Back from a four day trip to Hershey PA, to attend the Hershey Quilt Odyssey. I went with Tamah and Dee, friends from my quilting bee, and Tamah's sister Mary joined us there. 


I took two full day classes. One was Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Houses -  it was pretty simple but fun. The other one was Karen Kay Buckley's Oriental Appliqué....what a great class! She is a wonderful teacher. \


We stayed at the Hershey Convention Center, which worked out well except for Tamah and Mary getting lost now and then. Great  food, quilts and company..... who could ask for more!

Here are some pictures from the quilt show.

I blogged about Vintage Pink Churn Dash quilt back in May. I donated it to the Capital Quilter guild, to be auctioned at their Heritage Day Quilt Auction taking place October 2nd. 

I was pleased and surprised to find out that it won 3rd place in the viewers' choice awards at theCapital Quilters Guild meeting last night. I knew it would be loved by someone but never expected it to win a prize! 
Elizabeth Ginder, who pieced this quilt about 70 years ago, is up there smiling along with me!

The Heritage Day Auction in Raleigh, NC is a wonderful way to buy amazing quilts at great prices. The proceeds go to Military Mission in Action. This is a locally based, non-profit organization that provides housing and household improvements for disabled veterans. Last year the Capital Quilters Guild raised $11,000 for this organization by auctioning off quilts made and donated by members of the guild.  I am so proud to belong to a quilting guild with so much talent, expertise and compassion.

I was asked by a friend to make a quilt out of aprons that she has won from cooking competitions. I said I would give it a try, and was surprised when I saw she had over 25 aprons with various food logos on them.
Well, I wasn't quite sure that to do with them. The aprons are mostly red, white or blue, so I had my color pallette. My biggest challenge was to not make it look too busy. I wanted to have places for the eye to rest.
So,I started off with the center "what's for dinner" block and took off from there.

It's not finished yet, but here is a picture of a sample apron, and what I have made so far.

Finally, a weekend with beautiful weather! The month of June has been the hottest in Raleigh's history. But last weekend was delightful, just in time for the 4th of July.

Craig and I were able to get out twice on Falls Lake for our kaying therapy. There is just something about being on the water -  it was so relaxing and quiet, not to mention beautiful. We are so fortunate to have a lake so close to home. Here are a few pictures from our weekend.

Last week while visiting the remodeled (and just reopened) North Carolina Museum of Art, I found the perfect thing to do with all those unwanted spools of thread. This version of Mona Lisa was made by Devorah Sperber, using 5,184 spools of Coats& Clark thread spools. It is amazing (as is the museum)!  There is a small round viewing sphere in front of it that when looked through, reverses the image. The artist's web-site is very interesting, as is the video. She has actually completed quite a few works with spools of thread, one of which is the Last Supper, using 20,736 spools!

It gives you a new appreciation of thread, among other things.

I always learn something with every quilt I make. This time around I learned about the importance of using a good quality thread. 

I just finished machine quilting three quilts. I started one quilt with a Signature trilobal polyester, 30 weight thread. I learned very quickly that this was not going to work. The thread was too thick, even though I was using a 100/16 needle; the thread was fraying and I was getting boogers (thread build up) on the back of the quilt. Size 30 thread would probably work for embellishment, but not for machine quilting a whole quilt. So I bought a King Tut, 40 weight thread, which worked out better. But I  found that it was expensive - about $8.00 for just 500 yards. 

The next quilt I started, I used Auriful, a 50 weight thread (the higher the number the thinner the thread), and a 90/14 microtex sharp needle. It worked beautifully, with no thread fraying or boogers on the back. You can't beat the price for the yardage ($8.00 for the spool,1400 yds/spool). In the past I have also tried a poly King Tut thread that work well. 

I found a helpful website that talks about Thread Theory, including how to choose the right thread for your project and sewing machine. There are so many different types of thread out there now, it can be confusing.
I think a big part of enjoying machine quilting is using the right thread and sewing needle. It is no fun  stopping frequently to rethread the needle and check the bobbin. It is such a pleasure to machine quilt with a good quality thread. It can make or break a machine quilter.

I found a great website on Thread Theory, covering how to choose the right thread for your project and sewing machine. Check out Quiltbug.com - there is a wealth of info in their "article" section.

Here are the quilts that I just machine quilted for Verna and Jan.

I have thread basted the last 3 quilts that I have made using Sharon Schamber's technique.
I was skeptical at first, I thought it would take too long and I didn't want to deal with the base boards. But I decided to give it a try on a wallhanging. I bought a couple of base boards, which I covered with muslin to protect the quilt. And I went on a search for tatting thread (found at JoAnn's).
I made sure the backing and front of the quilt were well pressed, rolled the front and back of the quilt on the boards and started out thread basting.The boards keep the fabric in place as you are basting using a herringbone stitch.  I found that it didn't take any longer than pin basting, and it was much more comfortable sitting at a table to baste.
I also found that it was very relaxing to sit and baste while listening to good music. My quilts were also well secured and I didn't get puckers or tucks on the backing while machine quilting.
If your are interested there is a free tutorial on Sharon Schambers webstite.
Here are a few pictures of Janet's baby quilt that I completed using this basting technique.