Quilt on an actual Bed!

A wonderful friend/customer sent along this picture of a FINISHED quilt as soon as it was bound. Shocking, I know. Quilts look so much better on beds!

This reminds of my parents' bed. My dad would come home from his stressful day (elementary school principal) and want to take a nap. Instead of removing all the pillows, he would flip up the quilt on the end and lie along the bottom end. These power naps helped him quite a bit and mom never had to re-make the bed!

Practice Block A

When you get started with a new project and an unusual block, it is always smart to make a practice block with scrap fabric. This particular block is 27.5" x 10" so practice is definitely called for:

If you want to join us, click over to Lily's Blog and make a Jack or two!

Fabric Shopping!

I've decided on my fabric for the Jack Attack and it's coming from Hawthorne Threads. Here are a few pictures of the wonderful prints Valori Wells created for her Wrenly line.

I can't wait to get started!

Jack Attack!

It's time to start quilting some Jacks! Since Katie will be coming home from England in just two months, I'm joining a QAL over at http://lilysquilts.blogspot.com/ and would love company. Some of the coolest Jacks I've seen are in Kaffe or Westminster Fabric. Here is the Tutorial from Lily's Quilts:  http://lilysquilts.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/double-fat-jack-tutorial.html

Enjoy!
Kristi

A Week in Alaska

We had a great week in Alaska. And although we took pictures, they do no justice to the beauty of the place. The cruise ship took us through the Inside Passage: Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway. 

We fished in Ketchikan and caught some Rock Fish.

It was the only rainy location on our trip, but still beautiful.

In Juneau, we visited the Mendenhall Glacier and bought some skeins of yarn.

After docking in Skagway, we rented a car to see the sights.

We drove to the Yukon Territory.

Stopped at Emerald Lake.

And found a bear next to our car. In town, we found a great quilt shop called Quilt Alaska and bought lots of Alaskan batiks. What a great trip!

Jenny's Ruler

Jenny Pedigo came to Camano Island to showcase her new Quick Curves Ruler. The design possibilities are endless! What she has created so far is simply amazing and you can see more at her blog. 

Her Urban Nine Patch is starting to show up everywhere online.

Her quilting is beautiful. Part of her success is two layers of batting.

I can't wait to make my own! I even bought another Quick Curves pattern at Quiltworks Northwest last week. I have a retreat to attend!

Tree #1

The combination of tree and dots worked wonders for this image. I liked the asymmetry as well. However, the commercial batik used for the background didn't have as much color variation and can look flat. Every fused dot is quilted (whew!) but without it, they would fall off. Although hand-dyes were used for the foreground, the commercial batik resists the fusing over the long haul.