Blog Anniversary and a Giveaway

Another blog anniversary

has rolled around.

 It was in August, 2009

 Me, 1954

that I sat down at the computer and began 

sharing stories, quilty things, and 

other thoughts that fluttered through my mind.

Looking back,

blogging has been a way for me to 

document my journey and I've been

so happy that so many of you,

who I refer to as my blogging friends, have

 

taken the time to ride along with me.

It's been a lovely way for 

me to connect with other quilters

of like mind and, more so,

quilters who have challenged me to look beyond

my own comfort zone. 

Now it's time

 to thank everyone with 

with 5 different opportunities to win!

a yummy charm pack                                   a new mini cutting mat

or

star pins for keeping track of blocks or rows, etc....

or

how about a little snap bag with goodies

 or maybe this

another cute bag with FQ's.

In order to win

 leave a comment 

and be sure to become a "follower".

****

Are you a charm pack

collector or do you actually use them?

Running Man will draw 

the names of 5 lucky winners at the end of the day,

August 30th. 

(If you are a nonreply commentor,

please be sure to  leave an email:0)

Life is short.

Enjoy each and every day!

Until Next Time-

Kyle

Remaining Neutral

Using colors from nature

 can be a way to help remain neutral

when choosing a color palette.

But when there's a rainbow of colors

surrounding us, it can be a challenge.

Last January I began working on the

BOM found on The Quilt Show

designed by the late Sue Garman.

I looked to the colors of the southwest,

the desert tones.

Starting with the center medallion

and adding each new border
month to month.

The most challenging
has been what I've called

 "geese flying in circles"

It was paper pieced and seemed
to take forever.
Wait, it did take forever!

On a recent trip to Santa Fe
I took my quilt top and
found a lovely adobe room
in which to photograph it.

It's not finished yet.
But the colors are definitely what I was striving for.

Last week I worked on the next border, pinwheels.

All those half square triangles were
trimmed and perfectly sized and
the borders  went together lickety split,
or as fast as you can sew a pinwheel border,
which isn't really very fast.

Two floater borders had to be figured out,
 sewn on and
then finally,
 those spinning pinwheels.

This is where I am today.

Next up,
more flying geese.
Not Running Man's favorite visiting yard bird!#@!

 I'll remain neutral
and continue on.

Until Next Time-

Kyle

The County Fair

Another week has flown by.

I've been helping my daughter reorganize

her 2nd grade classroom,

getting ready for my Florida daughter's visit,

and even had a bit of time for some sewing.

More hst's to trim.

****

The interesting part of my week was

being a quilt judge for the local county fair.

The day started early with

stacks of quilts waiting to be unfolded,

and having them shout, "look at me!"

"I want one of these."

Better yet,

"I want one of these!"

The fair guidelines try to make this a 

positive experience for everyone who enters.

All the quilts are accepted and hung.

The judges accentuate the positive and

provide feedback in areas where technical skills

 might need some improvements.

Even then, it's still a competition.

There are commonalities that can be critiqued,

are the blocks square,

are the borders straight,

are applique edges smooth,

is there even distribution of quilting,

  and don't forget about that binding.

It was a long day,

and I hope that the quilts that I looked at

and critiqued felt that it was done fairly.

It's a heavy responsibility as a judge to look at someone's

work and then making comments,

 and

it takes courage and confidence for the quiltmaker

to enter a quilt show, locally or not. 

 Hopefully, we all had 

a positive experience.

Until Next Time-

Kyle