Ogee Rulers

I took a few minutes from prepping (aka freaking out as I'm not ready) for the East Coast Gammill/Statler Conference today to play with my Ogee rulers again.  I love these, the more I play around with them the more ideas I get.  Here are the results of today -- don't mind the flat batt, I just grabbed the closest scrap, I can't wait to see some of these designs with double batting!

So, there's good news and bad news...
I'm bringing what I have left of the Ogee rulers with me to the conference.  I'll be placing another order as soon as I get back, and I am hoping they will be in my hands before I head out the following week for MQX.  Fingers crossed for speedy shipping times.  Don't forget, you can always preorder to get your name at the top of the list for the next batch - here's the website store link: http://www.creativelongarmquilting.com/store.html

Dye Day!

If it wasn't bad enough that I took a skip-day last week, this week I took another day off.  You have to realize, when one of your super-talented friends is in your area between teaching events, you jump at the opportunity for a girlfriends dye-day even when you should be prepping for travel next week and have a bazillion things on your list.

I am lucky enough to be friends with Cindy Lohbeck of Hands on Hand Dyes and although she lives clear across the country, we do catch up at various shows throughout the year.

Again this year, I was able to catch up with her before she heads up to Lakeland.  Me and two of the besties jumped at the chance for an impromptu dye day!

Let me mention, if you haven't taken one of her classes, you should!  Cindy brought out all her beautiful samples - I wish I could share them all, but you'll have to settle for just a couple of her fabulous pieces - I would quilt these up in a heartbeat, aren't they gorgeous?!!

For our girlfriends dye-day we chose to do the mini-mandalas.  Here's just a peek of our fun:

I made a bunch of little origami cranes... that's what they reminded me of and they all went for a swim!

Then came the cool watch and wait part.  I have to add, this is also when we eat lunch, so you know, food!

I used black, charcoal, and khaki.  Hmmmm.... this is the weird part, you have absolutely no idea what is going to happen with these colors.  Really, because during my rinse I was kinda freaking out as everything was blue.  And not just blue, like crazy electric blue... what?  So yes, I did get a little nervous...

Okay, all that stress and freaking out was a waste of time...
These amazing beauties are what I found when I opened the dryer!

I also have to add that I did not wait the total amount of time I was supposed to... blame the ADD.  I now know to add my dye right before I go to sleep - then it will sit the entire time it is supposed to.  I'll just chalk it up to beginners excitement.  I can not wait to do this again!

Senior Skip Day...

Remember senior skip days, when you would just blow off all commitments and do nothing, well something, just not school.  Today I had a skip day.  I have a million and one things I should be doing -- class samples, handouts, taxes, paperwork, client work, and more -- but today not one of those things even entered my mind.

I have two bed quilts (not competition) pieced but not finished.  They have been in this pieced-but-not-finished state for far too long.  So I called the bestie and asked if she felt like helping out.  So we set-up shop at the kitchen table and went to town on a quilt for my father-in-law.  He has been waiting patiently since November.

On his quilt I had all the blocks pieced and just needed to figure out the layout, sew the blocks into rows, and then sew the rows together.  With help from Nancy it went super quick!

The pattern is Picture This and can be found in the Happy Hour book by Atkinson Designs.  I love the fabrics in this quilt -- blacks, greys, and beiges.  This quilt measures in at 103x88.

I even managed to piece the backing this evening, as well as load it on the frame!  This batik fabric is perfect!!

It's all basted and ready for me to start quilting it tomorrow.

As if that wasn't enough, we also pieced all the rows together on a king size one too.  You might remember eons ago when I designed this one - if not, click here.  And when I say eons ago, it was August of 2015 that I designed it, I'm not sure when I pieced it but, it has been laying around as rows for quite some time.

So here it is...

This monster measures in at 122x106 -- yes, we are major cover-hogs in this house!

I still need to piece the backing, which will be chunked from the remaining top fabrics.  And probably won't be quilted for a wee bit more.

I'm going to say it was an awesomely productive skip day, which will continue into tomorrow as I finish my father-in-law's much over-due quilt.  I'll post pics once it's finished.