Trip to Lancaster, PA

I've been traveling for over a week, and I'm glad to be home. I went to Connecticut, then my sister and I went to Pennsylvania for the AQS Show in Lancaster. We arrived there last Tuesday and the show opened on Wednesday. There was a heavy snow storm on Wednesday so we had the place almost to ourselves. The only trouble was getting supper in the hotel. All the neighboring restaurants in downtown had closed so it was an hour wait for our food. Ugh - dinner at 8:30 is a bit late! Oh well, it all worked out. Sorry, I don't remember the specific categories, but here are the winners:

This quilt is by Margaret Solomon Gunn of Gorham, ME. The quilt is titled Taking the Unmapped Road and is 71" x 71".  You can see more of Margaret's work here.

This is Turkish Treasures by Pat Holly from Ann Arbor, MI, 67" x 73".  I have seen at least one of her quilts at a previous show and the level of detail in the applique is amazing. She has a gallery here.

This quilt is called Fantastic! It was made by Junko Fujiwara from Japan, and is all hand appliqued and hand quilted. It really is fantastic.

The last featured winning quilt is this beauty by Janet Stone titled Garden Variety Sampler, 68" x 90". I have seen her quilts before and as with Pat Holly she has a recognizable style. She designed a block of the month for The Quilt Show a few years ago. I can't find any specific web page for her. If you search you'll see lots that have won previous awards.

The other thing I was very happy to see was the Vincent Van Gogh Cherrywood exhibit. If you don't know, Cherrywood Fabrics are hand dyed and look like they are suede. I am working on a machine embroidered quilt using their fabric. Maybe I'll share as I go, but maybe I'll save it for a big reveal!

I took photos of many quilts and have created a photo album on my Facebook page. If you have a chance to see the AQS Show at another location be sure to. They attract amazing entries.

We took the opportunity of being in Lancaster to do some shopping, too. I've got lots of new fabric (I love fat quarters) and a new cordless iron. The other thing I purchased is a 3/8" thick LED light box.

We had a good trip despite the snow storm!
Mary

My Day on the Quilt Qwazy Queens Blog Hop

Welcome to all! I'm glad you could stop by today and see what we are all sharing on this fun blog hop. Thanks to Marian of Seams to be Sew for organizing us again. The theme this year is something most quilters can relate to - UFO's or unfinished objects - quilt projects in our case. So I dug into my piles, just a little ways, and pulled out some things to share.

Before I go any farther, here is the list of everyone who is posting today. Hopefully you can take the time to visit everyone and see what they are working on. And be sure to enter the giveaways that today's participants are offering via 2 different Rafflecopter drawings.

| Kathy’s Kwilts and More | Seacoast Quilter (me)|
| DesertSky Quilting | Seams To Be Sew |

First, I would like to share my guild mystery quilt top. Our 98 year old member, Dot, gives monthly instructions in the newsletter to make a quilt. The colored squares were cut 2.5" so I used 2 different jelly rolls in the same green-blue-purple palette. I had some help assembling it from my kitty, Nosey. He felt I had the blocks in the wrong place. And I did have to pick out and rotate one block once the top was together.

 

I decided to add a border to make it a little bigger, and forgot to get a full photo. I found a multi-color print that was just perfect. And I really like the light blue I chose for the background. Off to the quilter at the next guild meeting.

I went on a week long retreat last September to Star Island, just off the New Hampshire coast. I am subscibed to both Quilty Box and the Fat Quarter Shop Sew Sampler Box. I brought 3 projects on the retreat, got as far as I could on each, and put them in a pile when I got home.

I started with the Allie Owl pattern by Elizabeth Hartman. I am a very neglectful great aunt and owe baby quilts to both of my nephew's kids. The owls are intended for his little girl, who is approaching 3, and who's shower was owl themed. I have all 4 owls made but cut wrong when assembling the top, so it went back in my bag.

Next, I worked on this Jasmin Giraffe pattern by the Gourmet Quilter. It was the August 2017 Quilty Box and came right before we went on retreat. I didn't love their background fabric and found my own. It also has small plastic domes that are to be appliqued to give 3-dimensional spots on the giraffe. I got all of the applique fused on, and machine blanket stitched, but didn't have any thread to embroider the branches with, nor did I try the spots. Onto the pile it went when I got home.

Here is a cute pattern that came in the Fat Quarter Shop Sew Sampler Box in June. The fabric and pattern are by Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet. I've actually finished the piecing and layered this one for quilting. It's a small wall quilt and will look really cute in my sewing room.

One final photo of the evidence of my UFO collection. I don't know what's in some of these boxes, but some I have labeled. I know one of the unlabeled ones are Row by Row kits from 2015 and 2016. I never got out and about much since, but I have plenty of rows; about 40 at a quick count!

Thank you for visiting during the hop, and please leave me a comment below. I'd love to hear what your UFO backlog is. There are 2 giveaways to enter - just follow the links in the Rafflecopters below.

Thanks,
Mary

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Quilters Dream  3 winners - Shipping will be charged - Shipping Is International

Natural Dream Cotton Select Twin 30.00, Dream Poly Select Twin 30.00, and a Natural Dream 80/20 Twin 30.00

Another Month Gone by in a Flash!

I can't believe a month has gone by so fast. I've been busy sorting things in my old house. I have accepted that a move back to Connecticut from New Hampshire is not going to happen this year. There is too much to do still, and I haven't decided to build or go house hunting. I have blueprints that I bought in the mid 90's when I was thinking of buying land from my grandmother's estate and building. It never happened but I still love the house plans. There is no rush, in any case.

I would like to say I've been sewing up a storm this month but I just don't know where the time goes. I did finish a top that was supposed to be shown at the February Seabreeze Quilt Guild meeting. I wasn't able to go due to illness. And the March meeting was cancelled for snow.  I'll be showing it on Wednesday when it's my day for the Quilt Qwazy Queens Blog Hop.

We've been having weekly snow storms on Tuesdays, usually 20 inches or so. There was another coming this week but the forecast seems to have changed and it's looking clear for the week. My sister and I are headed to Lancaster, PA for the AQS Show. We've got 3 nights in the hotel where the show is, so as long as we get there, it can snow as much as it wants!

Gloaming Fat Quarter Bundle

I don't remember how I stumbled across this but I purchased the fat quarter bundle of Gloaming from Cora's Quilts. Oh boy, do I love the colors. I don't have a plan for it yet but I'm sure I'll find something.

I also found a monthly pattern subscription website called Pattern Drop. I saw a photo of the February quilt pattern and had to have it! So for a very reasonable fee I will get a new pattern every month. I've got stash of Island Batik's Fresh Pick'ins that will work wonderfully for this.

Hope to see you on Wednesday. I've pulled out several UFOs for my day on the blog hop.  I also saw on Facebook that Barb Vedder has mailed back our blocks from the Churn Dash block swap. Can't wait to see them all!

Mary