SUNIMP - A little quilting, knitting, machine embroidery and a little of everyday life.
There was so much talent displayed that it's really hard to pick just a few to post.
It's pouring here today and I'm not feeling much better, in fact, truth be told I feel worse so I think there will be a lot of sitting and cuddling of my baby going on.
Sandra snapped this picture of him at Easter - doesn't it look like he's raising his head to the sun? Bring it on!
This was made from a kit by Jinny Beyer - the border fabric was beautiful as was the quilting.
I hope when you enlarge this you can see the quilting and the detail - I believe these squares were 1/2" finished.
Once again, I didn't get the names of all the artists - you'd think I'd learn my lesson but it was very busy on Saturday when I took the pictures and it was also very hot. I couldn't get good shots of a lot of the quilts as the crowds were just too dense.
This is Rosemary Makhan's "Woodland" quilt. You can read the story about it here.
This is Bunny's version of this quilt, done completely by machine embroidery.
These quilts are by award winning artist Carol Goddu who has a very unique and distinctive style.
I really liked this one - it's pink and it's floral - it had my name written all over it!
I have more pictures to share, but I'm going to call it a night and go to bed.
Close up of the poinsettias.
This 'Affairs of the Heart' was stunning:
There were a lot of quilts done using Irena Blum's coloured pencil technique - some of them I liked, some I didn't. This one was beautiful.
You already know how much I like blue and white quilts and the Irish Chain is one of my favourite patterns so this quilt was right up my alley.
Here is another fairly simple pattern with what I think are stunning results:
Finally, this one made me chuckle - what imagination the artist has shown with the boa!
The banquet with guest speaker Mark Lipinski was great. I haven't laughed so long or so hard for a long time - the tears were running down my face. I've heard that some people have been offended by his talk - if that is true, they must be the biggest prudes around - he was hilarious!
Now.....what did I buy? Lots! There is no sales tax in New Hampshire so to my way of thinking I was instantly saving 13%. We went to a place in Maine that a friend from the APQS forum had recommended and got name brand fabric for less than $2.50 a yard - bolts of it! We also ordered some bolts from my favourite on line supplier before we left and had them shipped to the hotel so they didn't have to go through customs. I also bought the 7 Treasures of Buddha giant templates for my Circle Lord tax free!
Then there was the Superior thread......and the Deb Tucker ruler to do the Hunter Star that I've been going to make for years....and.....and.
One thing I talked myself out of and I'm now kicking myself is this:
The QuiltCut2. We watched a demo and were really impressed and then talked to several people who own it who just love it. So today I spent ages trying to source a Canadian dealer and also pricing shipping from the dealer in NH. I may just have to call on my friend in Buffalo to help me out on this one and have it shipped to her.
We stopped at Keepsake Quilting on the way home. What a beautiful store with the most gorgeous fabric - I'm sure we were both drooling. You do need to have projects in mind as it is so overwhelming you really don't know where to start. I picked up some Amish black, some background fabric I needed for a project and also a couple of yards of batiks I found in the sale room. I always like a bargain!
Now all I need to do is actually make something with all that fabric and put the knowledge I gained to use on Tillie.
Crystals and beading were everywhere but I found the ones I liked the best were more subtle.
I believe this won Viewer's Choice. I apologize that I didn't get the quilter's names on these - I was so overwhelmed I was just snapping away and didn't think of it until later.
Here's a fun one for you - can you figure it out?
I have more pictures but Blogger is taking forever to upload this morning and I have an appointment in an hour to see about my carpal tunnel.
We had fun visiting all the vendors - I have the credit card receipts to prove it! For any of you in the market for a longarm, I must say I was most impressed with the new Fusion. This baby had it all - the stitch quality was very good and has an on-board video play-back system so you can download videos and watch them on the screen while you are quilting. You can also plug in your iPod and listen to it through the machine. You all know how much I love my Tillie, but for any of you interested in a first time purchase, I would seriously look at this machine.
I'll post some more quilts later when Blogger wants to behave!
The full quilt:
The back - which looked just as nice as the front:
As is usually the case, these pictures do not do justice to the quilts. My photography leaves a lot to be desired.
I took classes from Deloa Jones, Pam Clarke and two from Dawn Cavanaugh. Dawn was awarded Teacher of the Year at the Banquet on Friday night. She is an amazing teacher and her Potpourri and Hodge Podge class was the best I've ever taken. I am so happy she won as it was so well deserved.
The Fashion Show was fun and Summerset Banks stole the show with her amazing vintage garments.
I was most amazed by the background fill on so many quilts - talk about micro - unbelievable:
We all agreed the artist should have reversed the fabrics.
Since I have a lot of things I should be doing today (including laundry) I'm going to leave it here and post more pictures in the next couple of days.
All that was left to do on this was piece three half blocks and sew it all together. I took it to Retreat to get some encouragement to finish it as I have been procrastinating on this for a long time. This is my first and LAST paper pieced project. I enjoyed piecing the blocks, hated sewing the rows together and detested taking the paper off. I still need to add a black border and I think I am go to bind it with strips of the different colours in the top. From a galloping horse this looks not too bad - you wouldn't want to get too close, trust me!
I also got 36 of these blocks finished for my Blue Rover quilt:
Now they just need to be laid out 'in a pleasing manner' and sewn together.
I haven't forgotten my commitment to work on Christmas projects throughout the year. I got this little guy finished:
Tomorrow we are celebrating Ian's birthday, as well as Easter. It's hard to believe that my 'baby' is now 28. It seems like yesterday when he had colic for almost a year and I was ready to throw him out the window. He no longer has colic but now finds other ways to still make me want to throw him out the window some days.
Only 3 more sleeps till we're off to MQX. I am really excited about this and we've decided to extend our trip and visit some quilt stores on the way home. We're planning a trip to Keepsake Quilting and will then travel home through Vermont and northern N.Y. state. I just hope we make it home before the credit card completely melts.
Jeanne finished her machine embroidered quilt. The crazy quilting border was a cheater fabric, but she embellished each seam with decorative stitches.
Diane whipped up this table runner in a couple of hours - the fabric is gorgeous in person.
These are Margaret's blocks from the new 'Vintage Iris' collection from Northcott.
This is a very bad picture of Nicki's gorgeous Hunter Star quilt. Just for the record, I didn't take this picture :-)
The quilt is actually brown and a light turquoise and is absolutely stunning.
Heather made this for her little girl and appliqued her daughter's initials on it.
Here's a picture of the back - this was a kit which included the backing.
This picture doesn't do it justice either - it is very rich looking and the fabric has a toille look to it.
Finally we have Nicki holding up the blocks she finished for her Birthday Presents quilt. You may remember I bought this kit at the last retreat so it was nice to see what it is going to look like and Nicki gave me a couple of pointers for the quickest way to sew these blocks!
