Memories of Galveston

The first time I attended the Houston Quilt Festival in 2005, my friend Onalee and I took a break from the show one day and drove down to Galveston.  We had a wonderful time walking the beach and had dinner outside overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.

 

As if we hadn’t seen enough fabric at the show, we also stopped at Quilts by the Bay which was a charming store which unfortunately was destroyed by hurricane Ike in 2008.  I purchased the fabric for this quilt there as I fell in love with the floral – and strangely enough, I still love it.  Sometimes when so much time has passed, we have one of those ‘what on earth was I thinking when I bought this’ moments.

 

I quilted this with Metro thread which has a gorgeous sheen to it and picked up the gold in the fabric (although it’s not easy to see in these pictures).

I also got my Broken Star top finished and it’s now patiently waiting to be quilted.

Lee and I have been attending a new afternoon Guild.  Since I’ve been sick, I have difficulty driving at night – I’m not sure if it’s the medication but I do know it’s not my glasses as I’ve had them checked.  This Guild just started last September and there are a lot of new quilters who attend.  While it’s nice to go in the afternoon, rather than at night, we both miss the inspiration that our evening Guild gave us.  They have some very talented quilters and amazing Show & Tell every month.  Maybe when the nights start getting lighter, I can try again. 

 

I’ve almost finished knitting this:

It’s been really slow going as it’s all done in garter stitch and is SO boring.  I just hope I like it when it’s finished.  It’s knit all in one piece, which I’ve never done before, but so far I haven’t had any problems – other than trying to find all my Mum and Grandma’s stitch holders as so far I’ve needed 7!!!  Hopefully by my next post, it will be finished.

The quilting community lost a wonderful lady on January 26th – Rosemary Makhan.  Rosemary was an award winning quilter who showed her quilts all around the world and taught all across Canada, but we were lucky enough to have her living in our City and teaching in our community.  She was a true lady in every sense of the word and she will be sorely missed by all who had the honour of knowing her.  Take a few minutes and look at her gorgeous work – you’ll be glad you did as it’s truly amazing.

Groundhog Day

Well, it looks like both Punxsutawney Phil and Wiarton Willie both saw their shadows this morning which, according to legend, means we are in for another 6 weeks of winter.  I think it’s time we got a new predictor – what the heck do groundhogs know anyway?

My Aunt gave me a beautiful amaryllis for Christmas and it bloomed last week.  There are still more blooms to come, but it was certainly a welcome sight to see this on our kitchen table.

Lee came over for a sew day a week ago and we tried the Disappearing Pinwheel block from the Missouri Quilt Company.  Both of our blocks were missing a point in the corner and my friend Diane tried it too and didn’t have any success either.  Here is Lee’s block

 

and here is mine – Lee’s fabric camouflages the missing point much better than mine.

 

Here is Lee working on the tiniest little blocks from a Christmas kit she bought.  She has more patience than I do – she wasn’t happy with the way they turned out, so she took them all apart and is redoing them.

 

I was working on what feels like my forever project.  I bought this kit in Shipshewana many, many years ago, started it at a Retreat about 4 years ago and finally pulled it out again to get it finished.  I’m getting there.

I have all the blocks finished, now I just have to get them all sewn together and there are two borders that need to go on.  I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I also got this quilt finished.

This was done with two packages of Bali Pops.  I don’t know why, but the quilting in the second picture almost looks raised – it’s just an optical illusion – it looks like someone drew the design on – strange…

My little girl always seems to feel the cold, and every time I see her lying here, I feel guilty.  Why would she lie over the vent on a tiled floor?  She has a gorgeous basket to lie in, numerous comfy chairs with quilts on them for warmth, but oh, no, this is where she lies.  I swear she just does it to make me feel badly.

I’m working on another UFO and just have the binding to finish.  Hopefully it will be done soon and I can share that with you.  Stay warm…..only 45 more days until spring