Calypso progress

Over the weekend and a little more progress last night I have a design that is working for me. Calypso Kaleidoscope is a 2015 BOM with the last block scheduled for December. Long story short, I went off on my own :0) with a goal for a flimsy this Fall. Brandie challenged me to have it ready for our guild's upcoming quilt show. Wow, stress... no thank you! There are too many quilts here in my studio that are scheduled to be quilted for the show already including one of my own. So I am taking a breath and enjoying the process of the design. 

This is my favorite block and will be the corners of the quilt. 

This is where I'm headed with three different star patterns plus the corner pinwheel.

To see the original quilt layout, it's pictured in the two previous posts. Thank you to Stephanie of Quilt Addicts Anonymous for hosting the 2015 Calypso Kaleidoscope BOM that got me hooked on this quilt and to Lynn Wilder of Sew'n Wild Oaks for a great workshop, Patchwork Math that took me on my own path :0) Last night I worked on the corners for the inner border (that I had already changed from a picket fence to a zig zag design) that goes around the center medallion. Fun!

For now it is up on my design wall to ponder as I longarm quilts for the show as well as samples for PIQF that is coming up very very soon. Loving this change in the weather! Makes working on quilts allot more comfortable these daze.  Also helping with the terrible fires here in California. Thoughts and prayers going out to allot of people as well as the firefighters.

Jim, Nicky and Sandy at the Sew So Shop in Yuba City have put out an email asking for quilts to be given to families of the Lake County fires to let them know we care. Here is a link to the Sew So Shop's web site if you would like to donate. Anyone from the Chico area,  you may contact me, I will be going to the shop. Tot Ziens, Jo 

Calypso Kaleidoscope

Progress, I think or should I say... 

Still a work in progress... Yep that's it!

Every time I walk up to the design wall it changes ;0) 

Quite a change right now from the original BOM I started at the beginning of the year. Here is a link to my last blog post with the center and below a graphic of the original pattern. 

2015 Calypso Kaleidoscope BOM by Quilt Addicts Anonymous

Not sure where mine will go from here but Lynn Wilder and her Patchwork Math workshop has allot to do with the changes!!!

Hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day weekend. Spent time working on my Calypso Kaleidoscope yesterday and Saturday attended a maintenance workshop for my Innova at the Sew So Shop in Yuba City. I learned many things from Jim and Nicky. Looking forward to another workshop with Karen on using Rulers on a longarm. Karen is a very good longarm quilter. I saw some of her work earlier this year at the Yuba City Quilt Show. Wow! Looking forward to spending a day with her! 

Enjoy your week

Tot Ziens, Jo

Yuba City Quilt Show 2015

Brandie and I had a fun afternoon with a drive to Yuba City and attending Valley Quilt Guild's 32nd quilt show. This is the first quilt we were both drawn to in the first isle. Very cute and fun! The theme of the show was 'Not Your Grandma's Quilt' and this quilt fit that theme :0) Brandie loved the flamingos wearing boots. Very cute, Glamping in lots of bright prints! Hand quilted too!

Kim Buzolich was the featured quilter. Her quilts were stunning! She was there with her quilts in the next isle, we loved her work. Lots of machine as well as hand quilting on Hawaiian applique quilts. Kim's most recent work are quilts combining photography and free motion quilting. Gorgeous work and I didn't get one photo, we were so taken meeting Kim and admiring her work. Plus, right then we bumped into a friend that I haven't seen since my return to Chico. Nice! Link to new blog post with pix of Kim's quilts.

From that isle I spied Jim's big smile and headed over to visit the Sew So Shop's booth. I spent allot of time visiting with Jim and Nicky, owners of the shop and my Innova dealer. Caught up on the latest Innova news.  I've been hoping for a longarm event like Birds of a Feather on the west coast. Well that wish may come true later this year... Yea!

Back to quilts... my draw to quilts of course is the machine quilting :0)

Brandie and I both loved this one with piecing and applique. 

I like the cornerstones/sashing and the fill on this one.

 This quilt was just across from it and also beautifully quilted!

 This medallion quilt was fun, 

we both liked how she used the sun in the top and bottom borders.

 Another quilt with Civil War fabrics 

used to make these unusual blocks set on point and more wonderful quilting...

 Named Civil War Stars made by Linda Matsumoto

and quilted by Karen Litvinchuk

Karen Litvinchuk and Quilts by Kathy did allot of the machine quilting for the quilters at this show. Really nice work by both the piecers as well as the longarmers. I'm usually better at documenting who did what but Brandie and I were there for another purpose as well, connecting with vendors and we were getting short on time. We are the vendor chairs for our guild, Annie's Star Quilt Guild and it was nice to meet and greet vendors that will be coming to our show as well as inviting new vendors.

 More quilts, this one had some fun quilting done by it's maker

 A Sue Spargo inspired quilt of birds

I like the beaded neck on this one

and Brandie liked this one below, we both loved their feet :0)

 A second quilt made by Linda M and quilted by Karen Litvinchuk

Love the ruler work Karen did on this quilt

 Nice curved cross hatch on this one

:0(I took a pic of the placard but it's not readable)

 LOVED this one... with it's feathered stars

 Sandy Klop (American Jane) fabrics

 and the quilting WOW! These are some REALLY small stitches!!!

(again, placard is not legible, time for a new camera!)

or operator

One more, a row quilt

Not my favorite style of quilts but I do like this one

Especially with the row of little Swoon blocks :0)

It was a wonderful afternoon

Enjoy the week

Make the time to take some stitches because...

"We will be known forever by the tracks we leave."
Native American Proverb

tot ziens, Jo

Our Favorite Bags

Check out what Beckie and I made this weekend!

 This is Beckie's finished bag

(the bag in the background is made by Stephanie ;0)

My bag in progress

Almost finished, here adding the grommets. This bag ended up so thick that, even with Micheal's help, we had trouble snapping in the grommets. The pattern calls for 8 total and a sash gets threaded thru them. 

Beckie's went on in a snap, literally :0) The little round ones were not so easy and they cracked so I stopped at two. It was really scary cutting holes in the bag at this point and there is no going back! Still have the sash to finish once I decide on the grommet situation.

The green is the fabric I will use for the sash.

The bag has lots of pockets, outside and inside too! Everything has a layer of batting sewn into it so it holds it's shape. Inside looks like a Bucket Boss with 6 pockets. Pattern called for 6 on the outside as well but Beckie and I both decided that 4 large ones would be better for us. Pattern is "The Little My Favorite Bag" by Kati Cupcake. Beckie and I found it last Fall while we were on our own little shop hop visiting Friends Around the Block in Colusa, CA and then Sew So Shop in Yuba City (also my Innova dealer). Pattern for our bags and our fabrics were purchased at the Sew So Shop. 

Love how the two bags look so different from the same pattern, just like quilts. Beckie's leather look fabric that she found in the Sew So Shop made a very classy bag! Mine will be a project bag to hold quilting tools and supplies for workshops.

We had the best Valentine's weekend, sewing a project start to finish, we went out for lunch and Micheal made treats for us plus chocolate! We meet for lunch every Monday along with Donna, Nancy and occasionally more sewists join us. Beckie and I will be sporting our new bags today! Enjoy your day, especially if you have the day off :0) 

Me, off to finish that sash and load a quilt.

Enjoy your President's Day!

Tot Ziens, Jo

Good day for Quilting

A thunderstorm come thru the Chico area last night and it's a bit chilly and cloudy this morning. Good day to stay indoors and quilt! Made good progress this week, both with my goals and my longarm. Binding is sewn on my April goal MidWinter's Blues quilt but not sewn down by hand yet plus I started a new quilt! A kit I picked up last summer at the Sew So Shop in Yuba City while I was deciding on the Innova. Sometimes a girl just needs some instant gratification! 

This is Cactus Flower with the addition of a few of my fabrics to brighten it up! The kit came with all Stonehenge fabrics from Northcott and the pattern is by Kate Mitchell Quilts. The centers of the SIC blocks were supposed to be a rust color but I plugged in that fuchsia, a fabric I knew I had when I bought the kit! The gold fabrics in the star blocks are from the same line. It's been up on my design wall since last weekend while I play around with the layout. Distractions can be helpful on a frustrating day :0) and I've had plenty of those! 

Hal, Harley and I are on back on the road to quilting! This week parts were installed and Wednesday I attended an all day training for Hal and the AP software. Yesterday, after some practice I started this log cabin quilt for Tina. Here is a sneak peak of the work in progress...

The loose threads are tie ends that will be buried in the quilt layers. We were going along just fine and then the tension devil hit again! Shut it down, picked out threads and called it a night. Since I could hear the thunder storm coming our way, it was a good time to unplug anyway. 

Well, last night the 'light bulb' went off and I know exactly why it happened. Breaking in a new machine is allot of work! Speaking of... time to get to it. 

I took one last picture of Shelly...

Shelly and Michael left for Texas on Monday morning and arrived safely for Michael's dad's 90th birthday on Wednesday. Happy Birthday Dan! Wish I was there with you all! Georgine, I love you! I'll be out to visit soon :0) You all have a wonderful evening tonight!

 Thank you for stopping by, enjoy your weekend!

 Jo

Update: So much for quilting all day today. Mom fell, EMT's were called out. She is fine, they checked her out and determined that nothing was broken and did not take her to a hospital. By 1:00 we had another thunderstorm right on top of Chico, not just yellow, it was red to magenta on the radar. Hail, hard rain and lots of lightning. Had to shut down all electronics including the longarm. Our home is old and the wiring needs updating big time. Most of the house doesn't even have grounded outlets, so I have no battery backup. It's the old fashioned unplugging until the storm moves out of the area! Radar is still showing yellow and it raining but I haven't heard any thunder for about an hour. Thank goodness for wireless :0) The storm that passed over us was small compared to what went over Sacramento about the same time today. It's headed East and according to Micheal will be in Texas by Sunday. Hope everyone has a safe weekend. Bear hugs, Jo

Starbursts

I won this quilt pattern! This quilt is called Starbursts from Honey, Bunny and Dolls and Craftsy. Also posted on Little Bunny Quilts, as a BOM in 2013. My name was drawn by Shanna and Melissa for A Lovely Year of Finishes for my quilt finish in January. The quilt pattern is a design by Amanda at Honey, Bunny and Dolls. Thank you Amanda, Shanna and Melissa. I am looking forward to making this quilt. I love paper piecing and this will be a fun project!

Hope you had a sweet Valentine's Day. My sweetie surprised me with flowers from the garden, 2 bars of my favorite chocolate from Trader Joe's and a Delft kissing couple.
Michael is a keeper!

Also a sweet Valentine's card from Pam with a card of really good hand needles.

 Thank you Pam!

If you follow my longarm quilting blog Moonbear Designs you already know that I spent the week clearing out my longarm studio in anticipation of a new Innova longarm. 

Today Michael and I broke down my worktable to move it to the other side of the studio. The new longarm will go here, where the table used to be

We cut almost a foot off of the table so that I will be able to fit in my industrial straight stitch. 

My table before and after in pieces

My table will stay in pieces until the Innova is set up. It will give Jim and Nicky of the Sew So Shop plenty of room to set up the longarm frame. 

I did have some fun this week, after getting teased by my customers for having a plastic table cloth for a window treatment, I cut out and pieced a quilt top, pattern is called the Big EZ which it was! It will be made into a Roman Shade for one of the windows. It will be the first quilt on my new longarm, once it gets here...

Soon!!!
Now to get back to making more blocks for MidWinter Blues QAL with Lori of Humble Quilts.

Groetjes, Jo