Christmas swap top completed!

I finally made a decision about the borders after much deliberation and several inputs - thanks everyone! I opted for a narrow inner border in cream, with the green holly fabric as a larger outer border. I'm pleased with how it turned out. I'll probably bind it in either cream or red - or maybe mix it up like a candy cane? That might be too much. We'll see. I'm glad I finally got this done - I've had the borders cut and sitting on my ironing board for a month. It's about time!

It turned out much larger than I had thought it would be in my head, oh well! I'm holding it up as high as I can, and I'm 5'8" - DH couldn't even get it all in the picture. Sorry the color is a bit off, but you can get the idea.

Miniature Booty Swap Quiltlet

I got my quiltlet done tonight for the Miniature Booty Swap. I'm running a bit behind (today was the mail date), but it'll go out tomorrow so it should be A-OK. This swap was a kitchen quilt swap - and in addition to the quiltlet, we had to come up with a dishtowel to coordinate. I made a little crocheted one with variegated red/white yarn, to be used as a dishcloth for washing dishes rather than drying them. The yarn started out making kind of a cool pattern, but then it changed. I tried to square it up when done, but alas, no luck. It also has bits of pink where the colors transition...I hope it's okay!


My partner said she has retro red, white, and yellow in her kitchen, so when I saw the little bee fabric (a 30's repro I actually LIKE) I knew it was perfect! I like vertical layouts on quilts, but don't usually make them, so I decided to do it here. I left the inner columns (note: I *hate* that quilting instructions call them "vertical rows"!) shorter on purpose, to draw attention to the vertical aspect. It is just quilted in the ditch, and backing fabric is the WoW of the front, which has little line hearts on it.

Miniature Quilt

I got my quiltlet done tonight for the Miniature Booty Swap. I'm running a bit behind (today was the mail date), but it'll go out tomorrow so it should be A-OK. This swap was a kitchen quilt swap - and in addition to the quiltlet, we had to come up with a dishtowel to coordinate. I made a little crocheted one with variegated red/white yarn, to be used as a dishcloth for washing dishes rather than drying them. The yarn started out making kind of a cool pattern, but then it changed. I tried to square it up when done, but alas, no luck. I hope it's okay!


My partner said she has retro red, white, and yellow in her kitchen, so when I saw the little bee fabric (a 30's repro I actually LIKE) I knew it was perfect! I like vertical layouts on quilts, but don't usually make them, so I decided to do it here. I left the inner columns (note: I *hate* that quilting instructions call them "vertical rows"!) shorter on purpose, to draw attention to the vertical aspect. It is just quilted in the ditch, and backing fabric is the WoW of the front, which has little line hearts on it.

I'll post a pic

Another top done!

I started this top about a year ago with the intent of giving it to my friend's daughter Leah on her first birthday, which is tomorrow (as is the party). You may remember I made this pattern in the same colors, but reversed, awhile back for older sister Shannon's first birthday. I've been so swamped, I knew I wasn't going to finish in time. Thankfully, Molly (the mom) understands. :D I did get the top done tonight, though, so that's something! I have some fun flamingo fabric for the back (sort of like I did for Shannon's quilt!) that I'll take pictures of when the whole thing is complete.

Fabrics close-up:

Hawaiian Quilt

I finally have a (mini) Hawaiian quilt in the works. I have wanted to make one of these since I first saw one, but a) wanted my applique to look decent, and b) I wanted to know how to hand-quilt. (A) is still something of an issue, but I can do reverse applique ok - even with needleturn! Whee. I am taking this with me as we travel for Christmas, so I have something small for handwork. Here's a sneak peek:

The colors are a deep, purple-y blue and bright turquoise. Traditional Hawaiian quilts are made of two contrasting solids - these are true solids, but they "read" like solids. I love the colors. :D

AAQG Show

The Austin Area Quilt Guild biennial show was this weekend. There were lots of great quilts, including many made by friends and fellow bee-members. I did some volunteer work, including check-out at the end which was crazy hectic. My mom came down on Saturday from Dallas for the show. She behaved herself well overall, but some things are just never going to change...

I found multicolored variegated embroidery floss, which made me very happy! I also got three more mini wholecloth pre-printed quilt tops, a Halloween embroidery pattern, and a needleworked scissor case handmade by a guild member and sold in the boutique (all proceeds go to the guild). I'll put pictures up tomorrow, as the camera is currently dead and I need to look for the extra batteries.

Here are a few of the quilts. I didn't get pictures of all of them (there were more than 400!), but I got quite a few and put them up in a Photobucket album.

Here was the Best In Show. It also won Excellence in Design and 1st place in the Art Quilt Category. It was made by Bill Horne, who works at The Quilt Store here in Austin. He's the first male quilter to win a BIS in Texas!


Here are my two quilts! I met my goal of not getting reamed by the judges. I have a few minor things to work on but overall I got good comments. I even got a "lovely hand stitching" from a judge who is known to have a critical eye for handquilting! Whee!


(My little one blended into the grey curtain, bah.) Not a good picture - can't see the wholecloth design! Oh well.


Here are my favorite two - the picture came out small on one of them, though:


Here's a close-up:


This Hawaiian quilt got Excellence in Hand Quilting and 1st in the large applique cateogory. This is my long-term quilting goal - to make a Hawaiian quilt. I can only hope it will be as intricate and beautiful as this one:

Show Quilts...DONE!

Yay! The Austin Area Quilt Guild show is this weekend. Colorblind Coffee will be entered under the handquilting category, and Steely Sun will be under the kit category. I just finished putting the sleeve on CBC tonight.

Label:


It's done!


Close-up of quilting on front:


Close-up of border quilting design:


Everyone seems to like the quilting pattern viewed from the back of the quilt:


Steely Sun. It's only 16" square!


Close-up of design and quilting: