Sunroom!

The sunroom is my favorite room in the house.  I love and crac the light...and it feels like we are right outside!    Its all cleaned out and ready to be renovated,   Day 1 brought in new insulation and new fan/light.  A slight repair is needed in ine corner,   And.....now it stops because of course we have to have a return to winter.   So no windows can come out and be replaced until the precipitation stops.   But....at least it is underway!

Amherst Quilt Show.

Yesterday I went to the Amherst guild quilt show near Buffalo.   It was a wonderful sunny day (which was long overdue) with a couple of good friends.   The day was easy and relaxing and a stop for ice cream topped it off just perfectly.

There were more than a few quilts that caught my eye....but here are a few!

Ina Randall is one of my favorites from that guild.....this is her take on the ever familiar beach scene so many of us do.   She uses some unusual items.

The modern quilt movement is big right now and they had several of them,   The big part of this movement is the use if negative space.   Some used it quite well, others.....not so much.

This "orchard" was my favorite:

Another favorite because of color was this one.

And a couple of others...just because I liked them.

I liked the use if circles for the tree in this one,

This is a wooden puzzle made by one of a member's husband,   It is an auction item and sure to go for big bucks!

Finally.....this was my favorite "do not touch the quilts" sign!

Finished quilt for guild UFO challenge

In preparation for our quilt show thus year, my guild, Museum Quild Guild (http://museumquiltguild.com) is hosting a UFO challenge.  We could sign up for 5 quilts. For each one we finish, we are eligible to enter a drawing for a prize.  This week I finished my first one.  

I had the center done for a long time but couldn't decide how to finish it.  The center uses some sun printed leaves.  I purchased the specially treated fabric from bluesunprints.com, laid leaves on the squares and left in the sun for 15 min.  The part not covered darkens and the leaf print occurs under the plant leaves. 

I could not decide the border but had seen an idea somewhere where the one border was apiqued leaves and the rest was pieced.  I used the technique called "piano keys" for the other 3 borders.  It is pretty heavily quilted!   I added some beads to highlight the leaf quilting on the appliqués border. 

Merry Go Round quilted table topper

I found this pattern in Florida along with some gorgeous purple fabric.  Slightly over 1 yard of fabrics completes this table topper.  I had great fun quilting this as it was my first project on my new sewing machine!!!   This pattern would be fun to use to change out the table topper according to seasons or holidays!!!

A new sewing machine is the best toy ever!

My old machine didn't  owe me anything. It has been a workhorse...and I do work my machines a lot.   Lately it has been giving me more grief than pleasure. So when it proceeded to act up this morning. My husband said "enough", and so we went to my favorite shop in Penn  Yan, NY and bought a new one!!!

It wasn't a total surprise as I had been looking.  While the old one was fixed and has more years of life, it now will become my "second" one which I will use for retreats, classes, traveling etc.

Visit to Mt. Dora and my purple house,

One of our trips while in the south was a lovely visit to the city of Mt. Dora, Florida.   It is a cute little place by the lake and it was a lovely day to walk around and take in all the little artisan shops.

This was in one of the shops..I want to do this in my backyard!

Eating outside in nice weather is always a treat.

The bottle brush tree that captured my attention.

Finally.....anyone who knows me, knows that this house has my name written all over it....Purple Love!!

Crystal River and Blue Run

Today's trip took us to Crystal River.  What a cute little town!  I wish we had known more and had planned to explore more.  On the way home we stopped in Dunnellon at the Blue Run River trail.  This is my favorite picture of the day.

More inspiration......more quilts than I will do....

We took a trip to beautiful Rainbow Springs!   This is another long time attraction and park falling on hard times and being run into the ground because of the mega parks like Disney!  I have seen several parks on this trip and find it very sad that natural beauty is being tossed aside for some "man made, money grubbing" mega park.     Many of my photos are closeups designed to be inspiration for future art quilts.   So you might say I could find this anywhere.   However, I believe when you allow yourself to be surrounded and taken in by the beauty of a place, you notice things you might never see on a casual walk by,,,,say....a tree stump, or some dead and drooping palm leaves. 

First some overall shots down the springs, into the water....the most beautiful clear blue water I have seen since Bermuda!

Closeup of the dead palms I mentioned,   Look at all that color and texture!

The tree stump mentioned above!

Even a row of canoes is interesting.

Finally...a waterfall while walking out of the park!

Oops,  a few more.....this is us......enjoying the time in the south....

  

Inspiration is everywhere!!!!

On vacation and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of photos later, I have much inspiration for new quilts.  Here is one from today taken at Silver Springs State Park!

Dots, dots and more dots!

A friend of mine and I purchased a jelly roll of dots fabric.  I brought mine on vacation along with a simple pattern,   I had no real plan as to why I as making this, I just liked the fabric.so I bought a simple pattern and just made it something to work on if I felt like sewing.   I have no idea what will become of it once it is finished.   It would make a nice child's quilt...or maybe community service.....who knows!

Quilt show viewing.... On vacation.

Because I am away from home, and missing my regular guild meeting, I decided to take in a local quilt show near Ocala, Florida.   It was a nice show with some vendors, a lovely boutique and about 140 quilts of all kinds.   Being mostly an art quilter, I look for them and didn't see too many, but here are a few that did catch my eye.

Because I love circles and arcs, a quilt like this would always catch my eye.   Love the variations in color!

This quilt as done with a special ruler and only one fabric.  Not a typical gradation, this fabric did go from light on one edge, to dark on the other, with a pattern somewhere between.

Loved the dimension on this quilt with the added 3d hydrangea petals.  The birds eye appliquéd, so they could be stuffed,   Very effective.

This was a Bargello quilt.....just spectacular.

I don't do crazy quilts, but this was probably one of the highlights of the show.

These were a couple of cute quilts.   One is a beach scene with 3 d shirts hanging on a clothes line, the other just a cute Halloween quilt.

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival XXV show bound.........

Two of my quilts have been juried into this show later this month, and accepted for judging.  "Autumn Candles" and "Where Words Fail...Music Speaks".  

Where Words Fail...Music Speaks is very close to my heart,   It depicts the power of music in our lives when all else fails.  I had a hard time finishing this one....nothing seemed to go right on it and I discarded it more than once.   In the end, I finished it and sent the photo off to a friend.   It happened to appear on the screen if his laptop while visiting his mother.....and Alzheimer's patient who had not spoke anything in weeks.   A former quilter and musician, she spoke her first words and picked out different symbols and techniques she knew about.  

Autumn Candles depicts "nature", one of my favorite subjects.   I love birch trees and this is just how the mountains look in the fall,   It was recently on display at the Old Forge show...."Quilts Unlimited"

Unfortunately, I am already on a planned vacation during this show, Feb. 27-March 2 and probably will not get to see the show.   I have always wanted to see this show, and entered these quite awhile ago when the theme was announced, before our plans were finalized.  No matter what.....I am beyond ecstatic!!!!