Christmas countdown

How many days till Christmas? Not enough for me.....I'm still shopping. Last night I attended my last Tuesday night stiching with my friends and here are a few pictures of quilts from last night. This red and black quilt is for Teresia's daughter's wedding. She got married last July and Teresia calls it the wedding quilt from hell. The squares finish out at 2 inches and Teresia says that if she had to do it again she'd make the squares 3 inches. I love the colors......red is my favorite color and I love black in quilts. She has to make this quilt to fit a California King bed that has a large mattress and is high. It's going to be a large quilt.

Here is a close up of the quilt from hell.........you can see it takes lots of small pieces to make each block.
Diana was in attendence last night....finishing up quilts that are to be given as Christmas presents. This quilt was made from a block of the month a couple of years ago at a local quilt shop. The colors were bright and I love the way Diana put the blocks together. I have the same blocks all done but have not put my top together yet.
Here is a close up of the blocks. I love the black poke-a-dot fabric used in the boarder.
Have a Merry Christmas.....don't know if I'll have any more posts till the holiday is over.

More Pictures From the Christmas Party

Here are more pictures from show and tell at our Christmas party. The quilt below was made as a wedding present, the houses are each couple who then wrote in the block next to the house block that represented them. A very personal quilt and perfect for a wedding.

This small quilt was made by Bob....yes we have male quilters in our guild. I think it would make a nice table topper. Good work Bob.
This quilt was made for the quilters daughter and will be used now and after she's in college...she used a lot of gray and black fabrics. A very nice quilt.

Quilters Christmas Party

The Christmas party was lots of fun last night. The picture below shows quilters in the food line. What good food we had! Below are pictures I took last night. As always show and tell was fun and nice to see what fellow quilters have been doing.

Here is my ornament that I received in the exchance. Cross stiched with thread and beads....beautiful. It was a blue Christmas night for me. I received a wonderful package from my secret pal. Everything was blue...candles, note cards, and wonderful blue Christmas fat quarters. My stash does not have any blue Christmas fabric in it and the addition of the blue fabric I received last night will be welcome into my stash.
Below are the quilt tops made in the Gordian Knot I workshop in October. Of course mine is the brightest....you can't miss it on the far right. I love seeing all the different fabric combinations and how these quilts worked out.
My friend Joan and her converence quilt made in my workshop from August. Love this blue Christmas look and the way she quitled it on her own sewing machine.
Our president Lynne and her Christmas tree quilt. She bought this kit at Pacific International and one of her friends said "bet it won't be done for Christmas". She had to finish it so she could prove them wrong.

Christmas Party Tonight

Tonight my Manteca Quilt Guild will host it's annual Christmas party. We each make or buy a home made ornament and have an exchange. I usually make a crazy quilted stocking ornament and this year I kept up the tradition. Below is a picture of my 2006 ornament. I finished it up last ngiht. The picture doesn't show the lace too well on the toe but I think it turned out rather well. I hope the person who receives my ornament likes it as much as I do . Not really too sure about the red I used in the silk roses.....one really shouldn't pick out colors at night with low lights around.

Tonight should be lots of fun, food and good friends to visit with. I wish I could find the block of the month that I took to sew in October at our last membership meeting. We don't have a meeting in November because the fourth Thursday falls on Thanksgiving. Anyway I put it away......and now I can't find it.....go figure. Maybe I'll find it next month stuck somewhere and then I'll remember putting it there. I hope to take some pictures tonight.....I'll see if I can post some tomorrow.

Beautiful Quilt Finished

Last night at our Tuesday night sewing group my friend Liz W. brought along her finished quilt to show us. This quilt was made in a workshop early last spring. The workshop was a mystery quilt. Using scraps or fat quarters you didn't need to buy any new fabric. Don't we all love to use fabric out of our stashes. I love the way this quilt turned out. Liz just loves this quilt and is using it on the bed in her 5th wheel trailer.

Here is a close up of the blocks. Yes.....in case you are wondering I took the class and my quilt is a UFO. After seeing Liz's finished quilt I really have to get busy and finish my quilt. I used very bright fabrics... all fat quarters in my quilt.....it's going to look very different.

Countdown to Christmas

Thanksgiving is over and now the count down to Christmas begins. Wow....has this year gone by fast. Seem like yesterday and summer was just begining. There was frost on my car this morning when I left for work. I'm happy because the frost will kill all the flyes that were left over from this summer.

The converence quilt pictures were taken at the Lodi Quilt Show. The person who made them took a class with Ricky Timms. I really like the fabric she used and the way they were made. I love making converence quilts. So much fun.....you never know what you will turn out with. I like the way the boarder is done on the first quilt......very different.

Happy Thanksgiving !

It's been way too long since I've posted. I did attend the Lodi quilt show and took some pictures of my favorite quilts. The quilt above is done in felt and I really love working with felt. This is a beautiful quilt....but I bet it is very heavy.

My friend Carol is working on the quilt above. I love all the old 30's fabrics....its nice to see the finished version.
This quilt is done in a see through style...the threads hold the quilt together. Very different...more of a art quilt.

The red flowers in this quilt really make the quilt. I love red.

Have a good Thanksgiving and don't eat too much. To my friend Liz who says she read my blog.....hello.

Fall In California

Fall has finally arrived here in central California we had our first rain shower starting Wednesday night. Today is cloudy and cool and it finally feels like fall. The tree's are even changing color and leaves are falling to the ground. I just hope the fog season doesn't start. Because of the big valley we live in here we get very thick ground fog and it makes it hard to drive. If the crazy people who drive way too fast weren't on the roads driving in the fog it would be much easier. It get so bad at night that I've had a hard time finding my own driveway.

The picture you see on the left is from the class last Saturday. Our teacher made this top and I love the way she put the fish in the picture.

I have voted.....do you plan on voting? I vote absentee and did so two weeks ago....so all that junk mail I get on the election and all those crazy ads don't have any effect on me. Because I live out in the country and there are not enough voters for a polling place to vote we ususally end up having to vote absentee so I regestered for a permate absentee ballot.....so I vote absentee all the time. Remember....if you don't vote you can't complaine about the way the country is being run. Heaven knows we need a change and I really hope a change is coming.

On Sunday I plan on attending a quilt show in Lodi.....pictures to follow. Have a great weekend.

Gordian Knot I Workshop

Here are the quiters all set up and busy sewing so they can get as much done on the Gordian Knot as the workshop is never long enough. Most people at this workshop got the top done and some got the boarders sewn on. The workshop was lots of fun. What quilter deesn't have fun out sewing with friends with lots of room to get your project done.

Here is the teachers sample of the Gordian Knot I. I really like the way she used her fabrics in this quilt.
This is Gordian Knot II. There are seven patterns in the book. They get harder as you go along. The teacher had only made the first two quilts in the book. I think I want to make this patter also. Someday.....it will be on my long list of quilts I want to make.

Here is my Gordian Knot made from the fabric's I showed in the last blog entry. I didn't get to sew on my boarders as I had to do some unsewing.....because I was not paying attention to the step by step pattern. You really have to pay attention when you are sewing this quilt. I will post a picture when the whole top is done. I really like the pop of the orange fabric and the way it shows up.

Gordian Knot I Workshop Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the workshop for the Gordian Knot, can't wait. Here is a picture of my fabric. The yellow will be the background, the dark print will be the color around the knot and the orange will be the knot. As you can tell I like bold bright colors. The dark print will also be the boarder around this quilt. I will take lots of pictures tomorrow. There are 20 quilters in the class so we should have lots of different Gordian Knots.

More Pacific International

Here are the final pictures from Pacific International. I love this quilt of the birds standing in the water.
This quilt looks like a picture taken on vacation, or a place I'd like to go on vacation. The quilter cut out different fabrics, rocks, green for trees and combined them to make this quilt.
This quilt is so cool, done in black and white and shades to gray. A true work of art.

Pacific International part 2

More pictures of quilts from Pacific Internationa. I love the quilt of the sea turtle, the fabric used is pefect and the detail is wonderful. I'd love to make a quilt like this. The other two quilts are very different and I like the fabric and the way they are made. Nothing has to be perfect.

Pacific International part 1

A good time was had by all (three other quilters) and I at Pacific International last friday. I took lots of pictures of quilts that I liked. When I looked back at the pictures today, it looks like I like quilts made to look like pictures, true works of art. The quilt with the cars is the same car but shown in different parts of the country......so cool. We spent lots of time with the venders and spent money on patterns and fabric. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

It's Wednesday!

The week just seems to fly by. I'm taking Friday off to attend Pacific International Quilt Show in Santa Clara.....what fun it will be over 700 quilts and wall hangings and wearable's. Over 150 venders, this is the biggest quilt show on the west coast. I try and go every year and some quilting friends and I are going on Friday because it just gets too busy on Saturday. Our guild is taking a bus on Saturday but they leave too early to go home and we like to take our time going through the venders and then the quilts, we stay till late in the afternoon and then go out to dinner to rest our feet and eat while the bay area traffic clears up. The pictures I'm showing today are from a member in the Manteca guild. This is a popular applique pattern that several quilters in our guild are doing. Jan was showing us at the last workshop because she was hoping to get it basted so she can begin hand quilting. It is so beautiful, she used fabric from her stash and has changed some of the pattern. Enjoy looking at this wonderful quilt.

I plan on taking lots of pictures at Pacific International and will share them next week.

Quilt Guild Meeting

Last Thursday I attended my September Manteca quilt guild meeting. I took a few pictures of show and tell and wanted to share these pictures with you. But I kept forgetting to bring my cord so I could download the pictures. So here they are better late then you never seeing them. The quilt with pictures was made by a lady whose husband was badly injured in Vietman, it was made to honor his service to his country. The second quilt was made by our president who has twin sons who are about 10 years old and her husband took them camping for few days and she sewed the whole time they were gone. I really love this quilt, it has bright colors that I like and she says that she has enought left over fabric to made a couple more quilts. Why do we as quilters tend to buy more fabric then we need to make one quilt?? The last quilt was made by a quilter who took a class and made a quilt of one of her favorite pictures. I love barns and really like this quilt. Enjoy these pictures of quilts.

Quilting Retreat part 2

Here are two project that I finished at the retreat. The picture below, the large quilt at the back is a workshop I took last year and all I had to do was sew on the final boarder, now its all done and can be machine quilted. The table runner in the front is the pattern that you quilt as you sew and is made with christmas fabric, all I have to do now is sew on the binding and it is done....yea!

The picture on the top is my three convergence quilts done. From the back on the left is my pine tree convergence called sunset, the quilt on the right is tequila sunrise and the one up front is my halloween punkin quilt. Now to get them quilted. I will do the small quilts and have my friend D quilt the large one.

The pictures were taken outside on the deck. I did not spend enough time out on the deck as I was inside sewing. Maybe next year some of us will sew outside on the deck.....there is a electric outlet on the wall outside.

Quilting Retreat part 1

What fun we all had on our retreat up in Twain Heart. This cabin (house) is the perfect place to have a retreat. We have already booked it for next year. I took lots of pictures and will share some today and some tomorrow. We all got lots of sewing done, and I taught the converence quilt and finished putting on boarders on my three unfinished converence quilts.

I learned how to make a pillow case with all the seams inside and hidden......so cool and finished three pillow cases while at the retreat. I even made one pillow case for me out of flannel. I'll have to take pictures of the pillow cases as I didn't when I was up at the retreat. One pillow case has been given to one birthday boy but the other won't have his birthday till next week.

The pool table in the house was used as a double cutting and layout table. One of us even used the end of the pool table to sew on. Next year we need to bring up one more table so we don't have to use the pool table. The lady who ownes the house is a quilter and had plywood covers made for the pool table. It made a perfect cutting table. With irons and sewing machines using the electric the only time we blew a fuse was when we had the TV on at the same time. More pictures and details to follow tomorrow.

Sonora Quilt Show part 2

Here are a couple more quilts that I took pictures of in Sonora. I like the way the quilter used these cool pictures of motorcycle gals. And I really like the converence quilt done with fabric that is african inspired. I love the way she used the fabric.

Today is my last day at work before my quilting retreat.....YEA!! I need to pack tonight and get ready to go in the morning. We can get into the cabin at noon......so we will be sewing in the afternoon.

I plan on taking lots of pictures with my new camera. I'm really happy with the way it took pictures at the quilt show so I sould return we lots of pictures of the gals sewing and their projects. I will try and post on Monday when I get back.....stay tuned.