty years before retiring due to heart disease disability. A proud Purdue graduate and John Purdue Club member, he actively supported a variety of community organizations such as Mended Hearts and the Hanna Community Center. Duke also loved golf and spicy foods.

All proceeds will benefit St. Elizabeth Regional Health’s Kathryn Weil Center for Education. “Revive & Survive” provides life-saving AED’s (cardiac defibrillators) to non-profit organizations throughout Tippecanoe and surrounding counties.

Since it's inception Chili Blast Charities has provided more than $10,000 in assistance to this Heartfelt effort.

I hope this worthwile event raises a lot of money this year.

If you can stand one more photo..

Here's a much better one of the Purdue Quilt:



And the back:

I did something this morning that I hardly ever do....I stopped at 2 garage sales. I spent a whopping $5.50 and probably the best deal was the 4 FQs in a bundle for $2. I'm planning to use them for a mystery quilt that Becca is hosting. The fabrics on the left were in a bin marked 10 pieces for $1. The stencil and the binding chart were $1 each. I love a bargain!!


Sue came to quilt this afternoon and here she is all done:




Quite a nice job, Sue!!

Woo-Hoo, It's Friday!

This has been a really long week for me.
The company I work for let 2 people go this week due to the economy. One was from my department and that means we are working hard at trying to keep up. The other was from a department that we fill in for, so that makes it doubly stressful.
I sure hope things turn around soon!

Last night I quilted the Purdue wall hanging and as you can see, I decided to do rays from the gold block. They are certainly not equally spaced, but from a galloping horse, it looks great. I'll try to take another photo in some natural light, as my sewing room always give things an amber tint.



I used Superior Monopoly on top and a prewound cream in the bobbin, Warm & Natural batting. I thought very briefly about doing some of my newly learned feathers in the outer border, but decided that would make it look a little too formal. The piecing design and the quilting in the center are both so angular that I thought beadboard would work for the border and I like it!

Here's the latest from my feather class, which I did before the Purdue wall hanging:

Some Catching Up!

This is what I've been doing for the past couple days:

Sue's sampler quilt that I finished on Sunday. It has Quilters Dream Request batting, which I usually don't like, but it worked out pretty well this time. The thread is PermaCore Gray, (I'm not exactly sure of the color) and I use prewound Masterpiece in the bobbin.



The back is a solid black, though it sure doesn't lookl like it in the bright sunlight, it really shows the Circle Lord Fan quilting well.



Purdue wall hanging progress:


I was going to add pieced borders to this one, but I may stop here, quilt and bind it and call it done.

Here's my practice for my feathers class:

Design wall Monday – August 24, 2009

Some progress has been made on the Purdue Corner of the universe quilt. The top section is all sewn together.

Stashbusting Week #34

Aug 17-23, 2009

Fabric Added This Week - 0 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date - 121.75 yards

Fabric Used This Week -1.125 yards
Fabric Used Year to Date - 178.375 yards

YEAR TO DATE STASH USED: 56.625 yards

Not much used, but none purchased!

Baptist Fans

Not one, but two baptist fan quilts today.

I'm not sure of the history on this one, but it was given to me by Dottie to quilt. It certainly does look like vintage fabrics. Quilting makes the quilt, that's what they say.


I really like the back, which is just muslin. I used PermaCore white thread and Hobbs 80/20 batting on this one.


The second one, a sampler that was made by Sue, hasn't had pictures taken yet, as it is dark out and I don't want to go outside in my jammies to take a photo. So you'll just get to see this one:

Ruler Work

This is the first quilt that I have done this much ruler work on and I must say that my back is bothering me a bit. I love the look of it though, so I guess everything's a trade-off.

I asked for design suggestions on one of my online groups for this quilt and several suggested the ruler work in the zig-zags. I quilted a freehand flower/feather, (I'm not exactly sure what these are called) in each of the snowball blocks, in a continuous line.

It actually went pretty quickly. I had no idea when I came home at lunch yesterday to load the backing that I would be finished today and while it's still light out! I loaded the batting after work and quilted until about 11pm. Most of today was spent quilting, but I did take lots of breaks.


Cathy made this quilt for her only daughter, who is getting married in 3 weeks. I hope she likes it and that it is an heirloom for years to come.

Nothing new here....Permacore white thread and Hobbs 80/20 batting.

My Corner Purdue Quilt

This one is for Jerri to donate to an auction and I'm so happy to be able to make it for her.

Here's where it started:

Then it was in strips:


The strips sewn together and now it's starting to look like a state:


I tried to purchase the pattern from Quiltmakers in Fishers, but she didn't have any, even though she had the sample quilt still hanging in the shop. That's just strange to me??? It would be like me having quilting samples for my customers to look at and then saying to them, I can't do that kind of quilting.....

So, I bought the pattern for another Indiana school, just to get the correct shape and redrew the grid for Purdue.

I have a customer quilt to do tonight and tomorrow, but hope to get back to this one by Sunday.

Surf 'n Turf

Boy, I sure did marry a good cook!

Here is last night's dinner;



The tomatoes are from our garden and they were yummy. I made some salsa and we had a little of it with some chips for an appetizer before dinner. I'll get a photo of it tonight.

What a busy night!

Last night was Old Tippe guild - the business meeting and show 'n tell. There wasn't a lot of show 'n tell, so the meeting wasn't very long. There was a Quilt Show Committee Meeting afterwards, so I still got home at about the same time. I did get all the papers off the paper pieced blocks from yesterday while I was at the meeting.

When I arrived home, I got them all sewn together for Lisa's row-by-row. It turned out really nice. The pattern is at Quilters Cache and is called Duck Tracks.



The second second thing I worked on is this block, Pinwheel #8, from Quilters Cache also, is a presidents block for our outgoing president at Common Threads. Our meeting is tonight so it's a good thing I got it finished. This pattern is one that I tested for Marcia a while back. I needed an 8" finished block, so I put the pieces together and trimmed each of the quarter blocks to 4.5" and then sewed them together. A great way to decrease the size of this block.


EDIT: This shows how I cut the block segments. Of course, the ones that I did last night were not already sewn together as this block is, but they were in 4 segments. I laid the 4.5" ruler on top and aligned the 2.25 mark directly in the center of the intersecting triangles. I made sure that my corners were square with the seams and trimmed.

Stashbusting Week #33

Aug 10-16, 2009

Fabric Added This Week - 10.125 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date - 121.75 yards

Fabric Used This Week - 5.875 yards
Fabric Used Year to Date - 177.25 yards

YEAR TO DATE STASH USED: 55.5 yards

Yikes, I went backwards because bought a lot of fabric on Saturday, but I will use it all up shortly!

Paper Piecing

I got these blocks sewn last night for a row-by-row that is due on Wednesday. I usually try to take along a hand project to guild and although I do have some bindings to apply, I think I will take these paper pieced blocks to take the paper off with me tonight. I'll just have to see how quietly I can take the papers off.

Irish Chain Baby Quilt

Ashley's baby shower was yesterday and she seemed pleased with the quilt. It doesn't coordinate with the nursery, but she did receive lots of items in the blue and brown that is so popular right now.



The quilting design is called Terry Twists, a design by Sally Terry, (which I do freehand), the batting is Quilters Dream poly and the thread is PermaCore white.



I washed it before the shower and it turned out so soft and crinkly.

Finished and Delivered!

Paige's grandmother picked up her quilt on Sunday and was pleased. She said she knew that Paige would like it and I asked her to please send me a photo of it in her dorm room.



The quilting, while minimal, was quite tedious. I stitched in the ditch around the photos and the blocks, and then added circles using my Circle Lord. It does make perfect circles, but requires a bit of lining up and back and forth from the back to the front of the machine for each one.



The thread used was PermaCore Citron Green on top and Olive in the bobbin and the batting was Hobbs 80/20.

Family and Friends, Old and New

A road trip to Madison today with Linda, Sossity and other friends from Old Tippe guild was my original plan for the day. I'm sure you all had a wonderful day and I hope I can join you another time.

Instead, I drove to Indy and met Julie and we visited Quiltmakers in Fishers, which is going out of business. I purchased fabrics to make a Purdue wall hanging for Jerri. Yes, I purchased fabric and will be reporting it tomorrow....

Tammy and Shelly were also at Quiltmakers and we all made our way to the Grape Impressions Winery and then Ferrins Fruit Wines, both in Carmel. Tasted some yummy wines and bought quite a few also.

I made it home just in time to rest for a while and then get ready for dinner at the Olive Garden. Visiting with Nancy and Dale, friends from long ago (20 years) was the highlight of the day.

Dorm Quilt Progress

Besides stitching in the ditch around all the photos and blocks, I have decided to use my Circle Lord and do some circles in the blocks. This is really the first time I have used this for just making circles and it's pretty easy once you get the hang of it. I have learned to overstitch the starting point and I may have to take out a few stitches on each one before I knot and bury the threads, but they then line up perfectly.

Noreply Bloggers and Shipshewana Retreat 2010

Darlynn and Carolynn,

I have added you to the list of retreaters, but I need an email address and full names for you and your friends, please.

Remember, if your email is set to "noreply" there is no way that I can contact you.

I can't believe we have to wait a full year + 2 months before we go, but that's plenty of time to figure out what to work on and plenty of time to invite our friends.

Don't forget that JudyL will be leading a mystery quilt for us.

Dorm Quilt

I've been working on this quilt for Paige to take to college with her. Her grandmother ordered it and Paige picked out the fabrics and gave me the photos to put on it. I'm quilting the borders with beadboard and SID the blocks and the photos. I'm not sure what other quilting I will do right now. She first wanted a duvet cover, so I'm thinking that she doesn't want a lot of quilting, but I may do something in the brown sashing and also inside the blocks.

Any suggestions?

Stasbusting Week #32

Aug 3-9, 2009

Fabric Added This Week - 0 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date - 111.625 yards

Fabric Used This Week - 3 yards
Fabric Used Year to Date - 171.375 yards

YEAR TO DATE STASH USED: 59.75 yards

The only fabric I used was practice fabric loaded on Mabel for my Feathers Boot Camp.

Binding

It seems like forever since I've had hand bindings to work on. I have the placemats, a Quilt of Valor, and now this baby Irish Chain to do. It has been so nice to sit with Dan and work on them. The Irish Chain is first up because I need it for a baby shower on the 15th.

Julie Came to Quilt!

Julie and Elizabeth came to spend the evening and Julie put together this cute panel quilt with 2 borders and then she quilted it.




Dan made a wonderful beef stir-fry for all of us. Well, not Elizabeth, of course. She stuck to her bottle. She is really a momma's girl now. I don't remember my children doing that this young, but she's 7 months old and if she can't see her mommy, she lets you know about it. After a little nap, she was just as happy as can be and even held out her hands for me to take her out of mommy's arms. What a sweet little darling!

Sewing Day

Sunday was a sewing day at Tammy's house. She invited a few friends over and we each brought a project or two to work on.
Tammy was working on a scrappy quilt,
Janet worked on a batik and Moda Marbles squares quilt,
Karen was hand appliqueing the points down on a quilt top that her grandmother made. She will then hand quilt it.
Shelly surprised us all by bringing all her new scrapbooking goodies. It looks like she has a new hobby!
I put the first side of binding on 2 placemats and a Quilt of Valor, then started sewing together my leftover nine patches.
Oh, did I mention we had brownies, courtesy of MaryAnn & the traveling plate and they were yummy! Thanks MaryAnn!

This is how Dan likes to eat his brownies....crumbled on top of several scoops of chocolate fudge ice cream....

Design Wall Monday – August 3, 2009

Well, I took a photo yesterday afternoon that I was going to post, but I actually finished the quilt top, so I have it on my design wall now. I need to find a backing for this one and then get it quilted.

These are leftovers from a kit that I won from an online guild drawing a few years ago. The pattern had you cut hundreds of 2" squares and when I was finished, I had a big stack left over. I started making nine-patches with them without a real idea of what to do.

I'm not sure where this one will go, but it's a top at least.

Stashbusting Week #31

July 27- Aug 2, 2009

Fabric Added This Week - 0 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date - 111.625 yards

Fabric Used This Week - 2 yards
Fabric Used Year to Date - 168.375 yards

YEAR TO DATE STASH USED: 56.75 yards

Not a lot, but every little bit helps!

Carole's Kaffe Fassett Quilt

I forgot to post a finished photo of Carole's chinese coins quilt.



Here it is all finished. I couldn't seem to get a good photo of the flowers and leaves in the strip of coins.


I used Warm & Natural batting and Coats and Clark variegated autumn colors thread.


Are you getting tired of seeing these feathers yet?