Black and White Mostly Quilt

My B&W Mostly quilt top and back is finished and delivered to my favorite long-arm quilter.  It took me and T too long to get started on these quilts and me too long to get mine finished.  We shopped and collected quite a variety of b&w fabrics over about three years. I discovered piecing with one inch strips of fabric is not as bad as I thought it would be.  I really like the effect of the one inch strips dividing up all the blacks on white and whites on blacks.  The majority of blocks are black with white, so I think I need to make another quilt, like this, but with the majority of whites with black fabrics.

Fabrics include sewing motifs, buttons, sewing machines, scissors, geometric prints, musical notes, bears with

party hats, several cats, birds, polar bears, cows, jack rabbits, goats, bunnies, sheep, cats in space suits,

 space ships, flowers, lady bugs, trains, polka dots, s'mores, aboriginals, and etc.

Council Quilt Show

Over the wonderful long Fourth of July weekend, we took our RV up to Cambridge and stayed a few days at the Mundo Hot Springs.  On July 5, we went up to Council  (about 20 miles north) and visited the Council Quilt Show.  I am sad to say, I did not win the beautiful raffle quilt donated by Janell, however, there were many wonderful quilts to view and enjoy.  My most favorite did not win any ribbons, but is beautiful and unusual.  This quilt is by Sandra Hansen, of Cambridge, ID, and she made it as a way of displaying her antique ladies belt buckle collection.  Well done indeed!

The name of the quilt is: Buckle Up.  I just had to share a photo of my favorite pick from the Council Quilt Show.  I plan on going again next year.

It's All About Chickens!!

I am about to get back to working on my own projects . . . quilting projects.  This last weekend the Cloverdale Ladies Society met at my house and we painted canvas bags.  My thought is 'What is better to paint, on a canvas bag, than a chicken?"  So, while the "Ladies" used a piece of celery stalk to make beautiful rose-like floral creations on their bags, I painted a chicken.  Of course, bright colors ruled the day.

Chicken Dinner Road has been in the news as of late, and I want PETA to know that some of us SW Idahoans celebrate chickens and I think chickens celebrate by having dinner!  Of course, my chickens are the most fashionable.

Just Us Chickens!

It seems I began using these chicken fabrics at about the right time.  Everyone seems to be going chickens!  Last summer I was working on my "Random Chickens Quilt", and traveling up around Cambridge, Council, and McCall.  My dear friend T found a panel with chicken blocks on it, so naturally I had to get it.  Besides, it went with some other chicken yardage I already found somewhere else!  I used two of the chicken blocks and put together a cute wall-hanging for my friend, A.

A's birthday was earlier this month, so I wanted to make her something for her quilt room.  Tada!  I did the stippling on the old Necchi.

Lone Star Quilt Finished And Delivered

Dianna Slade's purple lone star quilt is finished!  It was some work squaring it up to prepare to be long-arm quilted.  Then after Phyllis Oneal quilted it, I squared it up again.  Yikes!  I got the binding on and am pleased with the outcome.  The main thing is it is finished and not just sitting around as an unfinished quilt any longer.  I scouted out and found a raised spot, for my two tall young men volunteers, to stand on to hold the quilt.  This is a really "big" quilt.

The star and white background was hand-pieced, while the borders were machine-pieced. The very dark purple has a rose pattern in it.  This was given, unfinished, to Dianna.  I cannot date any of the fabrics, but the dark purple and the floral make me want to think it is from the 1980's or 90's.

Now That We Have An RV . . .

I had to make a wall hanging for our new-to-us RV.  I actually started it a couple years ago, but last fall I went through my unfinished projects and started getting some of them completed.  This is one of them.  I have about 30 more. Remember, slow and steady wins the race.

When we took our trip to SD, we left Ebby at home with a pet sitter.  We want to be able to take her with us on future trips, so we kidnapped her from the house and put her in the RV.  We did not start it up or go anywhere, we just spend most of the day out there with her, so she could get used to her surroundings.  She did do some exploring but then she wanted to stay on the floor instead of looking out a window, so put her on the bed under the quilt.  She likes hiding under quilts.

So, what did I do while hanging out with Ebby in the RV?  I did some piecing!  Our quilting group has a Block of the Month challenge and I pieced my BOM and an extra one, in bright fabrics, for the quilt for my Aunt Karen.  I don't believe the photo below demonstrates just how blinding bright the yellow fabric is.  It looks pretty mellow here, but it is not.

I set up the sewing machine on the table and sewed these together.  Then I cut out some fish! If you can tell me what kind of fish these are, I will send you a custom made zipper bag (made by me).  You can e-mail me at csz@cableone.net with your answer.  I will keep this offer open until July 4.
I welcome your comments, but for some reason my blog/Google will not let me reply to your comments.

Five Projects Going At Once!

I have been so busy.  I work 40 hours a week. My husband and I just took a week and went to South Dakota in our new-to-us RV.  We had a fun, relaxing, yet adventurous week on the road from ID to SD and back.  We went to see Mt Rushmore, and decided to see some other things along the way.  I will be getting a post on my travel blog in a day or so.  I have the first day all typed up . . . I did that when we had our blow out about ten miles east of Dubois, WY, but I have not had a minute to get more typed up.  I took a lot of photos and only had a chance to look at them last night.  It has done nothing but rain here, since we got back from SD.  

A peony in my front yard. It is one I transplanted from our previous house

Last weekend, I got the binding sewed onto Dianna's quilt. On Monday evening I finished quilting Dani Jo's two-year old quilt and started the binding. Tuesday I finished the binding on both Dani Joe's big girl quilt and her doll quilt.  I need to get those triangles cut out to finish the stack n whack that is on my design wall, and get the binding on Teresa's b&w mostly quilt, then I promised A that I would put the binding on her quilt.  I got three quilts all finished up in one week! Crazy!

Dani Jo is turning two, so I made her this big girl quilt.  I used my stash of cupcake fabrics to make it and the matching doll quilt.  I quilted them both on my home machines.  I do the stitch in the ditch on my Husqvarna, and the free-motion on my Necchi.  I made some fun loop-d-loos in the purple polka dot borders.

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This is the doll quilt.  It is 22 X 22 inches.  It has the same purple polka dot fabric as the big one, but I used it as the backing.  Below, is a photo of the back of the big girl quilt:

I will post a couple photos of Dianna's fabulous quilt after I get some bodies to hold it up while I photograph it.  It is B-I-G.