OH! Baby Quilts

I seem to be in a little bit of a pattern here, I recently completed 3 baby quilts. Of course, I still have 3 hanging ready to finish, at present I have about 11 UFOs - the deal with my UFOs though is that they are all out, piled around my room, in stages of disarray. The is no rhyme or reason to which quilts I am working on at any given time, some days I just feel like piecing, some days ironing, some days hand stitching, and everyday - I design. With all these designs I just keep starting new quilts, and then there are new piles, and new UFOs!

I have worked out a deal with the shop teacher at South....he is going to have his students build me new cabinets/shelves for my sewing room. I drew them all up. I spent all Christmas Break figuring out the perfect design, and once I handed over the plans, and changed my mind again. I hope to add some counter space, and some space to put each project in its own basket, I hope to get organized. And all it is going to cost me is a cheesecake a month for the rest of my life. Relatively small price to pay for sanity wouldn't you say.

"Sammy" is for my BFF Laura - her little boys room is Safari - so I had to do this. The other animal quilt is just an extra, I'd sell it if you want to buy it. The little girl quilt is just an extra too - but I think I love it too much to part with - at least not for now.

Finally Finished my Ode to Asia

I started this quilt last year, and finally finished it yesterday. The design is roughly some pattern I once saw in a quilting magazine, but I have since lost the magazine, and then I just made it all up. The back is almost as perfect as the front, actually, I do rather find it more interesting. The ladies at the quilt guild always show there quilts, then they turn them around and show the back, and say "oh I just threw the rest of the fabric together on the back..." Well laudeedau for them. Piecing that back easily took longer, and definitely more Math skills than the front ever did. I had the piece quilted by Kathy Gyles and I think she did a great job. The larger squares have lotus blossoms - and the rest is bamboo.

Kati's Quilt

This summer I bit the bullet and finally started working on Kati's quilt. This is a drawing that I had Kati due when I was in a textile's class at KU. After she made the drawing on a large sheet of butcher paper, I traced the image with black resist on cotton. Between the 2 of us we then painted it with thickened dyes. From the start I loved it. I loved it so much I was terrified to work on it. With the help of Kris Barlow, I put together the top, and decided to quilt it on a long arm. Kris taught me how to long-arm, and together we used the same drawing ideals that Kati used, and I quilted it. Yeah. Somewhere there is video - but that is on a memory card that has briefly taken a vacation from my posession.

I even really enjoy the detail that shows up on the back due to the different color of threads. There is a lot of thread on this fabric, but I feel that it doesn't lose the quality and stories of Kati's mark making.

It has been a miserably long time since I have posted a blog, and the horror of it all is that there have been many things of which to post. First. Gramma's auction. What an event, amazing that a woman could have that much loot left after she was convinced she had gotten ridden of everything. I did walk away with a ton of quilting materials so I shan't complain. And my mom's high school yearbook. It was a fabulous day, and I spent it with great people. Atleast 5-6 months after the even I am pretty sure that is how it went.....

Later for more.

Heading South

Well, it's official...next year I will be teaching at Olathe South High School. I bet Bill is really excited about moving all my crap. Oh, it'll be good for him. This move is a mixed bag. Yes, I want to go, but it will be hard leaving CST behind. But CST will not be the same place next year, all the 9th grade teachers are moving up, and with budget cuts, all extra teachers are being moved around too, so time moves on. Really?

OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!

OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!
That quilt show was sooo much fun. Too late to turn back now....... People actually liked my quilts.

My Quilts will be Displayed at the

Kaw Valley Quilt Guild Show

April 24 and 25

Douglas County Fairgrounds

Lawrence, KS

10:00 - 5:00

Admission: Adult $5, Under 12 - Free