Mom Stuff

I have to admit, I really am not all that thrilled with the empty nest I have most of the year. My daughter, age 23, lives a little more than an hour away, where she is simultaneously attending school for her Master's Degree while working for Target (not the store) as a "Community Living Manager" in a group home where she is the full-time caregiver for 3 mentally retarded adult women. We talk daily, several times a day. She comes home to hang out and spend the weekend when her schedule allows. I miss her alot, but I've adjusted to her living "on her own".

My son, age 21, is a junior at George Mason University where he is an Art major. He has been living on campus during the past two school years. He is also on staff at Reston Bible Church where he is the "Music and Arts Assistant" and also the electric guitar player for their worship band. I have to admit, I have been eagerly looking forward to having him home for the summer....and as it turns out, he's not exactly going to be home. He has an opportunity to move into a house with 3 musician buddies, all of whom are recent college graduates, right in Reston. This puts him incredibly close to his job, very close to his college (and he's taking two classes over the summer which would have involved commuting 4 days a week from ALOT further if he were at home); AND the rent for a year is less than the cost of 9 months of campus living. It's a great opportunity, a smart move considering the cost of gas, and I'm still a little disappointed and just a bit sad that he won't be home for the summer.

Shabby Stars

This week I jumped in and started following the Star Sew Along that Crazy Mom Quilts is hosting on her blog. Since I am playing "catch up" on this one, I have just been making the blocks in no particular order. I have one left to do, I believe it's number 5. I love, love, love the subdued colors that Crazy Mom Quilts used in some of her sample blocks, so decided to make my stars in what I'm calling "shabby chic" florals....very different from my normal Civil War /Thimbleberries/Kansas Troubles prints. I have a pale yellow spare bedroom that I would like to put this quilt in. I have made alot of bed quilts, but none of the colors that I typically work with look good in this pale yellow room. I'm finding that I'm more and more willing to step out of my comfort zone and start working with different colors and styles...it's kind of refreshing. I have been cruising all the internet quilt shops this week looking for these shabby chic florals, which I have never even glanced at in the past. I'm trying to find the "perfect" floral fabric, with a nice mix of pink andyellow, for the setting blocks. Here are my stars so far:

What's Next?

Like most quilters, I usually have several projects going at the same time, and I am always dreaming about that next project I want to start....now that I have finished my Orange Crush mystery quilt I find myself kind of floundering around trying to decide what to work on next. I could work on this....because I only have two blocks left to applique. But that's a hand sewing project and won't satisfy my need to sit at the sewing machine; and if I finish these two blocks I will have to decide on a setting for them and I just don't know what I want to do with them yet.



OR...I have been looking at this project for a week or so, because I do love to follow along on internet projects. I think these blocks are really gorgeous. Making these blocks in a pastel color scheme really appeals to me... my quilts typically tend to have very definite light and dark color schemes.  Is anybody else working on the Star "quilt along" by Crazy Mom Quilts?

Or, I recently purchased the pattern and fabrics to make this wallhanging; I have never worked with Oriental fabrics so this could be fun and challenging...

Decisions, decisions....

Weekend Update

On Friday I attended the local QU quilt show with my 23 yo DD, and she was sweet enough to take some pictures of me with my quilts that were hanging in the show.  This is my friend Karen, with one of her quilts.  Isn't it fantastic?  All the little points on those feathered stars are actually 3-dimensional prairie points!

 Her style is so different from mine; I love the scrappy, old-fashioned, civil war type prints, and Karen is all florals.  Here is a picture of the quilt that she designed, and that I pieced.  It is called "Star Flower".  It is very, very different from my usual colors, but I had a blast working on something so different from my "norm". 

It was so hot outside this weekend, that other than a few yard sales on Saturday morning and some weeding after that, I stayed indoors!  I was lucky enough to have lots of quality sewing time this weekend, and I have finished my Orange Crush Mystery Quilt, and it is huge!  I popped it onto my queen size bed to see how it fit, and I have fallen in love with this quilt in our bedroom...what do you think? The colors in my quilt are very muted, and as I was making it I didn't realize that it would be such a good match for my bedroom.  So....I believe this one will be a "keeper"! 

Orange Crush: Mystery Solved!

I had a day off from work today to go to my local Quilters Unlimited Quilt Show.  Don't you love the way a quilt show can motivate you to just come home and SEW?????  Lucky for me, I had a project ready and waiting to be put together....the last step of the Quiltville "Orange Crush" Mystery....and here it is!  (Minus the out pieced borders, which I hope to get done tomorrow!)

Quilters Unlimited Quilt Show This Weekend

This weekend (Fri., Sat., and Sun.) is the 35th Annual Quilters Unlimited (QU) Quilt Show in Northern Virginia.  This will officially be my first time ever having quilts in a show!  This is a non-juried show, but will have a record setting 600 quilts on display.  I am excited to be participating!  I will have three quilts showing.  The first is a queen size quilt called "Starflower" which was designed by my friend Karen Sievert, pieced by me, and machine quilted by Karen.

The second quilt that is going to be in the show is a design by Pat Sloan, called "Katie's Tulips".  This wall hanging is the result of a Pat Sloan workshop that I attended in the fall.   This quilt was machine quilted by me on Karen Sieverts gammill and is my first attempt ever at echo-quilting.

 

The  third quilt that I am showing is a design by Sherri Hisey from Border Creek Station Pattern Company, called "The Road to a Friend's House is Never Far".  This particular quilt is not yet one of her published patterns, but I'm sure it will be eventually.  It was originally published as a mystery, and my version of the quilt was made in my role as "pattern tester".  This one is machine quilted by me on my D-A-Q shortarm machine.

I am wondering if it will feel strange to go to a quilt show and actually see something of my own hanging...and is it acceptable to sneak and eavesdrop just a teeny bit if there are other quilters looking at them when I am in the area????

Weekend Update

My Quilt for an Hour quilt top is complete.  This was such a fun project, and I am really grateful that Judy Laquidara shared it with us all.  I really liked the way that the sashing was added, it is a unique setting.  I am looking forward to her next Quilt for an Hour project!  

I am sorry to see the weekend end, as it is back to work tomorrow...