Packing to run away from home!

I have not been to a quilting retreat since 1995...my bags and projects are packed and ready to go!  Well, I have not packed my clothes and personal items yet; I mean, I've got my priorities in the right place!

This is the cool rolling toolbox I bought from Home Depot a few years ago for just such an occasion.  I hated my old, original, smelly Featherweight sewing machine case, so I found an upgrade...at a home improvement store.
  
It has 3 compartments that fasten together.  The top holds my iron, bottle of Best Press, a squirt bottle and other odds and ends.  It will be like a little clown car when I start taking everything out and start to set up my allotted space.

The second compartment is a flat tool unit...

There is still room in case I think of something else to pack, although I already feel like I am taking everything I own!

My Featherweight is nestled in the bottom...along with an Ott light, rulers, plug strip, extension cord, and other odds and ends.

For the most part, this is the pile of projects that I am taking to work on...mostly UFO's to which I am still committed.  I am also taking a Steady Betty pressing surface, a sketch pad (you never know when inspiration will strike), a water bottle, and some sugarless gum...I am not entirely sure, but these are quilters...I am sure there will be a snack table and I need to stay away from that!

I am not sure about show and tell...there are a couple of easily grabbed small finished quilts that may end up in the car.  I have decided not to haul the music quilt along.

I really want to get all those double nine patch and shoo fly blocks done that go with the "Afternoon Delight" blocks that I have been hand-appliquing.

I am taking my hand-appliqued baskets (from Blackbird Designs) and some new pieces to make up an original, alternate setting.

I also want to finish my "Bunnies Prefer Chocolate" top (Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill).  I hand-appliqued that booger so many years ago when I was using a less-than-adequate method of applique, but I love the top so much I want to finish it.  As usual, I have tweaked the plans for the outer borders to make it more playful and mine.

(My rounded edges were awful with my previous method of applique...tisk-tisk-tisk...see how herky-jerky they are??)

As if that is not enough, I have tucked away another couple of projects.  It is about 3 hours away near Gadsden, AL (on a lake...and a huge, steep hill!), so there will be no coming home for additional things to work on (aren't I optimistic?!?).

I am distressed that I have not found my "Revolver" turntable cutting mat.  I will have a little more time in the morning to look for it.  I feel like I unpacked it after the big move, but it is lost, lost, lost.  I will be doing a lot of tiny trimming and I LOVE that thing!

Oh yes, then I will have to throw some clothes and a toothbrush in a bag.  I hope there is no dress code for this shindig!  I hope running around in socks is allowed!

I am running away from my Blogger/computer problems for these 4 days, which are still not solved.  Still not getting emailed comments. Thank you for everyone who left comments.  I can read them when I go on my blog acting as a total stranger!

Have a great weekend and I hope I can show LOTS of progress on the next post!

In stitch,
Teresa   :o)

Testing Chrome Browser...

Testing using Chrome "in cognito" mode to try getting rid of my Blogger issues...War Eagle!  And Roll Tide!  Alabama won yesterday as well.  I just posted a real quilting post in Internet Explorer...I am testing that, too...

Did anyone see the Auburn game last night?  Sick of football?? Sick of being a football widow???  You are probably getting more sewing done while they are preoccupied.

Send me a quick comment and let me see if Blogger will email it to me.  I want to get this issue fixed so I can do a give-away or two...

In stitches (and in computer Hell...),

Teresa  :o)

Trimming down "Afternoon Delight" blocks...

 Call me old-fashioned, and mostly I would agree with you.  There are a lot of new-fangled, modern quilting shortcuts that I embrace whole-heartedly.

But when it comes down to trimming hand-applique blocks, I prefer to be safe than sorry.  Especially when I am trimming down to an unusual size for which I don't own a plexiglass ruler.

Even though I still have handful of Sue Garman's "Afternoon Delight" applique blocks yet to stitch, I just could not wait to start trimming them to the unfinished size of 7-1/4 inches square.

I have a 7-inch and 7-1/2-inch commercial ruler, but no 7-1/4-inch size.  I made my own plastic template with lots of drawn lines to make it easy to find the center and line up the corners.

Because I have a tendency to slip when rotary cutting (especially when I am nervous trimming hand applique work), I got the template where I wanted it, then piled on my vintage pattern weights (I use them on the commercial square rulers, too!!).

Then, I draw around the template with my ultra-fine sharpie (or a Pigma pen).

Next I cut out my block using scissors to the inside of the ink mark.

Ta-da!  Yes, I know slicing and dicing with the rotary cutter would have been quicker, but I am completely confident with this method.  I typically watch movies or TV while I am working, and it is easy for me to make a terrible rotary mistake while trimming.  This old-fashioned, but sure method keeps me from hopping around the house, swearing...

I have been having trouble with Blogger...may be related to using Chrome as my browser.  I have not been getting email comments from all of you, which makes it hard to reply to thank you or answer your questions...SORRY!  And it makes me cranky.

Then, when I started this post 2 days ago, I could not upload photos.  MORE crankiness.  I just posted this using Internet Explorer.  It uploaded my photos, we will see if I get your comments emailed to me.  I want to do a give-away of goodies, but the comment to email thing needs to work again first.

Anyone else having this problem with Blogger?

In stitches,

Teresa   :o)

Run, don't walk down the unbeaten path!

I was fortunate enough to go to TWO quilt shows last week...opening day at the AQS Quilt Show in Chattanooga (some pictures posted previously) and the Harvest of Quilts put on by the Tishomingo County, MS Needlechasers Quilt Guild in Iuka, MS.

This first quilt, "Ruth's Rose Garden," made by Dorothy Dailey of Burnsville, MS. totally stole my heart!!!  She was inspired by Rose Kretsinger's "Paradise Garden."  It is beautifully hand appliqued and hand quilted.  And the color palette is right up my alley!

Don't you just love the fabric used for the grapes/muscadines? They were fussy cut in a way that added that perfect, realistic sheen of shiny fruit.

My new friend and expert quilter from Huntsville, AL, Barbara Black, was the judge and teacher for the show (click here to see her blog post about the show and more quilt pictures).  She told me about the event or I never would have heard anything about it, which is sad because the event and the group are only just over the state line from me, 20 - 25 minutes by car!  That is closer than me going across the river to Florence!

The next quilt was also hand appliqued, hand quilted and made by the same talented quilter.  It is called "Along the Muddy River." Here is the description from the program book,"I wanted to make a quilt with red birds.  I looked at the beige background so long it began to look like muddy water. Hence the name.  I finished it off with butterflies and muscadines."

The next quilt is called "Wreath of Roses" and was made by Karen Asbury of Tupelo, MS.  The pattern is from the book, Garden of Quilts put together by the granddaughter of Marie Webster.  It was hand appliqued and machine pieced by Marcella Rose Picket at Crooked Creek Quilts in Greenwood, Arkansas.

I did not take very many pictures due to the venue (the local Baptist church) being small and cramped.  I wanted to get shots of them all!!  

The guild had a fabulous hanging pole system, complete with black cloth drapings behind the quilts, but quilts were everywhere, even in the halls.  It was just too hard to get pictures.  It was very gracious of the church to host this show as it is probably the largest venue in this charming little town...I felt completely surrounded and draped in the love and tradition that went into all that beautiful work!

The next quilt is called "Handsome Green Tailed Dandy" made by Dorothy Dailey...the same maker of the first two quilts I showed you.  She was a one-woman quilt category!  (Large: Applique and Hand Quilted)

This is the description from the program book, "My daughter wanted me to make a peacock quilt.  I didn't have pictures or patterns, so she went to the library in Memphis and copied off pictures of peacocks and flowers.  I had no excuse.  She also picked out colors.  The background is light green, rose and purple flowers. Hand quilted by the maker."

This is "Colonial Cockscomb" by Karen Asbury, Tupelo, MS. The design is from Simple Pleasures by Kim Diehl.  It was machine quilted by Marge Love.

This is called "Colors of the Rainbow" by Sharon Beene of Glen, MS.  It is machine quilted by the maker.

This is "4 30's Sake" by Marilynn Robertson or Corinth, MS.  It was machine quilted by Sharon Beene.

This is called "Grandmother's Flower Garden" submitted by Charline Hill of Verona, MS.  The top was hand pieced in 1954 by Fern Scoggins, passed by her great-granddaughter to Charline who hand-stitched the quilt to the border.  It was hand quilted by Emma Hostitler.  I love how this quilt top received new life!

I love all the old, old fabrics!

This is "Bea's Ripples and Reflections" by Chris Steele of Iuka, MS.  A Laura Shifrin design, the quilt was machine quilted by Teresa Lowery.

"Red, White, and Blue State Flowers and Birds" featuring hand embroidered state blocks by LaVonda Cheatham of Glen, MS was a long-term project.  It was machine quilted by the Quilting Beenes.

"Once Upon a Time" was made by Barbara Pardue of Tishomingo, MS.  It was machine quilted by Quilting Beenes.

Scrappy, scrappy, scrappy..."Paper Fan" by Gail Stables of Corinth, MS, machine quilted by Sharon Beene.

This is "Grandma's Garden in the 30's" by Barbara Patterson of Iuka, MS.  It was started as a BOM using patterns from Grandma's Last Quilt by Blanche Burkett White.  The applique is done by hand.  It was custom machine quilted by Terri Quilts in Tuscumbia, AL.

This is "Garden Charm" by Polly Burkeen of Iuka, MS.  It was a BOM by Craftsy.  It was machine quilted by Johnni Schell.

This is "Long May She Wave" by Terri Embrey of Stantonville, TN.  It is a Fons and Porter design made as a Quilt of Valor for an uncle.  It was machine quilted by the maker.

Here are a few shots of Barbara doing her noon to 1:00 trunk show. She brought some beautiful quilts.  I don't know who the quilt holders were, but they did a fabulous job with lots of large, heavy quilts!

This is her version of Bonnie Hunter's "Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll."

HUGE, stunning mini tumbler quilt...

I can't remember the name of this, but it has won ribbons for Barbara.  Really pretty...

Beautiful...

A quilt made from Barbara Brackman's star series on her blog...

A colorful hugs and kisses quilt...

Upon arriving in the little town, it seems like every business along the small downtown had a quilt or two in the window.  It was so charming and welcoming, not just like a quilt show but like the whole town was the quilt show.  Such a lovely idea.  

When I turned off the lonely, rural stretch of US 72 in NW Mississippi to get to this town, I had no idea what to expect.  I encourage you to get off the beaten path and partake of the smaller quilt shows when they are offered.  You will be surprised and feel like you are a part of something special...there are never strangers when you meet fellow quilters.

In stitches,
Teresa   :o)