Fall in New England

the air is crisp, the leaves are changing colors and the wind is blowing!

break out the sweaters!!!

September was a very exciting month...

After many, many months of planning the

Silver City Quilt Guild had it's

Starry, Starry Night Quilt Show!

Beyond tickled that my quilt

The Ships

won the judges

Best In Show!

Along with ribbons for:

Exemplary Applique &

Exemplary Hand Quilting!!

Needless to say I'm a bit overwhelmed and overjoyed!

The Ships is a combination of two patterns and my own design:

Center Ship block: Massachusetts by Pearl Pereira

Eight outer Ship blocks: Ladies of the Sea by Sue Garman

Outer Scallop Border: my addition to the mix!

A few of my other quilts won some pretty ribbons!

Both of my Tilda quilts won first place in their category!

 

Rudolf even flew home with a third place ribbon!!

And my pin cushion quilt sold to a friend!

Victoria's PhD Quilt looked so pretty hanging in the show

Many hours were spent beading The Mermaid,

got good use out of my painting palette - 

it was perfect for separating out different beads! 

Now she rests in the living room!!

September also brought construction!

We are refreshing our screened in deck,

the gentleman that is doing the work is excellent and doing an amazing job!

It's coming along!!

The momma deer and baby visited the backyard this morning.

The baby has lost her spots - she's now a teenager!

Unfortunately they love eating my hydrangea!

Oh well I guess the deer are hungry and I had planned

on cutting them way back this fall - so they are

actually helping me by trimming them down!!

 

Just a few photos of the last surviving blooms,

before the frost and the deer having them for a snack!

 


Nothing like a walk on Horseback Beach to recharge the soul!

This is one of my favorite spots!

Sadly, not a lot of sea glass was found.

The Iconic pattern by Lella Boutique

Has become my go to favorite pattern!

It can be made Huge or Baby size!

The look of the quilt changes with fabric selection!

Just love that & It whips up fast!! 

Even better when you need a quilt in a hurry!!

The blocks are 13"  

the 3 block x 4 block setting is the perfect baby quilt size

 

a 3 block x 3 block setting makes a great baby play mat

and the 7 block x 7 block covers a bed very nicely!

It's amazing how different they all look!

Give this pattern a try - you will love it!

Have not had the time to do my watercolors ..

but was able to squeak in a few classes with Alex Kincaid.

 

Shhh.....!!!

Something Very Special in the works!

More on that in the future!!!

Have a great Quilty Day and enjoy the process!

                               Janet 

 

 The summer has flown by! 
In the blink of an eye we went from Fourth of July to Labor Day!

With lots of family, fun and quilting sprinkled in!

My sister Karen rented a cottage for three weeks (!!!) 

on the water in East Sandwich...

what a joy it was to wake up to this view every morning!

The first week was the "Sisters" week ...

we walked the beach morning and night, visited shops,

and ate lots of lobster rolls!!!

The second week was filled with family!

 Karen's son and his family drove up for two weeks!

Hubby was back and forth, Victoria flew up for a week 

and Matt and Emily were just a short drive away!

It was wonderful having everyone together!!

Sight seeing, shopping, fishing, swimming,

reading, walking the beach, beach bonfires with S'mores!!

We packed a lot into the time we had!

The sunset were amazing!

 

The beach is definately my happy place!!

Matt building the bonfire with Michael supervising!

Russell, Emmelou and Victoria enjoying the S'mores!!!

 

August started with the realization that my quilt guild's 

show was in seven weeks and I still had to finish

quilting two quilts, bind five quilts, add beading onto my Mermaid

and put hanging sleeves and labels on all of them!!!

Yikes!

Finally after a 10 year voyage the Ships are DONE!

And they have a very Spiffy Binding!!

A Piped Beaded Binding!!

 

My other hurry to finish binding was a looped binding.

My first attempt was a huge fail!

SO it was ripped off and I started all over again making a million loops.

Well it seemed like a million!

But she done ~ another Spiffy Binding!!!

A Piped Looped Binding

 

The New England Quilt Museum is hosting their

Summer Celebration.

My Quilt Tilda's Delight was selected to represent RNQG!!

 

Alway SEW exciting when your quilt gets to hang in a Museum!!!

The middle of August I had the pleasure of presenting 

My Quilting Journey trunk show to the

Crazy Quilters of Cape Cod Quilt Guild!

I got to display "Victoria's PhD Quilt" which I have on loan 

so it can be entered into the SCQG show the end of September!!

The next day we had a Spiffy Bindings workshop!

Fun was had by all (I hope)!!!!

 

To finish off August....

Stephen and I went into Boston to see

"The Moonwalkers"

what an outstanding immersive experience...

you almost felt like you were in the rocket when it took off!

We caught a beautiful sunset in Bristol Rhode Island

after a delicious clam bake at Blithwold Manor.

We went last year and loved it so much we became members

of Blithwold and decided to make the clam bake our annual summer wrap up event!!

T minus two weeks to go til the quilt show judging and I'm

on my last quilt!!! The long Labor Day weekend will come in

handy - I can quilt for three days straight!!!

Almost done!!!!

Have a great Quilty Day and enjoy the process!

                               Janet 

June!

A gorgeous month!

The rains have brought my garden and flowers to life!

The grape vines seem to be over taking my roses!

The birds are loving the tiny grapes!

Elia Arbor Buffet provides the best!!

Two big beautiful Fish Crows come into the garden every day

To feast, bath and drink! Just Love them!

My hydrangeas are starting to bloom!

Shades of Pinks,  Blues, Purples and White - just gorgeous!

And one morning this sweet Mum and Baby appeared…

Snacked on seeds and peaches (Mum jumping up to rip the

Peaches out of the tree!) 

And in the hydrangea bush in the front of the house

A Song Sparrow made her nest!

SO cute - four little mouths opened waiting for food!

My quilting is in high gear with the SCQG show 

Coming up the end of September!

I’ve entered 14 quilts! Only 4 are completely done!

The other 10 are in various stages!!

The best finish was taking the LAST hand quilting stitch

In My Ships quilt! It has been a ten year voyage with this one!

Admittedly - it did sit idle for many months (years!) at a time!

With the last stitch in - off it went into the washing machine

To remove any blue wash away marks - I like to

Draw the quilting designs on my quilts!

Don’t worry - there were 5 color catchers in the washer

To grab any stray dyes! 

Once out of the wash - it’s off to be blocked!

Thankfully the room has carpeting,

 the quilt is squared up and pinned to the floor,

Then allowed to dry over night.

Works like a charm - quilt is squared and FLAT!

Ready for binding!!

Thinking of a scalloped beaded binding!

Let’s see if it works!!

Another special binding I’m trying is a 

Piped looped binding.

This one is causing me angst!

Having to rip it off and start again…

Need to make 200 more loop sections!!

We shall see how attempt number two goes!!!

The studio is in a jumble for sure!

Quilts and projects every where!!!

Need to focus on finishing those 10 quilts for the

Silver City Quilt Show - hope to see you there!!

The guild raffle quilt is a beautiful two color quilt,

Blocks made and assembled by quilt members and

Custom machine quilted by the very talented

(And one of my Quilty BFF’s!) Diana Annis.

Now back to Quilty work!!!

Have a great Quilty Day and enjoy the process!

                               Janet