Pay it Forward

Hey everybody! Some time ago, I agreed to participate in a Pay it Forward game on Debbie's blog and I'm finally getting around to posting about it. Here is how it works. If you would like me to send you a homemade little something, then you sign my comments saying you would like to participate. But here's the catch: you have to pay it forward to three other people. You snarf the pretty picture above and put it on your blog, and you ask for three people to sign on and participate, and you send three chosen commenters a little homemade giftie, and then they do the same, and etc. etc.

If I get more than three people asking to participate, I'll draw the lucky three. I'm going to hold this open until my birthday, April 12th. (Hey, I didn't mean for that to be a hint or anything. Ok maybe deep down I did. But it's a day I won't forget so it's a good mark for me.) I'll contact the participants shortly after that.

Oh, and btw. Some time ago...ok, in NOVEMBER...I gave away a little prize to two people to celebrate my second blogiversary. I saw Freeblady, so I just delivered hers in person. Poor Joyce has been patiently waiting for me to get off my bum and get to the post office for months! What's really pathetic about it is I've had the little giftie since January. I'm so sorry Joyce! I did jokingly say that it would take me awhile to get the gifts out but I didn't mean for it to drag out so long. Hopefully I will have it out to you soon.

In other news...Freeblady and I went to a really fun event yesterday. The Original Sewing & Quilt Expo! It was so much fun. We had a free-motion quilting class with Sheila Finklestein, and a binding class with Connie Spurlock. I got to try out a pretty fancy (for me) Viking machine in the free motion class. I signed up for the binding class because I was hoping they would have some advice about binding an inside curve on a quilt. The Girl's quilt has about a jillion inside corners to bind. Of course the instructor did not really know, and her basic advice was, "don't do it." Oh. Um. Huh. Well, then...

And I almost forgot to mention: Freeblady won a prize! Unfortunately not a sewing machine, but a prize is a prize! Woohoo!

Hiatus check in

Well. Now I'm sure you think I just dropped off of the face of quiltiness, but no. I'm just really busy. I've been trying really hard to run three or four nights a week and that along with quilting and just plain lazyiness cuts into the blog time quite a bit.

Updates: the secret project quilt top is all finished! I am probably safe to post a picture and someday I'll get around to it. It turned out to be about twin size. The fabric I ordered for the border didn't work out so I didn't put it on. But overall I am happy with it. I took it to the last guild meeting and was proper-pleased to hear oohs and aahs over it. Since the deadline for completion is November 11th and somewhere in there I will also have to construct two superhero Halloween costumes, I will be machine quilting it in a cross-hatch pattern. It's my first machine-quilted project, give me a break. I do also plan to do some hand feathers in the center medallion to make it a little more special.

Also: the kitchen is in the process of being repainted. Hurray! It's only been since March that the flood caused damage to the ceiling, walls, and floor. Still no floor but we did order tile to replace the torn up bathroom floor. That was also a victim of the flood.

Our front yard had dead grass yet again. Turns out we have an evil little beetle called chinch bugs and that is why our grass keeps getting all these hideous dead patches (and it only took four or five years to figure this out.) The Husband killed all of the remaining grass and replanted. We are eagerly waiting for some green to peep through, since it basically looks like hillbillies live in the house now. (Also, the reason our neighbors never got dead grass blotches is because they have a different kind of grass, which incidentally the bugs do not like. Argh!)

The guild had their annual quilt show this past weekend. I volunteered with Freeblady to white-glove and also man a raffle ticket station. We had a blast. We saw quilts, talked quilts, shopped quilts...what could be better? I bought a few packs of 5 inch charms with a Christmas theme. What the heck was I thinking? I am not generally a holiday quilt kind of person. But the colors were so fun I couldn't resist. Anyways. The stash is definitely growing, and at a rate that I could never sew up.

Checking in

I just got an email from Annie's quilting stash yahoo group that Amy, who participated in our round robin, got her quilt finished. Take a look! It really turned out nice.

I know it has been awhile since I posted but you'll never guess what. I still have more Columbus photos to show. I have probably about forty left, but I'm just going to post my five remaining favorites and be done with it. Then maybe I can post something about the progress I have been making on the secret project.

I thought this one was really impressive. It really seems to catch the spirit of the culture. Lovely.

Another very impressive work. I don't remember for sure but it looks like pure applique in the photo. It's so intricate, and so well executed!

I believe this is a whole cloth quilt for the most part. The colors and shading are achieved with colored pencils. I loved the idea of coloring it in like a kid instead of piecing or appliqueing in the color.

This one had rickrack on it. The close up below has a better view of it. Each outline of the individual swirls is a contrasting color of rickrack. Very clever.

So Nyah.

Well, it appears that few if any people read my blog, so I don't care if you are bored with Columbus photos. I still think they are great. So there.

You can hardly tell because it is a bit blurry, but the squares above are made up of a log-cabin like structure. The pieces are really tiny and I see why it got a ribbon.
I liked the colors in this one, and that it is a simple design but still complex. You know?
Lovin' the colors!!
I'm not sure how they did this. But I only have one word to say: wow.
This was done with thread painting. I'm pretty sure that I've seen this showcased in Quilter's Newsletter. It's a lovely effect.

Not out of photos yet...

This one reminded me of sherbert. I liked the soft subtle colors. It was easier to see the design in person.Another exciting use of bold colors!
I really liked the color scheme of this one. Again, I think something is lost in the photograph.
This was a beautiful example of embroidery work and hand quilting. It was obviously very work intensive.
And a close up of the embroidery.

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

And...a bit more from Columbus

I liked how this Baltimore Album used such lovely bright colors, and even some batiks. It got a ribbon!
This was a really neat example of fussy cutting. It reminded me of art history class, way back in college. (Yikes! Was it that long ago?) I want to say it seems Persian but I can't rely too heavily of my memory of that class.
You can probably tell that I like tradition with a twist. I loved that this was redwork in black. Also it was really cool that the entire quilt was only two colors.
This one was interesting to me as well because of the two-color scheme. Though it seemed much more subtle in person. I suppose it is true that the camera isn't always kind.
This was created as a celebration for a wedding anniversary. It is such a clever design!

Happy father's day, all you dads out there!

Zegi goes to Columbus

Yeeha! I made it to the 2007 NQA Quilt show in Columbus this weekend! I was so jazzed. By Saturday when The Husband and I were getting ready to leave, I was really quiet about it. Turns out, I built it up in my head so much that I was afraid I would be disappointed. But I wasn't! It was awesome.

These are the goodies I bought. I spent all of the birthday money my dad gave me. I also decided it was time to become an official member of NQA, too.


We had hoped to also see LogoAnn while we were there for her graduation, but The Grandparents wanted us to come home for the kiddies. I guess they wore them out. He. Figure that. ;)

I took over a hundred pictures of quilts there. I have to say, though it was really large I rather expected it to be much bigger than it was. Sure it was way bigger than the guild show but it's national, and not juried...so I figured it would be overrun.

Highlights...I saw the 100,000 dollar quilt. It really was awesomely beatiful. It is appropriately named Bella but the 100k quilt exhibit did not allow photos so I have no eye-candy for you there. I also saw the Alzheimer's exhibit, which is intended to raise awareness and funds for research. It was really touching but I had to abandon it after I almost started crying. My great-grandmother and my grandmother both suffered from that awful disease, and now The Husband's grandfather is struggling through it. I just had to move away from all that powerful stuff before I started sobbing. It also did not allow photos, so thankfully I don't have anything to cry over now.

Here are a few photos. At first I was trying to take pictures of the quilt followed by a photo of the label so I could state the name and maker here. But I quickly realized I was taking too many photos for my memory card to accomodate with that scheme and I abandoned it.


The weird clear stripe through the picture is actually the crowd-control rope. I liked the use of the taupe in this one.

Unfortunately this one turned out blurry but it was one of my favorites. I love the way the brights pop on the black.
I'm more of a traditional pattern kinda gal but this one was really impressive, and I loved the use of bright color.

I liked the sunflowers on this one. Plus that it was applique but not in the baltimore album kind of way.

More photos another day! I've got tons, so I should be posting more often. Well, as often as life allows, I guess.

And I've already decided I'll have a quilt in the show next year. Then I could photograph me standing with it! That would be awesome.