Thursday, January 22, 2015

Today's news

Hi!  I want to thank all my new followers on the blog.  The response from the Island Batik Sock Hop Blog Hop has been wonderful.  I'm truly honored by all the positive comments on my bed runner.  

A note about the furniture store:  My bedroom is lavender.  My quilt is purples and lavender ( it's the one in my header).  My bedroom furniture is a mix of furniture I refinished, and fabric covered tables, and I don't have a headboard.  I love my bed, and my room suits my purposes, but it's NOT suitable for photographing a teal and olive brown bed runner.  I asked another local friend, and her room is purples and grey.  The idea of asking to take some "lifestyle" photos in a furniture store was born more of desperation (and snow on the ground) than creativity.  It worked out wonderfully for me, as I'm happy with the look of my quilt on elegant furniture.  I do suggest you call your shop, first, and ask permission.  The first place I called said I would need permission from their corporate office.  Rich at Ashley Furniture in Wind Gap was very helpful.  Most often I can use my guest room twin bed for photos, but in this case, with a queen size runner, I needed a queen size bed.  So, I made some calls, and got lucky. 

This is what I've been working on this week.  

First, I wanted to do the Aurifil Designer of the Month Mini Quilt.  One of my goals this year is to work on piecing accuracy.  I LOVE the block that Gudrun designed, and picked 2 batiks, one a rich purple, and the other a grey, to create this block.  The directions were good, (just check your margins before printing, I lost a few lines in the header/footer) and it was fun to do.  

Here's my version of the top.  I'm hoping some inspiration will strike and I can get this quilted, and hang it in my PURPLE bedroom.  I have just the spot for it.  But this is a challenge piece, and entries posted to their Flickr page have a chance to win Awesome Aurifil Thread!  It really is the best thread. 

On Tuesday, I took a ride to Tunkhannock, PA, to Endless Mountains Quilt Shop.  Jeannette had decided to close her shop, and I'm sad about that.  It was a great shop, and I loved visiting for past NE PA Shop hops, as well as Airing of the Quilts.  I was able to pick up a few pieces of fabric, before she closed the store.  These were priced at $4 a yard.  The woman in line before me got quite a few pieces I would have purchased, but I'm very happy to add these to future quilts, or a tote bag.  I picked up the Cigar print for Christine, though.  
These average about 2 yards each (some were end of bolts).  Thanks, EMQ, for being a great shop.  

And, I worked on the Quilt Shop Gal's January FMQ Challenge.  
I picked some lavender fabric, and lavender Aurifil 50wt Mako cotton thread, and used the inspiration from LuAnn Kessi's feathered heart post for my design.  I cut a heart shape from some large paper, and used a blue washout marker to trace the heart shape, and drew lines inside to help guide my feathers.  I haven't done many curvy feathers, so I really needed this practice.  Here's the finished pillow.  It measures about 20" by 22", and I just sewed the top, left an opening for turning and stuffing, and hand sewed that closed.  Outside the heart, I drew a frame around, at about 12 by 14", and did just a stipple in that area, then added another 3" frame, and did a feathered border in that.  Warm & Natural batting, and some muslin for the quilting part, and I used the same fabric as the front, on the back.  I'm pretty happy with this effort, and it's going on my PURPLE bed.  




I'm very happy with my challenge results.  Both pieces were good practices for my goals this year.  I do suggest you try the Aurifil mini quilt, as well as one of the choices for QuiltShopGal's FMQ challenge.  Let me know if you do!  I would love to see your work.  

Remember, the Sock Hop Blog Hop is still happening, and there's lots of fun inspiration and chances to win fabric.  I hope you've entered mine!  The details are HERE!

Thanks again for visiting.  I'll announce my winner soon!  I've selected some really pretty batiks, so make sure you leave a comment on the Sock Hop post at that last link.  

Have a wonderful weekend!  
Maryellen

10 comments:

Christine said...

You have been been with the challenges. Good luck! And I have some of the hot chocolate fabric in my stash too! And thanks for the cigar fabric.

Marjorie's Busy Corner said...

wonderful job on your challenge pillow...I ned ,ice more practice on those curvy feathers, but it was fun

Karin said...

You have been busy. Great job on the pillow.

BillieBee (billiemick) said...

Looks wonderful in purple. I'm sending you inspirational vibes.... ((((( )))))

to quilt it....:)

Rhonda Kennedy said...

Beautiful...

Fiona said...

popping in from the fmq linky party... great result with your heart cushion...
Hugz

Ray and Jeanne said...

Great job on the challenge pillow - love your quilting. ~Jeanne

Martha said...

Your quilting looks fabulous!!! :^)

Anonymous said...

Your pillow makes a lovely soft accent to a room!

Can't Stop Stitchin said...

What a pretty pillow.
mary