Five Shadows

This little quiltie will be added to a butterfly theme canvas bag as a pocket. I used Lumiere paint by Jacquard in turquoise and plum. This is for a friend who loves purples and all things glitter. So I decided to try the Lumiere paint as a base, then stenciled the butterfly and leaves, coloring them in with fabric markers. I added a turquoise selvage edge, several ribbons and a button. In the upper left corner, can you read the word ‘charmed’ on the selvage? That word suits my friend!

This Altered Canvas bag swap should be winding down about now - bags are due back to their owners in September. But I have not seen the 11 bags I’m to work on! Looking over my past posts, I think I have only received and worked on 8 bags! Yikes! I wonder who is holding them up? I have three more bags to work on….

The quilt tops I pieced for my parents should be returning to me soon from the longarm quilter. I’ve been making flower yo-yos with this nifty little gadget. I appliqued a vine on the quilt for my Mom and will add leaves, traditional yo-yos, and the flower ones as well. This is one of those acts of love - as yo-yos are not really my style, but something my Mom will most definitely love.

I did see a really cool use of yo-yos on Calamity Kim’s website. Check out her purse! Hmm! Maybe yo-yos are my style after all!

Here are fabrics for my next quilt. Fairies! I purchased the fairy fabric from Engine House Quilt Shop. And the blues and greens come from Pieced Together Quilt Shop. Both are lovely shops here in Indiana. Fun owners!

I sent this little 12″ square quiltie off in the mail yesterday to meet the deadline for Lenna’s Fabric Technique Swap. The idea behind the swap was to try out some new-to-you techniques. I had planned a go at needle felting, but then my last issue to Belle Armoire arrived in the mail. I used Roberta Morgan’s technique for using alcohol inks on fabric - pages 40-43. Great article and a fun, simple technique! I also did hand stamping, foil, beading, and free motion quilting.

I’m so happy to show this quilt top which has actually been on my  to-do list for TWO years!  That’s right ladies, two years! I planned this quilt two years ago to make for my  friend, Ria, who lives in South Africa! She was here visiting at the time, and asked if I would make a quilt for her. Of course I said yes! She picked the block pattern and then headed for home.  I started buying fabrics. But never got around to starting the quilt until I received an email saying she was coming to visit the end of March.  Yikes! I had to get busy! But when I pulled out the bag of collected fabric, I knew it was just not bright and bold enough for Ria, so off I go shopping for the right fabric. I completed the top on Monday. I headed back to my local quilt shop on Tuesday for fabric for the back and finished it up at about mid-night last night. This morning I created the label and took the top and back to a mutual friend who volunteered to do the long-arm quilting as her part of the gift quilt to Ria. I should get it back next week when I will then add the binding. I’ll show better pictures of the quilt and back once it is quilted. This pic will have to do for now.

Block name: Spinners. From The Thimbleberries Guild for Weekend Quilters. This is so not Thimbleberries fabric! Kittie Juno checking out the quilt.

Last month I attended a 5 day quilting retreat. There are 12 of us who rent a local camp lodge , cabin, and dorm, in a pretty setting out in the country. We sew in the lodge, setting up tables around a lovely, huge rustic fireplace. We take turns preparing meals. I provided the first evening meal of chicken tortellini soup, veggie crab soup, deli wraps, and black bottom cake. Then I was free of kitchen duty for the rest of the days! Uninterrupted sewing time! I think the ladies try to out do each other in the meals they provide! We had such good ‘eats’ all the time. We only do two meals a day. A brunch and a supper. And then snack in between if you can’t wait for supper! tee hee I snacked too much on yummy chocolates! We had one gal that prepared two classes which I opted to not participate in. My goal was to complete several tops in progress. Here is how I did - - -

Union Star using Civil War reproduction fabrics

Union Star

Turtle Quilt

River City 9-Patch from 9-Patch Reunion quilt book

One of the latest quilts I have been working on is a joint effort with a quilting buddy. We are making a quilt for Sensory Critters, which will be donated to the Autism Speaks spring 2009 silent auction. Our local quilt shop gave us a discount on the fabric for the quilt. And a local long-arm quilter did the spiral quilting at a discount price as well. I’ll show a picture of the whole quilt once I complete the binding. But here are two teasers. 

Such a busy day. A friend was holding a craft day at the lodge at StillWater Retreat. She asked us to bring a salad to share for lunch and she provided desserts.Then for the evening meal she provided homemade soups and breads. I had a doctor’s appt so had to leave soon after lunch. Then I grocery shopped for the concessions for my daughters’ volleyball game that was earlier tonight. Got home and the girls helped me prepare the food. After the games, I headed back out to the retreat and worked on the second of two coordinating twin quilts. I got home soon after midnight and should have gone to bed. But with the fam all sound asleep I’ve been playing around on the internet with no interruptions  :-)  visiting blogs and hopping around. It was a long day, a nice day - minus the prednisone injection into my right ear - through the eardrum! Ouch! I’ll save that story for another post.