Monday Morning Design Wall 5/13/2013

 Well, my design wall is rather boring this week!  I have my four borders ready to go and also prepared another Grape Escape block (see last picture below) but.....it is not like I did not have an exciting weekend.  I won Best of Show, First Place for Applique Division and Best Applique (and First Place for the section) for my applique quilt, My Whimsical Quilt Garden at Dixon MayFair in Dixon California.  I was so shocked, as a friend of mine told me I had won best of Division, not the entire show!!  She hid the information  My other quilt, Miss Kyra, won First Place.  Well, I cannot wait until the county fair....just to see how they do!   This just makes me want to do more applique!!

Monday Morning Design Wall 5/6/2013

 

 Another fantastic week, well for quilting progress anyway!!  I got two of my borders for my Miss Emilie's Garden quilt ready by be sewn down.  I have the next two borders ready to go, well ready to prepare anyway.  So excited!!  This quilt looks great!!  The weekend was busy for many reasons, my high school senior, Nicolas, went to his Prom with a date!!   I rented him a tuxedo and he looked great.  He declined my offer to pay for a hair cut, sigh, but I am not going to die on that hill!!  He is the one with the long red hair!  Parents, warn your kids not to leave their wallets in their jacket pockets.  Nicolas had his wallet stolen at the prom but it was found (sans money) and at least we will get his license back.  He learned his lesson!!

My husband was attending our Boy Scout Camporee  with our youngest boy this weekend and our troop took home the top award for the 6th year in a row.  Yeah Troop 466!!   My wonderful husband rushed home from camping to drive into San Francisco on Sunday morning with me (1.5 hours away) and our son to check out an apartment for our son who has an internship in the city for the summer.  The rent was $2300 a month, furnished, for a room the size of his bedroom.....and he would have to share with a friend.  Yikes.  Too small and the furniture could not be changed.  He is checking Craigslist and is hoping to find something near the financial district but I am not holding my breath!!  America's Cup is in San Francisco this summer and all the short term rentals are gone.  The picture below was taken from the window at the end of the bed looking toward the kitchenette!!   I have high hopes for this week of quilt work!!  I will get so much done as I pre-made dinners for days this weekend!!  Check out Judy's blog and see the rest of the design walls!! 

Monday Morning Design Wall 4/29/2013

 Ok, whole new quilt on the design wall.  This is "LAST" Nicolas' Graduation Quilt.  The pattern is from Quiltmaker, May/June 2013 and the pattern is called Over Under (page 39).  I showed my very disinterested 18 year old the pattern and asked him to pick colors but he could have cared less and just said to get the same colors.  I got a bright green, teal, lighter blue and a green yellow.  I ordered two colors of Kona Cotton, black and Pepper, and the pepper looked so much better!!  The quilt is larger than I wanted so I cut back on the numbers of squares (the pattern has 7, I only did 5) and I even left off the last row of squares.  It was too large for my design wall if I tried to add the last row.  This allows for a bottom border, with his name in large letters!!  I will be forced to use the extra blocks, (see below) in some project, but then I could always make another quilt using other fabrics!!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               I also had time to get the first border on the graduation quilt for my friend's daughter ready.  I will need to do the second border, which will contain her last name and then miter the borders....and everything else!! Don't worry, I am still working on applique but not finishing or starting anything right now!!  Don't forget to check out Judy's blog and all the other design walls. 

Monday Morning Design Wall 4/22/2013

Good Morning!!  Wow, I had a great week.  I successfully finished both quilts for Dixon Mayfair and they were turned in on time!  Yippee!  Now, since I discovered so much free time (in my dreams) I started the top for a friend of mine's daughter, who is graduating high school in June.  I love the pattern, Boho Girl from the May/June 2013 issue of McCall's Quilting magazine.  Some of the fabric is what she picked out while on a trip to Hawaii last year and I brought in a few batiks that worked with those purples.  She wanted green and purple and I think it worked well.  I love the little strips of white and there will be a small white border but I would love to personalize the border with her name so it will be a bit of a challenge.  I think two sides will be colored and two sides will be white, mitered with her name in the colors on the white. Ohh, I think that will work!!  Don't forget to check out Judy's blog to see the rest of the design walls!!

Design Wall Monday 4/15/2013

Happy Monday!!  I am still reeling from the weekend of work....I worked on my Whimsical Quilt Garden quilt from 6:30 Sunday morning until 10 p.m. Sunday night but I got every square done!  I also did most of the work on the border and got the quilt bound!!  Yea!!  I have a picture of the border, which turned out really well but it still needs a bit more work.  I just need to work on the portion of the border between the pink strip and the quilted border elements so they pop like the bottom area.  This quilt is due at Dixon MayFair on Saturday so I need to get it done and get the hanging sleeve on asap!!  Don't forget to check out the rest of the design walls on Judy's blog!

Monday Morning Design Wall 4/8/2013

 Well, I had a great couple of weeks!  My two younger boys just got back from New Mexico and a week long church trip where they were repairing houses on an Indian reservation.  They both came home with stomach flu but they said they had fun before they got sick! I was able to get the body of my son's high school graduation quilt done but meanwhile my daughter said it "Does not look like Nicolas".  So I guess I hit the design paper again and try for a more masculine quilt.  I still like it!!  But it might be better for a girl.   I also am finishing up my corners of my Baltimore Album, so close to being done!!  And below, I am frantically finishing up machine quilting My Whimsical Quilt Garden, as I entered it in Dixon Mayfair and I need to turn it in to the judging in less than two weeks!!  I picked a basket weave background and it is taking quite a bit of time to do 24 blocks and a detailed border!!  I may have to skip the beading on this one.  Well, Happy Monday everyone and check out Judy's blog to see the rest of the walls!

Monday Morning Design Wall 3/25/2013

 Happy Monday!  Running a bit late today as I was unable to get my pictures uploaded.  I did what I could and now I will just move on!  I spent the weekend in Chicago, well, more specifically, Glenview Illinois, just north of Chicago.  My family was celebrating my brothers 50th birthday, Happy Birthday Doug!!  I did hit a quilt shop and found a fantastic bead shop in the next town.  I also broke into my grandmothers cedar chest, using a hair pin and found the most beautiful linens, which she hand embroidered in the 1920's to the 1950's I would guess.  Wow, I cannot wait to work on a whole cloth quilt using the beautiful linens.  Check out Judy's blog and see the rest of the design walls!!