Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery

I thought I'd made up my mind NOT to make Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt this year....too busy, need to finish the medallion quilt I'd started for a show in the spring, blah, blah, blah.....but in the end I couldn't resist. This will be my 3rd Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt.  I've had such a great time making the others that I figured, why not? Life's short. Grab the fun when you can.

She's calling it the Celtic Solstice Mystery---if you want to check out the directions click on the button to the right.

Since I hadn't collected fabric in advance, I had to move fast yesterday when the first clue came out. After a quick look at my stash and a trip to Quilter's Attic in Pine Bush, NY I had what I needed to get started on a new Christmas quilt. It's always a little risky to deviate from the colors Bonnie has chosen, but I think I'm on pretty safe ground here with Christmas colors. We'll see!

While I was at the quilt shop yesterday I also purchased the Tri Recs rulers Bonnie's using for this project. I'm so glad I did. It's really speeding up the process, and I feel like my units are coming out much truer to size than they have in the past. The technology and methodology that have been developed to help quilters is pretty incredible when you think about it.

That's all for now. More next week.

Oak leaves for block lotto

I dragged my sewing machine to the dining room today to put together these blocks for Block Lotto. Isn't this a great pattern? I love batiks, and I have a big collection of them, so it was an easy block for me.
The leaves aren't really turning yet where I live, in NYC---maybe because the temperature has been 80 degrees the past few days? I'm sure it will happen soon. I love fall, and I love these blocks!

My "Home" quilt project.

Towards the end of last season, my quilt guild put out a summer challenge for members to make small quilts---20 in by 20 in---designed around the theme "home." I'd recently picked up a book about tile quilting, which involves making blocks that look like tiles, AND I'd lost my sewing room and put my machine away, so I decided to make a tile-style quilt by hand.

 Here's the pattern I drew for it, on typing paper. I extrapolated some of it from the tile quilting book, and some of it from another book on making bird quilts, and some of it I made up myself. The birdhouse is a prominent part of the design---I think it will be pretty clear that I was thinking about a home for birds.

 So the blocks are coming together. I've finished 3 of the panels, and have gotten a good start on the last one, on the bottom right. When they're done I'll join them and then back it and quilt it in some minimal way. It's due in 2 weeks, so I am trying to put in some extra time these days.

I did manage to take a couple of hours to make these three little Boomers for this month's Block Lotto drawing. Aren't they cute? I'd love to win these, so I am going to try to make a few more by the end of the month to increase my chances.

Block Lotto stars and family

I am sorry I haven't posted for such a long time. I haven't been doing as much quilting as usual, but I'm planning to get back into the swing of things in the coming weeks.

 At left are 4 stars I made for the block lotto drawing this month. Aren't they great? I'd never think to make scrappy stars with a red background, but I think they really look sharp, and will make a fun quilt. That's why I love the Block Lotto; our fearless leader Sophie always comes up with block patterns I wish I'd thought of myself.















The main reason I haven't been sewing much lately is that my father died at the end of July. He's been suffering with Alzheimer's for about 8 years, but recently started to have problems with his balance and died about a week after a fall in which he broke his hip. He's with my mom in this photo---she's still doing great, but of course we all miss him very much.

The photo below is of my husband's extended family, who gathered over the weekend for a family reunion. I like every single one of them, so it was a lot of fun. I'm the one smack in the center of the photo in the back with the glasses on. The really good looking ones in the front row are my nephews and their significant others.

Vespa table runner

My sister bought me three small pieces of Japanese fabric in San Francisco when she was there on a recent trip, and I wanted to make something with at least one of them before she came to my house for a visit this weekend.  I went to the local quilt store--- Quilter's Attic----to look for ideas and found a table runner pattern on sale. Doesn't the end result look cute on my kitchen table?

I've always had a thing for Vespas (maybe it was that semester of college I spent in Italy?) so I was really happy to get this fabric, even it was only a small piece.  Here's a close-up of the pattern....and the best thing is that my Vespa looks a lot like this one, cream colored with a dark seat. ;-)
Aren't sisters the best?

A quick quilt for my Dad

I used my block lotto winnings to make this lap quilt for my dear father, who unfortunately has Alzheimer's and lives in an assisted living facility in New Jersey. I gave the quilt to him yesterday when I went to visit. I'm not sure that he understood that I'd made it (with a lot of help from the Block Lotto quilters) or even that the quilt was his to keep, but I hope that one in awhile when he sees it he'll know it was made for him with love.

Velda Newman at the Shelburne Museum

I snuck a few hours for myself at the Shelburne Museum while I was in Vermont for my oldest son's college graduation last weekend (hurrah!) and saw this fantastic exhibit of quilts by the California-based quilt-artist Velda Newman. Until then, I was not familiar with her work, but I'm a huge fan: the exhibit was really memorable. Here's the blurb about her from the museum's website:

"An internationally recognized contemporary textile artist, Velda Newman’s award-winning  quilts have a three-dimensional quality to them. The Californian artist works in vivid colors and close-up detail of her subjects – shells, flowers, fruit are a few examples – creating stunning works of textile art.

Many of the works are on loan from the artist’s private collection."

It was a little tricky to get good photos in the exhibition space, but here's what I was able to come up with:

The quilt to the left is called Hydrangea.

This one is called Catch of the Day, and was made for the owners of a restaurant. The name of the restaurant is embroidered in the cream-colored background of the quilt near the top.

This quilt, called Wings, looked better in person than in my photo. I loved the butterfly's wing hanging below the edge of the quilt.
                                                                                                                                                                                       

Bass: In Your Dreams, was made from a combination of fabric and paint. Again, the end result was really stunning in person.