Northern Stars Do It Again!

Hats off to the NY guild, Northern Star, for putting on a great quilt show each and every year!  I don't know how they do it, but they do it beautifully.

Please respect the quilters by not pinning these photos.  I was unable to get verbal approval to post these photos, and have taken every step to credit the work.  If anyone sees her quilt and does not want it included please contact me and I'll remove it.

Here is my Best in Show -  YoYo City
I think it is so creative and lively and fun!

They had a Red & White challenge exhibit inspired by the Infinite Variety show in NYC in 2011.

Well done!!

Isn't this clever!  It worked, but not on my phone.

This was another favorite feature of the show for me.

This was my top pick - A dress  (address, love word play)

 

This was the big winner - Congratulations Bethany!  Her work is always visually stunning and her workmanship is perfection.

 I loved the way this quilter did a different design in each area of the quilt.  This one is bamboo.

And my favorite the horse and horse fencing - so creative~

I tip my hat to Steven, who worked on this appliqué quilt on the train!

Hope you enjoyed the show!  See anything that inspires you?

Fun For Friday - Bubbly Part I

Happy Friday!  It is good to be home after 2 days of driving.

Later today we will celebrated the end of Hanna's first year by opening a bottle of bubbly!

Today I thought I'd share this fun little collection/journal that I started in 2008.  That is when I started marking champagne corks with the date and reason for the celebration.

I have 58 so far.  At first I only marked the special ones like Christmas, Birthdays, Oscar night.  But now I mark all of them.

I think this was the first one that I signed.

Here is one when Andrew was accepted into Ramapo College.

I treated myself when I finished my Mother's Garden Quilt.

A girls weekend in Chicago.  I bring them home from cruises, restaurants, where ever I was lucky enough to enjoy some bubbles.

Here is one of my personal favorites:  Just Sunday.  I've made no secret that I love champagne, I guess that Sunday it just seemed right :)

I keep them in this over sized brandy snifter.

And speaking of oversized; check out this bottle.  I bought it at an estate sale several years ago.  I think the owner was a liquor distributer or something.

And finally I leave you with todays fresh pick from the yard.
Lily of the Valley in a pretty champagne flute.

Fun things this weekend:
Saturday: Cinco de Mayo and the Kentucky Derby
Sunday:    Quilt show with friends.

I hope you have fun things planned to!

Are You Kidding?

There's No Place Like Home is what I decided to call hanna's 1st Year Miami of Ohio quilt.   I actually have another quilt by that name, but so what, it works on this one too.

It measures 45 X 58" - not very big, but then neither is she~

Close up of the quilting-

Here is an outdoor shot which shows the quilting well.

 And the back

I used a variegated thread of light pink, medium pink and red.  I really like it.  It softened the red and wasn't too stark on the white.  I used solid red for the cables on the border.

Here is the label.  I attached it so it looked like a "M" for Miami.

The backing is 2 different pink.  This first one is a vintage 1970's with quotes from "Laugh In" a comedy show that I used to love.

The other fabric is a breast cancer fabric with the words mother, daughter, sister, friend, etc.

The reason I titled this post "Are You Kidding' is because I had finished all the quilting when I realized that I had the backing upside down - seriously?  I just had to laugh at myself.

We're off tomorrow at o-dark hundred to get Hanna home.   Hanna asked me to bring the quilt to school as she's dying to finally see it.  What a sweet girl!

Put a Pin in It

Hello!

Last week I marked and pinned my daughters School house quilt and I've been busy machine quilting it.

I usually do cross hatching quilting when looking for a simple overall pattern.  This time I did 60 degree diamonds.

In this photo you can see my "eraser".  I use a Q-tip and a little water to erase any lines that are a little off.  I remove most of the cotton tip.  This works great.

My tried and true and favorite border design.  I'm extending the diamonds all the way to the cable just for fun and added interest.

If you think this looks like a lot of pins, you are right!

I'm using a lot this time because I didn't want to do any anchoring straight lines and all the quilting is on the bias.

So, what do we think of Donald Draper's new wifey?  I put a poll up on the right hand side just for fun and it's not even Friday.

Happy Pinning and Stitching everyone!

Jill's UFO Update

Happy Sunday from rainy New Jersey - finally! and we need it!

If you want to see the original UFO challenge post click here.

This post authored by Jill:

"It pains me to admit failure on our UFO challenge...especially to my near
and dear Cupcake friends!   However I have failed miserably and could offer
the usual litany of excuses...A, B, C, or all of the above...but no one
really wants to hear them...lol.

Note to self...for the next UFO challenge, choose a NF UFO (nearly finished
UFO), not a BBHS UFO (barely begun hand stitched UFO)!!!

Here is a pic of my progress however, which consists of one more completed
star and a half finished fourth.  I shall plod on!    I also discovered
after placing this many on the design wall that my original vision of this
finished quilt was seriously flawed, so back to the drawing board on that
one, too!

I will keep Barb up to date on my progress...have a Happy Spring everyone!

Jill