Please Help, TESTING Today

Spinning the 4-patches is FUN.  I can't believe I finally can do this!

This was the block I made in Bonnie Hunter's Class last week. I felt the Pink was ok, but too light to make the chains stand out in the whole quilt.  I've been testing other colors and fabrics to decide which to use. Please help me decide.  I wanted the PINK because of the grandbabies coming.  I am waiting to find out about the 2nd one but the first one is PINK!

1- Green with light Blue

2- Navy with light Blue

                     
                           3-Hot Pink with the Light Blue

My right hand has a cramp in it from all the cutting, carrying heavy stuff and playing at the Block Party and I'm trying not to use it so it will feel better.  I can play on my wall though.  This happened before when I was pulling bolts from the bottom of the stacks at Trends. OUCH! I have a brace, I will have to put it back on...

Bonnie Hunter called the Moda Swirl , "the Eternal Swirl". I had to go and buy some in the Hot pink!
Please leave your choice of 1,2,or 3 in the comments. 

Happy Friday.  Have a Great EASTER week-end.

Wake up, It's Wednesday!

I woke up this morning and checked Bonnie's Blog.  I was on there again, with my Easy Busy Street! I like the pictures I got a bit better, it included Bonnie. There were more quilters that brought their quilts to classes with Bonnie.  Go to Bonnie Hunter's Blog HERE.

I still have more pictures to show. I can hardly believe it's been a whole week since I left home to go to the Block Party!  I was so happy to get a FRONT row seat for Bonnie's Lecture and Trunk show.  These quilts are even more amazing in person! Some of the names I can't remember but they are all in her Books, and I BOUGHT them all so she could sign them, of course.

  She brings as many as will fit in two green duffle bags that weigh 50 pounds. That's a Lot of Quilts.
She talked a lot about her Scrap users system and Bonus Triangles.

 
4 patches in creams and Blue, love the setting, don't you??

The one above was made when she needed to use up some PINK strings.  The back is made of Orphan Blocks sewn in rows. I loved the scalloped edge too.
Next up- Just 9 patches being held by Julie Herman and Gundren Erla, (aka: Holders and Folders)

Scrappy Heaven!  Hexies, Hour glass, Bowties, Bonus Triangles and More String quilts above.

Scrappy Trips on the Left below and Strings on the right below

Midnight Flight on the left and Turkey Tracks on the right.

 Bonnie's "Easy Street" being held by Beth Furrier.

Two more from Bonnie's Class.  On the left is from Krista Yokum. On the right is Mary Shoop, from Tri-cities.  She came up and introduced herself the first night.  Like me she chose to go to the Block Party and miss the Quilt show.  What a Show we had though!  These two were shown on Bonnie Blog too.  

The last two were some from Quiltmaker Magazine.  They showed some of their quilts every evening before Dinner.  There are many more, I could/should make a slideshow on here, but I need to GO QUILT SOMETHING! Happy Wednesday!

New Friends at the Block Party

On Saturday I had the pleasure of sitting at the same table in Jo Morton's class with 3 fellow quilters.  Thanks, Doni, Linda and Kristi.
We realized we had taken all three of the same classes at the BLOCK PARTY. It was so fun to get to know them. Doni even shared some of her cute Jo Morton fabric with me to fussy cut for my Emily's Basket block. Kristi had the same print in  Blue. I can make my next block using it. This class was hand-piecing, something I've not really done before.  I have done English Paper Piecing and Hexies which are similar.

 Here is my finished Hand-Pieced Emily's Basket Block from class. Jo showed us how to spin and press the center of the block so it is totally flat.  I learned so much in this class, how to cut templates with an exacto knife and how to do the 'no knot' hand piecing. Jo gave us her Book rather than make up paper handouts for the class.  Mine is signed on the page where this pattern is found. There isn't a Jo's Club locally, but I am on her Yahoo group.

Kristi had a great collection of mini blocks that they had hand pieced and made. The Four patch square in a square on the right was made using a Tutorial from Pam Buda found HERE.

  Pictured below are Linda, Jo Morton and Kristi Marymee from California and Me with Jo and Doni, who blogs HERE from her home that is right by the Pacific ocean in Brookings, Oregon.

  

This is Linda's Friendship swap blocks that she made into a bag. Such fun itty-bitty blocks. 

This is me and Krista Yokum in front of Bonnie Hunter's Fabric Food Chain Quilt on the first night.  She came up and asked if I did any of the SBS Swaps from Jennifer Chiaverini's Bridal Sampler group???  I will have to look now that I'm home and see if I have any of the blocks that she made. She lives in California and brought her Husband with her to the Block Party.  They Celebrated their 20th Anniversary by coming to Oregon.  He came and helped her gather and carry all her stuff after class. She took all 3 days of Bonnie Hunter's classes. They are featured on Bonnie's Blog HERE. I sat next to her on the first day in the Midnight Flight Class.

Another Bonnie Fan who brought her family with her was Carmen from Alberta Cananda.  She is famous on Bonnie's Blog HERE. I had to take her picture with her first Midnight Flight Block.  Notice it spins the correct way. Bonnie said it doesn't really matter as long as they all spin the same in the quilt.

 I met Marilyn on the first day before it was time to Register and go to Bonnie Trunck show and lecture. She took the Mystery class with Debbie Caffery and brought her block to show at dinner Friday night. We had such fun showing off our blocks and laughing until 10pm that night. June had us put the paper plate on our heads and draw a 9-patch on it, then she had us add other shapes in each square. It's hard to do, try it sometime with your Quilt-y friends.  I had to take a picture of the center of our Table.  Marilyn won all of the fat quarters folded into the Star, but she shared with me and Doni.  It's from Gundrun Erla's Nordic Visions line. You can read more about her HERE. Another cute idea for decorating with fabric.

 This is a class I'd like to have taken with Beth Furrier.  I went to visit  stalk her class a couple times so I could get her to sign a 'siggy' square and take her picture. It was interesting to watch her demonstrate with the projector.  I have her Machine Piecing book so I can try and make something pretty like the project she is holding up. I've saved her Block of the Month patterns and have been a Follower on her Blog for a while.

June Dudley is the Editor of Quiltmaker.  I stopped to have a picture taken with her near the end of Saturday.  Quiltmaker made it so much fun to be there and the Sponsors were so generous with all of the goodies I brought home with me.  THANKS is an understatement for the Once in a Lifetime Event they planned. I felt so Lucky to be able to go.  I know there were many who wished they could have gone and were jealous of me, I had to just make the jump and get on the list to go and I'm so glad I did.
And last of all here is that Beautiful Rainbow that we were all looking at Friday.

Design Wall Monday/3 NewFO's- March 25, 2013

I had an amazing time at the QUILTMAKER BLOCK PARTY in Portland.  My camera and phone were busy and I have sooo many pictures to share.  It took some time to edit them and cut out the excess. I'll just show 2 of  the New Projects I started.  This is the last week of March.

Thursday was my Bonnie Hunter Class- "Midnight Flight". Pictured behind Bonnie and I in the up-close picture I took from my phone.

 I FINALLY learned to spin those 4-patches.  These are made from 1-1/4" strips. The next photo is 1/4 unit of the Midnight Flight Block laid out.

Here are my 2 tries to get the center spinning the "right" way. I did a bit of un-sewing to make it the same as the picture. 88 pieces in one block.  I have parts and pieces ready to make more, but only 1 got completed in class.  I'll be making a change in the tone of the pink 4-patches.  They aren't showing off the chain like I want them to.  I sewed the whole day on my featherweight.  You might have seen me on Bonnie's BLOG.   More blocks from the class.

 Here we are again with my "Easy, BUSY Street" quilt at the Show and Tell she had with every class. I got her to sign it on the back label and she also signed 'siggy squares' and all of her books for me. She is just as fun as you see on QUILTCAM and I'm so glad I took a class from her first!  A great start to the Block Party. Her lecture and Trunk show was Wednesday night and I sat on the front row, up close!

Friday's class was with Debbie Caffery- the quilt is called "Thank your Lucky Stars"
I learned a new trick to using the Marti Michell templates, even though I've been using them for a long time. The whole Quilt is pictured, she also showed it in current fabrics and as a table runner with wonky turned stars. I took my Jackie Robinson "Roses" fabrics to make this quilt.  There are two blocks and the Flying geese border. This NewFo might get finished first.

Debbie Caffery and me with 2 of my blocks behind up on the wall.

 I made 2 of the 2nd block and tested the fabrics before going to lunch. Leave it to me to NOT follow the Pictures, see the dark outside corners?  There were a variety of fabrics used in class. I loved looking at the different choices.  We learned to cut the stripes to go all around the 2nd block. We had a lot of fun watching the Fishing Boats and the pretty full Rainbow outside the window that afternoon too. That picture must still be on my phone. I had to use it on Friday because I left my camera on the table at Dinner Thursday night.  Long story... I'll post the Saturday class and more FUN in future posts.

Linking up to Judy L.over HERE at Patchworktimes today.

Linked to Cat Patches HERE  for the NewFO challenge too.