OC Progress and Indy Life

So I woke up this morning with plans of working in the yard, but it was a little chilly so decided to sew a little instead. I knew I still had work to do on step #4 of the Orange Crush mystery at Quiltville, I had the hsts done and a couple of the spinning stars completed, but I needed to finish them up. A quick peek and what do you know? Bonnie had step #5 posted so now I was close to being two steps behind! I finished the spinning stars and cut the squares for the Album block. So...they're going to be set on point...why could I not picture the way they were going to look side by side in my mind? I just had to make 5 completed Album blocks just to ease my curiosity a little. Here's a little preview hanging on my design wall, and I likey! There's only one thing I may just have to change, I used a blue that's very similar to the blue in the spinning stars for my Album block corners in a few blocks (see bottom right Album block) and I'm not sure if they'll stand out too much, so i may be ripping a little.

I live just south of Indianapolis and today is the 500. I had the TV on while sewing mostly as background noise, I am not a race fan. I just cannot see the thrill of watching a race, honest, i have tried numerous times since moving here in the early 90's. Its hard to not know something about Indycar racing with all the press coverage. I will say I am excited to hear there are 3 ladies racing today, Danica, Sarah, and Milka. Way to go girls! All of you! There have only been six women to start in the 500 and today will have 3 of the six who qualified! Sending them all the positive girl power vibes I can today!

Ok...now out to the garden since its almost noon! :-)

Finishes

First of all the table runner for the Fat Quarter Frenzy Challenge at Quilting in Indiana, I finally butched up :-) and cut into Jennifer's gorgeous fabric. I hope she likes the results! And the Relay for Life charity quilt completed. I was a little disappointed in the amount it brought in, only $280. But the raffle was cut short at the relay by 24 hours, essentially the whole thing, so all the tickets that sold were in the two days prior at work. I'm not happy about what happened, but I am happy with the results of my efforts, it turned out really well.

Retreat goodies

I also wanted to share the favors I made for the retreat. A FQ for everyone, 3 pieces of Lindt Lindor chocolates, (Warning, if you've never tried these and wish to, they're highly addictive!) and some awesome quilting postcards. The postcards were specially made for me by Vicki at Nanasnotecards.tripod.com aren't they wonderful? I plan to return to her again for September's retreat gifties.

And this was the big piece of quilter's candy that everyone received. Everyone seemed to be happy :-)

Retreat May 2008

Wow! Wow! Wow! Another great retreat! I just love meeting up with my friends in northern IN twice a year for our retreats, they are such blasts! Sewing, laughing, eating, ooohing and aaahing, great friends, what could be better?

I did manage to be productive while being social, which is always a bonus! I have several swap blocks done and did manage to work on my Orange Crush. I forgot the quilt to be repaired at home, but that's ok, I'll manage on my own.

We have a challenge every year that is due the next retreat, this year's challenge was to make something that was at least 30" in one direction that represented an emotion or feeling you felt at retreat. Let me tell you, EVERYONE completely outdid themselves. I wish I could post pics of everyone, but my camera was acting up. Although its so hard to pick a favorite, I would have to say this one from Liz represented the feeling of the retreat most concisely for me. Liz showed it to us in two stages, the black and white upper portion first. She said, "This is life." Then she unveiled the lower colorful portion and said, "This is life at the retreat!" What a wonderful interpretation!

This was my previously mentioned secretive challenge piece apparently as I was about to fling it back over the railing :-) My label says, Nestled among the new spring leaves and situated alongside a lake of sparkling blue waters sits a cottage that contains twenty bright lights, glowing glowing orbs of inspiration. Nineteen of which are perfect and one that's a little off center.

Another highlight for me was this beautiful antique quilt that Jody bought at an estate sale. Completely hand quilted and just drop dead gorgeous.

There will be another retreat in September, which just isn't soon enough for me!

No lack of things to do

Another retreat project has appeared! A friend of mine at work has had this quilt for 30+ years and has recently noticed that all of the squares of this fabric are wearing away and she has asked me to repair her quilt. It should be fairly straight forward, replace the squares and reconnect the straight furrow quilting. Now i need to find some really funky fabric so my repaired squares wont stand out as a definite repair. It may not be as dramatic as repairing a masterpiece from the 1840's but to me, its a neat challenge :-)

Retreat Prep, etc.

I am busy preparing for the retreat next week. I have all the components cut for several different projects as well as some swaps I am participating in. My buddy Pam really showed me the light regarding pre-cutting. She amazed me with the amount she accomplished when we first met at retreat several years ago. Everything was organized into plastic bags and she just sewed her little heart out. No waiting in lines at the cutting mats, the irons and boards were used to press block components and not pre-pressing yardage, always something available to work on even if just for a couple minutes here and there. So my to-do tote is filling up, we'll just see how much I actually get accomplished!

Jennifer's fabrics and prototype woven table runner (previous post) are still hanging on the design wall mocking me :-)

The purple and green charity quilt for Relay for Life is still on the frame 25% quilted.

With so much to do, what am I doing here? I had better get to sewing!

I am normally not a chicken!

I love participating in quilting challenges of all kinds. I have used fabric belonging to other people, I have used UFOs belonging to other people, I have used a challenging fabric, and I have designed quilts based on a concept, however this challenge has me really nervous.

The challenge is Fat Quarter Frenzy from Quilting in Indiana. We have exchanged 4 coordinating FQs and we're to make something from those FQs alone without any additional fabric.

I have always wanted to try weaving fabric, so I thought this would be an awesome way to try the technique out by making table runner. But before I slashed through Jennifer's fabric, I wanted to make a sample from my own FQs.

In progress:

Finished with Jennifer's fabrics intended for the "real" one:

Now I am faced with a few problems/questions.

#1 The finished size shown is 35"x12" and I used every bit of the FQs to accomplish this. Unless I wanted to cut the length down to around 20" I will still need most of the fabric supplied which leaves me next to none for binding unless I wanted to piece it. My solution is to buy prepackaged binding and call it embellishment :-)

#2 The large floral print is frightening to me, will it remain cohesive looking if only 1¼" square blocks are showing?

#3 The fabric strips are fused to a fusible webbing, because I am not allowed to use any extra fabric, I will not be able to back it, will the non fusible side provide enough strength to make the table runner usable?

#4 How long will the fusible hold? I really do not want to use batting and quilt it because I will lose the braided effect if I stitch it down. Also, stitching off every strip is a bit of a pain, I am considering using a Heat and Bond tape, but once again, how long will it hold?

If you have an answer or comment to anything, please post, I'd like all the help I can get! Thank you!

a meme

From Floribunda

1. If you were to attend a costume party tonight, as what or whom would you go?
Ghost...I think I have a clean sheet! :-)

2. What are your choice of toppings on a hamburger? And do you prefer gas or charcoal grilling? The standard is lettuce, tomato, Mayo and pickles. I prefer gas for convenience, but charcoal for flavor.

3. You are chosen to have lunch with the President. The condition is you only get to ask one question. What do you ask?
Are you proud of what will be written in the history books about you?

4. It’s your first day of vacation, what are you doing?
Napping.

5. What is your concession stand must-have at the movies?
Have not been to the movies in years, I'm a rent them months later kind of person. So I'd say nothing.

6. How long was it from ‘the first date’ until the proposal of marriage? How long until the wedding?
Hehe, first date Sunday, moved in together Tuesday, pregnant with twins 2 months later, six years until his divorce, proposal as we left the lawyers office, wedding a month later when we both could get off work at the same time.

7. What is one quality that you really appreciate in a person?
Honesty.

8. Everyone hears discussions that they consider boring. What topic can put you to sleep quicker than any other?
Religion.

9. If you had to have the same topping on your vanilla ice cream for the rest of your life, what topping would you choose? Strawberry topping.

10. What food item would need to be removed from the market altogether in order for you to live a healthier, longer life?
All white flour products.

...Feel free to tag yourself for this meme if you need something to write about today. If you do, leave a comment and let me know.

Knock on wood, I'm actually ahead

Here we have step 1 of the Orange Crush Mystery at Quiltville. Now I'm anxiously awaiting on step 2. Naturally I went shopping in the stash for coordinating fabrics, no sense in making a scrap quilt from assorted scraps and then buying coordinating fabric. I have been thinking that I'd like to try something a little brighter than normal which is why I decided to use the fabrics shown.

Also, this is a RxR from Mailblocks....sure doesn't look like a RxR does it? Well Mindi has decided to use some blocks from a previous blue, black and white swap as a starter and wants to add more to it to make a full size quilt for her son. So I pulled out all of my non girly looking blues and just had some fun making different blocks. (please forgive the crappy photo)

Cursing Myself

"Oh My, not another mystery!" I say to Myself. Myself says back, "Hush, dont worry, its not another mystery quilt I am loading upon you, its two!"

Bonnie at Quiltville's Orange Crush Mystery

and

Gayle at Sentimental Stitches Shipshewana Amish