I'm a Traveling Girl . . . .

This week I'm traveling to Paducah, Kentucky to attend the AQS Quilt Show.  This is my seventh straight year attending this show.  It's a fun week of learning new things in classes, drooling over the amazing quilts on display, playing with all the latest gadgets and machines that are currently available, and trying not to spend too much money at all the vendor booths.  Leaving the menfolk behind at home to do their own cooking and cleaning is a nice little perk too!

I always come home from the show full of inspiration and ready to tackle new challenges. 

 The quality of creativity and craftsmanship on display at this show rivals no other show I've attended.  Each year I've attended I've always wondered in the back of mind if I had one of those amazing quilts in me.  Turns out I do have one or two of those quilts in me! 

 I'm so happy to tell you that I have two quilts  accepted into this year's AQS Show in Paducah!

First up,  my Red and White Tribute Quilt!  

What an adventure this quilt has been.  When I started this quilt I was just wanting to quench my desire to make as  many red and white quilts from the NY Infinite Variety Show as I could.  When I got going on this project I had no idea how it would all come together.  To go from that to the AQS Show is mind numbing!

The official title for this quilt is, "My Tribute to the Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts show".  It's in category 9 - First AQS Entry -Large and is Quilt #905.

This quilt was accepted into the show also.  

I have no problem admitting that it's not my piecing skills that got this quilt being accepted into the show, it's Judi Madsen's quilting that turns this lovely quilt into a masterpiece.  Not only is the quilting exquisite and perfectly executed, it's unique.  I'm so happy folks from all over the world will get to see in person the wonderful work Judi did on this top.

The official title for this quilt is, "Two Score and Seven Stars", it's in Category 7, Large Wall Quilts, and is Quilt #706.

If by chance  you are going to the show, I would love nothing better than to get a picture of you standing in front of one or both of these quilts!  Email your photos to me at cupcakesndaisies@gmail.com.

For more information on - 

Red and White Tribute Quilt see Red and White Tribute Quilt tab on this page orclick here.

Two Score and Seven Stars see Lifetime Quilt #62 in my Lifetime Quilt section orclick here.

I'll be back next week to share all the great stuff I saw and bought!  I hope you have a great week too!

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All Done . . . .

All done except the quilting that is, I don't quilt my own tops, but here's the flimsy.

For those of you stopping by for the first time, or the first time in awhile, this quilt was made from the pattern Nottingham Star by Grace's Dowry Quilts.

This is Lifetime Quilt # 62.

It finished at almost 70" x 70" and has approximately 894 pieces.

The border was a piece of cake,

I went with 4 different creams, reds, browns and stars.

Really, the whole project went together like a dream, and it seemed to go quickly for me.

Once this top is quilted, hopefully by next fall, I plan to put it in the middle of my kingsize bed, on top of a cream coverlet.

As I mentioned yesterday, I've gotten a few questions about how much fabric to buy. It's still hard for me to know how much of a new fabric to get, when I don't have an exact pattern in mind. Or look at this project, I made it from fabric I was collecting for a different pattern, so there's really no exact science to it, especially when you throw in different quilt sizes and little piecing versus extreme piecing. So from now on, when I finish a project, I'll try to give some additional information about the amount of fabric I used.

I have heard that when you see a fabric you like for a background or a border, 3 yards is a good amount. Route 44 needed 3 yards of the background fabric and 3 yards of dot fabric, so that rule held true for that quilt, which was around 75" x 75". I've yet to use a whole fat quarter bundle on a project, so I'm excited about Moda's new fat eighths bundles. One of those bundles with 3 yards for the border should make up a nice size quilt I would think.

I once got a note from a pattern designer asking me to remove some information I provided while working on one of her patterns. She thought I shared too much information and was breaking copyright laws. I had no problem removing the information, if I designed a pattern, I wouldn't want someone giving away all the details either, so I'm not going to provide the exact fabric requirements from the pattern, but they are more like guidelines to me anyway.

The pattern called for 4 different brown, cream and red fabrics.....that wasn't near the amount of variety that I wanted in my top. I probably went with 15 different browns, 20 different reds, and 20 different creams. You could easily make this pattern from scraps in your scrap basket.

I would say 16 fat eighths of the reds , 24 fat eighths of creams and around the same for the browns would give you ample fabric and plenty of variety for this project. I hope you find this information useful.

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Hello November . . . . .

So I've been packing up the Halloween decorations . . . . .

and making stars . . . .

and getting out my Thanksgiving decorations . . . . .

and making more stars . . . . .

Add a few borders and we'll call this one done!

Nothing says fall like some gourds, pinecones . . .

and Maison De Garance....

I'm all over my next project, no indecisions, no waffling, it's Maison De Garance by French General for me!!

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Celebrations . . . .

Here's Nottingham Star with a few red stars filling its center.

Woo Hoo, I'm liking the looks of this quilt top. I get these ideas in my head, but am never sure if what I see in my mind's eye will appeal to my naked eyes....so far so good!

Today is Cooper's 2nd birthday, so in addition to two tablespoons of canned salmon in his food bowl, the celebration continued with a trip to the park. Cooper has always loved the smells, playground equipment, and general atmosphere there.

Today, someone was flying a kite. Something I've not seen in years, but it was a perfect day for it.

The daisies have lasted longer than the leaves on the trees. Our fall foliage was short and unspectacular this year.....too dry I heard them say on TV.

Here's Cooper's first trip to the park, at 4 months old we was just a little ball of fat and fur.

And not very happy. He didn't smile much as a pup, which worried me at the time.

But he outgrew the grumps and pretty much everything else around the house, his bed, his crate. He's now twice the size of his Mama, and has a good 20 pounds on his sister.

Here he is today, celebrating his birthday at the park. He's an extremely good natured dog who has added so much happiness to our home.

Happy Birthday Cooper!!

We could not love you more!!!

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Plan in Action . . . .

So I've started on my next project,

Nottingham Star by Grace's Dowry Quilts available from the Quilt Merchant.

I was able to actually see the quilt when I visited the store last month. They have kits available if you're interested.

So here's where I stand on mine. I've got the browns cut and all the brown and cream hst units done.

Right now it doesn't looks so different from the store quilt, but just wait, 42 red and cream stars are going to fill that center and really spice things up!

The 42 little stars in the center, they finish at 5 inches square. That requires a 3 x 1 3/4 inch flying geese unit, well technically, 4 geese units for each star. Doesn't that sound like an odd size and something that would be hard to get just right....

Not if you've got one of these....

one of the sizes that the Mini Fit to be Geese ruler can easily make is just that size......

Thanks Monique, how did you know that was just the size I needed!!

Ask me what I'm going to be doing this weekend.......

I'm going to be seeing stars, hopefully a lot of cream and red stars!

I hope you have a wonderful fall weekend.

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I Have A Plan . . . .

I almost forgot to share with you the fall quilt I've been enjoying this month.

This is the only quilt that I own that is hand quilted. And as if the hand quilting doesn't make it special enough, it was hand quilted by a friend, so it's twice as special.

This is Lifetime Quilt # 18. If you would like to see better pictures of the quilting and learn more about the pattern, select #18 - Twisted Bargello from the list on the right.

I'm sticking with my "few a day" plan for the half square triangles for Belle Meade.

102 down, 554 to go, and the basket still looks empty!

And, I decided on my next project.

It's Nottingham Star by Grace's Dowry Quilts available from The Quilt Merchant.

I'm not sure why I was stuck on picking my next project, but once I decided that Nottingham Star was the next one up, my next 4 quilt projects fell right into line.

I picked this pattern for the following reasons;

it met my brown criteria,

the whole project has 1300 fewer pieces than Route 44,

it's really different from anything I've made before, the whole quilt top is like one gigantic block,

and I have everything I need to get going on it NOW!!

I really liked Sandy's comment about needing to "cleanse the palette".... a very apt description of what I was needing.

My Nottingham Star will be very scrappy. I've pulled around 60 brown, red and cream fabrics from my stash, no family of fabrics this time around. I think I've decided that cutting one or two squares from each fabric is taking longer than the piecing.

My next project will use the Maison De Garance fabric from French General for Moda. Based on the comments I received, that was by far the most popular choice for my next project. But I need to give that pattern some thought, and I want something really special for that family of fabrics.

Stay tuned for updates, I expect this project to go fast, if I ever get done with the cutting!

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