Hawaiian Quilting with Nancy Lee Chong!

Last week I had the privilege of meeting Nancy Lee Chong,

co-owner of Pacific Rim Quilt Company.

Quilter's by the Sea of Portsmouth R.I. invited her to give an evening lecture and two workshops.

The evening lecture was both informative and inspirational …

This is the first quilt Nancy ever made!

It is a queen size!

Yes - you heard me ….

she was a non-quilter before beginning this beauty!

Here she is (sorry the picture is not the best)

with her Hawaiian Baltimore Album style quilt!

It was just lovely.

The next day was the "Hawaiian Appliqué" class which was fabulous!

Here is my "Plumeria"

It is a 20 inch block all positioned and pinned - ready for basting.

We learned all the tips and tricks to make a queen size!

The pattern "Rainbow over Lana'i (pineapple) (84" x84") 

came home with me for the future!!!

Wouldn't it look just spectacular in a deep blue / green!!??

I have made two other Hawaiian style quilts,

Horseshoe Crabs and Sand dollars

Blue Hibiscus (pattern by Pacific Rim Quilt Co.)

but there is nothing like taking a class from a master!

Nancy Lee Chong is a master for sure!

A week in review!

The week started last Sunday fishing at the canal!

DH caught a few small Strip Bass and I was

able to finish the applique of my Turtles!

Later in the evening we caught a beautiful sunset 

at Horseneck Beach in Westport 

this is my Favorite place to go!

Beautiful long walking beach especially at  low tide.

During the week I had the pleasure of presenting

a Hawaiian Quilting workshop

to the Ninigret Quilters Guild in Westerly RI

Everyone had lots of FUN!

A nice relaxing quilty day and NO machines required!!

A day of Slow Sewing!!

Finished the top of my guild show 2015 challenge!

"50 Shades of … Purple"

and three more Sashiko blocks!!

Wrapped up the week with another 

beach walk at Horseneck Beach

where I found these beauties!

I'm just a sucker for sea glass!

plan on making sea glass lamps for the house

here is the one just finished for my son's new apartment!

Had to take a quick pic before giving it to him!

It was a good week!

Happy Quilting, Janet :)

Rhododendron Needlers Quilt Show

Belonging to a quilting guild is a fabulous experience,
it exposes you to many different ideas, techniques and talented ladies!

This past weekend one of the guilds I belong to
 RNQG held their biannual quilt show.

With over 130 quilts on display,

 a very talented group of ladies put on a great show!

We had the opportunity to have our quilts critiqued
by certified quilting judge Pat Harrison.
To me this offers a great opportunity to learn more about
quilting, and how to strive to become a better quilter.


So EXCITED!!!

My Blue Hawaiian Hibiscus Quilt
WON
a Judged ribbon for
Exemplary Hand Quilting!!

Pinch me!!

And .... My sweet little beaded Birdie Stitches
won a first place viewers choice ribbon!

Pinch Me again!!

Must of been the Luck 'O the Irish with me!!
Had my green on too!

Had a chance to white glove and mingle amongst the quilts
(Love white gloving - must be the power of the gloves
and being able to touch the quilts!!)
and work the Comfort Quilt Table...


Notice I have my embroidery hoop out!!

Hand Quilting during Storm Sandy

 As Hurricane Sandy approaches my hand quilting projects are ready

Just incase power is lost!

In the process of making a Hawaiian Bread fruit design pillow for a future class

All my tools fit neatly into this little blue contact case!!!

The essentials:

Quilting hoop - love the lap hoop 

Clover Gold Eye Quilting Needles Between (No.12)

Needle threader and cutter combo tool

Thread Heaven

Thimble of choice

Thread on bobbins (beat lugging the big spools)

 a little rubber needle pull thingy!

Minin battery operated OttLite (with spare batteries!)

OH ... Glasses 2.75 magnification! for those over 50 eyes!!

That's is I'm ready for any power outage! 

I can hand quilt for days!!

New Project!

Dare I say it .... I'm starting a new project!

After spending the past 3 months working only on UFOs this is a  ...

breath of fresh creative air!

I have a love for the simplicity of Hawaiian Quilts.

Two (sometimes three) colors, the repetitive echo quilting

I just LOVE it!

It is a time consuming labor of love...

but all good things are worth it ...Yes?

the bread fruit motifs are cut out and the basting has begun!

bread fruit half way basted onto background

(Gotta love this blue and white!)

here we are all needle turn appliqued down

next will be more basting

and then the fun part...

hand quilting.

but that's for another post!

A Busy "Quilty" Fall

 October and November have been  very busy "Quilty" Months for me!

Three of my quilts were accepted into

The Quilter's Gathering Quilt Show in Nashua NH!

That is always such an honor -

to have your quilts accepted into a show... and to have three!

Oh My Gosh I was so thrilled!

SO of course my Mom and I drove up for

the weekend to ogle at all to the beautiful

quilts and do a little shopping!

This is Mom and I in front of "Fiesta" - now this is

a quilt that will definitely wake you up in the morning!!

 "Experimental Iris" looked a bit lonely way up there!

Received lots of compliments on my "Blue Hibiscus" quilt.

I think she's my favorite! 

The Yankee Quilters of Franklin and

The Proper Bostonian Quilters of West Roxbury

asked me to come and speak at there guilds!

How cool is that!

What a thrill it was to share Sashiko with all of the women of these guilds,

best of all - they really seemed to like it!

I so did not want to be one of those "boring" speakers!!!

This piece I designed using two different patterns,

minimizing one and blowing up the other!

For transferring this pattern onto the indigo fabric

 the pattern was traced onto "Golden Threads" paper - I like

this paper - I can see through it and that way I can get good placement.

Using Clover's Chaco paper and a clover Tracing pen

the design was transferred onto the fabric - worked like a charm!

Everyone in attendance received a small kit of a moon flower.

Each guild member got to do some hands-on Sashiko

Lots of fun!

and once they finished they could take it home and make

a way too cute Mug Rug!!

This is what it looks like start to finish!

I had been stitching up these squares that I purchased at

the Lowell Quilt Museum and wasn't sure exactly how I

would use them .... until I saw an idea in a magazine....

now I have a beautiful table runner!

This was supposed to be the side of a tote bag,

but just could not do it ... and I'm a bag lady!

So I made a small table topper and gave it to my

sister this past spring for her birthday ...

she let me borrow it back for my lectures!

She also sent it with a note that said it was strictly a LOAN!

Gosh Darn It - I guess I'll give it back !!

Plus .... I finished up 2 Tahiti Totes pattern from Pink Sand Beach Designs

for a class I'll be teaching this winter at Quilter's Stash

This one is Mom's she picked beautiful Fall purple leave fabric....

and then I told her she couldn't have it until the Spring!!

Mine of course has the jazzy colors and trim!

Now it's time sit rest up and get ready for

Thanksgiving and Christmas - my favorite time of the year!



Silver City Quilt Guild Show

Wow - we had a wonderful quilt show. Lot's of fabulous quilts made by some incredible quilters! And my little quilts did very well for themselves - receiving 6 ribbons! I was so excited!!

Blue Hibiscus received FOUR ribbons! Oh My Gosh!

We had the opportunity to have our quilts judged by Holice Turnbow  

two ribbons were from the judged category!

First Place Small Bed

Best Hand Quilting

First Place Viewer's Choice

Second Place Guild Choice

This quilt was a true labor of love - it took a year and a half to do all of the

needle turn applique and hand quilting (Hawaiian Echo style)

Fiesta Won a Third Place Small Bed - Judged category

 Sashiko Bamboo and Hibiscus won 

Second Place in the Judged Wall hanging division

 And my little Experimental Iris was just so darn Cute!

But her binding needs work!

So I plan on removing the binding, re blocking her

and reattaching the binding on a bit better this time!

Even my Mom's vest won a ribbon!

Second Place -Other in the Judged Category!!

She was so excited!

As she put it ... "I'm 86 and this is the first ribbon I've ever won"!!

It was really special!

Now that the show is over - I'm taking a small breather!

Lining up my next few projects.

But on the top of the list is my daughter's T-shirt quilt

which I MUST have done by Christmas!!

Summer Vacation and Quilting

I've taken some time away from my blog to enjoy the summer (and quilt)!

This summer we spent 2 weeks in Chatham - very relaxing. 

I love the beach ... I love walking the beach, watching the waves and collecting shells.

Stephen and I saw the whales and seals off shore - no sharks.

This is a photo of three seals swimming next to each other off of

Light House Beach in Chatham.

All though my son Matt, caught a 12 inch baby sand shark while fishing off the beach!

Yes - we had been swimming there earlier!

And I thought it was a crab that was nibbling at my toe!

Victoria and I had a wonderful day on Nantucket

With vacation over the rest of the summer has been spent getting quilts

ready for the Sliver City Quilt Guild show in September.

I'm working on a hand quilted Hawaiian quilt my "Blue Hawaiian"

I'm down to the very edge and almost done - then it will be time to block and bind!

This has been a two year project and I've loved every minute of it!

I love the ease of applique and hand quilting - no machines ... just me and the fabric!

OH ... and cheater glasses and a good light!

Then machine quilting my "Fiesta" quilt which is made up of mostly all
New York Beauty blocks - which I of course had to machine quilt myself!

Unfortunately my Bernina's BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) and I are not getting along!

After many attempts and many skipped stitched I took it off my machine and

threw it across the sewing room - well in my mind I did!

Anyway it's off and I'm trying to get into a quilting groove....
I think my stitches are coming out OK.

Here is one of the blocks .... What do you think?

This block is my favorite it looks like little Christmas trees!!

Only a few more blocks to go!!!

But I have time ... 3 weeks!

No problem ... I just wont sleep!

Oh I just realized this is my 50th blog post!

Whoo-Hoo!!

Hope you all have enjoyed them.

Happy Quilting!