Quilts are H-E-A-V-Y

Let the gathering and sorting begin . . . 

Twenty large quilts plus six of my small barn quilts

for a trunk show presentation on Tuesday February 26

for the Pickin' Up the Pieces quilt guild in Memphis . . . 

Plus thirty more quilts and those six barn quilts

for my lecture/trunk show presentation

for Scrap Club hosted by Kevin the Quilter

in O'Fallon, MISSOURI on Thursday February 28 

at 1:00 and at 5:00 . . . 

(Meeting is held at 18 North Central Avenue, 

O'Fallon, MO, if you'd like come join the fun) 

Plus another eight quilts and a few smaller items

for the Dumpster Diving workshop

with twenty Scrap Club members 

on Friday March 1 at Jackman's Fabrics

on Lindbergh in St. Louis . . .

(the papers pinned on the design wall

are my packing lists - quilts go into the tote tubs 

in reverse order so the quilt holding volunteers 

can just lift out the next quilt and we all stay in sync)

I'll need five large tote tubs for 

the two lecture/trunk show quilts 

PLUS

a sixth tote tub for the workshop quilts 

AND

a blue IKEA bag for my project boxes filled with 

pieces/parts for the workshop's work-in-progress quilt.

That is a LOT of quilts to pick up and move around!

(Needless to say, I have rented a larger vehicle

since my Honda is much too small

to hold that many quilt-filled tote tubs

plus several boxes of BUILD A BARN books)

Meanwhile RETIRED TOO is pin basted

and ready to be quilted / finished

so it can be packed into one of 

the three St. Louis trunk show boxes.

Spending time with Max quilting 

instead of planning/sorting/packing

sounds really, really good . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------
"It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret."
Jackie Joyner-Kersee

The Monday After

Friday morning bright and early I headed north

to meet up with three blogging buddies in St. Louis

ahead of the evening's lecture/trunk show.

We met up at Jackman's Fabrics,

migrated to The Quilted Fox,

and believe it or not,

these 12 fat quarters (2 of each)

and 2 half-yard cuts (the purples)

were all I brought home.

I surprised even myself

with how little I purchased - 

there was SO much beautiful fabric

in those two stores . . . 

I wish they were closer so I could visit more often.

After dinner, we headed to the lecture/trunk show venue.

Here's a selfie taken by Kevin the Quilter

 with Jan Ochterbeck 

(The Colorful Fabriholic

and fellow AQS author of Cut and Shuffle Quilts

and Cherie Moore 

(The Quilted Jonquil and a member of the SSOBB -

Cherie's been away from her blog for a while but

is planning to start posting again soon)

The four of us had SO much fun together

and it was wonderful to meet Kevin and Jan

in person for the first time.

Cherie took this photo just before the meeting started

with all of my quilts still in the four large plastic boxes

I used to transport them in the back of the rented SUV.

The trunk show included my first two quilts,

37 others, and ended with my most recent finish 

(The Spotted Winkel)

and highlighted my love affair with saturated colors

Kevin took this photo when

 I was talking about Happy Strings.

(double click to enlarge if you want to see more detail)

It was a fun-filled evening with lots of smiles and

excellent questions from the 55 guild members 

and 13 guests in attendance.

Thank you to the Thimble and Thread guild 

for inviting me, enjoying my life in quilts,

and making me feel so welcome.

* * *

Tomorrow I'll share photos from 

Saturday's all-day liberated birds class.

Just wait until you see what the students made!

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

Squirrel Season

One new unplanned project wasn't enough.

Oh, no.  

Not at all.

More squirrels have invaded the studio . . . 

This one started when I checked out 

the inaugural design for 

Quiltfolk's new pattern subscription.

I love their magazine so

I signed up for this new offering

on a "let's see how this goes" basis.

And you are correct if you are sensing a

one-thing-leads-to-another cascade.

After I read through the Quiltfolk pattern booklet,

the first thing I thought of was how their vintage quilt

could be reinterpreted in a manner similar to

this one from Sujata Shah's Cultural Fusion Quilts.

The second thing I thought of was 

these vintage fabrics that were used 

in my Retired, Too quilt back.

(the one that is still waiting to be quilted)

Off to the studio to see 

just how much of these were left

and to check the stash in order to 

create my own version of the pattern's vintage quilt.

(I like the "Revival Quilt",

but the vintage "Source Quilt" 

is the one that sings for me)

Nearly two hours later, 

these are the edited fabric pairs 

that will form the starting point for 

my version of "Sujata's Sunset

meets Quiltfolk's source quilt."

One early design decision is that

I am not going to set my blocks on point.

My layout will be inspired by 

the vintage quilt in the Quiltfolk pattern.

But what about those wonderful 

vintage fabrics I purchased from Wanda's stash?

They will form the center panel of the quilt's back.

Eventually, I'll border them with a 

long-stashed deep leafy green

to make the backing wide enough.

* * *

I haven't started cutting anything yet because

I want to look for a few alternate 

light and dark purples to add into the mix

when I'm in St. Louis next weekend

for the Thimble and Thread lecture/trunk show

and my Lynne's Liberated Birds all-day class.

And this project won't actually begin

until late this year or early 2019.

But it will definitely happen!

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------
"Inspiration is allowed to do whatever it wants to, in fact, and it is never obliged to justify its motives to any of us."
Elizabeth Gilbert

One Thing at a Time . . .

Mother's Day planter on our newly re-located patio table/chairs
(that concrete block protects the patio from rainwater pouring off the roof during storms)

Studio time has been sporadic

for the past couple of weeks.

We've celebrated DH's birthday,

our 43rd wedding anniversary,

and our younger son's birthday.

We had a good time at Little Man's school's 

annual evening baseball game 

with post-game fireworks outing, and

very much enjoyed family time on Mother's Day.

I've also gotten lots of 

nagging 'small' things done

like updating labels on project boxes,

paying monthly bills / balancing the checkbook,

cleaning out and reorganizing the studio closet,

winding bobbins, updating studio priorities,

tending to our young plants in the flowerbeds,

dusting and cleaning the tidied studio rooms,

preparing for this month's Little Man sleepover,

and cutting up scraps for long-term projects,

all while moving more slowly than normal

until the recent bursitis-in-my-hips flare-up recedes.

(hopefully sooner now with the help of PT)

The Spotted Winkel is still on the design wall.

The top and back of Geese for Misty

are partially sewn and nearing completion.

Colorful Crumbs is still pin-basted for quilting.

And there are four more tops / backs

waiting to be prepped / quilted for my 

July 13 lecture/trunk show in St. Louis.

One thing at a time . . . .

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------
"Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Plaidmania - The Quilt

Last week, Max and I spent a couple of afternoons 

stitching liberated free motion Baptist Fans on Plaidmania.

Quilted using Glide thread in Bark top and bottom.

TA-DA -- it's another finish!

48" x 60"

Started in 2016 using plaids from my stash,

more plaids gifted from Wanda's stash

 of Roberta Horton fabrics,

and a mix of shirtings for the lights.

Here is Plaidmania basking in the late afternoon sunshine.

(and if you look at the grass, 

you can see why we call 

the winter months here khaki season)

I LOVE the texture of these liberated fans.

(you can see the unquilted flimsy here)

Each row of fans is roughly 3.5" in height

but each fan is unique in width and shape.

The backing is made up of two different fabrics

pieced vertically but off-center.

This is the orange-red with little golden-yellow stars.

This is the other orange-red

with an allover print featuring leaves.

The narrow outer border and binding 

are dark brown with a small orange'ish paisley design.

When I took Plaidmania to share 

with my Wednesday quilt group,

there were lots of smiles, ooh's, and ahh's.

I love it, too.

* * *

And for those who have commented

about the recent flurry of finishes . . .

I had already planned to finish lots of waiting quilt tops

this year, but my timetable definitely moved forward 

when I was contacted by the

Thimble and Thread Quilt Guild of Kirkwood, MO

about presenting a lecture/trunk show on Friday, July 13th

and an all-day Liberated Birds class on Saturday the 14th.

If any of you are interested 

in attending the lecture/trunk show,

the guild's meeting is open to the public 

with a $5 charge for non-guild members.

The Saturday class is open first for guild members

but non-members are welcome on a space-available basis.

You can read about the Thimble and Thread guild here.

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------
"It's fun to read things when you don't know all the words. Even children love it... they come up against weird words, and the weird words excite them."
Salman Rushdie

Barn News and Notes

I will be sharing quilts and stories

from The Free Pieced Barn Project at the

Uncommon Threads Quilt Guild meeting

in Germantown, Tennessee

on Tuesday, January 24.

The guild meets at Germantown UMC,

2331 South Germantown Road.

Their meeting starts at 6:30 and ends by 9:00.

For those who are local,

I hope you can make it.

* * *

In other BUILD A BARN news . . .

The Seasonal Sampler (L) at AQS Chattanooga 2016
(quilt on right by Gwen Marston from her book Free Range Triangles)

Last week I learned 

The Seasonal Sampler 

WILL be traveling to all six

of this year's AQS shows

as part of the Author's Showcase:

Daytona Beach, FL (Mar. 1 – 4)

 Lancaster, PA (Mar. 29 – Apr. 1)

Spring Paducah, KY (Apr. 26 – 29) 

Grand Rapids, MI (Aug. 16 – 19) 

Fall Paducah, KY (Sep. 13 – 16) 

and

Des Moines, IA (Oct. 4 – 7)

If any of you make it to any of the shows,

I'd love to have a photo of you with the quilt.

(email address is in 

my profile in the sidebar)

I'm also excited to share

that I will be teaching a week-long class 

in April at the John C. Campbell Folk School

in Brasstown, North Carolina.

CLICK HERE for class details.

(there's also a link in my sidebar)

Those of you who have followed my blog

for very long know that DH and I have spent

quite a few vacation weeks taking classes at JCCFS.

This link will take you to their home page.

From that starting point, you can learn about 

the history of the place,

the philosophy of their programming,

and details for schedules, housing, and more.

I hope you'll take a look

and that you will consider joining 

the Build a Barn class!

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------
Don't cry because it's over.  Smile because it happened.  (Dr. Seuss)