First Finish of 2014

I'm so excited to have completed my first quilt this year. It has been over 6 months since I finished a large quilt so I was a bit edgy and needed a finish.

I fell in love with this quilt as soon as I saw it on the cover of the October 2011 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting (the quilt was called Star Formation in the magazine). I knew I wanted to make it immediately but it wasn't until I signed up for a class with Paula Barnes that I got the push to actually make it.

It is a very easy pattern but sometimes you need that push, that sew a long feeling, to get you moving on a project.
I started my blocks in class, but didn't get moving on it until I went to the Modern Quilt Guild retreat last November where I completed 25 of the 50 blocks in the quilt

Then it went back in the bin until my January retreat where I completed the other 25 blocks. I would have finished the quilt there but I realized that I had not prewashed my background and sashing fabric. I do tend to prewash most of my prints and with all the other fabrics prewashed I chose to wait.

As soon as that fabric came out of the laundry I started putting it all together.

It was so large that I had to piece one half first.... 

and then the other... 

After both halves were done I just put it all together. 

I am loving the piece. 

Now I'm on the lookout of some coordinating fabric for the backing. I am looking forward to getting this one quilted.

I have a couple of other projects that are mid way through that I want to wrap up before I start another project from scratch but wtith the Dallas Quilt show just a week away... I think I might need to buy another Red Crinoline quilt Kit to work on.

This pattern was first published through American Patchwork and Quilting but Red Crinoline has since published it as a stand alone pattern. You can find it here: Regimental Stars

BTW: So sorry for the quality of the pictures on this post. I took all of them with my phone.

Claiming a Domain Name and more Paula Barnes

Not sure if you noticed but I recently claimed the domain name of www.textilehousequilts.com. I actually claimed the domain at the beginning of the year but this week I finally had the blog redirect to the new domain. I don't believe it should affect anyone that gets my feeds but you might want to update the feed just in case. I eventually want to do a little updating on the site maybe a redesign is in order...

In the meantime I uploaded the rest of the pics from Paula Barnes' trunk show and thought I'd share.

 Currently, this is my favorite remake. The pattern is called Second Hand Clothes and I love it! 

All the patterns to these quilts are available through Red Crinoline's website and many of them have kits. As one that has bought a couple of her patterns AND kits, I will says all are very well written and easy to follow.

Hope you enjoy!

My days with Paula

Last week I spent two days with the lovely Paula Barnes.

Early in the year I noticed that Paula would be in my neck of the woods offering 2 classes at a semi-local quilt shop called Happiness is Quilting. The shop is an hour away but I've driven farther to attend a class (See posts on my Kim Diehl class last October). I hesitated a bit because the class I wanted to take was Thursday and Friday which meant taking time off during a busy time of year at work, but after talking to Paula at the Dallas quilt show in March I knew I had to break down and do it. So, early May had me driving out to the quilt store to sign up for the class.

The quilt I wanted to make is called Regimental Stars and you can find it in the October 2011 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting (by the name of Star Formation). Paula also offers the pattern on the Red Crinoline site

It is not a difficult quilt to make but it sure is dramatic. I really wanted to go more for the kick in the butt the class would give me to actually make this quilt. I fell in love as soon as I pull the magazine out of my mailbox. I knew I just HAD to make it. This class was definitely inspirational.

Not only did I get to hang out with some pretty awesome gals at the class (we were a class of 3!!!)  but Paula also gave us a private trunk show. We just hung out and chatted about retreats and friends and life.

There was so much chatting going on, I made one block in two days. In my defense I did get alot of the half square triangles done!!

I also came home inspired. Ready to tackle more HST.

Sorry about the lack of updates lately. Life has been a bit interesting in my house as of late. In June I decided I was ready to add a new member to my household and went on a month long journey to adopt a pup through a rescue organization. I filled out many applications, had many interviews and even a house visit. All to make sure I was worthy of adopting. I passed with flying colors and at the end of June, after many meet and greets, lots of tail wagging and many puppy kisses, I met the one.

Penny (a Cocker Spaniel mix) joined our family two weeks ago.

Please think about adopting a rescue if you are thinking of a new pet. Penny came through the DFW Cocker Spaniel Rescue organization, but I met many, many wonderful pets through out this process. Most of these pets are in foster homes, with people that have gotten to know them. They can tell you their little quirks and if they have seen any problems. They work to place the pets in the best homes and are not offended if after you meet the pup you realize they are not the right fit for your home.They are not pushing damaged dogs onto you. They are there to help place a dog that, due to no fault of it's own, is homeless.

Penny is 2 years old and has the most darling temperament. She doesn't like everyone that comes into the house but she gives everyone a chance to win her over with treats. When she arrived she didn't play. She just looked around and sat quietly. She followed me everywhere but when I tried to engage her in any play she would just look at me. In less than two weeks she is a ball of energy and the happiest pup on the block. She jumps around and plays with all her new toys. She loves going on short walks (we live in Tx and long walks are a bit exhausting) and loves going on car rides to the local pet store. We will start basic obedience training next week but she already does Sit with no problem. We are working on Stay but that one is a bit more difficult.

I'll try to post soon with a few pictures of my trip up north for the 4th of July.

Playing Catchup

A few weekends ago I went to retreat with the gals from the Modern Quilt Guild. They are always good company and inspiring.

While there I did make a dent on my Kim Diehl project. I actually finished all the applique! Yeah me!

I glued all the big pieces down

Then stitched with the tiny zig zag and some monofilament thread.

Then I added the darn berries... all 60 of them...

And I was able to call the applique done and start on my borders.

The first one is sewn on and I'm happy with it, but this second one is definitely not convincing me so I put it aside until I could get my hands on the new Diehl line for Henry Glass. I just got it a few days ago, so I'll be able to get back to this soon.

I drew a name via the random generator for the giveaway of the Laundry Basket goodies.

The goodies go to "one line lane"...

I hoping to hear from you soon to get this prize on it's way... Check your email.

Last but not least.
A big thank you to everyone that made a donation to Bands for Brad. The event itself was a great success. It's not too late to make a donation, the link to the donation page will remain up until the end of the month.

Stay tuned for a glimpse of what I did over the weekend!

A few days with Kim Diehl (pt 3)

If you have been following along, I have been chatting about my invisible machine applique class with Kim Diehl last week.

On the second day of class I greeted Kim with an evil eye and proclaimed her not my friend. I was tired and felt a bit defeated because the leaves from the night before looked horrid (my points were not really points). She had a good laugh on my behalf.

I was to leave it all behind me and start with a fresh attitude on this beauty.

Again, the pictures don't do this quilt justice..

Kim has a fantastic eye for color

And she incorporates the patchwork into her quilts like very few can do.

Lovely, Lovely, Lovely...

After breakfast and a pep talk from Kim, I cracked open the book (pattern is Gathering Gardens from her new book Simple Charms) and saw that the patern called for 60 berries!!! 60! I let out a squeak in class that incorporated everyone's feeling on the subject. At the end of the next two days we were making berry puns left and right...

We did some pre-sewing at home for this one. 

Funny thing is, that even though there were so many berries. There were not as many leaves. 

And the color really gave you something more to think about besides the little darn circles.

By the end of the second day, I had the basic structure of this one in place. 

Enough laid out that I could actually start the sewing process.

Kim showed us how to see the layers in the piece and build up the applique. 

Can you see the stitches? I think I'm getting it! 

I had soo much fun. The others in the class were a great group of gals. They could laugh and tease as experts. Kim was such a good teacher, she squeezed in some tips on quilting using Big Stitch method as well as her unique wool applique method. I say unique because I had never seen it before. She gave us a run down of her thought process when choosing colors and, above all, that hands on help that allowed us all to walk away thinking we know what we are doing. So worth the wait!

A few days with Kim Diehl (pt 2)

Continuing with my tale of the class I took with Kim Diehl...

Monday was the first day of the class on invisible machine applique. Through the week we would be working on two projects. The first project could be made either as a large lap quilt or a small wall hanging.

This is the larger version. This picture does not do the quilt justice.

The colors are fantastic!

And the quilting just makes it pop!

This is the smaller wallhanging.

The idea was to get the basics down with this one before moving 

onto the two day project on Tuesday.

After a session where the basic concept was demo'd for us, we got to sniping the freezer paper.
Lots and lots of leaves and berries were cut. So many that my fingers were cramping.

Kim explains her method in all her books but seeing her demo it makes things just click. The idea is to use the freezer paper like most methods do but instead of ironing the shiny side to the wrong side of your fabric you tack the template in place (wrong side of the fabric) with a bit of glue from a glue stick. This will leave the shiny side facing up. You then can go in without further glue or starch and iron the seams of your piece onto that freezer paper. The seams then stick without further assistance.

Did I mention there were alot of pieces to cut and glue and iron?

This is how far I got on my project...

But I didn't feel too bad... We were all in the same boat... (This one is by Janet)

Except for some overachievers!! 

This one belongs to Barbara who was the event mgr. I thought it was a bit drool worthy.

My day ended at midnight and I STILL had not finished my leaves. I was grumbling rather loudly the next day. LOL!

A few days with Kim Diehl (pt 1)

I had been anticipating last week for months. Last May, while trolling Kim's website for her teaching schedule I found that she would be dropping into Kerrville, Texas in October. To say I immediately emailed Creations Quilt shop is an understatement.

I have not had tons of success with invisible machine applique and I really needed some help. Who better to teach you the tricks and trade than someone who's work you admire the most. That would be Kim Diehl (pronounce Deal - as in "Let's make a Deal" - I always wondered about the pronunciation of that!).

Taking a class with Kim is like hanging around a sewing machine with a buddy. I cannot tell you what a class act she is. Funny and relaxed and low stress... she repeated things to anyone that had problems "getting it" and would look over your shoulder if you were not sure you were "doing it right". But I'm really getting ahead of myself.

We started the class with a trunk show on Sunday night.

She talked about how she got into quilting and how unconventional she has always been.

She then brought out a truckload of quilts so that we could drool over them. 

This is one of my favorites just because it's on the cover of the APQ that my daughter was in.

Unfortunately the lighting in the room was sooo poor that many of the quilts photographed very dark or if I tried to play with the manual setting on the camera, they would blur. So disappointed in that.

Still, I got a few that held up.

I love this one too. I think a few quilt shops have been running this one as a BOM.

After the lecture we were able to go up and give the quilts a thorough rub down..

This one is in her latest book Simple Charms.

And this one will be in the next book (expect it some time in 2013/2014)

The night was a real treat! Many quilters that could not get into the class traveled a good distance just for the trunk show. I think it would have been well worth it.