Southern Comforters

This is not a new drink nor is it related to Southern Comfort Whiskey.....its a quilt guild located in Bowie, Maryland. Though I do wonder if the gals that started this guild up had a fondness for Southern Comfort. Hmmmm.......interesting question to research!

I did my very first trunk show with them in February and it was so much fun!!!!!! They are a fantastic group of ladies!!!! Thanks for having me come ladies!

Then I came back and did a workshop with them......we did the Triple Star quilt.

And it was so much fun!!!! Everyone had such interesting colors and I can't wait to see how they turn out!

But I forgot to take photos of people's blocks, I'm such a yogurt brain.....so Southern Comforter ladies, if you send me photos of your blocks, I can post them here to share with everyone!

I did take photos of the crazy things that happened during the class though. Figures huh....I always go for the weirdness......

Take lunch for example....

 Potato Chips on a Stick

Now how odd is that???? They were VERY tasty!!!!

Then there was the bunny incident.....you know bunnies are.....first there were two bunnies in my M and M bowl. Then I turned my head and this happened....

Next time I looked over.....

Geez, I thought I was going to need a bigger bowl the way things were going......

But then......

And that took care of the bunny population!

During the class, Amy was fabric dancing again......so I dared her to race through the parking lot with her ribbons of pieces. 

Things got a little tangled in the end....the sacrifices we make for art.

Finally a new cool way to keep everything in order and together for the trip home.

Great idea that I am going to go share at all my classes!!

I am teaching this class again at MAQ if you want to join in on the fun!

Have a great day!

kathy

Blue Christmas

Next up I finished and bound this one! Here's the back.....

Ready for the front????

Isn't that cute? Course Christmas is LONGGGGGG gone but there is always next year!

I decided to be lazy and not stitch down the edges of the applique. Just fused them in place and then I quilted it up with metallic thread. Which gave me a little trouble so I had to play around with tension, needles etc but it all worked and I think it was worth it.

I quilted what I thought looked like blowing snow......see?

I opted not to do swirls since I always make those....or maybe these look more like clouds......hmmmmm. 

I stitched over the lettering too to keep it all in place.....

Now to wait for next Christmas and get this baby on the wall next to my Blue Christmas Tree quilt, which was done in honor of the King.  As in Elvis.....maybe I need to get a blue Christmas tree to go with it. Now that would be fun!

My current fave Crocs......debating my spring Croc color.....yellow, pink, red????? What you think about it??

Have a fun day!

kathy

Snowflake

No, there are no snowflakes falling here......actually the daffodils are starting to come up. I think spring just might be on its way!

But I did finish my snowflake quilt! Remember this back?

Well, here's the front all quilted and bound!

I even found some leftover snow to photograph it on.....next year this is going to be my lucky snow quilt. When I hear we might be getting snow, I am gong to whip this baby out and sleep with it. Kinda like how the kids throw ice cubes out the door, sleep with PJ's on inside out and put a spoon under the pillow so they can get a snow day. I don't remember doing any of that when I was a kid, so times have changed!

What's the snow ritual in your area? Does it vary by region? Hmmmm,. questions to ponder.

Have a great day!

kathy

More Wonky Churn Dash Blocks

I made a couple more of these wonky blocks! 

Check out how they vary from block to block.....and so easy to make!!!

Now go make some and send me photos to post of your blocks!

Have a great day!

kathy

Happy Birthday!

Today is my birthday!

Happy Birthday to me,

Happy Birthday to me,

Happy Birthday dear Kathy,

Happy Birthday to me!!!

For my birthday I am heading here this afternoon....

The cupcakes are to die for!!! It just opened up a month ago in Bel Air, Maryland.

So if you're in town, be sure to stop by!

Check out their menu.......so far my two personal favorites are the red velvet cupcake with cream cheese icing and the key lime cupcake......or is it the double chocolate cupcake and the luscious lemon???

Hmmmmmm, I might need to do a taste test!

For my birthday, I asked my hubby if I could go see this......

It's a special exhibit of over 600 red and white quilts from a private collection......imagine that, owning over 600 quilts in two colors! How do you even store them????

The exhibit is for 6 days only and is sponsored by the American Folk Art Museum in NYC.

Here's the copy.....

For six days in March, the American Folk Art Museum will dramatically transform the Park Avenue Armory’s historic 55,000-square-foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall with the installation of 650 red and white American quilts, all of which are on loan from the collection of Joanna S. Rose. It will be the largest exhibition of quilts ever held in the city. As an extraordinary gift to the public, entry to this unprecedented event is free. A café and a book and gift shop will be open during show hours.

Cool huh!!!! And even better, I am going to stay overnight and catch some shopping and sites in the city!

What great birthday present!!! Thanks hubby Ed, you're the best!!!!

Have a great day!!!!

kathy

A breath of spring

I was out food shopping on Sunday and it was a balmy 42 degrees. I might have to break out the flip flops and shorts!!

Then I saw these at the food store.......I had to have them....their scent beckoned me.....

They are now down in the sewing room right next to the machine and smell great!!!!

When I brought the flowers down, I found this on the ironing board.....

Think he has the winter time blues????

I'm working on my wooly flowers and I am down to the final color, orange!!

Made four this past weekend and hope to get a few done tonight. Getting excited about seeing them all together!!!!

Have a great day!!!!

kathy

Wonky Churndash

I was playing around and decided to have a go at making a wonky churn dash.

I followed the instructions in Gwen and Freddy's book, "Collaborative Quilting" except I changed the size of the finish block. My block is 9 1/2 inches......here's what I did....

First I cut out my fabric.....I cut:

Five 3 1/2 inch squares of the background fabric.

Then I cut:

Two 4 inch squares of the churn dash fabric. I cut it again on the diagonal to give me four half triangles.

Then I cut out:

Two 3 by 18 inch strips- one from the background and one from the churn dash.

Then it was time to sew!!!

Place your churn dash triangle on the corner of the background square like so.....

There is no specific points to line up....the whole point is that is looks wonky!

Stitch using the triangle edge as your guide using a 1/4 inch seam.

Press the triangle towards the background square. It should completely cover the corner.

Flip the square over and it looks like this:

Use the edges of the square as a guide and cut off the extra churn dash fabric.

Like this:

Make a total of four of these and set aside.

Then sew the two long strips together. Press the seam, it does not matter which way you press it.

Then it's time to cut again!

Angle your ruler like this:

Again exact placement is not important here, you are just going for the general idea.

After the first cut, it looks like this:

Now cut four pieces that are 3 1/2 inches wide. They look like this:

If the last one is a little short, that's ok......see mine was!

Now flip the section like this:

Square up one side of the shape like so:

Turn and cut the other side so the unit measure 3 1/2 inches square.

Now lay out all the pieces......

And sew them together.......you made a wonky churn dash!!!

I am going to make a few more of these tonight and then post them so you can see how none of them turn out the same way. That's the charm to this technique!

Have a great day!!!!!

kathy