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

Too Much Fun Ahead

The rental SUV is loaded

and I'm off to spend the weekend

with the Thimble and Thread Guild

near St. Louis, Missouri.

(40 quilts take up a lot more space

than my little car has to offer . . . )

Besides my Friday evening lecture/trunk show

and the all-day Lynne's Liberated Birds class,

there's a big sale at Jackman's Fabrics,

and I simply must stop by Ted Drewe's . . .

AND I'm going to meet up 

with at least two blogging friends 

I've never met in person

as well as a friend (or two or three)

I've not seen for a while.

* * *

I'll be back with a follow up post early week.

Quiltdivajulie

National Corduroy Day 111111

In the very early 1970's

I used a cardboard template traced from one of my grandmother's books

to cut these scrappy pieces from fabrics in my mother's stash

(she made clothing, not quilts).

Printed velveteen, cotton lawn, eyelet, dotted swiss, seersucker, 

stripes, plaids, wovens, polyester gabardine, florals, solids, and . . . 

CORDUROY!

The queen size yarn-tied, poly-filled comforter was used for many years,

first at our house and later at my mother's.

* * * 

Fast forward to 2007 . . . 

I gently unstitched my dresden plates from the tired muslin backing,

followed Janet Berlo's advice to "smash those plates"

(by cutting each circle into quarters)

and hand-appliqued the quarters onto blue splatter-paint background squares.

Designed and created by Julie Sefton
Quilted by Chris Ballard

In August 2008, Thirty Years Later

was juried into the Nashville AQS show!

Look closely at the second ring . . . 

do you see the corduroy?

My mother made me a jumper from that red/brown plaid corduroy . . .

I'm pretty sure she made a jumper for my sister from the red . . .

I still love the gray gingham corduroy . . .

. . . and I had a skirt made from the navy blue wales.

* * *

And so, in honor of National Corduroy Day 111111,

here's a current photo of Thirty Years Later.

* * *

To see lots more corduroy quilts, please visit Nifty's blog.

Quiltdivajulie

Dumpster Diving - Revealed

I LOVE THIS QUILT!!!

The black and white that I had planned to use for the binding was set aside.

This red plaid sings!!

I took the quilt to work earlier this week . . . 

"it reminds me of the scrappy quilts my grandmother made"

"I love how crinkled it is and how soft it feels"

"I think the back is the bomb"

Chris did more of her amazing free motion quilting.

It's perfect!

Here is the front of the quilt.

(measures 48" x 60")

This is the back . . .

(Wild Garden ~ Pollen fabric)

Thank you, Tonya!

I am SO glad you shared your idea with all of us!!

Quiltdivajulie

More Photos from the Retreat

Here, we were talking about Dancing Star and

 Tonya's 2010 Liberated Amish Get Together  ~

particularly her third challenge 

to work without rulers or rotary cutters.

(Yes, there is something on the back of my denim shirt ~

"Proud to be a Quilter"

with a quilty Rosie the Riveter ~

fused and appliqued from a t-shirt)

We talked a lot about how to use traditional quilts

for inspiration and how to change things around,

making them your own

(and how I simply cannot follow a pattern

from beginning to end).

No Words Needed was the first of my three quilts

from the Liberated Amish challenges.

Now you can see the back of me wearing the white coat . . . 

while talking about Colors of Joy and

the Fickle Pickle pattern and

how I'd only been quilting for six months

when I took the class at my LQS.

(Curves, and paper-pieced toothed arcs, and more curves ~

not to mention my first use of batiks ~

what was I thinking?!?!

Good thing Patti was a very patient teacher.)

Finally, here's a photo of one of the four crazy quilts

that Mickey (far right, in the background) shared with us ~

truly, utterly breathtaking.

* * *

Thanks to Teresa for sharing her photos with me (us)!!

Quiltdivajulie

Monday Already?

It can't be Monday already . . . 

But it is.

* * * 

Here's a link to the photo album

for the quilts that went to the trunk show with me

(from my photo archive).

Enjoy!

Quiltdivajulie

Trunk Show at Quilting in the Grove Retreat

Ready to load the car . . . 

(I can't believe I folded 30 quilts into the four large file boxes!)

(all photos will supersize if clicked, and clicked again)

Glorious sunrise as I headed out . . . 

From the interstate through an industrial park, 

and then down this picturesque road . . .

Unloaded and waiting to begin . . .

(that's Colors of Joy and Jester in the background)

Guild President Teresa welcoming everyone . . .

(that's Senescence draped over the side table)

Waiting with the retreat committee members . . . 

Being introduced

as Teresa shared the story of our meeting over Tonya's book . . . 

(My  Bobbin Along necklace was a big hit)

\

Talking about Cattywampus . . . 

And Sometimes Y . . .

(the battery in my camera died at this point 

and the woman who had my camera didn't have the spare - oops!)

If I get more photos of my presentation, I'll share those in a later post.

* * * 

The rest of the morning was spent with sewing machines whirring

as guild members pieced charity quilt tops using 5" pre-cut squares.

* * *

After lunch, we were treated to four truly amazing crazy quilts:

Do be sure to supersize this!!

Mickey's embroidery and beading work are fantastic!!

* * *

Quilting in the Grove presented me with 

two Priority Quilts and a check ~

 I will register the PQs and forward the check to AAQI on Monday.

Thank you SO much ~ it was a great experience!

* * *

And, for those who have wanted to see my White Coat in action ~

this is the only photo I have, for now.

p.s.  The coat was very well received ~ "you're wearing a hug!"

* * *

I'm off now to unpack boxes and put away the quilts.

It's been a very good day!

Quiltdivajulie

Gotta Love It

This work of heart has now been finished  . . .

 

Here is the front . . .

(inspired by a Wendy Williams
magazine pattern named Retro Blooms,

I changed the block centers
and added a piano-key border)

 

And this is the entirely liberated back . . .

. . . this quilt absolutely makes my soul sing!

 

Chris used several thread colors

to add her always-amazing custom quilting,

which makes Gotta Love It even more special.

“Oh! `darkly, deeply, beautifully blue',

As someone somewhere sings about the sky.”

 Lord Byron

 

(All photos will supersize.)

 

* * *

Saturday is trunk show day  . . .

(humming in the background ~
 "all my 'boxes' are packed & ready to go")

 

Quiltdivajulie

ReBoot ~ the quilt

ReBoot,

a power nap quilt for DH,

is finished!

Pieced mostly with Marcia Derse fabrics

(Streamline collection, Third in Line collection,

and a few from Gerta, her first collection),

ReBoot is a palindromic (okay from any direction) quilt.

This is the reverse side.

The front was cut out using measurements

from my Yellow Brick Road instruction sheet.

The reverse is liberated piecing with leftover segments

and fabrics from the stash.

(photos will supersize if clicked, then clicked again)

The good news?

DH loves it!

Quiltdivajulie

JCCFS Flimsy No. 3 ~ Finished!

This began as my third class project

during our last week at the

John C. Campbell Folk School.

Most everyone in the class started with

black and white and red ~

I finished out my week with them.

Curvy Rail Fence will be gifted in November

after the birth of our oldest nephew's and wife's firstborn.

* * *

When I trimmed my curvy strip sets to create square blocks,

I had nine rectangular segments left over.

I keep moving those leftover segments

from one stack of to-do items to another.

I'm getting tired of the shifting game . . .

I need to stop thinking so much

(there must be at least a dozen idea sketches now)

and start STITCHING!

Wish me luck . . .

Quiltdivajulie