Splendid Sampler

Like about a million people on Facebook I have decided to join Pat Sloan's year long Splendid Sampler. (I finally started hiding the posts because people were getting crazy with comments and posts)
I have a selection of French General fat eighths I bought several years ago. I added a couple background fabrics to the mix.

 Surprisingly, I have the first two blocks completed!

As an aside, I am very frustrated right now. I had to delete Live Writer from my laptop and now I can't reinstall it.  I am writing this on the blogger app which is NO fun! Limited fonts, no photo options and editing is tough! And I hate that my signature has a white background.

Oh well...things could be worse...
 

The February Project

I have been working on the red quilt and the going is s  l  o  w…

I had originally planned to quilt in a variegated gray and I had even tested the thread on a sample of all the fabrics but when I started quilting the quilt –even just outlining the blocks, I did not like it.  I decided to go with red instead. There is a row with a lot of white so I think I will use the gray there. It is beginning to grow on me but I now wish I had thought to use the mono filament polyester thread.

Grid quilting the blocks took me two days.  The quilt is bulky and heavy.  I was able to keep the quilt rolled while doing that part but quilting the individual blocks is another story.

I pulled out my table and set up my ironing board on the left.  There is lots of turning and adjusting to do so I spend a lot of time getting up and pulling the quilt through the machine.  After a bit, my arms are tired so I have to take a break.  I keep thinking of the riddle, How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time…

In the evenings, I also do my knitting.  I have a couple of projects I am working on but this one is the most exciting:

It is a baby blanket for Lauren and Jeff’s baby! Yay!

The blue is a provisional cast-on and this is what the blanket will look like (I hope!):

I haven’t picked out a quilt pattern yet but I have until July. 
I can’t wait!
Diane

Thumbstall Quilt Guild

Last weekend was my quilt guild’s bi-annual quilt show. Admittedly, I have not been active in the guild lately; I did go to see our beautiful quilts, visit with old friends, and work a shift at the door. I did not put anything in the show but I did admire some great work from our members.

I thought I would put the pictures in the slide show mode.  I won’t bore you with lots of chatter but I will explain a couple of the pictures:  the first few are from our guild challenge to the members. There is also a display from the NY consortium guild honoring our great state.  Finally check out our Quilts of Valor and Annie Laurie’s fish quilt (the picture with my hand behind the cut out applique!

 

		Thumbstall Quilt Show 2014 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Enjoy!

Diane

Kimberly’s Garden

I loved this fabric when it came into the shop so I made this quilt from the free pattern that was on line:

It was not difficult but diagonal settings seem to take much longer to do! Now to get it quilted…

Lauren got us a puzzle for Christmas.  No family dinners for a few days.

I am also working on a present for my friend Mimi whose birthday was New Year’s Day. No pictures yet but I will post pictures after I get it sent out. She is in Florida right now. Obviously, I am not.

All in all a productive day!

Diane