A Mystery Quilt Solved

I'm finally at home for a few months.  Time for blogging (I hope).  We have been busy since March.  First a cruise through the Panama Canal (gone almost 3 weeks).  Next we were home for a few weeks and then spent five weeks in Kentucky.  We were home for a week and then it was off to Seattle and a cruise to Alaska with our son and his family.  I'll try to post photos later in the summer.

While in Kentucky I attended a quilt retreat and met the chair of their local quilt guild (Martha).  She invited me to their May meeting.  They were going to be making a mystery quilt.  I got the instructions and went shopping for my fabric.  Most were using fabric strips from their stash but my stash was in Arizona.  Once I had my fabric for the strips, I decided on gray as the background fabric.   It was difficult to choose fabric not knowing how the finished quilt was going to look.  But I think I did a pretty good job of selecting the fabrics.  The pattern is called Bento Box.

We did two blocks at the meeting under the direction of Denise.  I brought it home and finished it a few weeks ago.  I really like it and it will become a graduation quilt when I get it quilted.

May Swap for All Seasons

The theme for this month's Swap for All Seasons was Wedding.  Color was Ivory/White.  I decided to feature black also.  This month I send my swap items to Jayne.  Her favorite card style is vintage.  The image below is from a vintage shower invitation.  I used it on this month's tag.

 Below is the card I designed using a vintage image from the web.  I decided to add lace, flowers and scrabble letters.

We also send de-stash items  in the month's colors.  I decided to include this photo from an album I purchased on Ebay a number of years ago.  I cut the page from the album.  The words "newly wed" are written to the side. Also  names of the bride and groom.   The photo is 1940's.  Thought this would add a special vintage look to the package.

Here are the remaining de-stash items.   Lots of black/white/ivory.

To continue the vintage theme, I decided to use a vintage scarf as my packaging this month.  You can see the before and ready for mailing below.  I did cheat a little because the scarf also has pink in addition to the black and white.  I hope Jayne doesn't mind!

If you would like to participate in a Swap for Seasons, click on the link above.  Sign-ups are the first of each month and mail by the end of the month.  Looking forward to June's swap.

Honorable Mention Arizona Quilt Guild 2014

I recently entered my quilt in the 2014 Arizona Quilt Show.  This was the first time I had entered a quilt in competition.  Imagine my surprise when I received a call that my quilt had won an award.  I was invited to bring a friend to the awards ceremony prior to the opening of the show.  How exciting!

I won Honorable Mention in the Embroidery Category.  I posted about this quilt previously.  The design is Anita Goodesign's Great Outdoors.  Borders are Mix and Match Quilting.  Also by Anita Goodesigns.  I'm considering entering the quilt in another show this summer but haven't decided yet.

It was nice to see that other's appreciate the work I do.  My sister has told me for years that I should enter my quilts in competition but this was the first time I listened to her. 

If you haven't attended a Quilt Show, I encourage you to go.  There are many wonderful "works of art" to see.  Many of today's quilts are designed and quilted using the latest in technology.  Digitized designs are very popular today in  both machine embroidery and long arm quilting.  As a friend and new quilter commented after the show "the designs are very simple but it's the quilting that takes it to another level".  If you are a traditionalist, you will see beautiful traditional quilts also.

Sudoku Quilt Finished

I finished this Sudoku Quilt this week.  It is for a granddaughter who is graduating from high school.  I began the quilt last fall and waited until this spring to do the quilting.  We delivered the quilt yesterday and she was thrilled.

You can see one of the squares above.  I decided to use my Janome 15000 to do the decorative quilting.  I used Coats and Clark Multicolor Thread.

 

You can see a closeup of the design above.

 

 

I used one of the decorative stitched on the 15000 to stitch two lines of quilting along the border.

This was a fun quilt to make and I'm very pleased with the results.

 

I have a new computer and photo program.  Please excuse the photos.  Hopefully I'll get better at this.

 

 

 

 

Spring Swap for All Seasons

 

The theme for our March Swap was Spring and the color yellow.  I recently sent my swap to partner Debbie of Kitten Creates in Ohio.  The image above is a vintage flash card from a reading program.  I added the Happy Spring stamp.

 

Here is the card I made for Debbie.  The image is copied from a vintage Easter card.  The background is lace from my stash and hand stitched on to the card.  I added flowers and butterfly as embellishments.  Added a strip of coordinating paper to the envelop and added Happy Spring stamp.

 

Here is the tag.

 

The images are from my vintage pattern collection.  The is no date on the pattern but the envelope is very small and gray paper with the color images attached with glue.  The seam allowances are 3/8" instead of the standard 5/8".   Wish I knew the exact date.  I'm sure some research on my part would solve the mystery!

 

 

Here are Yellow stash items I included in the package.  The fabrics are 30s repo fabrics.  Debbie is currently working on a couple of quilt projects and I wanted to include some fabric for her.  The flower in the upper right is a Japanese Kanzashi Fabric Flower that I made in a class a few years ago.  Perfect to include in my yellow stash items.

 

 

Ready for packing into the package I made from the flash card above and a folder.

 

I cut the top from a yellow folder, added the flash card, and sewed ribbon around the two sides for a handle.  All the items fit perfectly into the pocket. 

 

Thanks for Linda for another wonderful swap.  You can sign up for the April Swap on April 1st by following the link at the top of my blog. 

 

Happy Spring.  I will be taking a blog break and will be back in a month or so.  Exciting things happening here and there!!!!

 

 

 

Valentines for Marie

 

This month's Swap for All Season's theme was Valentines and the color was red.  Here is the card I

made for Marie.  The old photo is from my collection, I downloaded the Bingo card and added the embellishments (buttons, lace, tag, and hand dyed ribbon from Debbie).  I stamped an image on a brown envelope to complete the card.

 

 

I stamped small hearts on a hand dyed tag from Debbie.  (Debbie was my partner in an earlier swap and I received the tag and ribbon as a part of the destash).  The image is a vintage Valentine card from my collection.  The original was a teacher's card and I removed the teacher part.

 

 

These are my red destash items.  I again used vintage Valentine image from my collection on the note pad. 

 

Packaged and ready to mail.

 

 

 

 

I decided to use a brown paper bag as my packaging.  I remembered using paper bags in grade school for Valentine exchanges and thought I would continue this theme into my packaging.   Marie received the package yesterday and was pleased.  This was a fun swap.  You too can join in the fun by clicking on the Swap for All Seasons link at the top of the blog.

 

 

 

 

Vintage Fabric Pillows

I found this vintage fabric stashed on a shelf while putting away Christmas.  I had completely forgotten about this wonderful fabric.  I immediately knew what I wanted to do with it.  Throw pillows for the love seat.  It has the perfect colors.

Looks great with the walnut Pottery Barn canvas slip covers.  I love those vibrant colors.  They are a perfect compliment to the dining area leather chairs.

I already had this feed sack table runner on the table.  Isn't that pear great.  I found it at Home Goods.  I won the feed sacks in a blog give away a few years ago.  I made them into this table runner.  It is perfect for the dining room table and it too compliments the leather dining chairs.

I'm linking to Vintage Thingie Thursday. What's It Wednesday.