Donnie and quilt

This past week has been difficult, as she had a reaction to the chemo, then felt better, and we had a nice chat on the phone. The next day she took a turn for the worst, and passed away early Saturday. We will all miss her terribly. The quilt is still in progress although I'm having a difficult time working on it, but will finish and offer it to my dad.

Off to Houston

after a week of ups and downs. I'm going to take lots of classes, look for my quilt in the show, and hopefully meet some old and new friends. They did send me a letter that said they moved it to the painted quilts category, so I'll look for it there. After this week's events, it is more difficult to pack than it would have been otherwise, but will give me something to look forward to, and keep me busy.

Quilting Disks

On TheThreadSociety, I complained that I wasn't able to find my favorite tool, the Quilt Sew Easy Discs. Diane, at Quilter's Threads, said she was able to order them for me, so I'm super excited that they are still available!!!

What's so exciting about these, you ask? Well, I can't stand gloves, I've tried just about every kind, starting with the old bulky ones that look like jiffy grip with grippy dots. I guess I'm just not a glove person (unless I really need them to keep my hands warm). I'm a free motion quilter, and all I ever use to move the quilt with are these discs. The larger one goes on the left and the smaller on the right, under the arm of the machine (less space there, so smaller disc), without pressure, the discs grip the fabric and you can easily move the quilt (if I am having any difficulty, then it is always a matter of the quilt sliding off the edge of the table, or getting caught on something).

Quilt for Donnie - top done

The top is complete, and so far, I have the sashing quilted. I'm working on speed a bit more than accuracy, while trying to do a good job, so it can be finished and mailed asap. It really is square, but to get the picture I stood on a step stool and held the camera as high as I could - sorry my arms aren't any longer, but at least I was able to get this, considering I couldn't see into the view finder at that height.

I sold a quilt!

Today I received word that my fall landscape quilt has been sold at Gallery 113, here in Woodinville. This is the first month that I have been a member, so it is very good news!

Quilt for Donnie

This week my stepmother was diagnosed with leukemia, and the only good thing is that it has been diagnosed as the most curable type. She is on the other side of the US from me, and while I'd love to hop on a plane and go see her, I'm sick, and know she doesn't need my germs right now.

So what does a quilter do? She makes a quilt! Since it has to be made quickly, I decided to make a lap sized quilt using my Checkerboard Stars Pattern. By adding a couple more rows, an enlarging the outer border a bit, for better proportions, it was good to go. I purchased the fabrics and cut the pieces the same night. At one point yesterday, I thought I might be able to complete the whole center panel in one day. Nope, I was wrong. Since I cut the fabrics when I could hardly think straight I was short sashing fabric, and I knew there wasn't any more at the shop either. Back to the computer. Now I remember, I had planned to use the stripe for the sashing and binding, not the inner border. There was enough fabric to cut the sashing and inner border with this change, so after ripping the other fabric off the blocks last night, I'm ready to attack the sashing again today.

Here's the quilt design that I exported from the computer: And here is a mock-up of the blocks with new sashing and the borders:
I'm hoping to finish the top today, but we'll see.....

Gilded Scrolls

I've been holding off on posting this one, but as it has been delivered to the gallery for display, I thought you might like to see it too. If you live in the Seattle area, or planning a visit, it will be at Gallery 113, in Woodinville, WA for the month of October, so you can visit it in person. Of course if it is sold, it will move on to another home, but I'll still have a picture! Soon I'll have other items at the gallery, like paintings, jewelry, as well as less expensive things like cards and postcard art, although most of them need to fit with the theme of the month.