BHQG Quilt Show

Yesterday after work I headed down to the Black Hills Quilt Guild's Annual Quilt Show. I had a couple hours to see the show and visit the vendors, so I wasn't too worried. I looked through the quilts and while there several that I liked, there weren't any that just said "must be made ASAP". There were two Crown Royal quilts I took pictures of for inspiration, but Paul didn't like either, so I won't be using either pattern. I don't care for them either, but it's nice to see what others have done.

I have two more of these at least to make and I'm in need of a new pattern and some inspiration to get started. So far nothing has called out to me, so we'll see what happens when I get around to them.

This one is the Crazy Eight Strip Tease pattern done in Christmas fabrics. I love this table topper and want to make another, so this just might be the inspiration. It seemed to be the hot selling pattern at one of the booths too.

This one is done in brown and teal batiks and I just loved how it looks. I have a quilt top done in this same fabric and I would love to get it out and get it finished because I love the colors. I know it needs to have borders done and I think that's what has stopped me. Maybe after the baby quilts are done I'll get it out and finish it for our bed.

I spent quite a bit of time at the vendor booths, but nothing really struck me as a "have to have"
new product. I guess working in the quilting industry for the past two years I have seen all the new things. I did buy a couple fat quarters of "Wanna Be a Cowboy" fabric that I didn't have. I'm planning to use them for a couple new purse/bags.
I did pick up this new license plate cover from Dakota Cabin Quilts. It's one of my favorite shops and they always have great stuff at the quilt show.


I had this ruler special ordered at work and it just came in. It's a 4.5" 60* ruler and I plan to use it with the hexagon quilt along I'm going to do as well as the One Block Wonder.

I also had the new Lazy Girl pattern Margo ordered and I need to get the sample done soon as it's a class I'll be teaching in August. I can't wait to get it done. I've been waiting for it to make myself a new purse. I'm so glad I had both of these items special ordered as I didn't see either at the quilt show.

Enjoy the other pictures I took at the quilt show.


BHQG Quilt Show

Crazy Eight's Table runner

This tablerunner was probably one of the quickest I have ever finished. It's from the Let's Do Lunch book by Atkinson Designs. It's made from my Crazy Eights fabric leftovers. I quilted it in under 15 min as it only took 3 passes. I put the binding on it Wed. night and then I handsewed the binding while I was waiting yesterday morning. I'm thinking I really need to do more tablerunners so I have hand work to do while I'm waiting. Although it's a Christmas tablerunner I'm happy it's finished and I'll be able to use it later this year.

Crazy Eight's Table runner

The Crazy Eight's wall hanging got done before Christmas, but the scraps and leftovers have been hanging out waiting to be transformed into something new. While I was at my parents, snowed in by the blizzard, I took the scraps and made this tablerunner. It's from the book Let's Do Lunch by Terry Atkinson. It's a very easy to follow pattern and went together quickly. I finished it up on Tues. night. Once I have the CR quilt off the frame I'll quilt it. It's small enough that I could quilt it on my regualar machine, but it's a lot easier and quicker on the frame. I still have plenty of leftovers and I'm thinking I might try to make yet another tablerunner from the scraps, but we'll just have to see how things go. I also have some Figgy Pudding scraps that I might make into a tablerunner.

Quilting Funk

I'm in a quilting funk this week. I finished the top of the Crown Royal quilt and got it loaded on the frame last week Sunday. I thought I'd be able to get it quilted as my bro's Christmas gift, but some changes to the plan led me to put the quilting aside and not try to rush it. It's still loaded on the frame, but I'm not feeling like quilting it. I suppose because it's so big is why I'm struggling. I do fine on small wall hangings and baby quilts, but quilting one this size is just a little overwhelming to me. Here's what it looked like before I had all the rows together.

We were able to head to my parents on Christmas Eve morning. The roads were fine and we made it safely. We spent Christmas Eve with my brother and his family at their house. It was a beautiful, but cold night. It was so fun to see my niece running around and playing. We got back to my parents and settled in for the night. We woke up to blizzard conditions Christmas morning and there was no way my bro & his family were going to make it. So Paul, my little bro Ed, and I helped mom make dinner. It was such a good meal. While mom and dad napped, Ed helped me do the dishes. Late in the afternoon we opened presents and watched movies. It's just too bad we had to watch them on the little 13" tv. My parents X-mas present was a new big TV, but it was at my brothers house. We all played cards Christmas night. Mom and I smoked Dad and Ed at Cribbage and then I smoked the boys at poker. No matter which kind we played... I beat them.
We were snowed in Sat. too, so more games, sewing, and movies. Mom and I finished the fabric books for my niece and I started a Christmas Tablerunner. Dad tried to get out, but got stuck and then wind picked up more, so there was no going for us.
Sunday morning a local rancher came with a tractor and got the yard cleaned enough that Ed and Dad could get to town. My dad's blade is there and he was able to get the road and yard cleared out a bit before going and doing the main road and to the other guys house so he could plow too. They were gone all day. Paul and I packed up and headed home about noon. We had our own 6 foot tall by 10 foot wide drift behind our vehicles at home. We didn't get that cleared out till yesterday, but the cars are still full of snow, so Paul has taken me to work both yesterday and today. Last night I finished the top of the Christmas Crazy Eights tablerunner. I'll get it quilted as soon as the CR quilt is off the frame and I finish Jenn's wall hanging.
We're headed to my parents for the New Years weekend so Paul can go hunting. He didn't get a chance last weekend because of all the snow.
Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

Crazy Eight's Wall Hanging

Last night I quickly quilted up this wall hanging and put the binding on it so I would have a Christmas wall hanging for my office. I'd been meaning to get it done for past couple months, but it just never happened. I put it together on Friday night... it kept me up till 1:30AM! I love how it turned out and the red/green/tan King Tut thread was awesome to work with. I used red Bottomline in the bobbin. It went so quickly and I got about half the binding hand sewn down at breaks and lunch today. I have enough leftovers to make a tablerunner, but I don't know if I'll get it done or not.


After I finished quilting and binding the wall hanging, I was able to square up the OBW. Apparently I cut the side borders wider than the top and bottom, but I was able to just cut off the sides since the top and bottom were correct. I had been missing the black binding fabric that matched the borders. I had 3 different blacks and I had used one for the OBW, one was an extra good quality black, and the other was the black for the Crown Royal quilt. I knew the black for the CR quilts was in the bag with them, I could find the extra black, but I couldn't for the life of me find the OBW one. I finally decided to check the CR bag and it was in there! It must have gotten set in there when I had both at my parents last weekend. It may have been my nimble fingered niece, who loves to play with fabric!
Only 2 days left until we leave for Sioux Falls to see Tonic Sol Fa! I'm so looking forward to seeing my college friends and having a fun weekend. I love TSF and have seen them 8 or 9 times in concert and have most of their CD's.

100 Blocks 100 Days ~ Blocks/ Day

Patchwork Jungle

We didn't get the big blizzard they were predicting, but we did get the frigid cold temperatures. Yesterday it was -9 when I got up. I worked and we had a total of 3 customers all day. It was too cold to be out. Paul's pickup wouldn't even start.
I finished hand sewing the binding on the Patchwork Jungle baby quilt yesterday. The kits are already done and I'm pleased with how the sample turned out. It took me about 6 hours to maket the top on Fri. night and 1 1/2 hours to quilt on Sat. night and another hour or so to put the bias binding on and about 2 hours to hand sew it down. I'm overall pleased with how quickly it went together and the way my colors worked.


Last night after work I made 60* table runners for my co-workers. I have a few left to go and then I need to quilt them all, so I'll be busy this week. We're having a Christmas gathering to reveal secret santa's on Wed. night and then I need two gifts by Fri. and another for Mon. I quilted my crazy eights table topper last night with a fairly small stipple. I used a mettler blue verigated that had a bit of shimmer to it. It turned out really well. The finished size is about 45" I did the bias binding and got it all put on. I'll finish sewing down the binding today during lunch.

Crazy Eight Top Done!

This weekend was crazy busy! I don't feel like I got a whole lot done. I started at 5:30 AM on Friday when I made a runaround bag for Janelle, whose last day at work was Fri. She and I have become good friends while working together and I'm going to miss her a ton. I had it whipped together in a half hour and got ready for work. Anyone who knows me, knows this was a miracle since I usually don't get up until the last minute that I need to. I'm not a morning person! Friday night I put a bunch of my Christmas CD's on my Ipod and it took a long time! I'm now set to listen to Christmas music at work all month.
Sat. was strip club, so a busy day! It was lots of fun and always so interesting to see the show and tell that everyone brings. After work I met Jenn and three of her friends and we had supper and went to the movie Four Christmases. It was a really good movie and a great Girls Night Out with new friends. I really enjoyed spending time with other young women.
Sunday I worked and Jen's wall hanging kept picking at me. I've been resisting the 12 Days of Christmas panel, but when I saw it done up I had to get one. It's so super cute. I had big plans to quilt it Sun. night, but Elaine threw a fit! Her tension is completely off, so I took her in to the shop today and hope it's nothing too major. So mom's Barlow quilt and my panel are sitting.
We rearranged the house and put the Christmas Tree in place and then I cleaned my sewing room. I pulled out Marie and started cutting out my Crazy Eights tablerunner. I had all the stratas done, just needed to piece the top. I got the first part sewn and Marie is just a little charm to have around. She sews so beautifully! Tonight I started piecing the top and didn't stop until the top was done.
Here's the finished top on my design wall. It's about 42" across. Once it's quilted I plan to use it on our round dining room table. It's also on my new list of quilts to be quilted. I know that's three... don't be too shocked!