Silent but not idle

It has been a while, hasn't it?

But I haven't (entirely) been goofing off.

I got the binding stitched down on the corduroy quilt, but it has been too hot to work on tying it. Somehow it just seems wrong to turn the air conditioning colder just so I can work on a quilt.

I found my wayward triangular ruler that I used to work on my hexagons. Do you remember this project, from waaay back in January?



It had gotten to the bottom of my project pile, then when I wanted to work on it, I couldn't find the ruler. Well, now I am going to cut some strips of Kona snow for the background and start sewing strips. If you have so much crap junk stuff that you can't find what you want when you want it, maybe you have too much stuff!

I also set together my rows from the HMQG robin. Isn't it fun!?! I pulled my row -- with all the terrific rows made my Guild members, it looked a little weak. I cut it up and used it as filler -- at the sides of one row that was a bit short and down one side. I am looking forward to quilting this for our brief Gulf Coast winter -- warmed by friendship and quilts!



I put together this little quilt as a donation quilt. It is made of things I had on hand. The Hello Kitty fabric is really cute, but I can't tell you why I bought it. I love the chalky pastels with it though. My "to be quilted" pile is getting higher and higher!



And I have been spending quite a bit of time with my personal challenge fabrics, making these pillars and half-ish square triangles. I have a vision of how this will look, I just hope I am able to pull it off. Wish me luck!

 


And in the Information I Did NOT Need To Know category:

Recently, I cut from the newspaper (yes, we still get a *paper* newspaper delivered daily -- I told you I was old!) a recipe for "Neiman Marcus Cake". I've never been to Neiman Marcus, much less had their cake, but the recipe looked easy and I thought it might be good.
Well.
It is ridiculously easy, ridiculously good and ridiculously indulgent!
A white cake mix mixed with a stick of melted butter (!), press this mixture into an oblong pan and top with -- all mixed together -- a package of cream cheese (I used low fat, that counts for something, doesn't it?), a box of powdered sugar (!), teaspoon of vanilla, two eggs and pecans then bake.
WOW!

11-11-11

Honoring our Veterans and loving our corduroy!



I did not make my corduroy quilt. My Mom and I bought the top at a Goodwill or Salvation Army store more than 25 years ago. I have been carrying this top around with me ever since -- and would probably be carrying it around for years to come if LeeAnn at niftyquilts not alerted us to Corduroy Appreciation Day. Thanks LeeAnn! I love this cuddly little quilt and I doubt I would have gotten around to finishing it had it not been for you.

It is still not completely finished. I have about a third of the quilt left to tie and half of the binding to stitch down, but it was presentable enough to debut today. I got the chance to study it as I tied: there are about 24 different corduroys in the quilt, mostly narrow wale, a few medium wale. The wales are mostly parallel to the long side of the rectangle, but a few are perpendicular. The naps do not all go the same direction (which sometimes made it confusing when trying to count the colors). I decided to "over-tie" it and like the extra dimension the black ties add. (Rachael said they look like birds flying over colorful fields. Tonya said they reminded her of bats.) I am happy to say that I did not have to buy anything to finish this quilt -- cowboy flannel, butterscotch binding and black pearl cotton were all on hand.

Too much of a good thing?

Well, the Houston International Quilt Festival is nearly over. It was over for me at about 4:00, Friday afternoon. I had gone to the MQG Market Meet-up the Saturday evening before Festival began and was at the Festival all day Wednesday (in class until 5:00, then went to the preview until about 8 or 9 o'clock), Thursday and Friday. And I am BEAT! Talk about sensory overload!

Quilts, quilts and more quilts!
Fabric, fabric and more fabric!
People, people and more people! (These photos were made before the hall opened. Wouldn't we all love to walk aisles that empty!)





I had told myself that I wasn't going to buy ANYTHING, but of course I did.

These lovely, new (to me) colors of South African "indigos" -- there were more colors besides the usual indigo blue and browns, I just went for the pinks and purples.



I couldn't decide which colorway I liked best of these Kaffe prints -- so I got three of them! I think strips of these will give a quilt lots of movement.



These Japanese ombre prints were just too gorgeous to pass by.



And I have admired the fabric lines from Marcia Derse for a long time, but had never seen them in person. She had a booth with big bundles and a LOT if them came home with me. I see, perhaps, a re-interpretation of an Amish quilt.