Patchwork Breeze: May 2016

5/31/2016

Opposites Attract Blog Hop and Giveaway Begins

Today begins

My post day is June 3.

Be sure to come back, see my block and enter the giveaway.

Until then, visit the other designers today and tomorrow

and enter the daily giveaways.

Schedule

Visit the other designers participating in the next few days.

June 1
Tweety Loves Quilting
Quilt In A Not-Shell
Life in the Scrapatch
Kathy (at Seams To Be Sew)
My Quilty Musings

June 2

DesertSky Quilting
RidgeTop Quilts
Words & Stitches
VROOMANS QUILTS

June 3

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

June 6

June 7

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Finding myself as an artist

Seams To Be Sew

5/25/2016

Island Batik Playful Paper Piecing

The ambassadors were to make a "playful paper pieced" items for May's challenge.

My challenge is called Palmiers.

I used EQ7 to design a rectangular block which appears to spiral. I printed two paper piecing patterns spiraling in one direction, and reversed two more patterns to spiral in the other direction. In this manner, they would meet and touch along the left and right sides of the project.

They remind me of palmier cookies or appetizers, thus the name Palmiers.

Thank you, Martha Stewart

and Pepperidge Farms.

This was a fun project and I know I will make another one with some seasonal themed fabrics.

Have you ever seen or made a project based on some food?

Did the food inspire you?

Was it the colors or the shapes that brought that thought of food to mind?

On June 3, I will be posting my block for

Be sure to visit Seams To Be Sew on June 1.

That is the day the Blog Hop begins.

There are a number of great giveaways at each of

the designers' blogs/websites.

"Enjoy a moment of stitching each day."

5/23/2016

Robert's Quilt Shop-So Many Fabrics!

The first day on the quilters bus trip, we made our way from Michigan to Crest Hill, Illinois, to visit Robert's Sewing Center. Gosh, our tour director find the best shops!

While the skies were a bit dreary, we had BOLTS of fabrics inside to brighten our day.

Can you believe this photo? It only shows one side of the store!

Here is the other side.

But there was another area off to the right side, too.

The classroom was very spacious.

I like the concept of using the television for video lessons and such.

This was one area off to the side as we came in the back doors.

I don't know about you, but when I get into a shop with so many choices in fabrics,

I get overloaded.

I looked, touched, chatted with my fellow quilters about their choices.

I finally found some fat quarters of landscape fabrics that I liked.

I knew I was going to be working on some small pieces

and these seemed to hold possibilities of incorporation.

The staff were cheerful, very helpful and did a great job of checking us out with ease.

I will leave you with a few more photos of this great shop.

Now, off to the sewing machine to finish quilting my Island Batik

Playful Paper Piecing Project

which I will reveal in a few days.

You can visit the other ambassadors to see their projects.

Pamela Quilts

Quilting Affection Blog

Kauffman Designs

Bejeweled Quilts

Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Moosestash Quilting

BeaQuilter

Fun Thread Designs

Free Motion by the River

Adventurous Applique and Quilting

Happy sewing to all of you.

5/21/2016

Our Missouri Star Quilt Company Visit

Wednesday, May 11 was our tour group's visit to Missouri Star Quilt Company

(MSQC) and the town of Hamilton, Missouri.

In my previous post HERE, I talked about the lecture/trunk show

by Jenny Doan. After that wonderful 2 hours ended, we had a few hours to explore.

The MSQC is a group of buildings on both sides of the main street in town.

Each building houses different fabric departments, some downstairs and upstairs

(or via the elevator).

The main store was being remodeled and is scheduled to reopen in mid June.

Some of the fabrics departments I looked at included baby and kids, florals, blenders/solids, fresh/modern, Civil War/Reproductions, 30s, licensed fabrics, seasonal and backings. I even found the batik store with the largest selection of Island Batiks I have seen.

Each one of the shops was well lit, decorated very nicely and tidy.

There is Man's Land for a husband or tired shopper to relax.

The Machine Shed is a store with gadgets, templates and sewing machines.

All the staff is helpful and friendly.

I was looking for a specific color of backing for a t-shirt quilt I am working on.

The young lady who I asked gave me information about all the departments

where I might find the right color. I did find one color in the blender area

that I think will work just perfectly!

We had lunch catered by Hank and Tank's BBQ.

The food was terrific and portions were filling.

I enjoyed the visit and hope to return some day.

Visit their website to learn about the fabric departments HERE.

5/18/2016

Home After Quilt Trip

I am home after 9 days. I spent the day before my departure at my daughter's apartment which is hours closer to the pick-up site than my home. Upon returning, I drove to my sister's house for an overnight visit before traveling 3+ hours home.

And in between those two stay-overs, I was on the road in a comfortable coach with 52 other quilters! We traveled from Michigan to Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Iowa. I will share bits and pieces of the excursion over the next few weeks.

I want to tell you that one of our destinations was Hamilton, Missouri. A visit to the Missouri Star Quilt Company was the highlight of this stop.

Not only were we able to shop the many fabric departments (which are located in different buildings), but our day included a 2-hour lecture and trunk show by Jenny Doan, herself! She is as charming in person as she comes across on her videos.

I got so many ideas for quilting projects with her simple, straight-forward explanations of patterns.

I took just a little time to try the Disappearing 9-Patch that Jenny talked about with some Island Batik fabrics.

She has a video HERE.

I wanted to explore what 3 colors in a triadic color scheme would look like.
I cut 5" squares of Island Batik fabrics. The purple and green are from the Wind and Sea Collection and the red is from the Coral Reef Collection.

Here are my steps in making the blocks.

And this is the quilt top that resulted.

And, speaking of Island Batik fabrics, there is a blog hop going on this month with the ambassadors paper piecing and using the newest fabrics. Take a look at what has been posted so far. Mine is coming near the end of the month. I will post more links when they are revealed.

Pamela Quilts

Quilting Affection Blog

Kauffman Designs

Bejeweled Quilts

Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Moosestash Quilting

BeaQuilter

Fun Thread Designs

5/08/2016

Chinese Quilt Exhibit

On Saturday, April 30, I visited the Michigan State University Museum to see

the Chinese Quilt Exhibit on its last day.
I am so happy that photos were allowed.

My daughter treated me to an early Mother's Day Brunch at The Soup Spoon Cafe where I had the North Eastern Omlette: eggs, crabmeat, onions, tomatoes and spinach with a basil sauce on top. Extremely good.

The quilts are made with layers of fabrics to use as bedcovers. The beds are small. Even though the quilts are small, they are elaborate and made by hand. Many had no identifying labels, so the makers were unknown and the dates estimated. (A lesson to label the quilts we make.)

The colors caught me as I entered the exhibit hall. The details were spectacular.