Sweet Surprise

Before I left on vacation, I received notification that my MQX winning quilt was going to be part of a feature article in the September issue of The Quilter Magazine. But today, my Machine Quilting Unlimited arrived. I was flipping through it while my boys were visiting the dentist.
Much to my complete surprise, I found this!!..pictures of MQX quilt Summer on the Beach. It is all set to be delivered to the Maine Quilt Show this weekend (show in 2 weeks). It is so amazing and humbling where this quilt has gone, considering I quilted it after having my longarm only 3-4 months! It's been a very surreal journey-

Selecting Partners for a Swap Hostess

Being a swap hostess is a grueling job. I have to try my best to assign partners for people based on their likes, preferences and abilities. I get to deal with the grumbles when a quilt is not really liked or is not made exceptionally well. I get to notify people that their partner is way behind schedule. We have the occasional quilt get lost in the mail, sadly. And then there are those who opt to flake out completely. Fortunately, there has only been one case of this in the last year. Hosting six swaps of over 300 people has kept me busy for certain.

Being hostess, however, also affords me many luxuries that the common swapper does not have. I am able to know ahead of time what each person's quilt is, as it is made. I love to see the progressions, and to be able to think to myself, "she's really going to love what so and so is making for her". Of course it works that way for me too (althought I try my darndest not to peek!). I do have that dubious honor of being able to select a person that I will make a quilt for. That notion seems simple enough, until you realize that I am the hostess, and anybody that receives my quilt NEEDS to like it! I wouldn't get good repeat swappers if I made ridiculously ugly quilts?? So how do I select partners for myself?....

It is an interesting dilemma.

Last fall, I selected Linda for my partner. I have to admit, I did not put a ton of thought into the decision. It was my first session with the swap, and I had no history with any swappers. She seemed very nice from her blog, and seemed like they type person that was kind and somewhat accepting of all people. I made her this. It is not my favorite quilt that I have ever done, but it is nicely made, hand quilted & appliqued, and depicts fall.

In the winter, I chose Luisa as my partner. After receiving her lovely fall leaves quilt, which remains amongst my favorite quilts, I knew I wanted to make something for her. I was testing out this star pattern for a quilt for myself. The one I made Luisa is hand quilted with a snowflake (even if that is not apparent frfom the picture). Luisa is a gorgeous and thoughtful quilter. I just adore looking at her work and always look forward to seeing what she is making. She has been in all four of the 4-Seasons swaps as well as the two Round Robins. I am glad I got the opportunity to make something just for her.

In the spring, I made this springy tree quilt for Tami. She is another person that uses fabric to create amazingly lovely things. Besides being a great quilter, she makes dolls. Tami was not going to do the spring swap, but I assured her I would partner with someone that would make something nice. Oh Geez!!... Now I had to deliver on that promise :-) So in the end, I decided to make her quilt myself. I had wanted to do more applique, and actually found all of the hand work enjoyable to do. Her quilt is nearly 99% hand made...hand appliqued, embroidered and hand quilted. Oddly though, as much as I love it, it was not that hard to give away, as I know it is in a good home.

This summer, the last season of the swap, I really did not know at first who I was going to make a quilt for. I just let the sign-ups come in, hoping I would find inspiration in somebody. That is exactly what happened. These words caught my eye, "colors that evoke the ocean... blues and greens". The ocean, I thought. Wow, what a great summer idea. Here I was contemplating things like flowers, kites, watering cans, ice cream cones and lady bugs. I nearly forgot the most wonderful thing I have where I live, the ocean. So this, I decided, was going to be my partner. Now I just needed to figure out how I was going to make this quilt. I vaguely remember her also making a comment about liking the "beach cottage" feeling for summer, so I set out to find "beach cottage" fabrics (oddly, the only one of these I used on the quilt was the blue stripe for the binding!). This quilt, as many of you know, got completed early and then I decided I would keep it myself. It reminded me too much of my home to send it away to live in of all places land-locked Indiana (I say this joyfully!)! The coast of Maine is gorgeous and is much more rocky than I chose to depict in the quilt. I quickly set out to make another beachy quilt for my partner. It is very similar to the beach landscape I made first. In the end, I decided I would stick to my guns and give her the one I made initially, as this really was made with her in mind. To solidify this decision, I attached the label to the quilt's back. I then showed the teaser on my blog where I asked people to help me decide which one to send.

During this quilt's construction, I happened to stumble upon a posting for about.com's Doll Quilt Swap III, hosted by Ginger. She was so gracious as to let me in a day after the swap sign ups had closed. On top of that, she (of all people) made my quilt for the swap!! It is incredibly sweet and looks amazing in my daughter Sophie's room. I researched her blog some and learned that she also has a daughter Sophie, who is approaching age two too! I also learned that they vacationed in Hawaii last year, and do in fact love the ocean (very reassuring). Upon receiving her quilt, I had to chuckle, knowing I had one last secret, which would be revealed when she received her summer quilt. I just got word today that it is safely in it's new Indiana home. Happy Summer, Ginger! It was a joy to make, and I have one in my home too!

Back With Batteries

OK, now that the battery-hog camera is fed, I can show pictures of what my mail lady brought me while I was off at the beach today. Despite having two rather unpleasant recent swaps, I decided to torture myself one more time (I actually did not know about the other two when I signed onto this swap). It was an About.Forums swap hosted by Ginger, who is truly a wonderful host. She's attentive and was immensely accommodating since I unknowingly sent her my swap info a day after the swap actually closed!


So while I was off at the beach with my 3 little wild things (getting a different form of torture!), this arrived. The colors are not entirely true, but it is genuinely lovely. It's old-fashioned and traditional. And totally summery. The fabrics are lovely Moda's and blues from Bleaker Street (one from this teal line which I have but have yet to decide what to make with!). She has hand quilted it too, which everyone knows gives me a real warm fuzzy. People that machine quilt nicely are everywhere, but to hand quilt takes time and patience. It's becoming a lost art.

Many thanks, Ginger, this was a treat to receive. You've rejuvenated my swapping faith again :-)

And onto another topic...My summer swap quilt for the Four Seasons Quilt Swap...
So I posted last week that I had decided to keep the summer beach quilt that I did (on the right below). I was a bit frustrated and defeated about this decision because I felt pretty good about actually having my quilt finished a month early. I redesigned another in most of the same fabrics, same beachy icons. I even bound it in the same blue stripe because it reminds me of awnings or umbrellas. I think I know which one is staying and which is going, but I thought I'd ask the gallery. Give me your comments...It has a long way to go, so I will likely mail it next week.

(BTW...those ugly feet get to stay)I did a "McTavishing" effect along the edge. It kind of gives the effect of waves (if you squint your eyes it does).
This one has 2 umbrellas rather than just one. And no adirondak chair as that was a lot of time, and I am uncertain if it has enough value added for the effort. I did love the lobster traps though so the second quilt has four. They really are very "Maine", as we are known for our lobsters.
And lastly a couple shots of the back. The fabrics are very simple, but they show the quilting. I strive to be one of those machine quilters that have backs that look as good as the fronts. I know I am not there yet (especially since much of this was quilting was done before I discovered the ton of gunk under the bobbin cover).

Next time I will post about a couple of Project Linus tops I have assembled and another source of migraines...Anne's Mariner's compass for Kate's birthday block swap :-) ...grumble, grumble...

In the Midst of Safe Harbors Now

Thanks to all for the great comments and suggestions about what to do about my beach chair. In the end, I have added a towel and beach bag to cover up the place where the background showed through. I also got my mojo this morning and have added some other goodies to the scene - a light house and two sailboats. It is looking most quaint right now. I am going to do my best to hold off on pictures for a while so that suspense can build (he he). I am currently auditioning borders. This does not typically frustrate me so much, but I want the piece not to drown in blues, but also want it to look summery & beachy. I should have it ready for machine quilting by early next week. I have a couple more things I plan to add to the beach scene, but you'll have to just guess what they are for now.

I finished off the binding on my 3rd Project Linus top (for the week). This sadly only makes five for the year, but it is a great start to clearing out my finished flimsies. I currently have two more tops unsandwiched, one that is nearly ready for the binding (I tied it yesterday and am adding a little hand quilting for added reinforcement). I also pieced a package of flannel 3" x 6" bricks together into a top over the weekend. I picked them up at a recent Linus blanket event that I went to. I have officially used all of the nasty poly bat that I had in my sewing stash (YEA!!).
Other updates...
My quilt for Ginger's swap is coming along. I have one more evening of hand quilting and it will be ready for a binding & label. It's due out by the end of the month.

I have also signed on for Toni's Miniature Booty swap again (yea...remind me why I need to make another quilt??! ). It looks like there's a great bunch of ladies signed up.

I am also making a couple of little goodies for my nieces. My mom is flying to visit them in 12 days. In January, they moved to Italy.

I need to get another couple of my heart blocks done too this week.

Past the Point of No Return

In the words of one of my favorite old songs... I may be past the point of no return on this mini. I was so delighted with myself that I sketched out a good adirondak chair in my Scrapbooking software, that I didn't completely think through the application of said chair. UGGH. I knew when I fused down the chair, that I didn't have much I could do if it didn't come out right. Now I need your help!

I really need better lighting. I just noticed the damn yellow pen I used for marking. Permanent of course. That I may be able to cut off. But what is bothering me is that I can see the dark brown that is supposed to be a shadow showing underneath the white of the chair. Options...1) Pull up chair completely and carefully snip brown so there isn't any under it (I still worry that the other backgrounds will show thru too), 2) hand color the chair a color with permanent fabric pens (and if so, what color??), 3) Ditch it, 4) ignore it and hope my partner is more tollerant than I am?

Help!!!

More Blue Hearts & Weekly Dreams...

Here are 18" heart blocks #7, 8 and 9 to go along with the first six already finished. Only three more to do (I think!). I got another package of more pretty scrap blues late last week from Solidia. Many thanks - they will be put to good use! Once I get the last three finished, I will add the scrappy yellow borders to the blocks. At that point I will need to rethink the design a little, as I'm not sure what will happen on the part of the quilt that drops down on the sides of the mattress. The hearts are only on the top of the bed. I have a couple of nice asian-ish blue prints in decent yardage that may encompass a wide border though.

Other quilty projects going on...

~I am hand quilting my piece shown in the last posting for Ginger's swap. It turned out cute, but the blocks have a lot of bias and I hope that there will be enough to hold them smooth. At this point I waffle between continuing and believing all will look fine and ripping out the quilting threads and rebasting the top. Neither option leave me feeling 100% confident!

~I am gearing up for Kate's About.com birthday block swap which is set to start in a couple weeks. I have signed up for 2 groups which means I have to make 3 blocks a month. I am trying to clear several of the other projects I have so I can jump right into that. In the advanced group, I will be receiving a dozen 8" New York Beauty blocks. Maybe I will also make a few. They will be in purple, red and orange batiks. In the other group, I will receive 24 of the Broken Heart blocks (from http://www.quilterscache.com/) in 1930's prints. I am excited to see what blocks the others will be requesting that I will have to make. I just wonder how long I will have to wait until it is "my birthday"??

~Thelast stages of the Spring Fling Round Robin are winding down. 6-8 of the 24 quilts have been finished & mailed. They are so lovely - go have a look (though most of my readers are probably in that swap!). This is such a tremendously talented group of quilters and it has been a fun honor to work with them. I will undoubtedly run another round robin once all quilts are at their end-destinations. Look for a posting sometime next month. This has been a sticking point with me lately, as I learned that one of the other popular swaps started up another session recently with over 15% of their members STILL not having a quilt in their hand. I just don't think that is a very courteous way to run a swap.

~The Miniature Booty swap has ended and I am anxious to see what is coming my way there. Despite my partner announcing accidentally that she is my partner early in the swap, there has been no action on her blog to indicate what she is making. So I wait anxiously...

~I will get back to my 4SQS beach quilt very soon. I've been busy designing this with my scrapbook software so I can add it (somehow!).

Summer 4SQS Sneak Peek

Nothing says summer to me more than white sands and turquoise waves. I hope my partner likes the beach too. Amidst sending out all of the summer swap partners, I started on my piece this week. It is a simple beach scene with sand, sea, sky, and a few other key elements. I am currently contemplating adding a sailboat and an adirondak chair (ie, like the beaches of Long Island have). Time to do a web search.

Here's just a teensy-little looksee...

I have decided to use this swap as a time to try raw (fused) edge applique. My summer quilt uses that technique. And it is amazing the amount of detail that can be added.