The Farmer's Wife and Sylvia

So, have you heard about the Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long. You know, the one that everyone is doing. I mean everyone. Moda Lissa, Camille at Thimbleblossoms, and of course the creators of the quilt along, Angela and Amanda (http://fussycut.blogspot.com/p/shop.html and http://msmcporkchopquilts.com/?p=1138). I have been waiting to start my farmer's wife until I finished my Sylvia's bridal sampler quilt by Jennifer Chavarreni (not sure that is spelled correctly, and I am a bit too lazy to check on it at the moment).

Sylvia's Bridal Sampler quilt is a collection of 130 - 6" blocks, about 80% traditional pieced, 10% applique and 10% paper pieced. So, in an effort to get Sylvia finished and the Farmer's Wife done, I'm going to try to get these done each week, and keep up. SO, wish me luck...

Here are the first 5 blocks from Sylvia's....now to get to work on the Farmer's Wife....oh, and work on a curriculum for EQ, and some supply lists....yeah, this never ends.

The other things I have been working on

So, a few of you know about my aversion to binding.....as in, I just don't like it. I'm not really sure why I don't like it, it's not like its hard, or time consuming. Its more that its the end of the journey, and I only really like to put the binding on when the quilt is leaving me, off to a new home to be used and loved by someone else. As a result, I have lots of quilts that have no binding on them, even though the binding in made (that is one of the rules, if you remember from an earlier post). There is just something so final about putting on the binding and pushing the bird out of the nest to another place. This propensity to not apply binding was no big deal when I was just quilting for fun, but now, my bad habit is a bit problematic, as in, I have a booth with 10 quilts in it, but only 3 of them have binding.....not exactly professional, so I'm trying to get better and get the binding on before I take any pics, and before I hang it in the booth.

So, this week, I put binding on several quilts, 3 to be exact. I haven't had a chance to get any decent pics of the quilts, but I did take some pics of the items I use for binding....specifically the thread that I insist upon using for binding. DMC 50 weight, manufactured in France in 180 colors, so you will have the EXACT color match, whether you are matching the border, binding or the backing. I'll do a tutorial on binding soon, and talk about preventing "snake belly" binding, but for now, just some pics of the tools that I love.

Yippee!!! This one is actually done and ready to head off to Colorado.

Celebration Tree Skirt -- My favorite quilt I have ever made

And it isn't even a quilt, according to my mother. She uses the following elements to indicate that it is not a quilt.

1. It does not fit on a bed.
2. It is round, which is not a quilty shape.
3. A quilt goes on top of a bed, this goes under a tree.
4. It can't qualify as a wallhanging, as you can't hang it because of its round shape.

As a result, she has indicated that it should really come it live with her, since it isn't a quilt. She is perfectly happy to give it a home, despite its "lack" of quiltiness.

Unfortunately, I think she will be disappointed, as I never want to let it go.....I dropped it off at a shop a couple of weeks ago, and I literally had separation anxiety. I LOVE IT that much. Seriously, my favorite non-quilt ever.

and here are some closeups of it, the quilting is absolutely fabulous (thanks to my very favorite longarmer, Shawn York of Rusty Crow). Shawn did a fantastic micro-stipple in the background, and changed threads and designs for each component....little christmas trees in the geese, snowflakes in the outer border spikes, and a huge poinsettia in the very middle. Absolutely STUNNING as usual! Seriously folks, a great long armer gives your quilt a whole new life.

So, I'll be teaching this one around town this fall, so if you are interested drop me a line at catherine@queeniequilts.com or check the schedule on the website.

See you soon,
Cat

Unexpected Absence

So, I have been away for a while, unintentionally away....nothing wrong, just crazy busy trying to get caught up and then trying to get started on the new patterns for market, finally making some progress and getting things under control, and finally starting to feel like it is all coming together. I have come to understand the word persistence, or perseverance. Head down and eyes on the road, and just keep going, and trust that it will all work out.

Thankfully, while it has been lots of work, it has been fun as well, so I can't really complain! So, here are the successes of the past few weeks.

Seasonal Tablerunner - Christmas of Course

  and the quick one.....

Dancing with the Stars Tablerunner

 I also got a couple of tops pieced and off to the quilter, hopefully I will get them back in the next few weeks and I'll post them.

Happy Sewing All -- I promise I'll stop in more often!