Sunday, November 23, 2014

California Quilt Artists

It has been an interesting week!

There is a great little museum locally called the Muzeo in Anaheim, California. I have just started to Docent there. The current exhibit is: American Quilts in the Modern Age 1870 to 1940. Not only does the museum display many beautiful examples of old quilts, there are also about 10 truly modern California quilt artists sharing the stage. I was very excited to be able to meet almost all the artists at the Opening Gala.



Terry Waldron (Anaheim), Sherry Kleinman (Pacific Palisades), Sheila Frampton-Cooper (Los Angeles but visiting from Paris), local artist Jamie Fingal (Orange), Linda Anderson (LaMesa), Lura Schwarz Smith and her husband Kerby Smith,  (both from Coarsegold)
Here is a photo of Shelia Frampton-Cooper and myself in front of her (right) "The Ray, the Roses, and the Portal" piece.
Sherry Kleinman with "Alone/Together"
Shelia Frampton-Cooper with
"Yellow Brick Road"


Jamie Fingal with her two works
Make a Wish on the Purple House and The Happy Dancer

This is the Smith family in front of Kerby's 
"Endangered Species: Girl Reading"
note the girl reading is their daughter.
If you are in town and are interested in seeing the installation, let me know, I have a few tickets to share. If not you can Google Muzio and there are discount tickets available. I will be the Docent the day after Thanksgiving and January 12th.  Come and see me! Thanks for dropping by.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Fern Flower

This is Fern Flower a pattern by Sewing Under the Rainbow. It is available for free on Crafty. I am going to use this block in my "In The Garden Quilt". It is a 12" x 12" block and  I made it completely from scraps.

Here is a little advice I suggest you NOT take.....

Enjoy your sewing!

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Rotary's In Bloom

A Quilters Garden Quilt

Here are the first two rows of A Quilters Garden. 
The scale is off as I was trying to get both rows the largest I could on the page.


I have also done a block for my guilds Presidents Quilt. 
This block had Y Seams. I think they turned out just fine. 

Steve always wonders about this! @?^%$@$&*

Hope to do a lot more sewing this weekend.
Enjoy the day.
Jules


Monday, October 13, 2014

Quilters Garden Growing

Six little sewing machines all in a row. 

I can not wait for another offering by Deana! These are just so darn fun. The next blocks are rotary cutters shaped with a Dresdin plate to look like flowers. I am almost done with 5 of those blocks - just a little more hand sewing and vala. You can see the progress that is being made on the Quilters Garden Blogspot.(here) 

A little gift from Vicki!
Thank you to my three swap friends. Vicki, Moira and Daryl. (You  can see their blogs by clicking on their names.) Some fantastic creative people! Vicki even went out of her way to send me this cute little pin cushion made from hexies. Quilters are such nice people. Thank you Vicki and I love your block too.
I have also been working on the Riley Blake Birthday Quilt. Septembers block was the centerpiece large birthday cake seen here. This quilt is nearly done now. October is the sashing. I have so enjoyed making this quilt. The blocks were all very simple. The quilt very colorful and above all... I can give it as a wonderful birthday present to some deserving friend someday.  
How are you feeling?
Great I hope!
Thanks for stopping by!







Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Quilter's Garden Row Swap

 Quilter's Garden Row Swap
I am very excited to get started on this new Row Swap. I have never done a swap before and Deana has such a great style that is right up my alley. The theme "quilter's garden" - well how perfect is that?

I will be keeping this one.
This is the first time for a few things for me. It is the first time I needle turned applique and it is my first swap! Here are six blocks that I made. I will be swapping three of them.      
Deana  gave four different patterns to choose from and they are all adorable. I used some of my 1930 stash, I love the retro look for these old machines. 
Keeper
Keeping this one
Here are the three blocks I will be swapping........
This is a swapper
Swapper 


Swapper

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Squirrel Superpower

This cute little squirrel has 108 pieces and 15 different fabrics. Quite a piece of engineering. Janeen at Quilt Art Design is amazing! I really appreciate her designs and capability as a paper piecing designer. The "In The Garden" quilt has a Flicker Group - I so enjoy lookin at other quilters choices.

Again I have problems with selecting the best fabrics, relying only on my stash is part of it, I know I should be able to pick better. I know that solids will work but I seem to want to choose prints and work them in. 


I really got a chance to catch up on some old projects this weekend. Lovin' mindless sewing. The Riley Blake Birthday quilt has, I think, only two months left. I finished the cupcakes and the Birthday Banner.
The buttons are just layed there... I need to get 8 red "cherry" buttons to top them off. They do not get sewed on until after the quilting is done so I can shop around.

This will be a cute quilt when finished you can see the full design on the sidebar of the blog.

You might notice a new button on the top left of my blog - Quilters Garden - a new mystery row by row BoM I just joined. Take a look at the link - I can not wait to get started. September 1 is here and gone, and it was Labor Day so, sew, sew sew! Oh boy!

I was hopping on the web and looking at oh so many blogs and I noticed Lily's Quilts, I have been a follower for a little while and she hosts a linky party for small bloggers. What a great idea and a great way to find inspiration and knowledge. Check out the link.
Thanks again for stopping by,

Jules       ...............

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Utensils and Orange Juice with Cups

I have now caught up with the Quiet Play Kitschy Kitchen BoM! I did have some problems but it always amazes me how paper piecing comes together - I am so addicted. The fabric selections are not perfect but I wanted the vintage look without running out and buying more fabric. My stash is it, and coming up with something that is half way workable really takes time, it is the hardest part and the most disappointing part too. I hope this quilt look consistent and flows once it is all put together. I am leaning toward a yellow sashing that I have "in stash" - What do you think?


Here is a link to Quiet Play Flicker Group
This is the sashing fabric I am thinking of,

What do you think?  

Here is a link to my Flicker page - if you have one, please send me a link, I would love to see your work. I find so much inspiration in all the talent we quilters share. 

I hope your day is going well.
Take Care,
Jules

Monday, August 18, 2014

Retro Radio Block


In keeping up with Sew Kitschy kitchen quilt I finally got around to the Retro Radio block. I made it a bit larger than the pattern as I am thinking I would like a full size quilt and not a wall hanging so I will probably choose three more of Quiet Plays blocks from her Etsy store and make the whole thing larger. I am going to embroider the "speaker holes" too, details always add to a block. There are a few of the radios on the Flicker Group -

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Tulips


Another paper pieced block - tulips. The background reminds me of a Van Gogh painting. This is another of Janeen's blocks from Quilt Art Design - In The Garden. Here is a link to the Flicker Group she runs. 


12" x 12"

Thanks for stopping by,
Jules




Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Beautiful Bird Block

I was really excited to get some time to work on some of my In The Garden BoM's that I am behind on. Janeen of Quilt Art Design offered this beautiful bird block. I think I honestly must have spent over 6 hours on it. I find paper piecing "sophisticated" and challenging. This block while finishing at 12" square has way over 140 pieces in it. 

I am very happy with the way it has turned out. I was a bit afraid about the background print, whether it would be too busy but I took a chance as it reminded me of the wind. With the bright colors of the bird heads I think you can distinguish the birds fine. If anything the leaves should have been darker.
You can see more on her Flicker Group

Here are four of the blocks I have finished      



STOP HOARDING AND ORGANIZE

I have been hourding scraps ever since I started quilting 4 years ago. I keep throwing scraps under my sewing table in this plastic bin. Needless to say it is over flowing and in need of attention. Before starting the birds above I decided enough is enough and if I organized this bin I could come up with some fantastic fabric for it without cutting into yardage.









Now that is nice and easy to find pieces by color. I should have done this awhile ago.


ALSO SOME CUTE PRESENT BLOCKS

Catching up on the Riley Blake Party Quilt - here are the presents ready to open. Easy pleasy block - mindless sewing

Tonight is the Orange County Quilters Guild meeting. I finished putting the binding on my Amish quilt last night so I can bring it for Show and Tell. Having a reason to finish - really helps me get motivated. 


Freemotion by the River Linky Tuesday

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

I am a WINNER!! The Row By Row Experience 2014

The Row By Row Experience 2014

The Row By Row Experience is a collaborative effort of 1200 stores in the USA. Each store offers a free row pattern. If you put together eight of them and are the first one to bring a completed row quilt into one of the participating stores - you win!. I AM A WINNER.

Last Thursday I called the Orange Sewing Bee and asked if anyone had claimed the prize yet - none had. So I thought I had a chance at it still. The first time Quilters Garden had longarms available was this morning - I scheduled the time and quilted it this morning, ran home and bound it.
I drove immediately over to the Orange Sewing Bee - but ahhh shucks someone actually turned one in yesterday at 1:00. With the speed of an electric seam ripper I called The Flying Geese in Tustin and asked. They told me no one had claimed the prize yet, I told them I would be there in ten minutes And here is my prize - 25 personally selected fat quarters.. aren't they beautiful. I also got a $20.00 gift certificate.


Monday, August 4, 2014

I will not buy any more fabric - but.... there is a sale. Oh no!

M&L Fabric July Sale

Oh no, not this again. M & L Fabric in Anaheim has great prices and a huge selection. For 12 days in July everything in the store is 20% off. They have a huge section of the store they call "The Stacks" the fabric is $3.44 per yard, take off 20% and you have $2.75 per yard. I went by there last Sunday and the line for check out was all the way down the middle of the store and looping through the isles to the b
ack of the store. I left in hope of going back at a time when less customers were there.
This sale is a great time to pick up fabric for backing and stash.

Here is what I ended up buying. The green on the left is going to be the backing of the command car quilt. (Always thinking forward)


Here is my assistant helping me home from the sales. He is so helpful!

Sew glad you stopped by.
Have a great day!

Jules

Monday, July 21, 2014

A Few Finishes! YEA!

A few finishes. I really want to start on a new quilt but I have told myself that in order to do that, finish what you have started! I have been taking that to heart and I have finished 2 more quilts almost completely - still need labels. My "Tonga Rhapsody", my second quilt ever,  that was started in the Spring of 2011 and my Aiming for Accuracy Pink and Brown quilt started early 2013. Both quilted and bound. I have machined sewn the binding onto my Amish quilt so all is left is to hand sew and label. It feels good to have a few finishes as these things just hang on and on.  It seems unless I have a deadline... well, I don't finish because I enjoy starting new things more than completing an old project. 
I have a lot accomplished and I think I will start to move on.
Here are a few photos of the two quilts I bound when on vacation last week. The eight hour drive to and from Yosemite was a blessing!


Row By Row Experience

  • One problem being is that I would like to participate in the 1200 stores Row by Row. Last weekend I went to a couple of the participating stores and picked up a couple of the patterns.  You need to do at least 8 rows to complete a quilt, then IF you are the first to bring in a completed quilt to a quilt shop with "their" row a part of it, you can win a prize. Well I know I am very behind and there are a lot of crazy quilters out there that probably sat up all July 1st after they cruised the state to pick up 8 patterns, finished their quilt and were probably waiting at the front door way before opening the next morning to pick up the prize. 
  • Here is a photo of 7 of the rows I have completed so far. Only one more to go to finish. 

But... I still want to do it. Many of the participating stores are selling a fabric license plate that reflects the store. I picked up one at my favorite store, the Orange Quilt Bee and at New Moon Textiles in Pasadena. They are so cute and I am going to incorporate them into the quilt - perhaps on the back if I can not figure out a great spot for them. 



I guess the Command Car Quilt will have to wait.

I am way behind on the Internet sew alongs I joined at the beginning of the year. I did not complete last months offering of My During Quiet Time Kitschy Kitchen quilt, my Fiesta de Flores Tile quilt with Morning Glory Design or the Riley Blake Birthday Quilt... shame on me, but I will.  

Thanks for stopping by again!