An Old Fashioned Quilting Bee

Today I went to an old fashioned quilting bee.  We quilted the quilt for one of our church leader's with cancer that my boat block was for.  These pictures are from Marion, who spearheaded the project.  Thanks Marion!  It was sho nice to not be in charge.  Marion did a great job coordinating everything and putting the quilt together!

Here's the quilt laid out as we admired the blocks.

And a picture of the quilt on the frames.  I much prefer the straight pins I use every day to load a quilt on my quilt machine to the thumb tacks we used today.  I have helped get a quilt ready to be hand quilted, but it has been a while.  My thumbs were sore.

And this is what a quilt bee looks like!  I helped quilt one row on the side before I had to leave.  This picture was taken near the end.  They got the twin size quilt done in one day.

I love this picture that Marion took of the back with the stitches in it.  We used big stitches, chenille needles and size 8 perle cotton.  This is the first time I have done utility quilting.  I liked it.  I want to try it on a quilt that I have spray basted so I don't have to have it on a frame.  Do you think that will work?  I know what quilt I want to do it on, but I haven't made it yet, so it may be a while before it gets done.

We are giving the quilt to him on Sunday.  I really enjoyed quilting with these ladies, some who I knew and some who I didn't.  When we started stitching, one of the ladies said, "Okay, now we are going to go around and everyone tell something about themselves."  Groan!  But it started us talking and getting to know each other better which was great.  And we got to tell funny stories about our friends who were there!  AND two of the ladies have 30 year old children who are single - one who is a girl who is 6 feet tall (I even think she said 6' 2") and the other who is a boy who is 6 feet three inches.  So there may be match making involved.  How's that for an old fashioned quilting bee!

Okay- I have to tell you two stories about my friend who shall remain unnamed.  It is her daughter who is 6 feet tall. 

Story One -- One day another friend and I were riding our bikes in the country when we came upon our friend stuck up an apple tree!  She was picking apples in a loan apple tree along the side of the road on a relative's property when a big cow came over and stood there and wouldn't let her down.  She was with another lady.  I forgot to ask her how she got down.  I am a terrible story teller.

Story Two -- My friend's uncle died in the middle of nowhere, Nevada.  Evidently there were not many relatives.  She went down there with her husband and son.  Her husband has a bad back, and the son had just injured himself as well.  My friend dug the grave!  Six feet deep!  And filled in the grave after her uncle was placed in it!  She said after she had it mostly done, someone came with a small bobcat thing.  Her youngest is just graduating from high school this year.  I can't imagine her digging that grave!

And that is a taste of my morning.  Love it!

Jovita's Quilt

This is a special quilt that I am linking up to the Bloggers' Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side.

This quilt is made from the scraps of several quilters who participated in my Fat Quarter Stars Quilt Along.  I just finished putting it together.  It is a gift for Jovita.  She is one of the block designers.  As she was designing her block she found out that she was expecting twins.  At the end of the quilt along, she lost them both.  More of the story is HERE and HERE.

The quilt is about 52" square.  I received exactly 34 squares.  Adding in my 2, that gave me 36 blocks.  Perfect!  This is the perfect example of a scrap quilt.  The blocks do not match each other.  Each of us used the scraps from our own quilt.  I was worried I would need to sash it to tie the blocks together, but I didn't.  I just tried to balance the lighter blocks and the darker blocks.  I love the way it turned out!  I used wool batting.  I can't wait to get it to Jovita.

Which leads me to ask. . . do any of you know Jovita personally?  I have the address to her shop that she closed, but since it's closed I don't know if mail would be forwarded.  I would love to put the quilt in the mail, and just email her to say that I had send her something.

If you know Jovita's address, please email it to me at kluckau@moosequilts.com.  Otherwise I will email her and ask her for her address.  Thanks to all those who sent blocks!  I was good and added a label on the back with everyone's name.

**Update - I did get her address.  Thanks to those who assisted me with that!

Market Day Three

Welcome to the circus otherwise known as Michael Miller!

Lots of modern quilts this year.

More modern at Westminister Fabrics.

Emily's Geared for Guys Booth.

Except for the carpet in the aisles that isn't padded, fun times!

Quilt Market Day Two

My moose is ready for company!  We named him last year, but I can't remember his name.  Sorry Moose!

Here's Joel Dewberry's booth.  That's the only booth shot I got today.

Today was Schoolhouse which I love!  Unfortunately, I only have my little camera, and the lighting is terrible.  These pictures are not good at all.

Here is Joanna from Fig Tree showing the new Moda Candy, 2 1/2" squares. 

Here is Patty Young getting ready to show her new patterns and fabric.

and Vanessa of V and Co with a quilt made from her Ombres.  The color variation is yummy!!!

The vendor exhibits open tomorrow.  Let the games begin! 

Quilt Market Setup

Yesterday was a full day of setting up.  Long walks from the dock to our booths.  It is always fascinating to see magic happen.  My friend let me borrow her computer to share some photos.

Here is Amy Butler's booth that looked amazing already!

Denyse Schmidt's booth looked like her design wall.  It feels like I am sitting in her sewing room with her.  I love that!

The excitement has just begun!!!

Geared for Guys

Welcome to Day 16 of Emily's Geared for Guys Book Tour!

By now, you have seen a lot of the quilts in the book, so I decided to share my favorite part of the book.  Emily shared more than just patterns to help you create better quilts for the guys in your life.  I know one of my brothers does NOT think it's a guy quilt if there is the faintest hint of a floral element in the fabric. 

Emily has a page on Color Theory,

Finding Fabrics - the toughest part for some,

Design Elements,

and Quilting Style!

If you would like to win a copy, leave a comment below and I will pick a winner when I get back from Market next week.  If you can't wait until then, head over to Emily's Etsy shop. 

Or for another chance to win, check out the House of A La Mode tomorrow!

HMQS

Saturday, I headed up to the Home Machine Quilting Show, HMQS, with a friend of mine.  We both volunteered at the show for a couple hours.  I love to do this because I commit myself to looking at quilts for 2 hours while making sure no one touches them. 

It was a good show.  They had a lot more quilts this year.  The theme was Star Spangled and the charity was Quilts of Valor.  I didn't get too many pictures, but here are a few.

Besides the amazing quilting, I liked this quilt because this was made with inherited dresden plate blocks.

One of the challenge categories was quilts that were donated to Quilts of Valor.  That is the category that my quilt went to.  This was my favorite from that category.

And this one . . .

And this one. . .  This one was given to my friend's husband who is a Vietnam Vet.  She and her husband were both very appreciative.

From the rest of the show, this was an Aunt Millie's Garden quilt unlike any other.  Birds and lizards in gorgeous colors were appliqued onto the borders and in the middle.  The lady said that she was the "Queen Mother Beast" that was one of the two lizards in the center of the quilt with sparkly toes!

This one was made with the ties of a missionary.  That's a lot of ties!  It seemed like there were only 2 wedges from each tie as far as I could tell.

There were a few vendors there who are headed to Quilt Market and/or MQX this week.  I don't envy that at all.  While I am looking forward to Market, it is a lot of work and a lot of long days!

Boat Block

This block is for a quilt a friend of mine is putting together for one of our church leaders who has cancer.  She said the theme was sea and something and the colors were blue and white. 

I had a really hard time with using only two colors.  This boat was only suppose to have the bottom right three triangles.  Then there was water below the boat.  At first I was going to have the sky light blue and the water dark blue.  But that left the ship to being white.  The sails would look good white, but what color would the ship be?

I couldn't think that hard.  So I made the background white.  With a white background, the ship's sail can't be white.  Oh my!  So this is what I ended up with.  I like it, but it made me think way to hard on a Friday!

Quiltmaker Winners

The winners of the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks magazine are Debbie and Gill!

I decided to have two winners.  Thanks everyone!  I loved reading all the different meanings for my morse code - even though I had it wrong.  Please send me your mailing information, so we can get those out to you.

In Love with Minis

Here's a preview of two more quilts from Simply Charming Minis.  These are called In Love with Minis.  They are a whopping 13 inches square! 

This classic pink and red version is made from Always & Forever by Deb Strain for Moda.  This is the sweet version.

This version makes me think of a teenage girl.  The black and white fabrics are from Tuxedo Collection by Doodlebug Design Inc for Riley Blake Designs.  The green and blue are from Good Morning by Me & My Sister Designs for Moda.

My favorite part is the heart in the bottom corner.  I am not a big heart person, but I couldn't resist making my version of a LOVE quilt!

Morse Code Meanings

It was brought to my attention by Terri who is a Navy wife that in my haste to decifer my morse code, I translated it wrong.  It should be N A K N A!  Thanks Terri - for correcting me and your husband's service!  She also said that Nakna means naked in Swedish.  Hmmm. 

I really enjoyed reading what some of you came up with for the meaning of my Morse Code Quilt.  I thought I would list them here.  These are all for NAKAN. 

Not All Kangaroos Are Nerds
Need Additional Kona Ash Now!!
Not Around Kids And Nana
Need Another Kiss And Neckrub :)
Never Applique Krazy At Night
Nice Applique Knots  Appear Natural
Never ask Kindergarteners about NaptimeNeed A Kool Applique Needle
Nude aardvarks keep a nest
Need a Kiss and Nudge
Not All Kangaroos Are Nice
Nobodys Answers Keep me Awake at Night
Not A Knot Anyone Needs
Nice As Konda At Noon
Nice Animals Kayak All Night!
nothing anyone kan't accomplish now
Nana asked, Konda answered Nana.
Never attempt kick-boxing at night
Noah's Ark Keeps Animals Near.

Sorry if I missed one.  Thanks for sharing your cleverness.  It made me smile all day!

I also wanted to give a shout out to Mary who was the official tester for my block!  She has a blog post about it HERE.  Thanks Mary! 

Happy blog tour everyone!