The Year of the Dragon! And Other Stuff!

We are just a few days past the Chinese New Year which is a big holiday here in the desert. Since the January new year is long gone, I decided to use the Year of the Dragon as a re-starting point for getting my blog mojo running again.

The last six or seven months have been spent waiting for this year, which is shaping up to be a great one! In 12 weeks I will retire and we are going to leave the desert to return to the middle of the country. Most all of our belongings have already moved. The Mister and the kitties will move first, in about 7 weeks, then he will come back for me and the Isetta a few weeks later. We. Can. Hardly. Wait!

The thing I will miss most when we leave, is the Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild.

Since we formed the group just over one year ago, I have been building my quilting skills through inspiration, challenges and deadlines.

Although I usually stay away from table runners and wall hangings, I have finally seen the appeal of small projects. Generally I think of quilts in terms of bed linens, so doll quilts seemed like the perfect small project for learning new skills. A quick finish, new techniques learned and possible hand made gifts! Win, win, win!

During a late night of Internet Christmas shopping last fall, I ordered several books from Amazon (for me). This one has 24 small quilt projects.

Pretty in Patchwork - Doll quilts by Cathy Gaubert

After flipping through it a hundred or so times, I settled on making this one:

Probably not the best choice for a person of my rudimentary skills. I foolishly thought that improvisational curves might not be so hard. The last little curved seam was ripped and re-stitched until the pieces started to fray, so I finally decided finished was better than perfect and called it good.

And, I had something for show and tell at the January meeting!

The next project was more straightforward:

Dream Doll Quilt - Pattern by Aneela Hoey

Detail of Dream Doll Quilt doll and bunny

Tiny half square triangles are a bit more challenging that they looked, so don't look too closely! The pattern had a template for a little doll and teddy bear, but I used part of a panel called Appleville by Suzy Ultman. Also the original called for applique clouds, but I decided to do embroidered ones, instead. I used flannel instead of batting on this one.

Next weekend, about 10 from our group are headed to Utah for a quilting retreat! I have my machine all packed up with everything (and more, I am sure) that I need. I had a very hard time deciding what to work on so I packed several projects to take, including some embroidery.

I am starting to feel like a real quilter!

Finally, a Quilty Finish!

Some weeks ago, I saw a flyer advertising an organizing meeting of the Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild. Although I am a girl that loves vintage fabric and traditional quilts, it seems to me that the modern quilt designs are not quite as exacting as the traditional quilts. And more suited to my skill level at this time.

I went to the meeting at the lqs and there was a very cool mix of women of diverse backgrounds, ages and experience. We talked a little about the business of starting a local 'chapter' of the Modern Quilt Guild, and got to know a bit about each other.

One of our group volunteered to do a demo at our next meeting of a wonky block and we decided to do a Mug Rug Swap.

When I heard 'mug rug', I immediately had a flashback to 1985 and some coasters made of plastic canvas and polyester yarn in dusty pink, that outlasted their charm by many years due to the fact that they were made by a lost sister. Today's mug rugs are different, it seems.

Big enough to hold a beverage and a snack, they are more of a small placemat, than a coaster. Six inches by nine inches was the recommendation and mine is just a bit larger by half an inch.

The yellow and green are Kona solids and the embroidery designs are from "Sublime Stitching", Jenny Hart's first book. (I put the initials "LVMQG" on the tea bag tag, but the quilting made it a bit hard to see.)

This is the back, a fussy-cut piece from a fat quarter from the same stack that most of the other fabrics came from. It's a Moda design called Hideaway.

This is the first quilted project that I have finished completely. First machine quilting and first binding.

The quilting went very smoothly, although I assumed symmetry in the new walking foot that I was trying for the first time. I stitched from the top down, then from the bottom up and notice after a few rows that the distance between rows was not the same. So, (and this is what I love about modern quilting!) I just varied the distance between the rows some more, so they were not a consistent 'thick and thin'. And of course, there are other inconsistencies, but overall, I think it turned out well.

I did a pieced binding, mainly because I had cut a bunch of small pieces that I didn't use and didn't want to waste. Also, I thought that a pieced binding would camouflage my errors a bit. A wider binding would have allowed me to stitch it down with the machine. I ended up finishing it by hand, which took no time, since it was such a small project.

Our next meeting is more than a week away, so I am also giving myself 'points' for not waiting until the last minute!

I suppose it was only a matter of time until I took over the 'livingdiningofficegymfamily' room for sewing. Oh - and the kitchen for ironing. I don't feel too badly, though. The Mister finally has a shop where he can work on cars. It is a storage place about a mile away, so not as convenient as in the back yard, but it is bigger that the garage we used to have, so he is able to spread out and see what he has and where.

We are both back to our favorite hobbies! (and trying to keep the other in the dark about how much we spend on 'parts'!)

Easter Bunnies and Chicks - Sort of...

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter!

The Mister and I went 'away' for the weekend. Not very far away, just camping at Lake Mohave, about 90 minutes from home. We went to Cottonwood Cove, which is about 30 miles below Hoover Dam. We had a very nice time, although The Mister didn't get to fish, as they do not allow fishing in the cove and it was too windy to hike out to the point.

So, we did a little exploring, played some dominoes and just hung out.

And I stitched up some of my favorite characters from the 1948 Simplicity "Storybook Trims"!

Thank you again, Martha! I have really enjoyed these designs!)

This time, I followed the photo as a guide to the colors, and I am loving the blue flower! I put a penny in the photo for scale.



I had not done this motif, before, due to the color changes. Since I was not putting this on a onesie, I decided that multiple knots would not be an issue.



I finished six designs, with six more still to complete. I couldn't wait until all the embroidery was complete to see how they would look in a little quilt.

I went back and forth, trying to decide what fabric to use. I finally settled on this piece of blue and white. I only had a 'fat eighth', so I wasn't sure that would be enough, but I even have a 2" x 9" strip left over!

I think the finished size of the quilt will be about 12" x 15". I plan to use white for the backing, probably a flour sack, since that is what I used for the stitcheries. I hope I can find something perfect for the binding, but I have some time, since I think that I will hand quilt this little project. Since it is small, I think it will be manageable, and certainly a portable project. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Tiny Inspirations!

This weekend, I attended the Desert Quilters of Nevada 20th Quilt Show. The show was called "New Beginnings" and there were over 250 gorgeous quilts entered.

There were all variety of quilts for walls, beds, dolls and for wearing, but the ones that charmed me were the miniatures.

There were many small quilts entered and 24 mini quilts were auctioned. These are some of the auction entries:

Christmas Stitches by Marjorie Stanbridge

This small Christmas quilt was entered in the show, but the quilter who made it, made another for the auction. It measures 9" x 10".

Neon Showers by Georgi Shalhoob

This one was a bit bigger, about 10" x 12", I believe. It has over 900 beads sewn into the green spots.

Cottage Fans by Karen Bristow

This one was so charming, I almost bought the pattern from one of the vendors. But then I remembered all the charming patterns I already own, and refrained... I think this one was about 12" x 14".

Victorian Bluework by Karen Bristow

This one was saved for the end of the auction. I didn't stay to see how much it went for, because I didn't have a sweater and I was getting really cold. But there was a lot of buzz about it during the preview, so I know that it probably went pretty high. It was really lovely, bigger than the others at about 12" x 14". The embroidery was exquisite, the detail was perfect, as most of it was stitched with one strand of blue floss.

I was really inspired by seeing all of the wonderful quilts. Not all of them were to my taste, color wise, but all were interesting.

I joined the guild at the show and I think I might try to join one of the circles. All but one of the fourteen circles meet during the day, on week days, so I am guessing that many are probably retired ladies, but one circle meets in the evening and it is not too far from me, so I think that I will see what they do.

Who knows, maybe next year I will have finished a quilt that I can enter!