Saturday, November 24, 2012

Saturday Stash -- Ornament Exchange

First off, I have to apologize for being a bad blogger.  Well not exactly a bad blogger, but an unprofessional photographer.  I should have had someone recording the names of the the ornament makers, because they are all so beautiful!  (The ornaments, too!)

Last Saturday the Front Range Modern Quilt Guild hosted our holiday get-together and ornament exchange. Sooooo many cute ornaments, too many to share here.  Here are some of my favorites.  OK, I confess, these are the photos that are the best.  Turns out, it's really hard to get a good photo of the ornament and the person holding it!

This clever Angel is made from a toilet paper roll!  She needs a halo -- some suggestions were a gold or silver pipe cleaner, or an Easter egg dipper. She is also a play on words, because the recipient was Angela!


There were several of these adorable lilttle house ornaments.  I love the house numbers and the view through the windows.


I wish I had taken a close-up of this gorgeous banner.  There are dozens and dozens of beads hand-sewn to the flowers.

Friend Mary received this lovely "bookish" ornament:


Look at the hand cross-stiched Santa Peg received!


And she made this gorgeous tatted ornament.  Tatting!  Now there is a skill I do not possess, isn't it lovely?


Amy of Stitchery Dickory Dock made Amy Butler's little turtle.  Hey, I have that pattern!  I should make it for GD1, she loves turtles . . . .


Look at these adorable felted mittens.  The hand entering the photo at left is trying to move the ornaments so you can see all of both of them . . . .


Marta received these two "Lizzy House" ornaments made by Jessica (she has a better photo on her own blog, From Marta with Love):


And for Jessica, Marta made this dear little deer.  I think it would make a darling door-hanger:


Several crafters made these hexagonal balls.  They swear they are easy, but they sure look difficult!


Here's another ornament ball, made from folded fabric.  Again, the maker claims ease.  Not to say they lie, exactly, but maybe misspeak?

Prez Mellie received a lovely hand-embroidered ornament.  And prize for the best photography subject!


Here is the complete collection -- pretty talented bunch, wouldn't you say?  If you're in the neighborhood (Colorado Front Range, from Ft. Collins to  Canon City), come join us on December 15 for our all-sew, all-day gathering.


And remember to go here to take my solid-fabrics survey and enter the giveaway for a fabulous bundle of fat quarters!


From the desk of your auntmartisignature

Friday, November 23, 2012

A Few Friday Finishes

Woo hoo!  I'm making progress toward my 30 quilts in 60 days!



I've got a pretty good system going:  QPC.  That stands for Quilt Piece Clean.  I set the kitchen timer for 23 minutes, Quilt (or load the long arm) for 23 minutes; Piece for 23 minutes (today it's Easy Street, Bonnie Hunter's newest mystery); then Clean for 23 minutes.  I'm decluttering the basement -- such fun.

Two of the three quilts I've quilted and bound this week are somewhat larger than the eight previous ones.  I'm trying to take advantage of a week with no commitments!

Since I had the time, I tried some more detailed quilting on this Schnibbles quilt, "Leap Year."  


The pattern called for 2" squares, but I used 2 1/2" from my Scrap Therapy collection.


I added this one to my "ready to hand off quilts" shelf.



I liked the look of the "back and forth" quilting in the borders so much, I decided to use it on "Flurry" by Kate Spain.  This lovely is going on my quilt rack for the holiday season:


Oops, it is too big for my quilt holder to handle!  I ventured into quilting poinsettias, since the fabric has a perfect flower to copy:


I joined the flowers with loop-de-loops and quilted the sashing with red thread in Angela Walter's "back and forth" design:



Then a real challenge, a UFO from 2011, "Night Stars."  This was a "Thangles" BOM project from Ruth's Stitchery several years ago.  It went in the UFO pile when I decided I hate using Thangles to make half-square triangles.




Chocolate Mousse' helped DH hold the quilt over the edge of the deck so I could photograph it! 



I love this fun backing!  I'm thinking I'll send this one to Ohio for my niece, whose bed is the only one in the house without an Aunt Marti quilt.


Linking up to "Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday" at Quilting by Moonlight.


And "Finish it Up Friday" at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Be sure to go to this post to take the survey on solid fabrics and enter my Blogiversary celebration giveaway!












From the desk of your auntmartisignature

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Blogiversary -- A Survey and a Giveaway!

It's hard for me to believe I've been blogging for one year today!  Thank you to everyone who follows my blog, to those who comment and play along with my giveaways, and especially to My Little Sailor for designing and maintaining the blog.

And now, for something completely different . . . 

The buyer at my Local Quilt Shop asked me to question my friends and fellow quilters about solid-color fabrics.  What line of fabric should they stock in the shop?

So I designed a survey (gotta love those PhD classes in Quantitative Research Methods, I knew they would come in handy some day!).  The survey is completely private, no one, including me, will know what you answer.

However:  If you want to enter the giveaway, you must comment on this blog post and tell me what is your favorite line of solid fabric (not the color, the manufacturer!)


Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Thanks for playing along!  The survey will remain available until November 30 at noon MST, when the Random Number Generator will choose one follower to win a bundle of solid-color fat quarters.





From the desk of your auntmartisignature