Vikki Pignatelli - beautiful and moving work

What a great evening!
I just had the great pleasure of attending a dinner, lecture and trunk show at Lake Farmpark tonight. Vikki Pignatelli did the lecture on '10 Attributes That Make a good Quilter Better'. She's been teaching at the Farmpark this week and I found out too late to get into a class, (total bummer), but it was really wonderful to meet her and see her work in person -- lots and lots of it! Blew me away -- I'm so in awe! Her work is so beautiful and she also talked about how she started Sacred Threads. I was very moved and a bit teary-eyed at the stories she told about some of her pieces. Came home feeling all warm and fuzzy! LOL.
And of, course I HAD to buy her books... : )
If anyone has the opportunity to hear her or take a class, I highly recommend her. Lots of people that were there tonight were also taking classes and they raved about her.

Vikki Pignatelli and her quilt 'Blacklick Pond'

Two Tops Done!

Yay! TJay and I both had a very productive day yesterday. I found a lovely batik to use for the borders and finished the top of the French Braid quilt - finally! Now comes the fun part of basting and quilting this behemoth... I'm afraid this baby is gonna require mass quantities of chocolate.
And...ta-da! TJay finished the sanding, staining and lacquering of the new coffee table top. OMG, it's so silky smooth, like a baby's bottom! The base will be done next week -- he's just making the doors now -- can't wait!

Looks pretty lumpy on the bed...there are 6 blankets/comforters underneath. Hey, it's been COLD here! LOL!

Poplar, Oak and Black Walnut. I think we'll need to have a lone star quilt on the wall behind the couch.. Oh Yeah!

I'm going to lose my mind...

...when I start quilting this king-sized monster on my machine with a five inch throat! Ackkk! Wonder if I can talk Hubby into that Juki 98Q or Janome 1600P DB for Valentines Day?? Wonder if he reads this blog? (SewVac direct has the Juki for $550 and the Janome for $700...) (in case you do read this) (love you) (really!) : )
It's in three section now. I'm trying to decide on whether or not I want to add divider strips between the sections. Last night I did up the design in EQ6 to play with it a little and I think the strips would look okay, to match the border. I love EQ6, but wish there was a way to make blocks that aren't square. I had to do the strips as sections of 11 blocks. It would be nice to be able to do the strip pattern, without breaking it into squares.
I want to get this top done this weekend and get it basted. I found a great way to baste by Sharon Schamber on you-tube. Since Sharon just won the 2007 $100,000 Quilt Challenge with her quilt 'Scarlet Serenade,' I think I'm going to try her method. Well that, and I'd have to rent a hall to spread this monster out on the floor for basting. And, if i was on my knees that long, I don't think I could get back up!!! Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhwNylePFAA

The technique is from Jane Hardy Miller's book, French Braid Quilts. Today I hunt for a batik to match the small squares and also for backing fabric. I don't like the look of the original border fabric anymore.

Grandkid quilts and bad batt

All that's left is the binding on these quickie quilts. the colors are not that glaring and hideous in person...@@ I spent entirely too many hours pin basting these. I grabbed a king sized pack of Mountain Mist 100% Polyester batting to cut up, since these were 48 and 54 inches square. What a nightmare!! They must have had this crap on the shelf for years. Only the center was usable -- a couple feet on the inside and outside were about as thick as interfacing. I tried and tried, but I...could...not...make...it...flat! Argghhhh. Lumpy nasty stuff. I wrote to Mountain Mist and complained. I got back a very nice letter from their customer service rep, apologizing and offering some suggestions on how to 'fix' the batting (didn't work) and they are sending me a replacement. I guess it pays to open your yap sometimes.

The red one has some thick fuzzy flannel shirting for backing.

This one is for the 'baby' and I backed ot with one of those ultrasoft-don't-wanna-stop-touching-it-microfiber thingies.

Sew, what's up?

All of my blocks have arrived from the Carol Doak group fat quarter swap. Absolutely lovely!!

Did some free-motion practice on a muslin quilt sandwich...needs a lot more work...

From a design by Suzanne Shumaker