Time to edit!

This past Wednesday the Pine Needle's Westside Modern Meeting had an uber fun guest speaker!   (No not Carol and I, although we did speak a bit about prepping quilts for Quilting)  Rachel Kerley brought a "3 trunk" trunk show!  It was so fun to see the progression of her quilting over the years.  Her whit and lack of filter (and I mean that as a total compliment) were immensely entertaining!

Head on over to her blog to see more of Rachel's work.  (click here)

I found her disdain for quilting rules and snobbery from other quilters to be entirely refreshing.  She explained her philosophy of the difference in a quilt being "done" and "finished".  The room was roaring with laughter.  A quilt doesn't have to be technically finished to say it's "DONE".   AKA - you are DONE with it!   Brilliant!

I immediately thought of my ever growing list of guilt...er quilts to finish.  I absolutely HATE some of them, but have this odd feeling that I'm failing if I don't keep them to finish someday.  When I know I don't want to and probably will never finish anyway.

Let the editing begin!

 Circles - finish picking out quilting and finish!

 Blocks from my sister Robin - finish! Sentimental.

 Safari - What was I thinking??  OK, the embarrassing truth be told, it gets worse!   About 12 years ago I saw a massive zebra print painted on a wall on Trading Spaces (remember that show?)  I thought HOW COOL IS THAT!  (bad thought)  But my husband would kill me if I painted a zebra pelt on the wall, what if I made a massive quilt and appliqued the Zebra pelt on it and hung that on the wall??  Hahahahahahaha....and then I rethought the plan and stuffed it in a box. Still thinking about this one...minus the pelt!

Dresses from my sisters Teri and Barbara's book Quilting with my Sister.  I still love this pattern and need to finish this one.  The sentimental aspect alone is enough to keep it on the list.  Some how the bag ended up in a crumpled mess.  I see some serious ironing in my future to bring this one back to life.

 
I'm excited to edit my list of things to finish.  I moved one item to the "done" list (AKA the garbage) as it fell into the "oh my gosh destroy the evidence" category. Yes it was worse than the zebra idea! 

Book report -The Kitchen House fell flat for me.  Too many stereotypical characters.  I ended the book feeling low.  I wont give any spoilers but I kind of wish I hadn't read it.  Oh darn I suggested this to my book group for next month.  Will I ever learn to not suggest books I have only heard about??  I still think it will lead to a great discussion.  Listening to Odd Thomas today.  My second attempt to start this book.  Hope it was my ADD and not the book last time =)

Two for Diane

Two E2E swirls.  I love how different they look by simply changing the sashing.  Not sure I have a favorite, I love them both!  Both have soft flannel backs. 

I had a little time to add a couple more rows to O Positive.

We're getting closer to having a quilt that fits the bed!

I usually borrow audio books on CD's or downloads from the library for quilting.   So I was a little surprised when I opened this little device up expecting to see CD's.  You add a AAA battery and your own headphones and your good to go.  I'm really liking it.  No need to transfer a book to my MP3 player or losing sound when I get to far from my PC with a Bluetooth headset.  I just started listening to The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom.  Lets hope it's a good one =)

Two for Sue

Two more ready to go.

 #1 Energized From the book StrataVarious Quilts.

 Great color combo!

#2 is from Ricky Tims' book Convergence Quilts

 And finally, the pattern for Baby Stout's quilt is here!! 

Let the footballs begin =)

Holle's Pinwheel went home today

I still couldn't get a full shot of this quilt.  It's huge!  Unfortunately my quilt display stand broke.  One of these days I need to decide which one to replace it with.   Holle used a pre-washed bamboo batt, it quilted up beautifully.  A little linty but well worth it.  We gave up trying to de-lint for the photo's.  Once it's bound the lint will be no more =)

Did I mention I LOVE this quilt?

  

The colors are fabulous!! Holle said she used 100% stash!

 I'd say that stash plays quite nicely on this quilt!

 I'm really happy with the mix of straight line, swirls and pebbles on the black borders.

 Wish the lighting had been better. I love this corner.

  

If I had more ambition I would attempt to make my own, lol.

Check out that fun back!

  

Well done Holle!!!

On the frame today

Next up is Holle's spinning pinwheel.

Quilting requests for this quilt were: Spinning motion on pinwheels.

Keep it abstract, add some random elements,

such as pebbles and variegated thread on the black fabric.

I always love the secondary designs that show up.

Making a little more progress on O Positive.  This quilt seems to be taking forever, but the rows and sashing are finally starting to be pieced.   I'm liking the randomness, something I thought would drive me nuts. 

 So far it looks like it will be 120 inches wide.  Finally a quilt that will fit our king size bed.  Yes!  And best of all Chad and I both love it!!!  Double yes!

Another ready to go

Jan's sail boat quilt is ready to go home.

Jan's only request was waves under the boat,

and a spiral or concentric circle on each of the 3 pinwheel suns.

 I kept the quilting a little more contemporary on this quilt.

I love how it turned out.

 I needed a little more sun today to show the quilting on the back.

 Fun border fabric!!

Themes

Ever notice you're unintentionally following a theme?  While shopping at Fabric Depot during the Portland Modern Quilt Guild's sew day on Saturday I selected a few fabrics for my sister in law Julie and her husband Kelby's first baby.

Julie and her entire family (yes my husband Chad included) are HUGE Seahawk fans.  So boy or girl this baby is getting a Seahawk quilt.

 (A few randoms for the stash ....see a theme)

I was with my friend AnnMarie who just happened to be making the same pattern for a niece, but in Bronco colors.  Each time we held up fabric to show each other and get a second opinion she would laugh and tell me I had another dot or circle print.  Oh my goodness, she was right! I had an unintentional dot theme going on.

New orange stash on left, old stash on right.  Notice something?

Here's all the repeats I bought that day =) I usually get 1 or 2, this is a record, lol.

I have an obsession with zip ties and use them on everything, including my cords when I go to sew days.   I hate that I have to get a new one each time.  So I whipped up a few fabric & Velcro bands last night.  I made the pouch for the little light I attached to my Bernina.  I use to remove the light each time which was a pain.  It was so nice to roll up the cord into the pouch and hang it from the machines handle.

And last but not least, check out this fun fabric AnnMarie gave me for driving.   I love it!!