Foothill Quilters Guild Quilt Show

Today Judy, Carol and I attended the Foothill Quilters quilt show

in Auburn, CA

The theme ~ Fruits of our Love & Labor

There were many quilts that were beautifully hand appliqued,

this but one of them that happened to be beautifully machine quilted as well...

plus this one that is machine applique with raw edge

that was done really well

We thought it was interesting that the quilter's photo was included on the placards
 Here is a quilt made from the quilter's photo!

Really cool!

Side note: This quilt was made following a workshop with Sandra Bruce. We met Sandra last night at our guild's meeting as our guest speaker. A pic of this quilt was part of her slideshow. Today is her workshop at HRQ, which filled up quickly! I hope she comes back for another, I would love to take it! Her work is amazing, talented artist as well as quilter. Have fun today Brandie, I am so jealous of all our members that are at the workshop today! Can't wait to see the results! 

Pieced and applique, this one with wool and Civil War repro prints.
 Great use of CW prints showing the variety of color
to made it sparkle along with the wools! 

Again, beautifully machine quilted

Love the really small curved cross hatch!

A few more with wool and applique

More wonderful machine quilting...

And some paper piecing, the one below was very small, maybe 18 x 18!

Another with wonderful machine quilting!
LOVE the curved cross hatch around the center star

A few that we found very interesting ;0)...

We like the layout of this two color quilt with the stars

 A Stack and Wack from one fabric made into Dresden Plates! 

and the one below was Origami 

with folded fabric quilted onto the quilted backing

Just for fun...

Tomorrow I plan to make the new block posted for

Westering Women

with the Civil War fabrics I found today

(oops, forgot, I am on a fabric diet! 8~)

It was just a few FQs!

Enjoy your weekend!

Tot ziens, Jo

UFOs, WIPs and other 3 letter projects

Organizing my thoughts and setting goals for this year. First and foremost, I put myself on a fabric diet, a challenge to only use fabric from my stash. Yea, we all know how that one goes, pretty much the same as a food diet, but will give it a go ;0)

Second is to work on projects that are already in progress ~ WIPs, UFOs and a BOM. I don't get allot of time to work on my own quilts, let alone quilt them, so I plan to make the most of this year to finish what I am able to do. 

My list...

WIP ~ Patchwork City by Elizabeth Harman
Karen started it! and now I am 3 blocks into this sampler, great book/pattern.

2016 BOM ~ Toes in the Sand from Jaybird
 http://www.jaybirdquilts.com/2012/10/introducing-toes-in-sand-block-of-month.html
Kelly is doing this one at Honey Run Quilters starting in April. Come join us!
I have all of my fabrics pulled from my stash. The only thing I will need is 2 more yards of fabric for the background triangles.
 

WIP/BOM ~ finish Calypso, a BOM from 2015. To do: the last outer border, piecing the backing (so I don't buy fabric ;) quilting plus binding and a label for a finish. 

  

UFO ~ a Linda Ballard quilt I started last Spring in one of her workshops. Same day that my Mom took a turn and we spent the rest of the season with Hospice. By summer she passed just 6 months shy of turning 100! I miss her so very much

WIP ~ Moon Glow, a project Beckie and I are working on together. We both started last year and each have been interrupted with other projects. Beckie is working on a French Braid that we worked on together yesterday on my big worktable. It is a gift for a wedding coming up soon. I will be quilting it too. Talk of a second one by Beckie for another family member in May. Beckie has more blocks completed than I do so my goal is to catch up.

BOM ~ Westering Women, 2016 BOM on Barbara Brackman's Civil War blog. My January block is completed. To do: keep up with each month's blocks. I have the second block finished but it needs some tweaking, back to the cutting table!

UFO ~ My Civil War sampler quilt from the BOW that Barbara hosted in 2011. All my blocks have been finished since 2012. To do: decide on a layout and sew the blocks together. 

UFO ~ 1880s Sampler. A project I started following Cheryl Miller's blog as she completed her sampler. Cheryl set up a great tutorial and even sent me the perfect fabric! Sew nice! I have several blocks made. To do: get back to piecing blocks. I even purchased a pattern from Gay at Sentimental Stitches in order to paper piece some of the blocks. Will have to resize them to fit the blocks that are started. I already have all the fabric for the borders and sashing too, so a flimsy would be oh so nice! Completing blocks would be great too :0)

UFO ~ Grandmother's Choice (Votes for Women). A BOW from 201? following the blog Barbara Brackman set up. Several blocks are completed. To do: finish more blocks. 

UFO ~ JT2. This one is way down the list because it Just Takes forever! A project done with Gay at Sentimental Stitches and Brenda of Dear Jane fame in 201? To do: Finish as many blocks as I can with the fabric I have on hand and call it good.

There are tabs for each of the UFOs under my header, if you are interested in pix. There are, of course, others that may get thrown back on the list, will see how it goes...

Considering it's almost the end of February, 

I better get going! Enjoy your Sunday 

Tot ziens, Jo

Be Mine, Valentine

Last weekend I started a couple of little Valentine projects

to give to family and friends

 

Idea came from The Quilt Show's newsletter with

Heart Blossoms by Ricky Tims

There is a .pdf that you can download from there

It's also tagged on my Pinterest board

I reduced the original by 80%

Cut out batik pieces with fusible, added machine applique stitches

along with a few decorative stitches

 

 

Layered with batting scraps (I have lots of those ;) & a backing

A little FMQ on my sit down with some bright Fantastico threads

A faux binding using the backing 

and finished several, here are 3 of them

A few were given to my BQFFs yesterday

Michael is already using his as a mouse pad

Happy Valentine's weekend!

Tot ziens, Jo

Westering Women ~ Independence Square

Independence Square ~ Block 1

Westering Women 

First block for Westering Women finished this evening! Yea! I jumped off the fence! Independence Square is the first block for Barbara Brackman's 2016 BOM on her Civil War blog. Great photos and history about the families that traveled West in wagon trains in the 19th century are included on Barbara's blog.  

The original Flickr site set up in 2011 for the Civil War Sampler is still in use and has more photos posted of finished blocks for this new BOM as well as last years Stars in a Time Warp. It's been awhile since I worked with eight inch measurements and cutting! A little rusty and I didn't get the best intersections ;0( I actually surprised myself that I remembered how to post my pic to the flickr site! Anyway, here I go starting a new quilt, pulled from stash. Block is done, now I have the rest of the month to set some goals and finish some UFOs. Life is good! Enjoy your week, take the time to make some stitches.

Tot Ziens, Jo