Davies Quilt Show Wrap Up 2019

This was my spot during the three days of  

the 23rd Annual Davies Manor Quilt Show

for my Dumpster Diving display and demo.

(L to R:  DD3-Waterfall, 

DD2-Good Morning Sunshine,

and DD1-Willy Nilly)

Here are the same three quilts looking from the 

wall towards the center of the room.

On the back side were the other three completed DD quilts.

(L to R:  DD4-The Christmas Edition, 

DD5-Catharsis, 

and DD6-Lagniappe)

Over the course of the three days,

in between talking to show visitors

and explaining the scrappy process,

I stitched together the purple and green strips

and assembled 45 DD triangles in squares

that will become DD 7 - Respite.

(layout TBD)

I also sat and chain pieced solids

for what will become DD8 - Bella.

It was such fun to see peoples' eyes light up

with the possibilities of these 1.5" strip segments

as they realized they didn't need a pattern.

Elsewhere in the show area . . . 

sCRUMBtious hung in the 

machine pieced-machine quilted area.

Conundrum was in the Small Wall Quilt category . . .

. . . as was Mosaic.

MO Color Story was in the Large Wall Quilt category.

My cross stitch pillow and a scrappy Christmas runner

were in the Accessories category.

And April Showers was part of the smaller

but still amazing exhibit of BLUE challenge quilts

from earlier this year.

Next year the Davies Challenge will follow

the same 24" x 24" approach

but with the theme of GREEN.

I have three ideas and I'd like to make them all.

Time will tell!

Little Man made a marble bag

with the help of Miss Andrea 

and her hand crank sewing machine.

It was awesome to see the difference

in his ability and understand

from last year to this year.

And this big bag full of now-freshly-laundered fabric

was my take-away from various vendors.

The local Modern Guild had four tables of fabrics

for sale this year - their members clean out

their stashes and sell the bounty to 

raise funds for their dues and speakers -

so we all benefit.

I picked up a set of 31 hand pieced

churn dash/hole in the barn door blocks

that have been hand washed in Orvus soap

(three times before the water was reasonably clear)

and are now drying flat between towels.

And there are enough random scrap pieces

from the grab bags to start cutting 1.5" strips

for a "someday" spiderweb quilt.

* * *

It was a busy and worthwhile weekend.

Next comes the "take down" day

and the "give back" day

and then this year's show will be done.

Quiltdivajulie

The Letter J

A long, long time ago this free-pieced letter J

was gifted to me by Judy in Michigan (no blog),

one of many online friends from the days 

when Tonya R. was blogging.

It was in "that project box" 

along with more large pieces from

sCRUMBtious and Flummadiddle.

Four narrow scrap strips of solids

helped me turn that letter J into

the center of this scrappy medallion flimsy.

The finished quilt measures 16.5" x 16.5"

The center block's pebbles were quilted 

using Glide thread in Linen.

The echoed swirls border and the outer border 

were quilted using variegated Affinity thread in Aquamarine.

Like the first four pieces, 

this one was bound using leftover binding

and used up two partially-wound bobbins 

from previous projects.

I've hung this happy little quilt on the wall in my studio.

It makes me smile.

* * *

And to all those who have left comments this week

but haven't heard back from me, there's a good reason.

Another back tooth developed a fractured root

so it was off to the oral surgeon to have it removed

since there is no "fix" available.

Since then I've been recovering in the recliner

and am happy to say that this one appears

to be healing with less trauma than the last one.

Rest assured, I have read your comments

and appreciate each one but I need to

invoke retroactive comment amnesty.

Thanks for understanding.

Quiltdivajulie

USE those scraps!

When I cleaned out the project box

mentioned in #2 of the Realizations post,

this was one of the groupings of scraps I found.

Those strips from sCRUMBtious and Flummadiddle 

were sewn together and prepped for quilting.

I used Glide thread in Pink to stitch

more-or-less diagonal rows of

 multi-sized and echoed swirls -

my take on Dwirling by the Pajama Quilter.

I backed the piece with this gorgeous floral.

Here is it laying on one of our back porch tables

to show the colors and texture with different lighting.

Ditto for the back side.

Finished piece measures 12.5" x 12.5"

And then there were scrappy bits

from making Someday is Now.

(which is still a flimsy waiting to be quilted)

I quilted it using Leah Day's crazy weave design

and Glide thread in Aquamarine.

I backed it with a piece of this hard-to-use Yuwa fabric.

Again - what a difference lighting makes.

Finished piece measures 10.5" x 11.75"

Both of these minis/table mats used 

scraps and partially-wound bobbins from previous projects,

leftover lengths of binding,

and frankenbatting cobbled together 

from random batting scraps.

Less to store and more to enjoy.

* * *

There are four other pieces under construction

using scraps from that project box.

I'll be sharing them later in the week.

Quiltdivajulie

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“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” 
Marcel Proust

18 in 2018 - October Recap

On the PIECING list,

I completed my Shibori do-over 

which is now known as Shift Happens.

I've also started working on

Someday is Now -- the last project 

from my 18 in 2018 Piecing List.

On the QUILTING front --

I completed Tea Party,

my challenge quilt for our 

rapidly approaching local quilt show.

(I've also prepped six more of my quilts

to hang in the show Nov. 2-3-4)

AND I finished sCRUMBtious.

The squirrels in The Squirrel Club

 encouraged me to make thirteen autumn pillows 

and a new table runner.

I am participating in

 Wanda's Colorwash 360 class.

My own version is currently stalled 

on the design wall until after the local quilt show 

is set up, held, taken down, and the quilts returned.

I really want to work on this,

but there just aren't enough hours in each day.

I taught two two-session classes on

Sujata's Peppermint Pinwheels

at my local quilt shop.

You can read about that HERE.

I've washed, ironed, and cut into blocks

the many yards of donated white fabric

for the 70273 Project block drive

that will happen during our local quilt show.

I've also sliced and diced a lot of different reds,

and gathered a goodly assortment 

of red trims for the pairs of red XXs.

I even did my first-ever podcast 

with Jeanne Hewell-Chambers,

the woman behind the 70273 Project.

I wrote and shared three more posts

for the mapping of my own quilting journey

as part of the current AHIQ 

maps and mapping challenge.

Years 5 and 6 are HERE

Years 7 and 8 are HERE

Years 9 and 10 are HERE

And while you are visiting

the AHIQ group blog,

be sure to check out the other posts

to see how others are handling

this particular challenge.

* * *

And finally, since today is Halloween,

HAPPY and SAFE Trick or Treating 

to all those who will be out tonight.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap 
but by the seeds that you plant."
Robert Louis Stevenson

sCRUMBtious - The Quilt

sCRUMBtious is a finished quilt!

48" x 64"

Striped binding and Tula Pink's squirrel print backing.

Quilted with lots and lots and lots of 

large open spirals and echoing lines ala Dwirling

(a style taught by Dawn Ramirez - the Pajama Quilter)

using Glide's Nickel thread on top and in the bobbins.

That striped binding includes a flange -

this is the second time I've attached this kind of binding

and it went on much more easily than the first time around.

Thanks again to Cathy L. for a such a super quilt name.

* * *

I am delighted with this gloriously scrappy quilt!!

Quiltdivajulie

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"Only after looking and listening closely can one make these various subtleties work magic."
Lu Chi

September Goals

There was a bit of online stash enhancement recently . . . .

For the sake of accountability,

I'm setting out some goals for September.

Some in the studio and some not.

. . . thanks to a $15.00 off coupon and 40% off clearance fabrics sale at eQuilter.com.

I want to quilt and finish at least four quilts -

Tea Party, 

Flummadiddle, 

sCRUMBtious, 

and my 2016 scrappy bow ties top

which still needs a proper name.

(suggestions are more than welcome)

I want to work on at least one 

of my long-stalled projects

and move it to flimsy status.

And late September was to be

 the beginning point for the I am enough QAL.

But I am not going to participate after all.

I am going to use the fabrics I had pulled in anticipation

to make the Quiltfolk Pattern No. 3 Source quilt

beginning late in the month

and carrying over into October.

And then in October 

(moving into November)

I want to make the 

Quiltfolk Pattern No. 3 Revival quilt,

albeit in a much scrappier color-way.

These are much more "my" kind of quilts 

plus I can make them at my own pace

instead of having to follow a 3-month QAL.

Finally, now that the weather is cooling a bit,

I also want to paint the two exterior doors

on the back of the house red 

so they match the front doors

and the one on DH's workshop.

Time will tell . . .

Quiltdivajulie

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"Success depends on getting good at saying no without feeling guilty. You cannot get ahead with your own goals if you are always saying yes to someone else's projects."
Jack Canfield