Coming right up

...in a while. 

I've been needing a new every day bed quilt for a while now. Funny, I quilt for a living and yet my current bed quilt is falling to pieces -- from being well loved not neglect. 

So some of you know when I buy fabric my minimum is like 3 yards. Hehehe, I've since gotten worse, now I just buy the entire bolt - hey, you never know, right?!!

So I've been collecting some word fabrics. I have two from RJRs The Chalk Line collection and one from Red Rooster Cottage Basics. Well, they don't necessarily match except that they all have words. Here's a pic to give you all a reference

Cool huh?  I say they don't match because I'm like crazy monochromatic over here. It bothers me that the light fabric is cream instead of bright white like the words on the black. And that the grey is a hue or two off. But I must remember this is not a competition piece -- it is a bed quilt -- in a few years it will be a shabby pile of fabric that's been washed weekly, slept under and loved, and I'm sure the dog will add a rip or two somewhere.  It doesn't have to be matchy-matchy. 

So this morning the pup woke me up early and I sat down and doodled the quilt. Here's the plan:

I really like it. Although the matchy-matchy in me wants to do it in black, white, and grey solids. I think that would be awesome. Perhaps after I conquer the bed quilt, I'll make it in a smaller version in the solids -- we'll have to see. You know, in all my *spare* time, hahahaha!!!

Stay tuned, I'll be sharing it as I go...

Famous Female Faces, AQS Grand Rapids, and a First Place win!

Yesterday I received a phone call from Andrea of AQS letting me know that our Journeys Thru Art entry, Famous Female Faces, had won First Place in the Ultimate Guild Challenge at AQS Quiltweek - Grand Rapids. OMG, I was thrilled! I had to pinch myself (twice) to make sure I wasn't imagining it. I don't care how many times you hear the news that you have placed at a national show, the same excitement runs through you each and every time! Immediately, I called everyone in the group... wow, calling 7 peeps with such exciting news really takes awhile.  I now feel for Andrea as she calls each and every winning quilt personally... whew!

Here is the official listing of all the AQS Grand Rapids winners - Congratulations!!

I can't wait to see them hanging together -- yes, YOU, if YOU are at the show, send pics!!

This project started back toward the beginning of 2014. We were sitting at a Journeys meeting, it was just three of us -- Pam, Natalie, and myself -- and we were casually discussing the project for 2015. Out of nowhere the idea smacked us in the forehead... a face. Okay, more brainstorming, a female face. We were soooo excited (me especially as I had been wanting to make a Lucy quilt for some time). It was almost painful waiting to discuss it with the other members. The idea was well accepted and our 2015 project was planned. A few of us immediately knew what face we would be working on, while a couple of others changed their minds several times. We were not very strict with our rules -- mainly it had to be an easily recognizable female face, and had to fit within the minimum of 30" wide and a maximum of 60" long. We were able to use any technique we chose. I like that they are all different, that bothers some people, but I feel each of us had an idea and a process we wanted to follow. I don't think they would have turned out as awesome if we were all forced to follow the same technique and/or be contained in one specific size.

For those that haven't seen them, here they are:

Lucy (43x53) - Karen Marchetti

Diana (39x38) - Pam Post

Carmen Miranda (31x36) - Marian McCoin

Lady Liberty (38x46) - Natalie Carlton

Mary (36x48) - Nancy Parsons

Pebbles (39x47) Kathy Rentz

Georgia's Pride (49x35) - Nancy Smith

Tina Simply the Best (33x42) - Barbara Lacey

Aren't they just the greatest!! And here is the awesome group of ladies that created these beauties:

AQS Syracuse - a fantastic blur!

What an awesome week - teaching at AQS Quiltweek Syracuse was an absolute blast!  My classes were filled with some of the most awesome students - it was a good mix of over-achievers, quilties, and newbies.

An almost full house in my Build-A-Stitch class -- these ladies had some fun creating their own unique stitches!!

And look at these awesome projects from my Effortless Trapunto class - these ladies did fabulous!

Day 2 started with Piece & Applique the Longarm Way - we were having so much fun I forgot to take pics of the finished projects.

And then one of my favorite classes - Spontaneous Art Quilt -

These ladies were totally in their creative zones:

After class I managed to get over to the show for a few minutes.  I found my Wicked Challenge hanging with the Cherrywood Exhibit - yay!

And then on Friday everyone was in Feathers and Fills -- it was fun!

And my last class was Big Border Breakdowns -- unfortunately, there was so much creative thought going on that I totally forgot to take pictures!

I did manage to walk the show in full on Saturday afternoon. There were some amazing quilts - congratulations to all the winners. Here are some of my favorites:

And I spent a few minutes in the Gammill booth, of course! What you can't see is the AQS cameraman -- can't wait to see the Tips & Tricks segment we filmed -- wondering how tongue-tied I was as I don't remember even speaking!

Oh, and I almost forgot... there was a feature article about ME in the Show Book, tell me that's not absolute awesomness -- here's a pic:

It was an amazing Quiltweek!! I'll be teaching with AQS again in March 2016 at Lancaster, PA. You can follow along my teaching schedule on my website.