Teen Day

I was down at the high school in town tie-dying t-shirts today with teenagers (say that five times fast)...It was fun to see the kids and I'm hoping they'll all come down and show off their tie-dye shirts so I can see how they turn out.
So, now I'm just having fun with shop-hoppers and fundraising this weekend at the Mother of All Garage Sales over in Livingston. Come check it out at the Livingston fairgrounds.
Happy quilting!

Like a quilt top factory.

I finished another top this weekend, and it was kind of a challenge for me because it was flannel, and I so rarely sew with flannel. I was inspired by Valori Wells' Urban Flannel because the critters are so stinkin' cute.
I should've taken a picture before I put up my window display, but I didn't, so here you go. The pattern I used was actually, amusingly, from a book called Batik Gems, but it was perfect for a larger print with lots of coordinates.
Anyway, I'm going to put the tie-dyed pink minkee in the window on the back and fussy cut an elephant for a label...Someday...when it gets quilted. Which, at the rate I'm going, could be when I'm 75.
Happy quilting!

A quilted quilt!

Woohoo, I finally finished the quilt that I was using for practice before moving on to my ever increasing queue. I like how it turned out a lot. I must have had a mini-math-seizure on one border though, as I had about four extra inches even though the other three were fine. Oh well, it did quilt out. I think I used about 4000 yds of thread total on this bad boy. This type of top is great for me to practice on because there are discrete sections, but not just blocks, so thread changes are easier and planning ornate quilting is more interesting.
Here's the whole top, but you can't see the quilting very well.
But here's the center from above where you can see the feathery business I did in that center medallion in a happy variegated thread of lime, pink, blue, teal, and purple. It's a Signature Pixelles, but I don't remember which color number.
And a close up fo the center. I've found that bright thred just looks so awesome on black fabric.
I've also found that McTavishing looks fabulous on metallic fabrics like Rock Candy or Fairy Frost. Anyway, I had a lot of fun, but that quilt was a doozy to power through being as QADD as I am. So back to my queue now, but it's one more quilt I can check off my list. Also, Vicky cut binding for me, know that I'm binding challenged, she has given me one less excuse. So I may actually bind this one ;)
Happy quilting and Easter!

Fencing...

Erik had a big fencing tournament (big for MT, anyway) in Bozeman all day Saturday, the annual Stab-a-Fool Tournie. Anyway, he got 1st in foil, his main weapon, 2nd in saber, and 5th in epee, which he's never fenced at a tournament level. Anyway, it was fun to watch him. Here's a couple good pics of him doing foil. He's the one in the black socks, with the weapon all a blur.

It was the first time I got to meet his fencing buddies, so that was fun too.
So, not much quilting, but happy quilting anyway!

New sewing table!

Hooray, my dad and I finally finished my new sewing table. I won't lie, some legs are wonky, it's not even close to kilter, and it ain't the prettiest thing I ever laid eyes on, but oooohlala, look at all that space, AND my sewing machine bed is finally flush with my table, making machine quilting so much easier. Not that I've had a chance to use it since I just got my sewing room put back together this morning. Anyway, we did everything for about $200 dollars, which is WAY cheaper than most prefab and didn't require me moving my 8000 pound desk out of the room.
I'm hoping to find some drawers that will fit underneath a little better to maximize my storage space, but this works.
Now all I have left to do is put this iron-on edging (apparently even carpenters like stuff you can iron on) to the raw edges of the particle board. Woohoo! I'm so excited to use it, but dear husband and I are off to his fencing tournament all day tomorrow, so I won't get to use it until Sunday :( .
Happy, and oh so spacious, quilting!

McTavishing--or Kinrosswrighting...

I don't know how much my attempts at McTavishing bear any resemblance to the actual thing. I have a huge queue on my longarm right now, but I've been in a rut, so I wanted to experiment a little, so I put on one of mine and am doing some Kinrosswrighting (doesn't have quite the same ring) on it. She says that everyone's McTavish is different so they should just add an -ing to the end of their last name, but you didn't count on hyphenated names, did you, Ms. McTavish!
The pattern is from that wretched book Crazy Eights...some of you may recall another quilt, the one I made for my mother-in-law was very similar. That's because the pattern was so wrong I was sure I had botched it. So I made another one, meticulously, and as it turned out, the pattern was just horrendously wrong--it's since been pulled from the market, which is a damn shame, because having made other quilts from the book, they were awesome. Just the one she seems to have forgotten all her math skills on.
I did little dragonflies in some of the triangles and swirlies in others.
It's very intense. I'm definitely in this quilt for the long haul, but that's okay, more practice that way. So that's what's on the docket for today.
At open sewing Friday, this is what I accomplished (I'd started beforehand).
It's from Brenda Henning's Strip Therapy and made with a Kiwiberry Bali Pop, which are on my website, but backordered until July :( It was super-fast and mindless, which is perfect for gabbing and sewing.
Happy quilting!

Potluck and sewing!

I haven't done much sewing this week due to meetings and what not, but I'm having a pot luck and open sewing at the shop tonight, under the auspices of the Hoffman Challenge, but people are working on whatever strikes their fancy. Then they can leave their stuff here until tomorrow morning for Fourth Saturday Open Sewing at LTQ.
Pot luck starts at 5:30, sewing goes until the last quilter drops (try to outlast me, I dare you!), and open sewing starts at 10:00am tomorrow. Pot luck is BYOB (and LTQ is NOT a dry store :)
Happy sewing and eating!