Houston - here we come!!!!!!

I just received notification that both Grandma's Hexagarden and The Generations Unite have been selected as finalists to be exhibited at the 2009 International Quilt Festival/Houston in the annual IQA fall Judged Show, Quilts: A World of Beauty. The quilts need to be in Hoston by Aug. 5 (I guess they will get to enjoy the REALLY HOT months in Texas). Tom and I are planning on flying to Houston on Oct. 12. This way we will have a some time to play around before the show starts. We have booked rooms at the Hotel that is connected to the convention center. Needless to say I am pretty excited!!!!!!

Here are the pictures that I sent to IQA for the jury process:

Grandma's Hexagarden

(Detail)

The Generation's Unite

(White side - aka The Front)

(Detail: White side - aka The Front)

(Green side - aka The Back)
Emily and I were talking and she suggested (to which I had already thought of, but didn't know if I was up to making more of the folded hexagons) that I should add a group of the three folded hexagons on each side of the quilt.

What do you think?

(Detail: Green side - aka The Back)

When I sent my submission to IQA I did book some rooms at a Hotel that is about 1 mile away from the convetnion center. After receiving notice that my quilts were going to Houton Tom suggested that I should do this right and get rooms at the Hotel connected to the convention center. Tom is very supportive of me and my quilting adventures. Once again, little did he know how much that FREE Quilt was actually going to cost.

If anyone wants to join the fun I have a couple of extra rooms.

(June 29 - July 2) Children's Sewing Camp

The first week of summer camp is history and I am getting geared up for the 2nd week.

Student Project

Anita came over for a private class yesterday. She has been working on these wonderful building blocks. I LOVE them. The detail is wonderful. As the blocks were on the design wall I enjoyed more and more of the details as I noticed them. GREAT JOB. Yesterday we added the frames around each block. Next week we will work on the sashings.It also amazed me how the different color of frame just seemed to set each block off and make them look even better.
This block was one of the hardest to find the correct color. Nothing seemed to look good with the sky fabric. Then we tried this purple color and it was just right.

Anita did all the work on these blocks by hand!
The frames were added with the sewing machine.

One of the great things about teaching is being able to see the student's project up close and personal. Thank you Anita for sharing your project with me.

Yah for Grandkids!!!!!!

I think that Zephyr was the one that changed the most since I last saw the Grandkids.

It was great having our kids from Utah for the 50 1/2 Birthday Party. Jason, Christy and Ty came the week before the party and the Weinheimer's & Yri's came a couple of days before and they stayed for a few days after.
We had a FULL house - Zephyr had to sleep in the laundry basket.
Here are the three older one Grandkids.

It's great being a Grandma - easy to laugh at all the cute things the kids do.

Ty and his daddy playing air hockey.

I think we have an alien visiting.

or could it be one of our own.

Surprise! Surprise - it's Autumn!

Saturday Grandpa and Grandma took the girls to the Aquarium.

Lunch at Burger King.

The last night the Weinheimer's were here Emily and I were working on finishing up a sewing project. We went pretty late into the night. Zephry was with us in the basement. He is sleeping on the chair in my studio. Looks like a bandit to me.

Happy Anniversary

Tom and I celebrated our 11th Anniversary on Saturday.We dined at an exclusive restaurant in Pelham, New York.
We had the best server ever!

The server had a small helper that added interest.

Have you ever had cute servers like these two?

Asking for input.......

Off to the kitchen.

No photos please.......way to much work to be done.

Some of the kitchen help.Thanks Autumn and Prairie (and there boss - Emily) for making our anniversay so special!!!

Made by Jennie

Jennie (my daughter) made this wallhanging as a gift for the
QQQ 50 1/2 Birthday Party. Thanks Jennie - I LOVE IT!!!!!!

Here is the picture she used as her guide.

THANK YOU!!!! THANK YOU!!!! THANK YOU!!!

(Thank you to Susan my sister for these pictures.)

Thanks to my wonderful husband I have these shots of the exhibit while is was very quite with no visitors.
And thanks to all those that attend to help make this such a WONDERFUL afternoon!!!!!!

This quilt was designed by my daughter - Emily

This quilt was designed by my daughter - Jennie.


UFO Walls

All the blocks pictures above were given to me on June 9 from the wonderful members of the Village Squares Quilters. Thanks for letting me be your president for the past two years.

The 6th Generation

Here is my granddaughter at the QQQ 50 1/2 Birthday party with the quilt she made me. She is already planning other quilts she wants to make.

Five Decades of Quilting

In preparing for the QQQ Birthday Party I realized that I had made at least one quilt in each of the decades of my life. Here they are:

1960's

My First Quilt: With the help of my mother, I embroidered the bear blocks and completed this quilt to display at a church young girls' activity.

1970's Red Tied Quilt: I made this quilt to take to college.


1980's

Seasame Street Quilt (1982): (above) This quilt was made when I was pregnant with my first baby. We Won, We Got the Right Baby!: For Christmas in 1985, I made my 3 year old daughter and her doll each a purple nightgown and tied quilt. Matching infant sized items were made with the left over fabric. After finding out she had a sister, Emily exclaimed - "We won, we got the right baby!"

1990's

Cow Quilt: Emily loved cows and wanted a "Cow" quilt. Only fabric in the sewing room was used. This was the beginning of "FUN BACKS". (Back of the cow quilt)

Jennie's Animal Bedspread with Wooden Animals: Having just learned about machine quilting, I made Jennie this animal bedspread and painted the wooden animals to coordinate with the bedspread.
2000's

Living Room Easy Pieces: (Left) While taking a log cabin quilting class with Nana (my mother-in-law), I also signed up for an Easy Pieces class. It was during this class that I realized that you could do more with your quilts than just blocks and sashings.

She Quilts - I Cook: (Top right) When I saw this panel, I immediately thought of my dear husband and how supportive and patient he is of my quilting obsession…and it's a good thing he cooks!!

Living Room Water Color Basket: (Bottom right) This watercolor basket was created to match my New York living room.

Breaking NEWS!!!!!!

Visit my sister's blog to get the first news on the Quinquagenarian Quilt Quest. It was a great day. Thanks to everyone that came. More from me later.

P.S. We had an very special unexpected visitor - The Mortensen Owl. Thanks Rodney!

And the Winner is.........

The preparations continue. This morning I finished the ribbons. At the QQQ 50 1/2 Birthday party we will be having Viewers Choice (1st, 2nd, & 3rd Places) along with one special Honorable Mention. Of course the ribbons had to be made with folded hexagons.
And here is the container to hold the ballots.

Pin the Square on the Block

At the QQQ 50 1/2 Birthday Pary visit the Quilt Olympics room to play this game .............. Pin the Square on the Block.
Here is the back pocket to keep everything organized.

And of course - a quilt label.

YIKES!!!!!! Only ONE week left!!!!

This past week I have been busy with LOTS of paperwork and running around trying to get things organized for the QQQ 50 1/2 Birthday Party. I can't believe that it's a week from today. (Hopefully at this time next week we will be having a nice relaxed breakfast with all our family - do you think I am DREAMING?????) Our house feels like it is being taken over by quilts. My children's sewing classes ended on Wednesday so I took a couple of the sewing machine down and put this table up in my studio to stack some of the quilts on. (We actually have a couch in our living room.)

Here is my quilt rack with a bunch of the smaller quilts draping over it.

I have also been working on the plan of how/where to hang each quilt. I have made a template like this for each panel that we will be setting up. I have taken pictures of most of the quilts and have been moving them around to try and get what seems like a logical and appealing way to group and hang the quilts. As I have been doing this I have also remembered some of my older projects that I have up in my attic. I have matching tied quilts and nightgowns that I made for Emily and her doll for Christmas 1985. Along with that I had made matching a baby quilt and sleeper (I was due in February but didn't know if it was a boy or girl). I have found all these pieces except Emily's nightgown. Fun to see all this stuff together. I think this will make for a fun panel to show what kind of work I was doing back then.

Anyway, I am cleaning house today. The wave of family starts to arrive today. Let the FUN begin!!!!!! Hope to see you next Saturday.