Quilters Accountability Report 5/5/10

Whew!  This week seemed to go so fast!  Got some things done but as usual not as much as hoped, although there were some good reasons for that.  The weekend was lost to sewing because Saturday, I attended the Northern Star Guild Quilt Show in Somers, NY.  It was my first time attending this show and a guild show.  It was great -- so great that even though I made a point of bringing my camera and making sure it was fully charged, I was so busy looking at the handiwork on all the quilts, I forgot to take pictures!!  There are a few pictures on the guild's website (here, and hopefully they will be posting more in the future) and by other attendees (here) . 

The best part was I got to actually meet a fellow blogger whose blog I have long followed, who was "working" the event, won some ribbons and took pictures!  You can see Renee's photos of the event and her show entries at her blog Quilt Artistry.  We met because as I passed one of her quilts I told one of the ladies I attended the show with (probably a little too loudly), "I know that quilt!  I read her blog!, and hearing me who should come around the corner but Renee herself!  My congratulations to her again for the ribbons she won at the show.

The show was also great because Susan Cleveland, famous for the "Piping Hot Curves" technique was a guest lecturer and gave a great presentation of her quilts which showcase her techniques, including the ones that have won awards at the major shows.  If you have not seen her quilts in person you absolutely must!  Her work is phenomenal and I was particularly floored by her "Pretty Flaky" quilt (scroll down this page), a Feathered Star medallion with decorative stitchery, ribbon work (!), snowflake setting square blocks created with a bleach and freezer paper resist technique (!!), a pieced dogtooth curved border (!!!) beaded accents and a beaded piped binding (!!!!).  Like I said truly phenomenal and she even allowed us to go up after the lecture for a close up look at the quilts (including touching)!  She was a sweet and funny lady and if you ever get a chance to hear her lecture or take a class with her I urge you to do so!  Also if any of you use WonderFil thread, she was asked by the company to select colors for a collection of 12 wt decorative threads that are available on her website now and will be in quilt stores either later this month or June.

My quilt show purchases were pretty light:  I brought a scrap sampler of Cherrywood fabrics from The Quilters Alley, who recently secured regional retailer rights for Connecticut.  Most of Ms. Cleveland's quilts used the Cherrywood fabrics which I have heard alot about and loved the sueded feel of.  My only other purchases were a book and a fat quarter pack of light batiks.  Sunday my husband and I had to do the monthly run of the warehouse club stores and with that and a little more shopping the weekend was shot. 

So checking the list from last week.....

1.  Finish the quilting on the Vintage Treasures BOM, get the clamshell binding made and finish the quilt.  A little was done but not much.  Will spend the rest of this week on that with hopes to finish it by the end of this weekend.

2. Work on four UGRR/Pioneer blocks (two from each).  Done!  Worked on those (the four blocks vertically on the right in the picutre) before the quilting which is probably why they got done. 

3.  Try, once again, to work on two Sylvia's Bridal Sampler blocks. Nope, and think I will skip it this week for my new priority.

4.  Restart my sons on sewing strings together for their "Denim Blue Lagoon" quilts and cut string pieced and denim triangles for the blocks.  Nope and not sure I will get to it this week either because I've got another new prioirty.

So the list for this week is...

1. Finish the quilting on the Vintage Treasures quilt, get the clamshell binding made and finish the quilt.
2. Work on next two UGRR/Pioneer blocks (one from each).
3. New priority:  Start (and complete?) the quilting on the Charming Log Cabin quilt.

I'm going to need to try to stay on track this week because the midway check-in for the "Spring Finish" is Monday.  Hop on over to Bari's to see how everyone else is progressing.  Let's hope it's a good week for everyone!