A Rush from Happenin's!

Activities have been happenin', quilting-wise, around here. In the past week I have:

1) joined the new Bradenton Rec Center chapter of Quilting Guild of The Villages (QGOTV);
2) pursued a possible Stitchin' Mission to be hosted by a nearby church;
3) been asked and accepted co-presenting a May 16 program about modern quilting to Country Road Quilters, Ocala, Florida;
4) and been approved as a quilting instructor at The Villages Lifelong Learning College! I hope I'll be teaching "First-Time Quiltmaking," based on the 2006 book I wrote by the same name, and my Stitchin' Mission program.

I bet you think I'll have a lot on my plate this year.

I bet I agree.

Sewing-wise, I made a couple pillows this week. They began with this.

For the first time since moving, I upended my bag of selvages and dug in to make two different blocks for a "Salvage Those Selvages!" workshop I'll teach this coming October for QGOTV. You might think I like to plan that far ahead (I do!), but in fact, the class supply list is needed by February 4 for a QGOTV meeting!

As much as I wanted to make a quilt, these pillows should get the point across. 

Four easy blocks from Karen Griska's "Red Zinger" makes a 16" x 16" pillow. (Used with permission from Karen.)

This one is backed with some Dan Bennett "Wild Garden" that I wanted to use in big pieces so as not to lose the graphic appeal of the large print. You can see on the right side, that I even inserted a zipper.

The block for this pillow is one I created myself. It's a little more difficult for having to cut and sew wedges - drunkard's path style - on a curve. I know there's a useful, special sewing machine foot for curved piecing, but I don't have one. So, an appliqué foot works.

This pillow is two-sided, with a different arrangement of the same block on the reverse side. Yep. That sewn-in center circle was about as challenging to machine sew as it looks.

This pillow also has a zipper, but it's along the corded edge. I covered the zipper with the same fabric as the cording, so it looks like double cording!

By the way, here's a tip for the next time you sew a pillow. These 16" square pillows? Well, they're stuffed with 18" square pillow forms! I like that the pillows feel firmly full, not wimpy, especially at the corners. Happily, I was able to buy Joann's Home Elegance 18" X 18" pillow forms at half price.

It feels great to to be prepared for the October workshop, already!

Now I just need to finish writing up the supply list, which includes a little detail about how to cut selvages. Do you know?

This week, I also jumped onto Debbie's - AQuilter'sTable - Triple Zip-Along, AKA 3ZAL. It begins January 28, and these are the fabrics and zippers I've chosen.

Oh! And I'm getting ready for next Monday's (January 28) Central Florida Modern Quilt Guild meeting. We're showing off our Madrona Road Challenge projects. Mine's done, and I can't wait to see everyone's finishes. Look for pictures of quilts on our CentralFloridaMQG blog next Tuesday morning!

Am I in deep? You bet! Am I sleeping through the night? Rarely. I've been up since 2:30 am this morning! Do I get a rush from doing this kind of stuff? Now what do you think?! Linda