Three Little Words Challenge

Three months ago, our Spring Chicks group decided to do a Three Little Words challenge. We all took little sheets of paper and wrote down 3 nouns, 3 colors and 3 themes. We each drew a slip of paper from each pile without looking and had to make a 16" x 20" quilt depicting our adaptation of these words. Here are the wonderful results:

 Jennifer's words were red, balloons and mosaic. Those balloons flying off in the sky were really a fun element.


















Carolyn's words were Aquamarine, feather and summer. That's a feather fishing lure there--cute!

Doris's words were dark green, house and gardening. We didn't expect an out house in the woods! Too funny!!















Sherry's words were aubergine, grass and that special vacation. She used her embroidery machine to create the flowers she saw in Monet's garden on her 'special vacation' to Paris this spring.

Sandy's words were lime green, party and wildflowers. She'd just gone on a retreat with Mary Lou Wideman so her quilt was a riot of colors with the humorous words, "when wildflowers party".

Betsy's words were olive, fall and celebration. She loves sunflowers and this quilt depicts her joy of them for her fall birthday.















My words were aquamarine, the Queen of hearts and fireworks. I used a lot of Swarovski crystals for the fireworks witch may not show up too well in this photo. What a fun challenge! I want to do it again!!

Spring Chicks Reveal!

Jennifer                 Carolyn

Tonight our Spring Chicks quilt group had the reveal of the Sutter Hospital Breast Cancer Quilt Auction quilts we made. Several months ago, we exchanged 2 1/2" strips and could make any quilt we wanted with them. Here are the fabulous quilts what will be donated to the auction this week:

   Doris

 

                                                                This one's mine

Sherry   














Sandy

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Julie

                                                           

What a spectacular bunch of quilts, ladies. We should all be very proud of ourselves and honored to be able to give something to help Sutter Cancer Center raise funds for this great cause.






 Betsy

On My Design Wall

I have a special event tomorrow night--my Spring Chicks quilting group is meeting to reveal our "3 Little Words" challenge. Each of us randomly chose a theme, a color and a noun,  from a bunch of them that we'd written on little scraps of paper. My 3 little words: Queen of Hearts, Turquoise and Fireworks. What would YOU have made with those words?


Each quilt is supposed to be 16" x 20" and I bet they'll all be spectacular. Mine turned out exactly as I'd planned and I'm so happy! This is my version of the Queen of Hearts on a turquoise background holding a firework with dozens of Swarovsky crystals decorating the piece.

The queen is made with fusible applique and each element
you see is an individually cut out piece placed on a black background then trimmed and placed on the white background.


Now I'm going to look at all the other wonderful projects
on Judy Laquidara's website for Design Wall Monday--
you should too!

P.S. Jennifer--you shouldn't be looking at this! Wait until
tomorrow night!

A Block Exchange

Yesterday was the eagerly anticipated block exchange with my quilting group, The Calendar Girls. Here are the 9 blocks with the theme "North Woods Winter" that I was lucky enough to come away with! Don't you LOVE them?! This is such a talented group of ladies and I can't wait to get started on the design for making these blocks into a quilt.

The blocks are 9 1/2" square and I want the quilt to be small--a wall hanging of 42" or less--for a perfect little place in our foyer where I display seasonal pieces. I'll have to scour my books and magazines for ideas. If you have any suggestions, please let me know!

Here is our lovely group--that's me on the far right. We'll all have our blocks made into quilts ready to reveal them on December 11th.

We're Back!!

 My last post was 2 weeks ago telling you I was embarking on my first cruise and our first trip to Alaska. I really missed reading about and looking at all the Design Wall Monday projects but our trip was fantastic and I was surprised I didn't miss my computer at all! I was also surprised that I didn't get one stitch into all those applique squares I'd prepared for the trip! We were busy every minute with tours and interesting things to do. Highlights of the trip: Mt. McKinley (Denali to Alaskan's) "was out" and we saw her in all her grandure. Only 1/3 of travelers there see the 20,239 foot mountain because it's usually clouded over. I'd never been so moved--she really took my breath away. I also saw a lot of wonderful totem poles and learn a lot about them--something I've always been interested in doing.

I wanted to do something special for the lovely couple who organized this 11-day trip for our group of 30 (15 ship cabins) which certainly took a lot of time and effort. Everything was splendid and all we had to do was "write a check". They live in Connecticut and collect pinecones (and not just the kind that fall from trees!) so when I saw this fabric in one of the 5 quilt shops I visited on the trip, I new I would make a purse for her and a charge-cord organizer for him.

Next weekend is the block exchange for my Calendar Girls group and I can't wait! It's a whole day of show-and-tell, a gift exchange, lunch and goodies and then the exchange of blocks. Here are a couple of the 8 blocks I made. The theme we chose last December was "North Woods Winter". It could be any 9 1/2" block that depicted winter but not Christmas. I won't put them all up so they can remain a surprise and I'll show you the blocks I ended up with in next week's DWM.

Thanks to our wonderful blogging friend, Judy Laquidara for giving us Patchwork Times, my favorite means of inspiration.

Traveling Orders

I am about to embark on my first cruise--to Alaska! Perfect time of year for someone living in the hot central valley of California. Of course, I needed to prepare some hand-work for the trip so I'm bringing these 15, 10" blocks to hand-applique. These have been prepared in the freezer paper and starch method and have been glue-basted down in just a few places--ready to go.

 It's an old pattern, from 2002 I think, by Piece O'Cake designs. I was the high bidder on the entire kit of this quilt at a Breast Cancer Auction last month. LOTS of fabric and LOTS of work but it will be wonderful when it's done.

Of course this means I will miss next week's DWM on Judy's blog as I'll be at sea and I'm not going to bring my computer with me!! I don't know if I'll survive but I'm going to take this vacation seriously and just enjoy. And yes, of course I have researched all the quilt shops in the ports where the ship docks. I won't miss a one!!     

This September wallhanging was the UFO I was supposed to finish in June. Didn't happen. It's a finished top and it's small and I didn't finish it. I'm duly ashamed of myself. I hate to see another September come without this to hang on my front door. . .

This is my #2 UFO, "12 Days of Christmas"
pattern by Nancy Halvorson from a couple of
years ago. It's also a top. Christmas in July!!
Oh joy!! Don't you just love working on
something for Christmas when it's 100 degrees
outside? Me either.

But it's a completed top and all I need to do is
pin it (the most dreaded part of the quilting process for me) and quilt it (not so dreaded).

I hope to be a better girl in July and finish this one but, since I'm going on an 11-day cruise in July and have 8 blocks to make for a block exchange on the 30th of July,
chances are I'm doomed for failure.

Best of luck to the rest of you though! Can't wait to see the successful quilters on Judy's blog on July 31st!