Progress On Drunkard's Path

Alrighty then! Today we made some progress on our next project..."Drunkard's Path with a Twist" or as I like to refer to it "The Twisted Drives Me To Drink" project. 

I got all my pies and crusts cut (and I did not use the Accuquilt, as neither of the dies made were the right size). I thought it would take forever and be a pain, but it was really pretty easy, fast, and with the small rotary cutter, painless and accurate.

A couple of distractions. Late afternoon my neighbor came over to show me her fabulous t-shirt quilt, and the bottle of blood orange juice she found. Of course she also brought over a bottle of tonic that she just happened to have open, so we spent an hour or so sipping blood orange vodka tonics.

After she left I went back to snipping the tear-away (ha ha ha) stabilizer from the back of the stitched blocks until it was time to leave for dinner at my daughter's. I was able to continue snipping on the ride over and while waiting for dinner.

Once I had counted to make sure I had the right  number of everything (I had to count 3 times....must have been those vodka tonics), I started sewing. Two down, 62 to go. Woo hoo!

Tomorrow night is the first night back for the season for the quilt guild. The hubs has been reminded that he needs to bring a handtruck home and take the ride over to haul in 8 boxes of books that I'd estimate weigh about 100 lbs apiece. I hope to get a few more blocks pieced together tomorrow.

Got some wedding issues to attend to this week, and it is going to be a busy week at work. Sewing goal is to finish piecing these blocks. Overall goal is to survive the week and actually accomplish anything. :)

Leaving you with a couple more photos from Quilt Odyssey. Enjoy!

Fear the Turtle? Bwa ha ha!!! (Another OPAM Finish)

Three Heather Bailey Turtle Pincushions...check!!!!  Let's not discuss how long it took to complete them. I appreciated all of the comments of those who attempted and failed before me. You challenged me. It's all about the stuffing,and I tell 'ya, next time I see one, I'm going to get myself a 'stuffing fork'. In the meantime, I made do with a Purple Thang (which I came close to destroying), the end of a paintbrush, a pencil (eraser end....except in a couple instances I used the pointed lead end), the tips of my scissors, and finally, a chopstick.

 

Done...moving on to something new tomorrow. But since we're on a roll for finishing what we've started, maybe we'll start on the "What Was I Thinking/What Was I Drinking Drunkard's Path.  As for the rest of tonight, I'm crawling into bed with some quilt mags. A girl can only abide so many 3 a.m. bedtimes in a month, and I've certainly endured them for most of this month. Tonight we sleep!

Leaving you with a couple more quilts from Quilt Odyssey 2011.

If this looks familiar to you, it's because you might have seen it in the quilt mags you subscribe to. This was a winner at Road to California this past winter.

Check back tomorrow and see if I manage to not stray from the path of productivity. (Ahh, what's that saying about a road paved with good intentions?)

Good night all!

(edited to add photo of 'That Purple Thang'...which is a tool that every sewer should have within reach of their machine)

Road Trip!!!!!

(Screeech!!!!!!! Back up now!!! 55 THOUSAND Swarovski crystals? You don't suppose she bought those at Michaels now, do you?  That would be about 1000 packs. Man, I would not want to have been in line behind that woman!)

Took the day off work today and headed to Quilt Odyssey in Hershey, PA with my sister.

Quite the applique-centric show this year (I remember it being that two years ago as well), there was a fabulous exhibition of applique (including Baltimore album) quilts (sorry, photos not allowed) from the collection of Pat and Arlan Christ. 40 quilts from the mid 1800s were on display. My sister pointed out that most of these were in amazing shape considering they were 150 years old. Something to keep in mind as we crank out our own work....someday, 150 years from now, one of your quilts could be hanging in a show somewhere, belonging to a collector who purchased it for a small fortune. (I really need to start burying those thread ends!). But, it's more likely when I die that my daughter will just cram all my quilts in a plastic trash bag and put them out for an AmVets or Purple Hearts pick up :-).

Here's a couple highlights of the show...

This was a fun one (you've got to have some serious love for Jack Nicholson to invest the time in this one....I'm hoping to see a Johnny Depp at an upcoming show)

And it was fun to run into an old 'friend'.  I remember this quilt from Houston back in '09. It was this quilt that finally made me realize that clowns really are creepy.

Ringmasters by Denise Havlan (sorry, I didn't get a readable placard shot)

The vendor mall was just okay, not a great fabric selection, only a couple vendor selling fat quarters. I did pick up some wool and of course I did my usual bag o'thread (and spent half my mad money) at Superior Threads (10 spools of silk and a large cone of 50 wt Masterpiece for piecing). I was excited to read that Aurifil would be represented at the show, but the vendor was selling the thread for the same price our quilt shop sells it for, with no discount for multiple spools (shame on him!), so I walked away Aurifil-threadless--for full price, I'd rather give my money to my local quilt shop.

Well, it's getting late. I'll post a few more photos tomorrow. I've got to get up early and pick up some milk at the Farmer's Market and since it's so darn hot, I think I'll spend the weekend in the studio. There's Turtles to finish, Drunkard's Paths to cut, and wool applique projects to prep (yeah, yeah, yeah....off on another tangent, I go).

Gotta check when the next Mimi Dietrich class is scheduled and get my homework ready for that too (I think it might be next Sunday).

Sleep tight!