A thank you group quilt - a year in the making!

The time is flying this year and I've found little time to post.
I have however taken lots of pictures of what I've been up to and will post them later on.

Today I wanted to post a beautiful quilt that I was lucky enough to be a part of.

Last year I participated in a Cotton Robin.  Julie runs this wonderful online group in which you send in a center block - row one.  A Round is added to your quilt - row two.  Another Round is added - row three.  Lastly the quilt is quilted, binding, label, and sleeve are added then the beautiful FINISHED (Part I like best - no UFO :) is returned to you complete! Well, last year one of the finished quilts got lost in the mail!  We were of course all upset and everyone put their hands up offering to make a replacement for the missing quilt.  Then, once the replacement quilt was started, the missing quilt showed up.  Someone, I can't remember who, suggested we make the new quilt for Julie.  At this point (small - one round, maybe two) Julie knew about the quilt.  Then we all went silent, she knew we were making 'a' quilt but never imagined it would GREW to this!


This quilt now belongs to Julie @ The Cotton Robin.

This fun quilt passed by my way in June 2013.
I received this block:

And after I added my round I sent if off looking like this:

Julie sent out a wonderful thank you to everyone involved:
Jay, Nan, Laurina, Tami, Sophie, Rachel, Marie (me), Liz, Mary Jane, Glen and Sandra. 

It was exciting to follow along and see the pictures as each row/round was added.  This quilt has traveled many miles and is filled with much love for Julie and all she does for us!!

I can't say enough about the people who run these online challenges.  Their time and energy inspires us all.  I will follow up with pictures from the round I did for the 2013 Cotton Robin in future posts.  I also plan to post on the other challenges I've been a part of and will add links so you can go and see these creative people.

I've linked up with - swing by and look at all the creative things going on!!

 
  


 

WIP Wednesday!!

It's been a great couple of weeks!!

First the quilt show are fantastic!

Terry took this picture of me outside the quilt show.  

She also took pictures of all the quilts and has posted some of the pictures on her blog: here. 

Over 115 quilts all made by my friends from the 

Souhegan Valley Quilters Guild!

Very impressive!

I recently joined the Boston Modern Quilt Guild which is very exciting for me as I am looking to Reach out in my sewing in a new way!  

Well... this past Friday some of my friends and I went to the BMQG & Seacoast Modern Quilt Guild presentation of Victoria Findlay Wolfe of 15 Minutes of Play blog & book, and Bumble Beans Inc.

Victoria was kind enough to pose with us for a picture!  

If you ever have a chance to see her in person - DO!  

She gave a wonderful presentation of her quilt history through sharing her beautiful quilts! 

Victoria posted this YouTube taped at the presentation!

Do you hear the energy in her voice? 

Her  whole presentation has that same energy!!

We all walked away very inspired by Victoria and Lisa T. issued our group a challenge:

Make a DWR quilt - 1 to 4 blocks - anything goes!  

Due January 23, 2014!!  

I can't wait to get started on this and to see what everyone comes up with!!

For my WIP this week...

I joined Quilting Gallery's Fall-Inspired Mug Rugs Swap

and if you are looking for a way to reach out to other creative quilters this is a great group to check out!  I have been in several of the swaps now and am always impressed with my partners and the quilts I have received!

This swap paired me up with  

Giorgia Marcato from Italy!  

Luckily her English is good as my Italian is non-existent!!

Turns out the Giorgia is an amazing artist who recently had an exposition of her quilts!  WOW!!  

Here is a tiny sneak peek at one of the mug rugs I am sending her way...

This one is really a mini art quilt! Love how it turned out... 

I'll share the finished Mug Rugs once Giorgia has received them!!

   For lots of exciting creations visit:

So what are you currently up to???

Happy creating! Marie

 

WIP Wednesday! Quilt Show Time!!

This past weekend I had the honor of being the Chairperson for the 

Souhegan Valley Quilts Guild 

"Falling into Comfort" Quilt Show...

This beautiful quilt belongs to my friend Faye - it won BOTH the Committee Choice & Viewers Choice awards! Which her work greatly deserved!!

What a fantastic community for woman I worked with for this show.

Everyone of them made a difference and the show was an enormous success due to all of their efforts!

I was lucky enough to have my daughter stop by and visit (with my hubby who is behind the camera) during my session as a 'white glover'.

Here we are doing our version of the 'skinny arm' :)

And one more shot which happened to catch me next to one of my quilts.

Mine's the log cabin to my right (left in picture) - This quilt was started in 2001, machine quilted by Lisa @ Garden Gate Quilting in 2011, and the binding & label were finished LAST WEEK! Just in time for the show!

I will post some closeups of the beautiful feathers on this quilt plus I have several quilts that I will show over the next few weeks.

As far as my WIP - Well there have been a LOT of labels & binding...

I'm thinking I should put quilts in more shows as I am amazed at how caught up I am at this moment! I doubt it will last though...

There is one other special project I just completed as a small thank you to the quilt show committee that I will show you next week...

One of the packages is in the mail to Texas! and I don't want to spoil the surprise!!

So what has kept you busy this past week??

For lots of interesting happenings stop by

 

Wordless Wednesday! Sunset over Lake Sunapee! We are indeed blessed!!

Photo Credit: Eric Joerger

WIP - Busy, busy!!

Been a while since I've taken the time to blog.... So thought I'd run through a little update of what I've been busy with!

First, my guild is having a Quilt Show and I'm part of the committee so we've been very busy with making all the arrangements.  This is the first Quilt Show I've been involved with and I'm very excited to see it all come together.  There are more than 110 member quilts that will be shown PLUS:

There are 31 mini quilts made by our members that are being raffled: Souhegan Valley Quilters Guild

(online tickets are available for purchase through 9/30) 

 

Terry is in charge of the Raffle Baskets which we are putting together tomorrow night so I'm not on the sure of the count though I've seen the loot: fabric, patterns, books, tools, thread+++ and I know I'll be buying some tickets!

A BIG thank you to all who have donated! 

Check out the vendor donation list below:

Needle Travel

All People Quilt

Gütermann Thread

The Electric Quilt Company

Michael Miller Fabrics

Fons and Porter’s Love of Quilting

Mountainpeek Creations

Laundry Basket Quilts

Jennifer Jangles

Auriful Threads

Patchalot Patterns

The Pattern Peddlers

Paper Pieces

Garden Gate Quilting

Avlyn

A Quilter’s Dream

Bunkhouse Quilt Shop

The Patchwork Pearl

Bits N Pieces Quilt Shop

Quilt Away

 
We will also have a Boutique of wonderful handmade items made by our members.  I recently ran a Boutique night at the guild where members brought their machines and I brought patterns I drew up, 'how to' boards with step by step instructions, as well as written instructions and kits.  The 4 items I presented were two different coasters, tissue holders, and coffee cup cozies...  I have to say that our current president, Patty, was a MACHINE! at the production of coasters, she enlisted two friends who did the ironing and turning and wa-la! Not an one original as I give Pinterest as well as the many blog I follow all the credit for the ideas and drew up patterns from those ideas to present with the kits.  My night alone netted 75 or so items for the boutique so if you are looking for Christmas presents you should stop on by and see René and Lisa in the boutique!!  (For more information on the boutique items and link to patterns visit my other blog: http://www.quiltarie.blogspot.com/)

Here's my current project... when I'm not binding quilts and adding labels for the quilts I am putting in the show!

At a retreat a couple of weeks ago I finally got this quilt together.  This past weekend I added borders.  

You may remember this from the February 2013 retreat - here's a beginning picture! and link to the blog.

All for now!  Marie

Check out Freshly Pieced WIP-Wednesday! 

Wordless Wednesday! Beautiful!!

Wordless Wednesday!

WIP Wednesday...

Here are a few more pics of my current quilt project...  

 (This picture links back to the original post on this quilt)

I have continued to work on this project.  

I'm now working on the second of four quarters.  

Here are some process shots:

 Ironing open the seams as I go helps a lot when it comes to 

adding the batiks...

 

Here's the Personality Shot!!

The SEAMS seem to add a LOT of personality to this quilt!

 Be sure to cut open the seams on the jeans before drawing you circles... I didn't discover this until I was cutting the 5th pair of jeans... 

 Here the next quarter is put together in rows... 

I found that working in row groups of 2 or 3 are the easiest to move around on my sewing machine...

 Then it's deciding where to place the batiks...

 I was trying to not repeat the same batik across or up and down...

Close, but there are a couple of repeats...

I think I'm pretty happy with the layout so far...

Not sure how it will be to attach the two quarters together... 

Let you know soon!! 

Have a wonderful week! For lots of fun and creative quilting check out 

 

To see what everyone else is up to!

Marie

WIP Wednesday!

Long time... No SEW!! I know! I have actually sewn - a little - but this past weekend my 'boys' well two of them... Went out and had a grand old time 4-wheeling....

and I had some lovely, long overdue, Studio Time!!

Here's a long standing - long  thought about - project that I finally dove into!

 I had seen something along this idea ages ago and was reminded of it recently through Pinterest... Ok - first...  Raise your hand if you LOVE Pinterest!?!

This is my board of fun recycle Jean Ideas:
http://pinterest.com/mariejoerger/jeans-denim-indigo/

People have come up with some wonderful ideas to do with our old jeans...

There is a pattern available on Etsy if you follow the link in Pinterest but I just flew by the seat of my pants (or his?!??) As I worked my way through cutting up his old worn out jeans I saw a bit of paint from the condo in Nashua where we first blended our families into one.  Then there was paint from the interior of Hollis where we moved our brunch to a larger home as they grew...  The red paint from the front door redo and the new shed...  On and on it went the memories surrounding me as I cut away.  This is turning out to be a memory quilt which will cuddle us in warmth and memories of our lives together....

So, I went with 6" circles as it happens that was the size that worked well with the jeans I was using...  AND that is another story...

My hubby is looking Excellent these days - it's his birthday today and I am so proud of him!!... About a year ago he got serious about his health and dropped 30 lbs +-...  No he didn't exercise... he just cut out the 'crap' in his diet, mostly too much juice and BUTTER... and watched what else he eat... and off it came!  This, of course meant that we ate more vegetables than the local rabbits but hey - it's all good and YES I lost weight too  :)

3 lbs!  

Seriously... 3 lbs - that's it and YES I exercise... step machine, yoga, wear a pedometer everyday... Guess I already had most of my diet in order..   Now that 'last 10 pounds' well - it seems 'we' have a relationship that will not easily be broken!!!  But I'm working on it... We'll see  :)

Happy Summer!  Be back soon... sooner than this time!!
Marie

 

Click here to see what everyone else is up to!

Wordless Wednesday! Railroad Bridge... 40' tall! or more?!

photo credit: Eric Joerger

Wordless Wednesday! Sure sign it's Spring in Sunapee!