The Stash Quilts Blog group...

Its so nice to check on my blog and find not only comments but such wonderful welcome messages from the StashQuilt members. Thank you, I'm still trying to get around to all your sites to return the favor. What a great bunch you are. Thank you, ladies!

Surrounded by talent

After viewing my green challenge quilt, Patti asked if some people did more traditional things, or did they all do more like "art quilts". My quilt was a pattern from Maple Island Quilts called Snibbles, I had to adjust it to size it down. Others in the group did do more traditional things, one did a chevron, another Pinwheels. There are some very talented and creative gals in my guild. I am including pictures of their work to show you what can be done with the same group of fabrics. Remember, we had a 6" square of each fabric. Some used most of each piece, some less.

Now you know the real reason I am part of the guild, and now the blog. All these ladies have more than talent, they have a lot that I can learn, and are willing to share their knowledge.

Now that's a quilt of a different color.....

Recently I've asked for color advice, and gotten into a discussion with JudyL who is a prolific and talented quilter. She has a fondness for certain bright colors, as do I. The discussion brought to mind a small quilt that I made for a guild challenge.
The challenge was: a group of 7 or 8 people exchanged 17 6" squares with everyone else in the group. That meant each person wound up with 119 blocks which were identical as everyone elses blocks. Using ALL 119 fabrics and cutting at least 70% of them you were to make a quilt. That meant you couldn't just sew the squares together, you had to cut most of them up. You were also allowed to use 1/2yd each of 2 other fabrics.
Do I need to tell you what a cross section of fabric colors and designs were among those squares? And some of them were majorly UGLEEEE! Well, when presented with wild and ugly, go with it! Some of the fabrics only show about 1/4 square inch on the quilt, but they are there.
Being busy, and being me, I procrastinated until close to the deadline until the perfect time presented itself. Enforced time off to recover from surgery. Gall bladder surgery- which explains alot about the quilt and its hyphenated title:

"Percocet Ponderings - or - I am Bilious Green".

Is this how so much of the"art" of the 60's was created?

Finally! back to the sewing machine...

After any number of circumstances interfering, lots of time at work, severe storms with power outages and spending some time in the emergency room with my mother, things have quieted down a bit and I actually was able to spend some time in the sewing room. Now, with the number of UFOs up there, I shouldn't even be thinking of new things. Operative word there is 'shouldn't'- but I am! I took the practice cloth off of the quilt frame and pressed a top and backing to put on either tonight or tomorrow. Enough practice, I'm not doing heirlooms, its time to get one going. That is my first step towards finishing some UFOs. In the meantime, I also sliced up some scraps for the Bricks and Stepping Stones quilt mentioned a few posts back.(pattern on Bonnie Hunter's site www.quiltville.com- she has some great ones!) The pieces that I cut, I also attached to the 4patches. Now I'm wondering what other fabrics to add to them. The picture shows patches made of each of the fabrics I've used so far, and some fabrics that I am considering using for the rest. Am I getting too matchy here? Some folks use all manner of brights and muddies to make wonderful quilts, I haven't been able to do that yet. What do you think of these additional fabrics? Too much alike? Does it need something?

Looking Backwards

Things at work have picked up, we have had a really busy week. That's good for the paycheck, bad for quilting time! Since I haven't been able to make time for sewing, I wanted to share another mystery quilt designed by Dorothy Young. I love the way she presents her mysteries, each one has been successful for me. This was the most recent one, done back around April. When I shared the last few tops that I have made at my guild, this top was the one that everyone loved. Dorothy also sells her patterns, and I believe this is the first that comes with directions for several sizes.

Gone and back

Well, we took Jim back to Jacksonville for his deployment, and now we are back home. Saying goodbye is hard, I try not to get all emotional and weapy but don't do well. While we were there, I made a point of visiting a quilt shop that I discovered the last time we were there. The sales lady says they have 7000 bolts. Lots of eye candy there! Last time I was able to peruse and find lots of things I would like, and bought some of it. This time Paul was with me and sat at the 'husband's table' while I looked around. Well, darn! how is a girl supposed to shop that way??! There was a sample made up that made me laugh- so I bought just that one thing. Its from Moda, called Stash Management, its entirely too true and too funny. I put it together last night ( its basically a panel and two borders), the first chance that I had to get sew since we have been back. The color isn't entirely true in the photos, the dark area around the cartoons is a bright purple, not blue.