Quilt Show pictures - Part One

A couple weeks ago I went to the Jacksonville Quilt Show (http://www.quiltfestjax.com) and had a lot of fun. Here are some of my favorite quilts on display:

This is a pattern by McKenna Ryan called "Glacier". You can't tell from the picture but the quilter used beads throughout the quilt:

This one is called "Convex Illusions". I absolutely love illusion pictures so I really love this one:

This one is called "Coxcomb" and is a Judy Niemeyer pattern. I can totally appreciate the work that went into this; I'm just not I have the patience or attention span to do one myself lol:

This quilt is called "Spiral Strips" from the book "Jelly Roll Quilts" by Pam and Nicky Lintott. This one is on my "do to" list:

This one won an award!  This is a Civil War Bride Quilt, which is an interpretation of "The Bird of Paradise" quilt top at the American Folk Art Museum in New York. The original is thought to be an unfinished wedding or marriage quilt. Fabulous!!!

Another award winner and probably one of the cutest and most original ones at the show!  This one is called "Crime Scene Investigation" and has cute little sayings throughout the fence. The quilting on this one is out of this world!!  I just can't say enough about this quilt:

I absolutely am crazy about tropical colors and if I could have, this quilt would have gone home with me!!  The name of this quilt is "Tropical Delight" and this is a Quilt in a Day quilt by Eleanor Burns from "Day & Night":

This quilt is called "Cactus Rose" and is a. Judy Niemeyer pattern. I love the colors and the overall crisp design:

This one is called Caribbean Sky" and is a Judy Niemeyer pattern. It looks way to hard for me but I can absolutely appreciate the amount of work that went into it. Another one I'd bring home if I could :-) :

Another ribbon winner!  This one is called "Summer Solstice" and is a paper pieced pattern by Judy Niemeyer (boy her patterns are popular lol). I love the masculine feel to this one:

Another winner!  This one is called "Glacier Star" and is, yes, another paper piecing quilt pattern by Judy Niemeyer.   Again outside of my ability but a gorgeous quilt nonetheless:

Ok so I'm noticing a trend with the Judy Niemeyer patterns; I swear I didn't notice that until I started posting the pics lol. I was just taking pictures of the ones I liked. 

Anyway I have a ton more quilt pictures to share but unfortunately it's time to get to work :-( 

So....what are your favorite ones so far?  Reply in the comments and share your thoughts :-)

Enjoy your day!

Vanessa

Crazy times in Florida

Boy, its been a crazy past few days!!!  Quilt show this Thursday then Friday/Saturday a BBQ competition, followed by lots of sleep and craziness when I went back to work!!  Where do I even start???

Thursday was the Jacksonville Quilt Show and it was pretty fun.  I was there about 5 hours, looking at quilts and of course, all the products for sale.  I will post pictures of some of my favorite quilts and talk more about the quilt show in the next few posts.

Friday and Saturday was the BBQ cookoff finale - we felt we had our best cook yet.  We ended up coming in 4th overall, and was barely 2 points from 3rd place.  Not bad at all!!!  We are taking a break from BBQ for awhile; besides we are getting a new smoker made so even if we wanted to cook we can't right now. 

So we will be going "pro" and will start entering pro competitions, probably after the holidays.  More to come on that.....

Work.....ah, work.  The ultimate in crazy......either I'm swamped or have nothing going on.  I have just started the "I'm Swamped" cycle which will last for the forseeable future.  Oh well, at least I have a job, for which I am thankful :)

Hope you're week has been good so far!
Vanessa

Migraine Monday

Oh yeah gotta love migraines :(

I've had them most of my entire adult life.  As with most migraine sufferers, caffeine can play a big part in getting them and its really an allergic reaction.  So I'm allergic to caffeine.  Which includes tea (I drink decaf), coffee (don't drink it really unless its decaf, iced and is mostly skim milk with some sugar), most soft drinks (Coke, Pepsi, etc. which I don't drink anymore) and of course, chocolate.  *Gasp* Yes you read that correctly - chocolate.  I rarely eat it anymore since it gives me an instant migraine, but if i get a craving that I can't control I have to take one of my migraine pills first.  Otherwise I'll be down for a good day, which is never good.

Anyway, didn't mean to give you a migraine lesson.  Sometimes you get them from stress or just because.  Last night around 2 am, I woke up to a "just because" migraine.  Right behind my left eye, no less.  And if you've never had one, consider yourself lucky.  Pardon my french, but they are a bitch.  I've been hurting all day and sometimes even my prescription isn't enough to take care of it.  At that point, all I can do is lay in a quiet, dark room and try to sleep it off. 

Luckily today my pills took most of the edge off.  My neck and shoulders are stiff (a lovely side effect) but I'm feeling a little better at least.

Otherwise I entered a fabric giveaway a couple weeks ago and won!  Look at my goodie:

 

 

I've never used hexagons before so I'm going to scour the web for a pattern.  I received this from the A Stitch in Dye blog - so thank you very much!  I've never won fabric before this this was pretty cool! 

 

I'm surprised that it even made it to me - check out the packaging it came in:

 



If I'm feeling better later, I may work on the wrap for the food boxes for our BBQ turn in boxes (aka Casserole Carrier).  Here's the fabric I'm using (appropriate don't ya think?):

I'll post pictures when I'm done.

How was your Monday??
Vanessa

Sewing Sunday

Ah yes the woman is on a mission.  A sewing mission, that is.....

I spent the day working on sewing up items for my craft shows in November.  If I wasn't sewing, I was cutting up fabric. Aren't you amazed at how nice and neat I am?  I amaze even myself sometimes ;-)

I cut up at least 4 packages of Wrap-N-Zap batting and had a bunch of leftovers, so as any good quilter knows, I decided to just zig-zag the leftover pieces together so I can have bigger pieces to cut out.  Thrifty, no?

 

 

I was able to get quite a bit done, actually.  I have quite a few things on my list that I want to make before November, so I'm actually starting to feel like I'm getting somewhere.  I also had some of my inventory that I left in Minnesota sent to me; I received it on Saturday so that'll definitely be helpful. 

 

Besides my sewing bonanza today, I also managed to make my Beef Stroganoff for dinner (sorry I was already digging in when I realized I forgot to take a picture first (oops):

 

 

 

This is a really easy crockpot recipe, perfect comfort food.  I normally make a double batch and have it again the next day.  Here's the recipe:

 

BEEF STROGANOFF



1 pound stew meat

1 can cream of mushroom soup (or golden mushroom soup)

1/2 chopped onion (optional)

1 package fresh mushrooms (I use the bigger size container but I love mushrooms)

1/4 cup red wine (cooking or otherwise)

2 Tablespoons of Worcestershire

1/4 cup of water

1/2 block cream cheese

Pepper to taste

Cooked egg noodles

 

Mix everything except the cream cheese and pepper into a crockpot; cook on low for 4-5 hours or high 2-3 hours.  When the meat falls apart, its done. 

 

Chunk up the cream cheese and stir into stroganoff just before serving, allowing to melt completely.  Add pepper as desired.  Pour over cooked egg noodles.

 

If you make this recipe, let me know what you think!

Vanessa :)

 

 



Time's A-Wastin'

Yes time *is* a-wasting!! 

I'm confirmed for one craft show on November 15th and am applying for a 2-day show for the following weekend.  Nice huh?  Another one that I applied to I never heard back from; I was going to contact them until I realized it was for next weekend (October 4th) and there is NO WAY I'll be ready in time.  So I'm gonna skip that one and look for a different one.

So I've started working on my items and I already feel like I'm way behind.  On top of that, I need to make 3 casserole carriers before next weekend.  I started on one and thought, oh I can just freehand quilt it instead of doing straight lines.  Well my optimism got the best of me, and let's just say I've been ripping out stitches for the past two days :(  I won't even bother to embarass myself with a picture of it; yes its that bad.  Oh well live and learn.  But I promised to post pics of the finished product when I'm done!

Also in the mix of the craft show craziness, we are also practicing for the Grand Finale BBQ Cookoff next weekend (September 26th-27th).  Here is a picture of a whole brisket fresh out of the smoker:

 

And here it is all sliced and ready for dinner LOL And yes, someone has already noticed the lack of vegetables on my plate.  In my defense I was planning on having fresh cut fruit for dessert, but ended up crashing not too long after eating dinner.  Smoking BBQ all day in the hot sun is hard work, folks.  LOL  Mmmm look at that smoke ring!

 

 

And here's the ribs.  We cooked them a little too long so they started pulling off the bones.  We've noticed a definite decrease in size in ribs so we are going to need to plan accordingly.  But they turned out very good so I'm not gonna complain.

Sounds like we are going to practice again this weekend.  I'm thinking that after the Grand Finale we are going to take a little break from BBQ-ing.  I least I sure hope we do, because I think I need a break from BBQ in general.  Which is funny because I really do love BBQ but like anything else, too much of a good thing and all that.....

So tonight will be ripping out more stitches (yay) and just keep plugging away at my craft show inventory.

Hope you're having a great week!
Vanessa

Back Home - What a Week!

Wow - this past week has been a lot of fun - busy and a blur all at the same time!

So to catch up - as you know I was on vacation at Disney World.  After Space Mountain we spent the rest of the day/evening enjoying Disney.  Here are some more pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Under the Sea ride

Big Thunder Mountain:

Cinderella Castle:

Parade:

 

Epcot at night

 

So the day after Disney it was my birthday!  Woo hoo!  Unfortunately it rained pretty hard off and on all day, so didn't do a whole lot.  Ran some errands, tried to pick up the smoker (wasn't ready yet), puttered around some more then went to Clarks Fish Camp for dinner.  I went there last year and had a lot of fun - its a seafood place on the river but the entire inside is decorated with stuffed animals.  No, not the cute Care Bear type.  I'm talking Lions, Tigers, and Bears.....OH MY!  LOL Check out the link if you're curious.  Nothing like eating dinner and having tons of eyes staring at you HAHAHA

 

Had a couple more days off from work, so as always went running errands, picked up the smoker (it was in the shop because a warming box was being added to it), and just tried to get geared up to go back to work. Yay. 

 

Otherwise, we have another BBQ competition this coming weekend - Chicken, Ribs and Pork Butt.  Its gonna be hot and rainy all weekend so not looking forward to that part but it will be fun to see all the familiar faces at the contest again, and catch up with them since we didn't have a competition in June.

Next up - the Jacksonville Quilt Show is coming in September!  WOO HOO!!  I plan on saving my pennies so that I can snag all sorts of great deals!  I went last year for the first time and although I missed not having my friends Amy and Kathy there, I still had fun.  This years theme is "Its Not All Black and White" - sound interesting!!!  There will definitely be a TON of pictures when I go, trust me :)

Finally.....I found another pattern that I have put on my "To Do" list - its a Debbie Mumm project called "By The Sea Wallhanging".  Go check it out - isn't it adorable???

How has your week been?
Vanessa

Throwback Thursday!

So for today's Throwback Thursday, here is a picture of my very first quilt ever:

 

I had SO much fun with my friend Kathy shopping for these fabrics; we went to Mill End (sadly, they've since closed the store) and had an absolute ball!!  Looking at it now, I can see that I had absolutely NO idea what I was doing as far as colors, placement, etc. (its a bit busy for my taste)  But hey, for a first time quilt its really not all that bad.  Not really.  I guess.  LOL  Best part of the class was my instructor, and now great friend, Amy, made the class so much fun!!  I still have the pattern and one day I plan on remaking it with a more pleasing (to me) color palette.  Maybe more solids and fewer prints next time.  Or batiks.....you know I'm crazy about batiks :-)

Speaking of batiks - look at this cute free pattern I found online at All People Quilt:

Its called "Splashes of Color"; just click on the name to bring you to the free pattern.  This one is definitely going on my "to do" list!!!  It would also be cute with some sort of fussy cut print for the center square and solids (or polka dots even) on the outside.

I'll be heading down to Orlando tomorrow for a nice long weekend of fun and relaxation.  I think we may hit a theme park or two, but there will definitely be some shopping involved!!  Pictures will taken and an full recap of the trip will be forthcoming!

What are your plans this weekend?  And what do you think of the Splashes of Color quilt?

Vanessa :)

All is quiet on the homefront.....

It's been pretty quiet the past couple of days - which is a nice change since I'm always going, going, going!  Had a nasty migraine starting on Sunday and am just finally starting to feel normal again (well, as normal as I'm ever going to get hahaha)

I've been looking around for a new project to start and during my browsing around I found this pattern:  Dog Daze & Feline Frenzy by Fons and Porter.  Click on the link to see it - it is adorable and is definitely going on my every growing 'to do' list!!

Now that we are already in mid-June I'm already starting to think ahead for Christmas.  After not making any for two years I'm thinking I may make some microwave bowl holders for my aunt, sister-in-law and a few others (as well as myself cuz I don't even have any for me!!)  I already know my friend Amy is screaming "Noooooooo" - we made these a couple of years ago for craft shows and I swear that we made 600+ between the two of us LOL    And my friend Kathy made several as well and were a big hit so she knows what I'm talking about - ha!!  But seriously, as long as you aren't killing yourself making a billion at once, they are a lot of fun and are pretty quick.  Once I get fabric picked out and all that, I'll post a tutorial (and pics)!!

Any other idea for Christmas presents?  If so leave a comment.....cuz I'm drawing a blank for some reason!

It also seems I'm running low on my microwave heating/ice pack bags so will need to make some more.  I think I've only sold maybe 10 or so, but then again I haven't really tried that hard either LOL  I did have someone ask for a Pittsburgh Steelers one so I'll just go ahead and make some more since I have a bunch of fabric for them already.  I'll make sure and take pics and post them when I'm done.

Otherwise......the only other news I have is that I've been working out:

 

 

Which totally sums it up, my opinion ;-)  Actually though, my work has a fitness center and they only charge $10/month for employees to use.  I figured "why not" - and my body has been screaming at me ever since.  Literately screaming lol  I'm trying to go 3 times a week and when I do, I use the elliptical maching for 20 minutes.  I started last Monday and after my workout on Tuesday my right calf had enough; it was cramping and really tight.  Didn't work out on Wednesday and was eating bananas like they were going out of style (for the potassium).  Between that, using my microwave bag and massaging it, I felt well enough to go back on Thursday.  Already went once this week and have 2 more times to go.  I'm trying to ease back into it since its been awhile since I've been exercising, but I can already tell you I feel a lot better.  Not that I'm going to be fanatical about it or anything....

 

Anyway - hope you're having a wonderful week!!

Vanessa

Thursday Show and Tell

Everyone always say Monday's are awful, but for me they usually fly by.  My worst day of the week is always Thursday - why?  It seems to just dragggggg all day long, even if I'm super busy at work.  Go figure.....

So as I was looking at the pictures on my phone (looking to delete to make some more room) I came across my favorite quilt I've made to date:

I made this a good 3-4 years ago and I love it as much today as I did when I took this photo.  I can see all sorts of things I did wrong - such as placement of some of the squares next to ones that had the same material - but I don't really care lol  This quilt is a queen size and the best part is that I bought all the fabrics on sale from a discount warehouse (Mill End Textiles, if you're curious).  I wanted something with animal prints and I ended up with this.

The whole top probably cost me $40 to make (including thread!!) and I loved the black textured/marbled fabric so much I bought the entire bolt (which was good because they were out of that black for at least another 6 months lol).  I do still need to get it quilted and bind it, but unfortunately its packed away with most of my other fabrics in Minnesota.  But it will come home to Florida with me when I got back with a UHaul and get the rest of my things.

So what was your favorite quilt that you've ever made, and why??

Late Night Sewing

Happy Friday bloggers!!!

In anticipation of the BBQ cookoff this weekend and the fact they are letting us sell items/food tonight, we made up about 57 or so of these microwave heating/ice packs to sell.  After some trial and error (we discovered it was MUCH easier to sew the sides when they weren't filled up LOL) it only took us about 2.5-3 hours to make them.  Not including cutting time of course (that was another 1.5-2 hours on Sunday).

 

 

A full report will be given, both on (hopefully) sales of the bags and the BBQ cook-off, at some point this weekend (depending on how tired I am LOL).  Wish us luck and in the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Vanessa

Getting Ready for BBQ!

On Sunday we did a practice round of ribs in preparation of the cookoff this weekend - they turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.  I didn't take any pictures of the practice ribs, but there will be plenty of pics from the cookoff this weekend :) 

In other news, I've been trying to decide what my next quilting project is going to be, and have decided to go ahead and *finally* make myself a king-sized quilt, using a pattern I bought last year and just fell in love with:

My LQS had a display of this pattern on the wall using batiks and I fell instantly in love with it!!!

 

 

 

As I might have mentioned before, I'm a *huge* batik fan and this just screamed "BUY ME"!  So I spent the better part of a year looking for the perfect batiks - I wanted to do mine in "beachy" colors - turquoises, tans, light blues, light greens, etc.  For a king sized bed you need something like 30-32 fat quarters, which doesn't sound bad until you have to start looking for the perfect ones :-/  On top of that, I want to make a matching valance for my bedroom window so I needed extra material for that.

 

It was a long, hard search - because as I'm buying FQ and then start laying them next to each other I was finding that some were too dark, some too light, some not the correct shade, etc.  Oh no......this requires me to go back out and buy more fabric.  Oh darn.  Whatever will I do? 

 

Now that I have the fabrics finally picked out, I can finally start cutting them into the pieces.  I'll post pictures of my progress :)

 

Hope you are having a wonderful day!!

Vanessa

 

 

Florida Breeze Shop Hop

So a couple weeks ago I attended the Florida Breeze Shop Hop (or part of it anyway).  For background information - I'm used to attending the Shop Hops up in Minnesota (Twin Cities).  Its a 2 day Shop Hop; you can sign up to ride on a Greyhound bus and they take you to 6-8 shops each day and lunch is included.  I went with friends and we made a weekend out of it; lots and lots of fun. We received a free 5" square from that years selected fabric line and at the end some free quick patterns that you can use for the squares.  As with other shop hops you got a stamp for visiting that shop and at the end were entered to win various local and state prizes.

This was a bit different - there were only 6 shops included and you had to drive yourself (which was fine).  What I *really* loved about hop is that when you visited each shop you were handed a little baggie with some fabric and a template, and if you got all 6 they could be turned into a wall kit.  The stores also had the backing & binding kit along with the instructions on how to finish the quilt. 

Here is this years wall quilt - isn't it adorable?:

 

 

I absolutely *love* anything beach/tropical/ocean related to this is right up my alley big time! 

 

How has your day been?

Vanessa

 



TUTORIAL: Envelope Pillow Covers

I love making Envelope Pillow Covers - its a fast, easy project and allows you to change the look of the room in a very short time! I like change the covers for the seasons or holidays, so the possibilities are endless. Not to mention I get my "instant gratification" fix when I whip one of these babies up!! Plus they make great gifts as well. And they are great to cover up those 'ugly' pillows too lol

So here is my tutorial on how I make an envelope cover for a pillow. If you do a search online you'll find *tons* of tutorials on how to do this, but this is just my version.

Here's what you'll need for a 16" x 16" pillow:

• Front piece for the pillow, sized 17" x 17"
• 2 backing pieces in the following sizes:
  • 17" x 26"
  • 17" x 18"
• 16" x 16" pillow form
• Thread and sewing machine
• Rotary cutter, mat and ruler
• Sewing pins
• Ironing board and iron

Prior to sewing, make sure your fabric has been ironed thoroughly; it will make it easier to put together and will lay nicer when sewing.

Here's my front piece:

Here's my pillow form; this was purchased at Joann's. You can buy new pillow forms at any craft store, or you can just use a pillow you already own.

Backing fabric, before I cut and ironed them LOL I didn't take a picture but for the backing pieces you fold them in half and iron them, making sure the crease is nice and sharp. After ironing, your backing pieces should measure 17" x 13" and 17" x 9".

 

 Lay your pillow front right side up. Lay the larger backing piece down on top of the pillow front, crease in the middle and the raw edges on the edges of the pillow front.

 

Lay the smaller of the two backing pieces down, again with the crease in the middle and the raw edges on the edges of the pillow front. Pin together.

 

Sew 1/4" around the edges of the pillow with a straight stitch, going over the overlapped center pieces several times to strengthen the area, since it will constantly be pulled on when adding or removing the pillow form. I usually go over it about 4 times back and forth. When done, do a zig-zag stitch on the edge of the straight stitch. This will help keep the fabric from unraveling and ruining your pillow cover.

 

 

When finished sewing, clip the corners, turn inside out then stuff the pillow into the case. Viola!! 

 

A back view of the pillow:

 

 

Some follow up notes:

• I like having my pillow backs with the double-layer of fabric. To me it adds a little more body to the pillow. If you'd rather only use one layer, most tutorials out there will show how to do that (simply iron a fold on to make a finished edge and sew it up)
• I also like having my backing pieces with a good sized overlap, so that the pillow inside doesn't show through
• The measurements I used above are just what I came up with and liked. If you'd prefer a more snug fit on your pillow, reduce the pillow front size by half an inch as well as the backing pieces
• You can make this cover for any pillow size, really. Just requires some math. Simply add an inch to each side of the pillow form for the front piece (or only 1/2" if you prefer a more snug fit). For the backing pieces, I want the small piece to be an inch past the center of the pillow and the larger piece to be 3 inches past the center. I'll sit down soon and write out the dimensions of the more popular sized form pillows sold in stores to make it easier for you.

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial!! If you have any questions leave a comment and I'll get back to you. And if you end up using this tutorial I would LOVE to see your creations!!!

Take care - Vanessa