Omni V

While at PIQF Jim and Nicky Davis of Innova/Sew So Shop told me that Superior had a new variegated Omni! I stopped by Superior's booth to pick up a thread order and picked out a few of the new cones. Love it!

Used one of the new cones this week on a customer's quilt...

Very nice!

I was very pleased with the new Omni V thread with it's matte finish. The color changes fast like Fantastico, which I like. SoFine 40 is what I have been using for a matte variegated thread, it's good too. Fantastico with it's sheen is a customer favorite.

Next weekend is our guild's quilt show and it's countdown time! My studio will only be open Monday thru Wednesday of next week. Thursday and Friday are set up, Judging and getting vendors checked in. The show is Saturday & Sunday. Tonight is Halloween. Pretty quiet on our street without any trick or treaters. We always buy candy that we like and have it ready... just in case! Tonight is also time to...

 Enjoy your Halloween weekend!

Tot Ziens, Jo

Leapin' Lizards! ~ PIQF 2015

One last post of pix from PIQF

There were many quilts with bead work from all parts of the world.

 Loved this one where the bead work gave the lizards demension as well as more color...

Lizard Dance by Lys Axelson of Big Bear City, CA  44 x 44 (detail above)

Thom Atkins didn't disappoint with his new beaded quilt

(altho my photography skills do)

Thom was a guest speaker at our guild and did a workshop that I was fortunate enough to attend. We practiced all sorts of bead work techniques and how to apply them to a quilt. So glad I took Thom's workshop and can really appreciate all the work that goes into these beaded quilts! There is another post on The Quilt Show this morning with a Part 2 of quilts from the show with more of the beaded quilts... here is a link.  There were so many more quilts than what I have posted here.

Midnight Star by Sieglinde Koch of Germany  83 x 63 

Longarm quilted by Birgit Schuller

 Great use of this fabric print

 Introspection - The Inner Journey by Jan Reed of Grass Valley, CA  23 x 28

 Amazing machine quilting! Combined with what looks like metalic thread

and glass beads, it look like lace. Great art quilt! 

Free Tibet by Meri Henriques Vahl, USA 

Best of World at the World Quilt Show ~ New England ~ August 2015

The detail put into this quilt was just amazing!

 Winter Chickadee by Diane Hansen of Chandler, AZ  42 x 35

Can you tell how much I appreciate the machine quilting :0)

And a couple more that were just fun or had a message like this one...
Don't text and drive! 

 Electronic Intrusion by Sandra S Proudfoot from Canada  60 x 80

Longarm quilted by Mary Light

Pony's Dream by Susan Else

The carousel was motorized and turning so it's a bit of a blurr, however the ponies are riding people! Susan's Quilted sculpture is as amazing as it is entertaining with a special exhibit of her work at PIQF this year. These were new to me pieces, she had many other pieces there that I had seen when Susan was a guest speaker at one of Annie's Star Quilt Guild meetings. Very cool artist!

So so so many amazing quilts, textiles, garments. Seeing quilts online is great, seeing them in real life, there is no comparison. Looking forward to more! The quilts posted here are but a few. Here are links for both of the slide shows Mary Kay Davis put together on The Quilt Show ~ PIQF part 2 and PIQF part 1.

It's been a great birthday weekend. Starting out with PIQF, brunch and dinner out with my sweetie on the day of, plus a great seminar 'Ditch your Lawn' where we picked up great ideas, resources for new drip line products and native plant websites. Today is birthday lunch with friends. Life is good! Thank you Betty, for the nice comment about not being old :0) Thank you again Sandy for the best quilt day ever :0) Bear hugs! I have the best friends and customers, thank you all! 

Enjoy your week

Tot ziens, Jo

Saturday Morning Post ~ More PIQF 2015

Starfirer by Sandra Clark of Fresno, CA  46 x 47

Love Sandra's use of machine quilting to add details

A few more of my favs...

 Moroccan Moonfire by Tami Graeber & Judi Doud of Klamath Falls, OR  66 x 55

Beautifully quilted!!! "Quilt elements are all hand painted" "freehand designed and gel penned" "Inspired by Moroccan Tiles"

 

Love this one...

Wildflowers by Sylvia Gegaregian of Portola Valley, CA  73 x 73

I had the good fortune of meeting Sylvia as I as taking pix and admiring her quilt. She was standing next to me, also taking pix to send to her family. Very nice woman and was generous with answering questions about her techniques and some of the obstacles she dealt with. The biggest was while washing out the blue pen marks, all of the fabrics behaved, always a worry! However, the green thread she used for the stamens did run! She had to be careful not to get water near that thread. She did an outstanding job on this quilt! She spent about 2 minutes per dot micro stitching those tiny circles. Wow!!! 

 Fire Island Hostas by Jean Hughes of Moran Hill, CA  70 x 70

Longarm quilted by Margrit Schwanck using a pattern by Vicki Ibison

Paper pieced pattern by Judy Niemeyer

I liked this one because of Jean's fabric choices. With plans of making this quilt, still sitting on the fence with color selections. Have seen many Fire Island Hostas made using lots of batiks and bright colors. Love that this is so different in color and choice of Asian fabric. Beautifully quilted by Margrit!

  Sunflower Deco by Jan Hutchison of Sedgwick, KS  38 x 54

 "I dug into my special stash of metallic fabrics to make this Art Deco inspired wallhanging. My goal was to achieve as much texture as possible through the use of trapunto and different thread." ~ Jan Hutchison
Jan is a talented longarm quilter that has won ribbons for her work. She has a wonderful blog that I follow... The Secret Life of Mrs. Meatloaf (Mrs. Meatloaf is her cat :0) 

Two from two local Californians...

Guardian Angel by Grace Crocker of Chico, CA

and Betty Sweet's Vase of Tulips

Betty is from Magalia, CA and this quilt won a ribbon at PIQF

It also won Best of Show at our guild's quilt show in 2013.

Both of these ladies are members of our guild, Annie's Star in Chico, CA

Congratulations ladies! 

 I am off to enjoy my weekend, I am 'officially' old today! 

Enjoy your weekend

Tot ziens, Jo

PIQF 2015 ~ International Quilts

Since I am not posting pix of the quilts I am currently working on until after our guild's quilt show, here are some pix I took yesterday at Pacific International Quilt Festival. Yep, I took the day off and went to PIQF. I've never been and my friend and customer Sandy (Sandra E) took me for my birthday along with Mo, her friend in Orland, CA and we had the best time! It was a very long day however so worth it. Thank you Sandy, love you!!!

Posting a few this morning and more tomorrow for my Saturday Morning Post. It's a mix of quilts that I was drawn to, some were ribbon winners, some not. Starting with some of the International quilts that were grouped in one part of the building... amazing quilts and quilters from around the world, starting with this one...

Deco by Lee Vause, Australia  64 x 72

I love Art Deco and of course, machine quilting so I was drawn to this quilt and it's quilting... wow. This is my first visit to PIQF and a big quilt show... ever! I was on sensory overload all day!!! Next is a quilt also made by an Australian quilt artist...

 Data Garden by Belinda Betts   67 x 67

Also a favorite because of the Tree of Life blocks in the center and again, the machine quilting... wow! Machine quilting has grown, check that, exploded! into it's own art form. The bar keeps getting set higher and higher with amazing workmanship. Inspiring most of the time and also humbling, reminding me of how far I have to go with my own skills. 

 Triple Feathered Star by Yvonne McKee 

from the United Kingdom  75 x 75

 Center star

This one is more traditional both in piecing and quilting however, WOW for the piecing!!! The second pic shows the center star which is made with teeny tiny HSTs, 1/4 inch at best as the second layer are 1/2 inch HSTs! The piecing was amazing, I know how challenging a feathered star is. The next pic is of the border, love the gold and red combined with purple plus the artist added beads along the edge of the binding. Below is one of the cornerstones with it's teeny tiny HSTs. The machine quilting, traditional and beautifully done!

There were several from Germany that had allot of embellishments as the one above, with crystals and lots of bead work. More on that later. For now here are two more from New Zealand quilt artists. The first is a whole cloth on a dark fabric with different color threads...

 Kowhai by Ross Munro  60 x 59

The detail and color is lost with my poor photography skills 

and old camera plus it was hard shooting the dark fabric. Still amazing!

 The second from another New Zealand artist... traditional and modern...
with straight line quilting

 Simply Red and Grey by Maree LeComte  71 x 71

and one more from a different part of the show (not international) 

that I really loved because it also combined Modern with Traditional

These are but a few of the quilts plus vendors... didn't have time to cover that part of the floor. Allot! I did, of course visit Jim and Nicky at ABMs Innova booth also representing their quilt store Sew So Shop in Yuba City, CA. Filled an order of thread at Superior Thread's booth. Chico's local quilts shops that are there... Sandy at the Rabbit Hole in Chico, Marsha and Morning Star Quilts in Paradise, and of course Honey Run Quilters in Chico...

Ronda, Lauren and Terri working the booth.

Kathy was there too doing a demo :0( my pic didn't work out)

and we just missed Carmen and Amanda who left following their morning shift.

PIQF goes on thru the weekend. Yesterday was the first day, If you have the opportunity... go! It's amazing.  Be prepared for sensory overload! 

I had fun this morning going over my pix plus The Quilt Show posted a slide show that Mary Kay put together of Part One of the ribbon winners at PIQF. Check it out with this link. The very first quilt in the slide show is made by Betty Sweet, from Magalia and a member of our Chico quilt guild, Annie's Star Quilt Guild. This same quilt won Best in Show at our last guild quilt show. It was great to see it again at PIQF let alone that she won a big ribbon there. We have some pretty amazing quilters in the Chico area. 

Enough fun, I have to get to work! and finish the quilt on my frame that will go into this year's show... coming up Nov. 7th and 8th. Have I mentioned that? yes, yes, so ignore me but come to the show or go to PIQF and get inspired! 

Tot Ziens, Jo 

Quilting on Amaretto Cottage

Kansas Troubles block in Amaretto Cottage

and one of the setting triangles

Janie loves butterflies and the sparkle of Glide so we are quilting feathered butterflies on this beauty using three different colors ~ gold, burgundy, a lavender plus a fourth thread, a Fantastico from Superior in a dark variegated purple.
Wool batting from Quilter's Dream for that wonderful loft :0)

At day's end yesterday I am about halfway and ready to start the medallion center. Not planning to share more of this one or any of the quilts quilted for customers that will be going into the quilt show. Come to the show and see them! 

(There will be lots of pix after the show)

There was one customer quilt this week not going in the show. Karen made a quilt that will be a Christmas gift. I neglected to ask her permission to post pix. With permission I hope to post pix later because it's a wonderful quilt! I had fun looking at all the different fabrics and blocks while I was quilting it. Every block is different, just what I love to do :0)

After shutting down my longarm yesterday, I made a block for Honey Run Quilters Seasonal Block challenge. Ronda gave me a packet with the oak leaf focus fabric in September, due at the end of this month and now I can check it off my list. Way too much going on this month. 14 Birthdays!!! (I have a biggie coming up soon) all family and close friends, plus customer quilts, guild & quilt show meetings. Too much and I have noticed that I am having trouble staying focused! Doing my best, anyway here is the block I made yesterday. Thinking of cutting up the little scraps to add leaves falling from the tree.

Enjoy your Sunday

Hope you have a fun project to work on!

Tot ziens, Jo

Saturday Morning Post ~ pix from Ramblin' Rows

Working on two more quilts for our upcoming quilt show in Chico, CA. On my frame is Amaretto Cottage, not quite halfway. I may add a pic later today once the sun is up and can get some back lighting across my frame. 

Since I don't have customer quilt pix to share
here are two quilt projects I am working on...

This is Calypso Kaleidoscope, a 2015 BOM 

where I went off track and coming up with my own blocks to finish this quilt

before the end of the year as scheduled :0) Pulled from batik stash. 

Keeps me balanced working with batiks to Civil War... 

Well, most of these are CW, there are a few Thimbleberries in there too.
They play nice :0)  All scraps from my Amaretto Cottage quilt. 

The blocks above are from Lori's Mystery Country Road quilt along
post on her blog Humble Quilts. It's a reproduction of an old quilt she found...
 here is a link to her post with pix of her finished top and the inspiration quilt
 More about my projects on my quilt blog Ramblin' Rows

 These two won't be finished in time for the show however,
there will be lots of quilts at the show coming up soon!

 Our opportunity quilt

Tot Ziens, Jo
Enjoy your weekend

  "We will be known forever by the tracks we leave."
Native American Proverb

 

Saturday Morning Post ~ Vintage

A vintage top quilted for Tava 

Hand pieced by her grandmother 

Made from shirtings, a few more vintage fabrics 

and muslin sashing with an interesting block

Wondering if there is a name for this block, anyone have an idea?

Backed with a flannel backing 

and quilted with a feather e2e

using a thread that matches the muslin

More finishes this week however, I am holding off with pix. The rest of the quilts finished this week will be going into our guild's quilt show in November. I will share pix after the show. Come and see them in real life, it's going to be a great show! 

236 quilts are registered to be shown
 the most recent count as of our guild meeting this week.

Yesterday we added one more vendor for a total of 16

 There will be lots of fabric, sewing machines, patterns, notions

plus baskets, beads and more! Just added a message therapist! 

Enjoy your weekend

Tot ziens, Jo