Fantasy of Trees

This is the tree we decorated for The Fantasy of Trees. All proceeds from the event goes to Children's Hospital. I don't think ours sold but I think the asking price was too high. The wanted $1,000 for it.

Here is my latest crochet project. A baby sweater.

I am reading the latest by Catherine Coulter and J. T. Ellison, The Lost Key. This is the second in the series they have started writing together.

Curved piecing and class

I spent two days taking a class from Deb Karasik. A friend of mine, who has a hand dye fabric business called Stipples, introduced me to Deb's work. I had never heard of her. I googled her after Wendy mentioned her and I learned she was coming to Knoxville. I signed up and spent two days at Sew 'n Vac learning curved piecing. The store is a great place for classes. Great work space and lighting. They provide lunch and snacks. I had never curved pieced a block before. It was challenging but I think I did okay.

Jodi Picoult

I think the best book I have read this year was "Leaving Time" by Jodi Picoult. It was truly amazing. I hounded my sister until she read it so I would have someone to discuss it with. 

Craft wise, my latest project was a crocheted hat for my great niece. I think it turned out well.

I also finished my ornaments for the tree I am decorating for the Fantasy of Trees. 

My Medal of Honor quilts

I finally have pictures of the quilts I help make for the Medal of Honor recipients. The first is the one I made for Thomas Jerome Hudner, Jr. I picked him to honor my Mom's brother.

This next one, I worked on with my Fiber Art group. We call ourselves FAC (Fiber Art Chicks) at FAB (Fiber Art Blount). FAB is where we meet once a month. We all made blocks and then spent a couple of meetings putting it together. We picked James E. Livingston. One of our members got to meet him during the convention. He and his wife were lovely and loved the quilt.

The last quilt was made by my friend Bridget and quilted by my friend Cyndi. All I did was put the binding on it but they put my name on it which was so sweet. It was a Gold Star Quilt. The Gold Star quilts were for MOH recipients who either received their medal posthumously or died prior to the start of the MOH Knoxville quilt project. Ours went to the family of Joe R. hooper.

This entire project was such an honor to work on. To read the stories of these incredible men and their bravery. 

Latest work and book

I finished the piece I used for teaching the Deb Tucker's Rapid Fire Lemoyne star. I taught it to my Stitch and Bitch group.

The latest book I read was Laurie Breton. I read "Coming Home". It was marvelous.

New FAC at FAB round robin

A group I belong to Fiber Art Chicks, who meet at the Fiber Art Blount building in Maryville once a month have started a new round robin project. Each of us were asked to make a twelve inch block. The block could be anything at all. At our August meeting, we randomly swapped these blocks. We took the blocks we got and were required to add something to it to make it equal 15-20 inches. Once we are done, we will get our original block back. The finished projects will be donated to our quilting guild and sold at our 2015 quilt show. I got Christine's block.

More Lemoyne stars

Some of my friends want to learn how the Rapid Fire Lemoyne star ruler works so I designed a small quilt for us to make. Here it is.

Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star

I have a new addiction. I took a class on the Rapid fire Lemoyne Star ruler that was invented by Deb Tucker. I am not usually very good with rulers but this one is very easy to use and I like the block it makes. I have made a number of them and I have a lot more cut out. I will post a picture when I finish the quilt top but for now, here are some blocks.

Creative weekend

This weekend I have dabbled in all the crafts I love. 

Crochet 

Knitting

Quilting

Fabric ornaments

Plus I got some reading done. Books by Ava Miles and Sydney Logan. Very creative weekend.

More knitting, some reading and a row

Today was my final knitting class. I learned to bind off the wash cloth is made in my first class.

So my first finished knitting project. I currently have three more started. This is the wash cloth I started today in class.

I learned to decrease and increase. I still have the scarf I started going and I also started a wrap. 

I am currently reading three books. One by Ava Miles, a Stephen King and another by Debra Webb. I am struggling with the King book. Has not gotten interesting yet. The other two are very enjoyable.

I have also started my row quilts.

I also wanted to share a small quilt I did some work on for a friend. She purchased it at my guild's quilt show. She wanted a Power T added to it so it would reflect our place of employment.

And I think that is all I have started right now.

Scarf

Today's endeavors - knitting a scarf and reading the latest Stephen King. 

Knitting

My sister and I spent a number of Saturdays in June traveling around East Tennessee doing a Yarn Crawl. I have tried teaching myself to knit throughout the years and have failed. I decided to take a knitting lesson during the Yarn Crawl because the yarn we saw was so beautiful and most of it just would not work well with crocheting. This is the result of my first class. I am really enjoying the process and I cannot wait to play with all that beautiful yarn.

Fiber Art Blount gallery

My fiber art group was asked to display our work at the Fiber Art Blount gallery in Maryville. Here are some pictures.

Quilt show

It is the week of my guild's quilt show. I am one of the co-chairs so I am very nervous it won't be a success. We have met all of our goals so far. We have 200 quilts in the competition, 32 Medal of Honor quilts plus a few quilts from members who passed this year. We have gotten all the ribbons sponsored this year for the first time since I started working the show 5 years ago. Now we need people to come to the show. The problem is that it is Memorial Day weekend. Everyone appears to be going out of town. I have three quilts in the show. None will win a prize, but I like them all.

I finished this one last night. I pieced it but had my co-chair Cyndi Herrmann quilt it. Sorry the picture is not great. I will get some pictures of the show and post later.

Jessica's Quilts

A couple of years ago, my daughter's best friend, Jessica asked if I would take her Grandfather's clothes and make some quilts for her and her family. It took a couple of years. First she and her family had to pick patterns. Jess went with a modern looking pattern. Her Mother and sister decided on a traditional nine patch. We had to draft the patterns from pictures (a first for me) and then cut up all the clothes. Right in the middle we had to pack it all up while we remodleled our house which took about nine months. We finally got started again. Once I got them all sewed together, we took them to a longarmer to quilt. I bound them with his pants. We made the label using his favorite pants. Here are the results.

Quilt show ribbon

Wow, I have not blogged in a while. I have been consumed with finishing the quilts for Taylor's best friend, Jessica. Before we talk about that, on Tuesday I finally got to see the quilt show ribbon I made. I was asked by my quilt guild to make the rosette for the Novice Award ribbon. The ribbon will be awarded at our Quilt Show on May 23-25. I was thrilled to be asked and very proud of how it turned out. Someone else in the guild finished the ribbons. I just created the top.

Congressional Medal of Honor

This is the quilt I made for a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. A person in my guild organized it so that every living recipient will receive a quilt in September when they have their convention here in Knoxville. I was proud of how it turned out.

Art Quilts

Tomorrow I have to lend these five 12 x 12 Art Quilts to the Fiber Arts Blount. They have agreed to display my art group's - FAC @ FAB (Fiber Art Chicks @ Fiber Art Blount) quilts during the month of May. Every other month we have to make a 12 x 12 quilt using a word. Each member gets to pick a word. My word was shoes. Then Hands, Sign, Smile and Flower. Our next on is Self. It is due in May but we will not have a May meeting. The meeting conflicts with our quilt guild's 34th Annual Quilt Show. The show is being held May 23-25 on the campus of Maryville College in Maryville, TN. Hopefully having our art quilts hanging at FAB will advertise the show. We need lots of people to attend the show. We have 200 quilts competing for prizes, plus 9 memorial quilts and 32 Medal of Honor quilts. It is going to be a great show.

Hollis Chatelain

Two days this week I have taken classes with quilt artist Hollis Chatelain. I first saw her work at the quilt museum in Paducah, Kentucky. Her work is mind blowing. She is an artist whose medium is textiles. She tells you she is not a quilter. The first piece I saw was "Hope For Our World". Check out her website hollisart.com. If you ever get the chance to see her work in person, don't miss it. "Innocence" is a quilt you have to see in person. Pictures do not do it justice.

Hollis taught four classes. I was only able to take two. The first was called Quilting as the third element of design or something like that. She has changed the name since the class went on sale. We were asked to bring a quilt top and she would help us decide how to quilt it. She gave each quilt 11 minutes and it was so educational. This is the top I took.

I like what she suggested. I look forward to getting to my machine and start quilting.

The second class was called "Upcycle your jeans to Art". It was an easy technique and you can use other fabrics besides jeans. I cut up some of Taylor's old jeans. This is as far as I got in the class.

It is a tulip. Such a fun day!

Small Quilt

Every year as part of my guild's quilt show, members make small quilts to sell at the show. The proceeds from the sales go toward the guild's charities Ronald McDonald House and Quilts of Valor.

I finished mine last night. 

This is mine. This is not a great picture but I like the way it turned out.

Update to this blog - my quilt sold for $60. Amazing!

My own blog

My daughter made our shared blog detailing our year of first. I thought I would like to actually make my own blog talking about my hobbies. I love reading, crocheting, quilting, movies and television. I am going to use this blog to showcase these things. This is a wall hanging I started last year in a class taught by Ami Sims. It will be one of three quilts I am entering in my guild's 34th Annual Quilt Show.