Design Wall Monday - 8/18/14

This week was a week of stepping back and setting some priorities on my projects.  There are a lot of things calling for my attention right now, and some of them are pretty loud and demanding!

In two weeks I will begin the first of several classes for my pattern, Amish Beauties!

This class was accepted at Runaway Quilters Retreat in September this year, and I'll be teaching it to 20 students that week!  How exciting!!!  Locally, The Quilter's Path is also offering a couple of opportunities to take the class and make this quilt - Friday, August 29, and Saturday, August 30.  You can contact Marita at the shop for more details if you are interested.  The best news is that she is putting together KITS for this quilt, and her bright solids are amazing!!!!  Patterns will be available for sale on October 1, but those who are taking classes will of course receive their pattern at the class.

Needless to say, I want to be sure I have all my ducks in a row on this class, so a lot of paperwork is in process and taking up a lot of my time!  But it's a fun time and I'm enjoying it tremendously :)

On my Design Wall this week, I have my Blooming Nine Patch still, and I did mange to carve out some time for the joy of making 9-patches for it.

I finished up Color 8 this week and got halfway through Color 9, which is the Dark Purple and the last color.  These final strips quickly became units for the last of the 9-patches.....

Here are some units cut and ready for the final row of 9-patches, with a strip set all ready to cut more when needed....

I can't say enough about how fun this quilt design is proving to be for me!  I'm almost disappointed to be finishing up the last row of colors!  I've decided not to put a border on it, just finishing up with setting triangles and a binding in the dark purple.  Of course, there's still a lot of sewing on this top because all of those squares have to be sewn together to complete the top.

Then I saw this CUTE little Shark Pencil Case - it's a FREE pattern and tutorial on Patchwork Posse  - and knew immediately that I had to make one for Sara for school this year.  Doesn't every Marine-Biologist-in-Training need one of these???  I've even had a few other family requests for this cute little helper :)

I haven't started on the shark yet.  Of course, I had to wash all my GRAY fabric first :)  That worked great since I didn't have a color to wash for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this month.

I even threw a few recent black purchases into the darker grays - isn't this just the cutest little black & white print????

So that's what's going on at A Quilt and A Prayer... how about you?  

What do you have on your Design Wall this week?  

Share with us at Judy's Patchwork Times!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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My Soul is Searching for AQUA!

Angela at SoScrappy announced last week that the new Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for March is AQUAs/TEALs - and as soon as I saw that I squealed!  Of course you know, AQUA is my favorite, favorite color, right?

So, here is my Soul Searching block in AQUAs - YUUUUUMMMMMM!!!!!!

I really love mixing up the fabrics in these blocks, from well-behaved little dots, to color saturated batiks, to wild patterns and designs.... it doesn't matter as long as the color is right :*)  Surprisingly enough, I had quite a bit of trouble finding enough fabrics of the right color for this block!  I thought I had tons of fabrics in this color......

....but it turns out many of them were greeny teals, powder blues, medium blues, too much white in them .... very few were actually just AQUA.  I did add some of the bluey-teals for interest, but I really wanted it to be primarily the blue aquas.  I think it finally turned out perfect, but I had to hunt down those last few fabrics :*)

I've decided to use this monthly RSC to help me work through washing my stash.  Every month, as Angela announces a color, I have been washing all of my fabrics in that color.  It took me 3 days to wash all the fabrics in this color - wow!!!

From the very sweet lights....

to the bright, happy mediums....

and finally the rich, vibrant darks....

And the best part is, I didn't have to buy a single piece of fabric - yay!!!  I did pull a few of my scraps out, but these Soul Searching blocks are primarily made from my stash.  I'm making other blocks each month from my scraps, like sweet little Hootie :*)

I had to laugh when I opened up this fat quarter though.... is it still a fat quarter, or is it a scrap now?  Too funny!

I remember wanting to be very exact in the design on that circle when I made that project LOL!!!

Here is my cabinet with the empty shelves waiting for all the freshly laundered aqua/teal fabrics to be stashed back on them....

This week I'll trace and prepare the fusible pieces for the AQUA Hootie, so look for him to make his debut next Saturday :*)

Check out all the other lovely RSC projects in AQUA HERE at So Scrappy!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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TVQA Assembly Day 2013

Yesterday was Assembly Day for all the guilds who are under the auspices of the Tennessee Valley Guild Association (TVQA).  When I first started quilting and heard my new friends talk about "assembly day," I thought they meant a day when all the guilds got together and worked on "assembling" quilts - sandwiching and quilting them, kind of like the old-time quilting bees.  However, I quickly learned that nothing could be further from the truth!  TVQA Assembly Day usually boasts a national speaker, some wonderful local vendors for shopping, a program put on by the host Guild, and lots of fun seeing old quilting friends and making new ones!

The Material Girls Guild in Winchester TN took charge of the event this year, and they did a fine job of delivering a marvelous day for everyone!!!

Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts fame was the Keynote Speaker, and as expected she charmed us all with that engaging accent of hers, not to mention her gorgeous quilts, amazing talent and wonderful storytelling style!  There were many ooooh's and aaaaah's as her husband, Michael, unfolded quilt after quilt while she told her stories and helped us all remember the "Reasons for Quilting."

Some of you may remember that Edyta visited our Music City Guild a few years back, giving a lecture and teaching some great classes.  You can read my review and see a nice parade of her quilts in THIS POST if you are interested.

Most of my pictures turned out too light, but here is a fairly passable shot of my favorite quilt out of the ones she showed us....

Those blues and golds just shone up there on stage!!!  

I believe the name of this pattern is Maryam.

Throughout the day, these two ladies from Material Girls Guild - who informed us they are very close cousins to Miss Minnie Pearl - entertained us with the program, telling jokes and giving away some really great door prizes.  At least, I think they were great - I didn't win one, so I can't speak from experience you understand.  No sour grapes there, of course :*D

One of my favorite things about this year's Assembly Day is that I finally got to meet my good friend, Denise, who blogs over at Count it*all*Joy!

Me and Denise!!!

I was thrilled to learn that Denise was planning to come up from Alabama and join in the festivities!  I'm sure many of you know her from her blog, and you know just how sweet she is!  I just can't tell you what a pleasure it was to meet her and spend time together!  We have already planned another girlfriend day in the near future - lunch and shopping in Franklin TN! =^..^=

I had really hoped to avoid buying too much at the vendors this year.  I mean, really, how much fabric does one person really need?  Well, apparently, I have not yet reached my limit, because I did my fair share toward keeping the local quilt shops in business :*D

So, without further ado, I show you my Stash Enhancements ....

Replenishing those black-and-whites!
My black-on-whites took a deep hit from Easy Street this year.

Some fun modern-style geometrics - YUM!
(Did you notice the same design in white-on-black above?)

And Edyta's Over the Rainbow batiks!!!
Now really, how could any sane person expect me to pass up these color-drenched batiks???

If you love eye candy, and I know you do, you can see more stash enhancements over at Patchwork Times!

Now I have to get busy and wash these fabrics up so they can go into the sewing studio.  I saw an interesting article yesterday on Fox News Health that addresses the potentially negative effects of the chemicals in fabrics on our thyroid health, which is right in line with what the natural health practitioner told me last month about the effect of chemicals on my own health.  As I said in THIS POST, we've pretty much identified the chemicals in fabric as one of the biggest culprits to my health issues.  Click HERE to read that article if you are interested.

I hope you all have a lovely, restful Sunday, and an amazing week!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Back in the Blogging Saddle!

Gentle reminder.... Google Reader shuts down tomorrow!  

If you have been following by GR, I'd love for you to switch over to Bloglovin' so I don't lose you as a valuable follower!!!  Just click on the link on my sidebar to continue following along ♥♥♥

I got home late yesterday afternoon from my "world tour" - aka, visiting a few days with my daughter and then at the TVQA Spring Seminar in Murfreesboro for 3 days :*)  It's always such a delight to spend time with Christy and Emma.  I don't see them nearly enough now that they are three hours away from us in Savannah.  During this trip, I got a special treat ---- Warning!  Serious cute alert coming up ....

Brand new baby kittens!!!!

Adelaide ("Addie") with her newborns =^..^=

 Emma's cat Addie gave birth to these little sweethearts while I was on the road to their house.  Four shiny new faces greeted me upon my arrival!

Sweet little baby face!

Who can resist a newborn baby kitten?  Mama's got a protective paw over this little fellow

Addie is only about a year old herself and this is her first litter, so we were really happy to find that she is an excellent mother and doing a fine job with no help at all.  The proud papa, Harry, is not so sure what is going on, and he's pretty sure he's not happy about it because his playmate is not coming out to play anymore.  So he's finding other ways to keep himself occupied, like playing with my scraps as I was trying to iron them LOL!!!

He's such a ball of energy that it was hard to get a picture that wasn't blurry!

After I left Christy's house, I headed off to Murfreesboro TN and the TVQA Spring Seminar.  I took 4 classes in 3 days, and it was truly a blast!  Actually, I feel a little "blasted" this morning LOL!!!  Pooped and just plain worn out!  But I learned a lot and had so much fun!   I'm sending a shout-out to my friend and great roomie, Lisa!  This was our first time rooming together for anything, and I was delighted to have the opportunity to get to know her better.  She's such a great person and wonderfully easy going!  We got along famously and very quickly came up with a routine that allowed us both to enjoy our stay and each other's company - so lovely!!!

I'll share pictures and adventures from my classes tomorrow for Design Wall Monday.  For today, first up, I just have to share this wonderful fabric sent to me by my wonderful friend, Cheryl who blogs at Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting.

OMG!!!  Cheryl said she saw this fabric and just knew that I would LOVE to have a piece of it because of my love of text fabrics - was she ever RIGHT!!!!  Oh my gosh, I squealed when I opened it!  Not only do I love text fabrics, but I also love crosswords - any kind of word puzzles are special favorites of mine!!!  Cheryl, I can't thank you enough!  This will go in a very special project, something I can look at often and think of you!!!  =^..^=

I also want to share my Slow Stitching Sunday progress and link up at Kathy's Quilts - one of my favorite blogs!  This is a Ta-Da moment for me.....(pardon the wrinkles!)

Yay!!!  I finished the final block for Promises & Borders!!!!

Yes, indeed, my friends, all my whining about these blocks is now officially over!!!  =^..^=

I'll look up my pictures for all of these blocks and try to post them together sometime later this week.  I'm so excited to be done with these stitchery blocks, and I can't wait to trim them down to size, sash and assemble all of these lovely blocks and make them into a wonderfully inspiring quilt!!!

Since I knew I was very close to finishing P&B, I traced off the 3rd block for Winter Wonderland in case I needed another handwork project while I was traveling.....

I also took along my socks, but somehow never got around to working on those.  I understand there was an amazing Knit Shop right around the corner from where I was staying, but I never got a chance to get over there.  I have to find my yarn for the Dreambird Knitalong with Judy and Denise!  (You can go Patchwork Times or Justquiltin with Denise Russart to check that out if you're wondering what I'm talking about.  They both have links to this KAL on their sidebars)  I'm thinking a day trip with my friend Joanne is going to be in order very soon :*D

In closing today, I'll reward you for sticking around to the end by showing you some pictures of stash additions - very little actually - I'm quite proud of myself!!!

First, I found a good-size bottle of Best Press in the Unscented version in Hancocks....

Several of you wondered if the lavender scent in the smaller bottle I was using was bothering my allergies.  That particular scent did not bother me, but then I tried using the peaches and cream scent, and that one did bother me!  It really did a number on my lungs and I began coughing quite a bit.  I also didn't like the hair-spray-type sprayer on those small bottles, so I was happy to find this bigger bottle with the super-duper sprayer and no scent!  Now that I'm home, I'll be continuing my Stash Washing Adventures.  Thank you to so many of you who offered great suggestions and ideas for helping with that - you're the best! - and I will be trying each and every one of them !!!

And now for the Stash Enhancements you've all been waiting for

 - and very patiently too I might add  =^..^=

Pat Sloan had a box of half-yard cuts for $2.50 on her book table, a great price I couldn't resist, especially with some of these lovely colors and prints!

Aren't they wonderful?  Totally irresistible!  Fortunately, I did manage to resist all other fabric offers... unbelievable, I know!  Especially when Hancocks had an entire wall of fabrics in every color and print imaginable for 50% off!!!  I only picked up two pieces of solids in the remnants bin there for peanuts....Yes, I'm good :8)

Be sure to come back tomorrow for some pictures from my classes at Spring Seminar!

I hope you all have a lovely Sunday ♥

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Cleaning up the Stash!

I have had a lot going on this past week, plus dealing with recovering from a sinus infection, so you haven't seen much of me here. I've been very busy though!

Here are my final blocks for the YELLOW Rainbow Scrap Challenge in June...

Hatchett blocks and resulting HST's

On the Needles, my Hibiscus Serenity socks have taken flight!  We traveled to Kentucky yesterday for a family gathering to honor my husband's father on his birthday.  Three hours there, and three hours back, so I took my knitting with me since I can knit in the car without getting carsick - Oh happy day!!!  The socks started out like this at the beginning of the trip....

All the increases were done in preparation for the heels and I had worked one heel.  On the trip, I finished up the second heel and got quite a bit done on the stockinette stitch for the leg on both socks - whoohoo!!!

I'm liking this method of Two-at-a-time, Toe-up, Magic Loop.  I would have made a stupid mistake and shorted the second heel if I had not had the first one on the needles to compare to.  And of course both socks will be the same length without worrying about counting rows or careful measuring.  You can click HERE to see the post where I show the pattern I'm using.

I really like this heel treatment called "Eye of the Partridge"!

I will be traveling all this week too - visiting with my sweet baby girl and granddaughter in Savannah TN for a few days and then in Murfreesboro for the TVQA Spring Seminar, where I am scheduled to take 4 classes in 3 days - I'm tired already just typing that!!!  But I figure I should be finished with these socks by the end of that trip and hopefully will be able to share a finish on next week's On the Needles!

In preparation for my classes, I have had to do quite a bit of unexpected work.  Pre-washing all the fabrics for the classes!!!  Why would I do that, you might ask?  I have been seeing a natural medicine practitioner to figure out some of my health issues, and we have determined that chemicals in my system are playing a huge part in my health woes.  That's really not surprising, is it?  Not in today's world.  But unfortunately, we have pinpointed the most likely culprit as overexposure to the chemicals in fabric.  Yikes!!!!  Since giving up quilting is not an option, I am now faced with having to rid my considerable stash of all those chemicals before I get to play with them :(  This is a lot of work my friends!!!!

I have to admit, I had been kinda wondering if this could be the problem for a while now, but I kept ignoring that warming voice because, well, for one thing, I am lazy!!!  Okay, that's probably the biggest reason :*D  But, the other reason is that I really don't like working with washed fabric that much.  I love the bright colors and sharp look of a crisp new piece of fabric!  I can't ever seem to get it as "sharp" and wrinkle free after washing.

See the wrinkles on the blue fabric on the right?  That's been ironed twice!!!

I'm using Best Press to put some starchiness back into it because it is supposedly chemical free.....

I'm not sure of that because I couldn't find the exact ingredients online, but that's what I'm told.  Not that I believe everything I'm told, but .... anyway.... you get the idea :*)  It helps, but I miss my crisp new fabrics!!!

I've decided on a plan of action.  All new fabrics will be washed before they go into the stash - period.  I plan to wash and dry them, then simply fold and put them on the stash shelves - I'll iron when I'm ready to use it.  Because I HATE ironing!  For my existing stash, I'll take a color at a time and wash them as I have time.  However, with FOUR classes coming up this week, I have a lot of fabric to get chemical free, fast!  One class project uses 30 different fabrics, and another uses mostly scraps - a ton of scraps!

I tried using a mesh lingerie bag to wash the smaller pieces, hoping to eliminate some of those dreaded strings....

..... but as you can see, that didn't work out so well...

These scraps....

Became this mess to untangle!!!

Here are some more pictures of my Washing the Stash Adventure for your viewing pleasure.... =^..^=

Stacks lined up by color family and waiting their turn to be washed....

Stacks of fabric for next week's classes to be ironed - YUK!!!

A huge basket of black scraps to be ironed for one class...

I'm using my Sizzix cutter to cut the strips for the class that calls for 30 fabrics, so all those have to be done before I leave on my trip.  The fabrics for the other classes are washed and will get ironed and cut while I'm at my daughter's house.  

So, I still have a lot of work to do today before I can get on the road.  I will probably not have a chance to blog between now and my return, so I will wish you all a wonderful week, filled with all that you love most!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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