Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Swag border


One of my customers made a Dresden Plate quilt and wanted a swag border. The photo is from the back of the quilt. I think it looks great. I hope she adds a curved binding.

Quilt Shop Challenge




In celebration of the quilt store in Central, SC being open for 25 years, they issued a challenge. Using fabric from their store, make a quilt. Of course their were size limitations and they didn't announce the challenge until Oct. and the deadline was end of Dec. I picked out my fabric mid Nov. and completed the quilt (along with my Christmas presents) by end of Dec. Heirlooms & Comforts had the quilts critiqued on 2 pages of items - quilting design, seams meeting, binding, etc. Although I didn't win the judging, I did win viewers choice. I was thrilled and immediately spent my gift certificate. The photos are the original fabric and the quilt I made from it. The interior is made from just the one fabric.


Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Quilting Retreat - not much quilting

This past weekend about 25 quilters attended a retreat in the mountains. We arrived about 10am Fri. We set-up socialized, ate, and sewed. Did I mention it snowed? We woke up to complete darkness - no power. With snow on the roads and trees down blocking the roads, there was no leaving either. A roaring fire kept us warm and provided light while we did whatever quilting we could do - basically handsewing or cutting fabric. Power was supposed to be back on by 5pm. Then 5pm changed to 7pm. At 7pm we started playing games (while passing around a flashlight). Eventually (9pm) it was time to retire, especially since the fire was dying down. Originally we were in 2 separate cabins, but there was only one generator. So everyone moved to the larger cabins, with some people sharing double beds. The generator was started about 8pm to power the heater. Problem was the door had to be cracked open to run the power cord into the building with temperatures dropping to 17. After the fire alarm went off at 2am, we turned off the generator because the door being cracked open was letting out more heat than the heater was generating. Next morning (still with no power) after the snow started melting, we left, passing various tree and power company trucks. First I showered, then slept, then quilted.