Greater San Antonio Quilt show

 I am pleased to report that I won a few prized ribbons at the show this weekend.  This one called "The Chemist" won first in the challenge category, where we had to use this piece of blue starry fabric.  This quilt was made from a selfie my daughter, Nicole, took right before she got her degree in Chemistry last spring.  So proud of her.  It even has periodic table fabric for a back.

"Swingin' "  got a second place in the art category.  This is from a photo of my grandson, Alex, taken by my niece, Evelyn.  

"Nebulous" a wholecloth piece won a third in the Other category.

 I'm really pleased with this award.  Linda's round robin quilt took a third in the group category.  I was especially pleased to get the Stationary Machine quilting special award for the quilting I did on this quilt.

Our "Remember..."  quilt, a fractured quilt done by 5 members of my bee won a Judges Choice ribbon and an Honorable Mention in the group category.  I took the photo and enlarged it, sliced it into 6 slices, gave it to 4 other friends, put it together after they finished it, and quilted it.  so I am thrilled with the result and the Judges recognition.  

I finally finished this quilt, just in time for the show.  It is called "Gigi's Garden", that's my grandma name...  This one got a first in small applique.  

And another winner!!, my round robin also got a third place ribbon.  Borders added by members of my quilting bee, and I quilted this.

I'm going to keep going and show you some of the other show stoppers.  

  This is called Flanders Field by Vonnie Maglinte.  She won this award 2 years ago. Check out Vonnie's quilting, she is amazing! 

I loved this vintage linen crazy quilt by Deb France.  She does amazing quilting also.  

And here is Vonnie Maglinte (who made the quilt 2 pics above) with her challenge quilt.  It was a wowzer of a quilt.  

Now for the quilt that won Best of Show.  Made by Judy Wolff of Lincoln, TX and quilted by Angela McCorkle.  Loved it!

Hope you enjoyed the show, can't wait till the next one in two years!  Karen

Busy busy summer

Excuse me for my month (and a half) long silence.  Been cruising the Rhine, going on quilting retreat and helping my father with surgeries.  Lots of quilting going on also.  I am preparing for our Semi-annual quilt show (is that how you say every other year?)   I am rushing to finish the yellow applique' quilt that I showed you last month - dang I'm slow.  But hey, what's the hurry (quilt show in 2 weeks!) I quilt for enjoyment right?  Here is one I played with at retreat:

 I looked at several examples of graffiti quilting and thought,"I can do that! and in an hour!"
Well, it ended up taking  whole day of my retreat, but oh, what fun it was...  It's about 15 inches square and would look perfect in your sewing room!

I will be donating this to the silent auction at the Quilt show - BTW it is the Greater San Antonio Quilt Guild show, Star Gazing, Sept. 25 and 26, 2015 from 9-5 at the San Antonio Event Center, 8111 Meadow Leaf.  Come out and check out the almost 300 quilts and over 40 vendors. 

Hope to see you there, Karen 

fillers, fillers, and more fillers

I am delving into all my filler books and lessons to help me fill the outer border of this quilt. I am filling it in with triangles with a different fill design in each one.

 So I am finally putting all of those books and websites to use.  I usually just use the same fill designs over and over - I like bubbles, paisleys, swirls, and grids.  For new ideas, I am inspired by Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project and by the fills in my Craftsy class with Cindy Needham.  I am also looking at designs from the awesome online book I bought from aussie quilter Helen Godden, Fifty Shades of Quilting.  There are so many ideas out there.  And believe it or not, I can actually come up with some myself, see the radiating triangle in blue below? - all mine

 Sue Heinz' book Fill Harmonics has some wonderful ideas (oops, upside down..)

There are tons of ideas in my Machine Quilting Unlimited magazines.

Including this wonderful article by Margaret Solomon Gunn (and yes, I see it is sideways - just call me the wonky blogger)

 I also bought  Bethanne Nemesh's three book set and got more ideas.

Bethanne calls her fill Nemeshing and I love it.  I used it around my applique's for great effect.

And her other book "The Devil is in the Details" is inspiring me to add a beaded border.  I have two of them done already!   These are very labor intensive, hand stitching around each bead to make the fabric pop.  

I used a string of those little white beads, ohhh  I hope they are not too small to notice.  sometimes you just have to take the time to try it and see.  

Where do you go to find new designs?  Try some new ones out every once in a while, it's so fun!  Karen

If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary. – Jim Rohn

Starts and stops

I made a close-up video of the method I use to start free motion quilting and how to stop. BTW, this is the method that Ricky Timms and Hollis Chatelaine both use on their award winning quilts. Thank goodness I don't have to tie off all those threads anymore!

I hope you find this helpful and keep on quilting, Karen

Melanie's round robin finished

This quilt was made by Melanie and her bee friends.  It's another Wannabees round robin quilt.  I just finished quilting it for her, (see the previous posts for some videos of the quilting process).  

The quilt is 72 inches square.  It has wool batting and is quilted with Glide and Aurifil threads.  

This is part of the center feathered star.

Here are the outer borders, heavy with feathers and basket weaves...  those weird little blue buttons aren't buttons at all, they're heavily quilted circles.  I am glad to finally finish this, now on to some of my own projects!  see you soon, Karen

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”– Steve Jobs

  

Ruler work on a powerquilter

Free motion quilting with a homemade design

I



I needed a design for this rectangular piece on this quilt.  I wanted it to be similar to some of the quilting on the inner parts of the quilt.  My curved rulers just weren't the right size for this.  So I used a piece of freezer paper the size of the rectangle, folded it into fourths so that I could get a curved arc the size needed.  I just wanted to show you how that one little template made out of freezer paper can help you make a semi-elaborate design on your quilts.  Bear with me, this is my first video, it's kinda long and with that busy striped fabric,  a little hard to see.  I am using my powerquilter for this video.  Karen