Quilt Show and Half-Square Triangles

The quilt show was a bust! It was like throwing a party and nobody came. The vendors were disappointed. The guild was disappointed. And the quilter's missed out. Too bad. There were lots of beautiful quilts to see and lots of fun stuff to buy. With such poor attendance, I was lucky to eek out a small profit. Always better than a loss! Oh well, three weeks to my next show and it's in town. No long distances to travel. Even better!
Remember how I told you that I demonstrated my Stitching Lines at the quilt show. I have made enough half-square triangles to last me a lifetime. And I finally got some of them sewed into a lap quilt. The quilt has 54o half-square triangles, and I haven't even started to scrape the bottom of the barrel. It is 20 HSTs x 27 HSTs.



Time to start sewing some more together!

Another Show

Just a quick note here...........Andy and I set up my booth this morning at CSUF. This is the Orange County Quilter's Guild Quilt Show. We have become pretty effecient at booth set up. Just under two hours and we were done. And Carol and I pride ourselves on how fast we can tear it apart. We have been known to be on the road in 45 minutes from the minute the show closes. As much as I like doing a quilt show..........I love the drive home after the last day!!! If anyone out there in Bloggerland is in Fullerton, CA this weekend, come on by and say hello.

Slow Start

The first three hours of the San Diego Quilt Show were pretty slow. All the vendors around me decided I was the only one to make a sale, actually 4 sales. Last night was only a preview night and was extremely sloooooooooow. My daughter Jill brought along her leather purses and made one sale. Hope it gets better the next three days.
Oh, and talk about a litter awkward. My previous boss (Quilt in a Day) set up their booth right across from me. Oh, well.........someone to talk to.
You can see Jill's leather purses at her Etsy shop.

Concert

That really is a picture of James Taylor. I apologize for the absolutely terrible quality. Like I said before, I am no photographer.
After setting up my booth at the San Diego Quilt show, I met my husband at Carl's Jr for a delectable gourmet meal and then headed out to Valley Center for a James Taylor concert.
The music was great...lots of oldies, but goodies. Lots of standing and dancing..........not me, but others. I just do some toe dancing! The crowd was quite a bit older. I would like to say older than me, but most were probably close to the same age.
James Taylor is my husband, Dave's favorite singer.....always has been, so he was very happy to finally get to see him.

My Car Is Packed

My trusty Mazda 5 is all packed up for the San Diego Quilt show. My car is not a mini van, even though my kids all call it that. It is what Mazda calls a Sport Wagon. Doesn't that sound less like a "soccer mom car"? But the kids say if it has sliding doors, it's a van. I guess you could call it a mini, mini van!


Actually, I once was a soccer mom, to three soccer players and only one time did I have a van. We called it our bus...........it was a yellow Volkswagon camper van. We actually tried camping in that a few times with the five of us. I remember everything had to be put outside at night just to make room for all the beds. After that, I always drove a sedan. I never did need the big mini van. Everything fit in the trunk.
But, once the kids were grown and on there own, I needed something bigger......so that I could go to quilt shows as a vendor. So that's what I have now........a sport wagon.
Even so, the small size of this car pretty much determines what I can take to a show.
At the San Diego show, there are very nice men(union workers) who will unload my car and load it back up). Isn't that wonderful!

Today, my friend Candace, of Squash House Quilts, posted some beautiful purses that she tested for Stephanie over at Loft Creations. The purses are gorgeous and certainly give Candace a head start on her fall accessories. I think I want to make a few of those.

Well, I am off. Hope it is a good show.

Rescued!

I rescued my quilt and changed the design!
I foolishly used some brand new fabric that I had bought in Maine while on my vacation. It's a beautiful batik with a bluish green background and green leaves. I thought it would work as a border and then I would pull it in to the interior part of the quilt. I was wrong. It is fine as a border, but looses it's impact when cut into smaller pieces.
And yes, I can save the quilt. I will probably give it to my daughter, Carol. She loves anything with blue and green.
By just changing color placement, I think this design will work............in different fabric. Do I see a shopping trip in my future?
I wish I could show you more. Just a peak, since it is a new design in progress!

See how the upper triangle fades into the background and the lower one contrasts with the background. It's the same fabric. The top should have the same look as the bottom. It really makes a difference in the design.

Ramblings

Do you know what I did yesterday? The ultimate screw-up in quilting!!
I cut wrong and wasted fabric and now I don't have enough. I really need the same fabric. A substitute won't do. I had to just put it away last night. I was so mad. That means a trip to a shop 45 minutes away. And I bought it so long ago, that I am doubtful that the shop will still have it in stock. Does the word BUMMER come to mind???

I am going to my first guild meeting today!
I have always thought about visiting a guild, but for some reason never did. But my neighbor and friend, Jane, has talked me into going. Actually, I don't think she has ever gone before either. We both needed moral support!
It should be fun as there will be a speaker talking about machine quilting. And boy, do I need all the help I can get in that department. In fact, I just dropped off another quilt, yesterday, with my quilter buddy, Amie. She does wonders. I pretty much let her do her thing.
I do have a little quilting setup, a Juki and a Grace frame. But, beside the fact that I can't get to it right now (due to Andy's temporary move back home), it is something that I have never really gotten the hang of. I don't have the paitence for practicing. I only put on good quilts. And since I don't want to ruin them, I just quilt what I know how......stipling and meandering. That can get pretty boring!
Maybe I will learn some new tricks today. I love a good demo.

Just a pretty picture to end my blog.
Have a good day!

Flying Geese Blocks and Stitching Lines

I thought you would like to see how to make Flying Geese blocks using
Marin & Colusa Stitching Lines. I love this method. There is no waste and blocks come out perfect, as long as you have cut and placed the squares accurately. I made (4) unfinished 3" x 5-1/2" Flying Geese blocks. Stitching Lines will work with any size Flying Geese block up to 3-1/2" x 6-1/2".

To make (4)unfinished 3" x 5-1/2" Flying Geese blocks you will need (1) 6-1/4" square for the goose and (4) 3-3/8" squares for the sky.
Measure the diagonal of the large square. You can use the Stitching Lines as your ruler. Cut the Stitching Lines strip 1/4" shorter than the diagonal.

Stack a smaller square and the large square, right sides together,matching one corner and two sides. Pin in place if desired, keeping the pins away from the diagonal.

Stack a second square and the large square, right sides together, matching opposite corner and two sides. Pin in place if desired, keeping the pins away from the diagonal.

Place the pre-cut Stitching Lines strip over the diagonal.
Line up the center line of Stitching Lines strip with the upper and lower corners of smaller square. The two corners of the square should be sticking out above and below the
Stitching Lines strip.

Stitch on one dotted line.

Stitch on the second dotted line.

Tear off one side of Stitching Lines.

Tear off second side of Stitching Lines.

Lift off center section.

Cut apart between the stitching lines.

Press smaller triangles away from larger triangle on both units.

Place another small square on top of large triangle, right sides together, matching corner and two sides. Cut a Stitching Lines strip 1/4" shorter than diagonal of small square.

Stitch on both dotted lines.

Tear away the Stitching Lines.

Cut apart between stitching lines.

Press small triangles away from large triangle. Trim all "dog ears".

To make any size Flying Geese block, use this formula:
Cut the goose or (1) large square 1-1/4" larger than the finished length of the block.
Cut the sky or (4) smaller squares 7/8" larger than the height of the finished block.

Summer Vacation

We are back from a one week vacation in New England. We had a wedding to go to in Newport, Rhode Island and stayed a few extra days for a little R & R. The wedding was at an old Manor house. Except for the first two days of tropical storm Danny, the weather was very nice. Danny went off shore just in time for the Sunday wedding which was partly outside in the garden.







Aren't the flowers pretty? I can't get over how green everything was. We don't see that in Southern California.


The first full day that we were in Rhode Island, this is how it looked the WHOLE day. The heavy rain didn't keep us inside. We visited a couple of Vanderbilt mansions.

While we were in Rhode Island we visited some old battleships. Now these don't mean a lot to me. But I did find the deck to be interesting and snapped a picture of the deck boards.



While driving around we came across a whaling museum. Once again, no photos inside, but I liked the pavers outside. I see some inspiration here!


Driving up the coast of Maine, in Kennebunkport, we came across what we think was the older President Bush's summer home. We think so, because there were plenty of cars stopped and people taking pictures and a sign saying something about buses.



So, I took pictures just like everyone else and not really sure of what I was looking at. Am I hearing something about sheep following sheep???

We visited Mount Washington in New Hamphire. A little cold and windy at the top, but the ride up on the Cog Railroad was an adventure in itself.




While in New Hamphire, we went to Canterbury Shaker Village. No photos inside of course, but not living in the country, I found the stack of wood to be an interesting subject.

We ended up back in Boston at Bunker Hill. An interesting museum, but once again no pictures from inside.





And just one more bit of inspiration...........the carpet at one of the hotels we stayed in.