Back to Creating

Like me, my QuiltCon quilts are back at home. They arrived Saturday.

I hope this also means that the woman - Sharon - who bought my "Illusions of Victor" quilt has received it in Las Vegas. I asked, and was delighted to get the buyer's first name and location. Yay!

I completed a post-QuiltCon survey in which I was grateful to have the opportunity to make suggestions for the next QuiltCon, and express my thoughts about a two lectures. 

Steph Skardal @stephskardal made this QuiltCon chart available on her blog. Data was collected by Laura Loewen @quiltfortco.

It's a good visual recap of what we saw at the show. As I'd heard, improv is the largest QuiltCon category. Since improv isn't my forté, I've never submitted to that category.

Of course, six days without sewing, along with seeing so much QuiltCon eye-candy,  made me eager to be in my sewing room again. 

First, I ordered Aurifil thread from Hawthorne Supply Co. (which I'd hoped to buy at QuiltCon, but wasn't available in the Aurifil booth). I have plans to use these 40-weight and 28-weight threads to quilt my Central Florida MQG Architectural Challenge quilt. 

Also from Hawthorne, I received two pieces of fabric.

For some unknown reason, I am smitten with fabrics by Sally Kelly, a designer with Windham Fabrics. This piece is "Paradiso," and I cannot fathom why I like it so much! Generally, I avoid prints with flowers, stars, hearts, and small creatures (like butterflies)! What's up with me?! I guess the colors attract me. I have no idea what I'll do with it. Sheesh.

I was more practical about the other fabric purchase which is (on the left) Candlelight Woven Mountain, in the color Ocean. It's fabric that's needed for the latest Curated Quilts Mini Quilt Challenge. The theme is "Utility." We're to use accessible fabrics to make a square utilitarian quilt that's between 10" X 10" and 16" X 16". A suggestion is to choose "treasured fabrics," so I pulled fabrics from my seemingly never-ending bag of vintage scraps from my grandmother (lower right). I don't yet know what's next.

While waiting for the thread and fabric to arrive, I started making a quilt that has been on my want-to-make list. Earlier this month @exhaustedocoptus had a 25% off sale on her Seaglass Quilt tutorial, so with Heat n' Bond Lite purchased at QuiltCon in hand, I got to work. 

My quilt top is 36" X 52", and will be ready for sandwiching today. That means I will have three quilt tops that need sandwiching and quilting. You know what I'll be doing later this week. 

I continue to find satisfaction in hand stitching, and have started a Boho piece -  a style of embroidery that is done on printed fabric, or around printed fabric pieces.

From my stash I chose this Alison Glass Abacus Sampler Panel (color Dove), onto which I'm embroidering various stitches with size 8 perle cotton. You can see that I've nearly used-up several thread colors, and thus was able to justify the purchase of more perle cotton from the Wonderfil vendor at QuiltCon! 

Book Recommendation

A couple years ago, I read a fascinating book about C.S. Lewis - Becoming Mrs. Lewis (I highly recommend) - so I was happy to see that Patti Callahan had written another book about Mr. Lewis - Once Upon a Wardrobe. 

It's 1950 and Megs is attending Oxford University. Each weekend she returns home to spend time with her parents and ten year-old brother, George, who is nearly bed-ridden with an untreatable heart condition. After Georgie reads The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, he wants his sister to find Lewis, a tutor at the university, to ask him, "Where did Narnia come from?" What ensues is Meg's hesitation to seek-out Jack Lewis; Jack's brother, Warnie, finding Megs on their property; and Megs's subsequent visits to The Kilns (the Lewis brother's home) where she learn's Jack's story. Meg's visits result in stories that she takes back to George, and the truths she learns about life.

Linda's score: 4.6/5.0

I hope your sewing and stitching week is starting well. Linda