My Epic Blonde Moment

How do you miss a quilt show that your own quilts are being displayed in?  Well, that's exactly what I did this week end.  I was very excited to have entered three of my quilts in the Oakland Antique and Quilt Show in the little town of Oakland, a bit north of where we live.  Quilts are hung on the outside of the charming old buildings on the main drag through town, much the same as is done in Sisters, Oregon for their big quilt show each July.  There is no judging for the Oakland show, but there are Viewers Choice ribbons as well as Sponsors Choice ribbons.  I feel certain that my quilts will never hang at Sisters, but I was excited to see my quilts hung outdoors at the Oakland Show.

I am going to totally OUT myself here and tell you that I COMPLETELY MISSED THE SHOW!!! I was thinking that it was on Sunday when it was actually on Saturday.  Turns out that I looked up the date online and landed on a webpage advertising last years show, hence my mix up of the date.

I would not have even known of my error until the next day when I would have shown up in Oakland to see, well, nothing..., had it not been for the telephone call that I received Saturday afternoon from Penny B., one of the ladies who organized the show.  She called to inform me that I had won the 2nd Place Viewers Choice ribbon and a lovely gift basket for my Birdsong quilt.  If I was surprised at my win, I was even more surprised that I had missed the entire thing!  Can I get a "DUH"?

I pulled some photos of my quilts hanging from the show's Facebook page, the only "real" way that I was able to see the show.

My Birdsong quit was hung on the bank building now housing the Wine Vault, right on the corner.

My Bunny Quilt, still waiting for it's owner...

And my Hanging Basket quilt, on the frames in the alley.

The gift basket was chock full of fat quarters, various notions and four GREAT quilting books, among other things.

 I also received three Sponsors Choice Ribbons, one for my Birdsong quilt, one for my Bunny quilt and another for my Hanging Basket quilt. Four ribbons for three quilts at a quilt show that I did not even attend!

My husband declared this madcap mishap to be "An Epic Blonde Moment".  He's completely right, of course...

Falling in Love Again

You know how sometimes you sort of fall out of love?  Your heart no longer flutters and that certain "ZING" is missing?  But then,...  something wonderful happens.  You fall BACK in love, head-over-heels style, and you can think of nothing else but the object of your affection.

Well, that's how I am feeling about my hexagon quilt.  It had been sitting, untouched and unloved, for months and months, but I am so happy to say that I am now back in the hexagon saddle, so to speak.  I was recently asked by a friend, Dorothy C., to join a little hand quilting group that meets two afternoons a month.  The only hand work I had in the works at the moment was my Hexagon quilt.  So I dug it out and took it along to my first meeting with the group.

That handwork of mine seems to go so very quickly when my mouth is moving, just chatting the whole afternoon long! These lovely ladies are all working on various types of beautiful handwork from embroidery to piecing to hand quilting.  I think that I just might be the junior member.  The eldest is Patty, a firecracker who is well into her mid-nineties!  I think that she could probably run rings around me.

Of course, I had to order some new reproduction fat quarters to add to my quilt.  You can never have enough different fabrics when you are working on a Hexagon quilt.  I have been working on it in the evenings if Mr. T. and I sit down to watch a movie and some real progress is being made for the first time in a very LONG time.

It is beginning to actually look like a quilt instead of stacks and stacks of hexagon flower units.  I just might possibly finish this quilt in THIS LIFETIME!

It Followed Me Home!

I have been seriously drooling over the Bernina 550 QE since it came out and I just took the plunge and bought one for my very own.  My sewing machines earn their keep around here so thankfully, I did not have to think too hard about the expense involved in upgrading.  This little baby will pay for herself in short order.  And, by shopping between two different stores, mere miles apart, I saved a whopping $1400.00!

I ordered my new machine at the end of last month and believe me, it's been a very LONG two weeks, waiting to pick it up.  

I arrived at the store this morning and got to unpack it myself.  It felt like Christmas in August!

I had a lesson in it's operation and learned all about what a marvelous machine it is.  I love a sewing machine that does tricks!

I puttered a bit with the BSR.  Maybe I can actually perfect my machine quilting.  

I couldn't wait to get home and set her up.  What was my first project?  Why... it was a thread catcher, of course!  Hmmm, what to make next...?

Thread Catcher Revisited

Some time ago, I made a Thread Catcher using a different pincushion design.  I listed it on Etsy and someone "pinned" that thread catcher. It has since had about a gozillion re-pins!  ( That particular Thread Catcher is now living happily in Perth, Australia...)  Still, to this day, I have people visiting my Etsy shop looking for that same Thread Catcher.  I have also had numerous inquiries asking if I could make more.  I did not have the main fabric any longer, but was recently able to track down a small amount of that fabric, no small feat, I might add.  I have made up a couple of them and have one listed now at my Etsy Shop .  I used a different bag lining fabric and I think that I like the new lining even better.

What do you think?  Before... ????

... or AFTER!!!  I'm loving the simple and understated lining on this one!

New Fabrics Alert !

Have I mentioned that I offer ready-made Thread Catchers at my Etsy Shop, Curry Bungalow, just so that I have a really great excuse to buy any and all of the fabrics that I love?  Well, this is a prime example of that.

I just picked up these BRAND NEW fabrics from Riley Blake called "A Beautiful Thing" and I am in love! I have already made up two thread catchers in two different colorways and they are both so incredibly cute.

 I would keep one for myself..., but I need another thread catcher like I need a hole in the head.