A life without challenges just wouldn’t be the same but some challenges are more fun than others…
I always finish one blog entry determined not to leave it so long next time but then life interferes… This morning my dad pointed out that it has been a while and I promised to get to it… so dad, here is my life up to date, just for you!
Riverwalk Quilters Guild issued a challenge to its members last fall and entries were due at the February meeting. I finally got to my 10″ square blocks and finished two little quilts. We were to illustrate Naperville’s streets in any way we chose – as long as the finished product was quilted and bound and measured 10″ in each direction.
First up is Fairoak Road… Three wool oak leaves appliqued onto a silk background and embellished with embroidery, beads and buttons…
My second entry represents Whirlaway Avenue. This one has a collaged background of batik scraps, a fused silvery swirl and Swarovski crystals…
Two very different little pieces but both do a fair job of representing both my style and Naperville?
There were over two dozen entries on display at the meeting ready for a single Viewer’s Choice Award…
Yvette won the prize with her very pretty Noriko Endo style confetti trees but everyone who got an entry finished was a winner in my eyes. We are hoping to have the the quilts displayed at the Naperville Art League later in the year.
It was time for another It’s a Wrap class at Pieceful Heart Fabrics and after 5 hours we had some lovely bowls to display. Everyone certainly rose to the challenge…
I took the opportunity to do some work on my red circles table runner. I got all the individual pieces made and laid them out on the table. I had had problems when I was putting the green one together so I needed to do something different this time… Blue painters’ tape is such a wonderful thing! As you can see below, I put small pieces of tape across each meeting place (still a few to go in this picture),
and labelled each piece. It was then easy to cut the tape in two, move it out of the way and zigzag the pieces together.
Here is the completed table runner, looking quite splendid on the dining room table.
I just need to decide what color family to try next!!
We had a busy “wedding weekend” last weekend. Julia, Ruby and Joanne came to town… We went wedding dress shopping on Saturday morning for Joanne and in the afternoon enjoyed a Bridal Shower in Sarah’s honor. I had 3 cardigans nearly finished for Ruby. I just had to sew some buttons on… and she was all ready to have some fun…
In between times I have been knitting up a storm and have scarves ready to go to England next week. Bridget will be selling them at Dream On shortly…
I took my Bernina 820 in to be mended a couple of weeks ago after a spring flew off the pick up arm and disappeared inside somewhere… A challenge I did not want to face… When I called Gentler Times on Tuesday I found out it had been sent back to the factory but I was offered a loner…
I collected a 550 Quilters Edition on Wednesday morning and if I was looking to buy a new machine I think I would be saving up for this one… I set it up in my cabinet and spent a few very happy hours this morning.
I was making some new trading cards, ready for the PAQA retreat coming up soon. It had no problems sewing through lots of layers, couching fuzzy yarns and was great on some free motion quilting. I will be trying out the satin stitch next. It’s not got the space that the 820 has but it is making the loss more bearable!
One last challenge…
After doing so well at keeping up with Imperial Blooms last year, my Sue Spargo 2012 BOM has been suffering with all these other distractions. I have actually finished block 1 but haven’t taken pictures yet. Perhaps I will be ready to post them soon?
