A fabulous Prize

I won a prize!

Some weeks back I entered a book tour give-away, sponsored by Emily Cier and CT Publishing. I usually don't enter give-aways, mostly because I haven't been commenting much and I don't like to appear like I am just there for the freebies.  For some reason, though, I did comment on the book over at Blue Nickel Studios and promptly forgot all about it.  Scott emailed me a couple of weeks ago, apologizing for the delay in notifying me that I had won!

And a week or so later, I received this:

Pixel Play Quilts by Emily Cier

Two additional of Emily's patterns

Color wheel poster/tool by Joen Wolfram along with her color tool

And a coupon for a discount at Carolina Patchworks

I love the look of the pixel quilts!  I have flipped through it several times over the past few days and I think I will try the Azalea pattern. I am going to look through my stash and see if I have solids that will work, or maybe some prints that read as solid that will work. This is the type of quilt that requires careful cutting and consistent seams to make it work.  I hope I am up for the challenge!

Many thanks to Scott and Emily!

Reboot: A New Beginning, And Some Finishes!

Hello.

A lot has happened since I have spent any time here. I will summarize it this way:

I retired.

We moved to Kansas.

We had a wedding and 'reunioned' with family from far afield.

Things have settled down. 

Also, I joined the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild and I have been finishing quilts!

I made the top for this quilt in my "piece making basics" class three years ago.   

I practiced lots of designs and echoed the print in border. 

The fabric was a pre-selected kit for the class, and it didn't really 'speak' to me in the way that things do, sometimes.  It has hung in the closet with various other quilt tops of my own making and collecting since then.  It feels good to have it finished up!

A couple of months ago, I took a workshop on free motion quilting from Tia Curtis. Tia is a dynamic teacher and an excellent quilter.  Her passion is helping people get past their trepidation and jumping in to fmq. She also recommended Angela Walters' book which I had on my 'want list' already. 

In the workshop, we made these clever bags with our practice sandwiches. 

I have also been following the excellent year long series of posts and tutorials on fmq at Insights from Sew Cal Gal. Not stitching along, but reading along and saving the tutorials. Armed with Tia's encouragement and the other excellent resources at Sew Cal Gal, I started practicing on some orphan blocks and auction/estate sale partial tops. I finally got to the point where I felt that I could do some designs without 'ruining' a quilt top. 

And, I made a few more bags:

This is another low investment top that I put together with some 30's reproduction prints that I was hooked on for a brief minute. I practiced using my free motion foot to make straight lines. (Well fairly straight lines)  I am going to donate this one.

I have been working my way up to larger tops that I am fonder of.  

Here is just a peak at one that I am going to enter into the quilt show at Quilt Con.  The Mister said he wouldn't mind a trip to Austin in February if my quilt will be in the show! It is a juried show so it may or may not be accepted. I am going to keep it under wraps until I have it completely finished. Just so I don't jinx it, you know.  Maybe I can get on a wait list for a workshop or seminar!

The past two years have been full of change and transition, but I am finally feeling like I am back in the groove!  I have set some goals and one of them is to stay current here, if only for my own record, but I am always pleased to have folks stop by!

Jan