Marti Michell

Last night my friend Bev and I headed over the Danville to Threads of Time for a lecture and trunk show by Marti Michell.  We had been looking forward to seeing one of the pioneers of quilting for a while.  We walked in the front door, and .... the lights were off!  Seems as if Danville had experienced a terrible storm (that missed Champaign-Urbana) that caused a power outage!  Oh my!  But thankfully, the power company workers were hard at work, and power was restored!

We all received lovely gift bags with candy, a small emery board, and a magnetic pin holder.  We also received some coupons for Marti products, and upcoming events.

Missy Gouty was our emcee for the evening.  She is a most gracious hostess.  She always greets everyone by name and makes you feel right at home when you come in the shop!

Marti gave a fun lecture and trunk show!  She had so many lovely quilts, and wonderful tales to tell about each one!

A trunk show at Threads is never complete without the quilt boys!  Bill Gouty, on the left, is Missy's husband and co-owner of the shop!  Rex, on the right, is the husband of one of the employees!  They both have a great sense of humor and hammed it up for the crowd!

This is a corner of one of my favorite quilts!  I love the use of the "spikey" triangles for the border!

Okay, it was hard to choose my favorite quilt.  But this one was right up there!  I love black and white quilts, and the splash of lime green, along with the dramtic point at the bottom, really spoke to me!

Yes, of course, I bought stuff!  I am currently in the dreaming/drafting stage of my next big quilt.  I am wanting to do medalions based on hexagon and 60degree angles.  So I was hoping this would help.

She showed some great quilts with six pointed stars.  I may have to make one!

It was a great, fun filled evening!  It is always to great to spend time with kindred spirits!

Embroidery club project

Several years ago I purchased a Janome 11000SE.  I purchased it because of the great advertising that Janome did about this being great for quilting.  Well, I did quilt one quilt with it, very early on.  But since then, I mainly use it for embroidery.  If I knew I was going to love the embroidery so much, I would have gotten the Janome MB-4, which is a 4 needle machine, like an industrial embroidery machine.
One of the best things I did was sign up for the Embroidery Club at Threads of Time in Danville, IL, where I purchased my machine.  I innocently showed up for the first class less than 2 weeks after purchase.  I had done some quilting, but it wasn't very good.  And I had tried some of the preloaded designs.  But did I know much of anything about the capabilities of this machine....NO!
Colleen and Ila were very patient with me, and I was able to learn more about my machine and all its capabilities.  Several years later, and I am feeling very confident with the machine, and am somewhat capable with working Janome's digitizing program!
So back to subject at hand.  Remember that "10 minute Placemat Kit" from last blog?  Here's a photo to refresh your memory:

Another digression.  This was taken after I had cleaned out my sewing room and did some rearranging.  I am happy to report that my room still looks great!  That's my Janome 11000SE in the back corner!

This month's embroidery club we were going to do some 3D designs.  Ila had a project we could do, or we could bring our own to work on.  As I was going to bring this placemat anyway to show for a possible future project, I decided to just add some embroidery to it!  Here it is on my coffee table.  Yes, that is a container of prunes at the end!

We each purchased our own copy of this disk, Magical 3D Garden, from Dakota Collectibles.  Ila always brings her laptop, and will transfer designs onto our USB stick for us.  Ila is very good about copyright, and doesn't just share copyrighted material!

Quilt kits (or "look before you cut!)

I admit it, I buy quilt kits.  How can you resist the lure?  The store has gone to the trouble of making up a beautiful sample. It catches your attention, draws you in.  Then you notice it.  That cutely packaged bundle.  Maybe it's in a box, or a cute basket.  Or wrapped up with a beautiful ribbon.  Just the right amount of the most perfect combinations of fabrics to just make that pattern sing!  You can't take your eyes off it.  You want to fondle those fabrics.  You go to look at something else, but you are drawn back to it.  Like a moth to a flame, you cannot resist its temptation.  And next thing you know, you are looking for a place for it.  You know the place, where you put all the other kits that have come home with you!

Well, I do have a few kits that I haven't worked on.  But I do try to get them done.  Often times I will work on them between big quilt projects.  Especially if the kit is something that can be done in an afternoon.

So the other day I decided to work on a couple of kits that I had recently purchased from a vendor, Piece and Applique from Rochester, IL, that was at our June Land of Lincoln Quilt Association meeting.  The first kit I worked on was "Ten Minute Table Runner"!  How great!  Everything I need to make a table runner in 10 minutes!  Except, with pressing out the creases, and stopping to do things for hubby, and then trying to decide how to finish it, it took me almost an hour to get it done!  But it turned out nice!

I probably wouldn't have picked out that center floral print. But isn't it perfect with that turquoise outer border!  Plus, now I have the directions, so I can make some more! 

The lure for this kit was the title of the pattern "Two Hour Tulip Purse".  Two hours to make a purse that looks this great!  Yep!  It's coming home with me!  Well, with pressing, cutting out pieces, helping hubby, it took most of the afternoon into the evening.  And hubby's response, "It looks like a Cub Scout item."  Yes, it does!  If I do this one again, which I may, I will probably think about embroidering a motif on the flap before putting the magnetic closure on it.  This will be donated for our quilt show's boutique.

What drew me to this pattern was the bundle of fabric that was packaged with it.  I am a coffee hound, and I loved the coffee themed fabrics!  Yes, these placemats would look great in my kitchen!    I took this kit with me this past weekend to the Material Girls retreat.  I only got to go for Saturday, but had a great time! 

The Old Brick Inn in Chrisman, http://www.oldbrickinn.net/, is a great place for a small retreat!  Lovely old Victorian home, with a lovely proprietress!  Great food, what more could you ask.

Here's the first placemat that was completed.  Nectar of the Gods!  Yes!  There is nothing finer in the morning than a well brewed cup of coffee!

OOPS! Got this one backwards!  Oh well, I guess I didn't have enough of that liquid energy to keep from making that mistake!

Electricity in a cup!  Definitely feels like that, especially when you are needing that extra jolt to get started!

Cup-o-Joe!  Yeah!  But hold on, what's that in the upper left corner?

That's why you should look before you cut!  That very innocent looking coffee pot lid looks like, well, you know what it looks like!  Hubby spotted it immediately!  That will be his placemat! 

Front Page News!

You gotta love small towns!  Circle of Life won a blue ribbon and Best of Show at the Midwest Heritage Quilt Show at the Vermilion County Museum!  So here is the front page news!