Quilts from the Birmingham International Quilt Show

Some more lovelies to feast your eyes on!

This little pink beauty was 12" square!!!  Simply amazing! 

As a longarm quilter, I am always interested in the quilting, so I did take quite a few pictures of the quilting :)

Here is a picture of my quilting Vitamin F (friends) that I went to England with, along with our hosts for our 10 days in Tealby...Roseanne, Anne, Jeanette, Carol, Bess and Mary, with Beau in front checking out the quilts we made for Anne and Bess as our little "thank you"!  We had a marvelous 2+ weeks in England, and our time in Lincolnshire was the highlight...we didn't want leave for London, let alone head for home!

More quilts from Birmingham, England

Wow, only Thursday and I'm back with more pictures from the quilt show in Birmingham. 

I forgot to take pictures of the "paperwork" for these quilts, so I can't give credit to the quilters...I am so sorry!  But just look at the creativity that went into these quilts...and the quilting!!!  As a longarm quilter, I'm always checking out the quilting of every quilt I see, and these were fabulous!!

Birmingham, England International Quilt Show

I got to go to England with 4 of my SewWhat quilting buddies in August.  We stayed with two lovely ladies (yep, they quilt too) in Lincolnshire...in wee little town that was beautiful, with such sweet people!  They took us on a coach with several other quilting groups to spend the day at the quilt show.  Everyone was so very nice to us!  Because it was a bit of a drive to Birmingham, we had a "comfort stop" of 10 minutes.  Let me tell you, all 50 of the ladies on the bus were in and out of the restroom and back on that coach in 10 minutes!!  Amazing how fast you can move when you are motivated!!  I have never seen such order in all my born days :)

The quilt show definitely set the bar high for any other quilt shows I go to.  There were around 2,000 quilts and probably 200 vendors.  No, I did not see all the quilts, nor did I get to all the vendors!  But I do have some gorgeous pictures to share with you.  I killed the battery on my camera part way through the show and had to use my iphone to take pictures for the rest of our trip!

Isn't this a cool quilt?  Looking from the front it is very confusing, but it has different pictures depicted on the accordion folds - I have never seen anything like this and it was awesome!!  As you can see, I tried to take a picture of the name of the quilt and the quilter, just to try to keep them straight.

I will be back with more pictures soon.  Driving home from my daughter's house tomorrow and I have a customer's quilt on the frame waiting for me.

Quilts for Colorado and the Washington Naval Base

Marilyn, a fellow quilter, who blogs over at http://northhillsquilter.blogspot.com/
posted the following:

Quilts for Colorado and the Washington Naval Base 

https://www.facebook.com/TheSamuelProject?ref=stream&hc_location=stream 

The Samuel Quilt Project is collecting quilts for both the Colorado flood victims and the Washington Naval base families.  If you want more information, they have a Facebook page.  Check them out if you are looking for a group that helps in times of disaster.  I'm hoping to send a few quilts after I take my daughter to college this weekend.  I'm hoping I can get organized and get my quilting back on track.

Bonnie Hunter, a fellow quilter, who blogs at quiltville posted about another group gathering quilts for those displaced by the flooding in Colorado.  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2013-09-22T10:19:00-04:00&max-results=2&start=2&by-date=false

If you have an extra quilt you could spare, the warm hug you provide would mean so much to someone.

Happily dry here in Washington!!

Two Recipes

One Good Thing by Jillee is a fabulous blog for recipes for all kinds of things.  Today I am passing on links to her Navy Bean Soup - haven't made this one yet, but I have never had a recipe from Jillee be anything less than wonderful - and her absolutely divine (and so easy) English Muffin Bread.  You can find the soup at  http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/02/by-special-request-my-moms-navy-bean.html and the bread at http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/02/moms-english-muffin-bread.html
I made the English Muffin Bread last Friday and gave away 2 of the loaves because I am at my daughter's home and her freezer space is very limited.  Everyone wanted the recipe!!  It is fabulous to find a great tasting recipe that only has 5 ingredients and is so easy to make!  I have eaten one whole loaf by myself in one week, only by limiting myself to 2 slices a day for breakfast toast!!!  I will be making this recipe over and over again...think Christmas giving too!!
Here is a picture of the 4 loaves I made...mind the drool!!!

Happy Independence Day, America!!!

Happy Fourth of July!

From sea to shining sea!

 

This song is perfect for today...and every day!!  
http://www.youtube.com/v/6TPgJSZf5Vw?version=3&autohide=1&autoplay=1

Another Finish

I bought 24 fat quarters of material with dots...went a little crazy, I know.  I made 3 baby-sized quilt tops with that dotted material when I was in Florida 2 years ago and this is the second one I finished.  I forgot to take a picture of the other one as it was a rush to the finish because I was sending it to Australia with the grandfather-to-be so I didn't have to mail it.  It was a log cabin too, but a different setting.  I used yellow Minkee for the backing - I am really loving how Minkee shows off the quilting.  Without further ado, may I introduce Spotted Logs, finishing at 54x64:

 Minkee back

 One of the fancy feather corners

 The other fancy feather corner...wanted something a little different!

 Love the open swirls in the blocks.  I was able to do all the straight line and swirlies without stopping or tying off my threads - yippee!!!

The border quilting was inspired by Angela Walters, the straight line work in the blocks was because of what I learned from Lisa Calle (leave some space) and the swirlies were inspired by a class from Kim Stotsenberg.  I have taken three classes on longarm quilting in the past 9 months and got to combine all of them in this quilt!  Sweet!!!