September is here already!

The past two weeks have been a blur - I know I was in Philadelphia at the Bead Fest (Oaks) for a day, had a wonderful visit with my lovely daughter, toured the new headquarters of Quilts for Kids, and spent a horrible amount of time doing laundry...  oh, yes, now I remember...  dear sweet hubby was working on the plumbing while I was away, and I've been cleaning up the after effects ever since!

The good part is that the kitchen sink is now draining nicely.  I won't dwell on the still ongoing cleanup efforts.

I did manage to get a little fabric postcard made for my FATraders exchange group.

Fiber art by Thea McCurry

This was for the "Dog Dayz of Summer" trade.  Couldn't resist this little snoozing pooch.

As much as I love summer weather, Hurricane Irene has been tough on some of my friends & family lately.  Sure hope the folks in Vermont are able to get back to normal soon.

Would love to visit longer, but there is thunder & lightning here today, so this is brief.

Hoping to post again soon!
Enjoy your Labor Day weekend.

putting on the brakes - what to do when the quilt back is too short...

So yesterday, I thought I was making great headway on a little scrap quilt.  I had pieced the back according to "John's diagonal method" and thought I had plenty of backing under this little quilt.
I realized just in the nick of time that the backing was going to be about 4" shy of getting to the edge of the last border...  YIKES!!! how did that happen?  I had measured so carefully - this just could not be!

I checked again... yes, for sure, it would not reach. Just a few inches.

So, what did I do you ask?  (or maybe not...)  I stopped right there in the middle of the quilt.  I took the whole thing off the frame, and cut the existing backing fabric about 6 inches away from the quilting I had just finished - in a nice straight line.... well, okay, I confess - I actually TORE that strip off.  I had a 'short' piece left in the 'backings box' that was never going to back much of anything and I cut that in half to make a piece long enough to match the piece I had already torn off the quilt back, sewed those together and then added the new piece a little into the middle of the quilt back rather than just adding it to the edge.

Now it looks like I pieced the back this way intentionally, and here is a pic of the finished quilt

 yes, the binding is on it now... I used the dark teal/turquoise for the binding.  all done.  what's next?

Quilts for Kids day at the quilt frame

QuiltsforKids.org is going to get the one I'm quilting today - it's on the frame, I'll post a pic as soon as I have it done... before I send this one and another to Philadelphia (I will probably take them in person next week) click on the linkie to see a gallery of grateful kids.

This is not to be confused with Quilts4Kids.com which is a similar organization in Australia.  I can't afford the shipping to send them quilts, but if you're in Au, maybe you could help them out.  They have several kids on their waiting list who would appreciate your help.

Having a wonderful day, hope you are too!
I just found out I won the red/aqua fabric bundle from Michael Miller fabrics....  how lucky can I get?   I really hit the jackpot this birthday!
aren't these wonderful? 

Thank you Michael Miller!!!!
now hop on over to their blog and comment to win some Red/White/Black fabrics....good luck!

First week in August

Hello again,

My blog is suffering from summer fun - I'm just having too much of it!  Last Saturday was our annual Block Party BBQ.  The street was closed off - all two blocks of it - and the neighbors got together to catch up on family doings and who had heard from which former neighbors recently.  The weather (which was extremely wet in the morning) cooperated just in time to light up the grill and let the local littles play in the sprinkler.

Between travel, recuperating from travel, and all the other fun stuff - not to mention the exhaustive heat - it has been too hot to spend much time at the upstairs sewing machine - but I have spent enough time to get a couple of the corners done for my RRCB:

yeah, I know... still in the drawer.

... and a "Trend class" sample is quilted and bound:

The 4 x 6ers have almost all received their postcards from me for July before the middle of August:

Isabell's, Janet's, and mine

and I've received this beautiful little quiltie from my friend, Lani, all the way from California!

Lani's pc

doesn't it look like a sunrise behind a Manzanita?  I love it!  and, it's her first try at a postcard quilt.  I think she did a great job on it - she has a wonderful sense of design - and I love those bright colors!

The FATraders exchanged embellished coasters which we joined into books to celebrate our 6th anniversary on Yahoo.... it took a bit longer than expected due to the postal workers strike in Canada, but I'm loving my little book.  Here it is:

I've also been working on an embroidery block of the month - I'm keeping up pretty well with the Little Birdie Stitches by Little Miss Shabby... I'll post those pics in a day or so, along with the latest update on the Happiness Key Mystery quilt.


...and I've sewn, cut, re-sewn, rearranged, cut, sewn again on my QCE Guild fabric challenge - due in Sept. which I can't post pics of or any other details until the 'Reveal' at the next guild meeting.
 
The QCE guild has a quilt show coming up in November - and I'm trying to prep a new quilt or two for that deadline.  I'm also trying to get to Philadelphia to spend a couple of days with my one and only daughter, who has graciously kept her calendar free for the time of my visit.  Smoochies!

midsummer days

Hello again!

I'll be you're wondering whether I'm still blogging or not?  Well, of course I am!  But, summer being what it is with so much to do and only 24 hours in a day, etc.  Sometimes the writing takes a backseat to the doing...  and what I've been doing is - for the moment - a secret!  I do so wish I could tell you all about the new product from C&T that I'm testing, but no, sorry, no can do - not yet!  It is interesting stuff, tho, and I'm enjoying the playtime.

I've been scrunching it, ironing it, painting it, separating it, draping it and sprinkling it with sparkles.  It has an intriguing ethereal quality about it.

That's not all, of course.  I'm also working on a 'fabric challenge' for QCE guild - which is supposed to be a secret until the 'unveiling' in September.  So far, I've done a little shopping and a lot of cutting - enough for at least 2 quilts of the required size limit.  I like having choices, but hate making decisions.  What a conundrum!

I've also been working on a quilt for my good friend Carolyn T. so I think I can show you a pic of that...

 If you squint a bit, the bright parts seem to curve, but really they're straight.

a little prayer

Dear Lord,

Help me deal with today.... and leave tomorrow to you.

Thanks,

Thea

Singing the Knoxville Blues while I danced the night away

I went to Knoxville last week for the AQS Quilt Show – more info here:  http://www.americanquilter.com/shows_contests/knoxville/2011/general_info/

The weather cooperated for the most part, with only light showers during the times when I absolutely HAD to be outside.  The show quilts were amazing – I especially enjoyed the retrospective on Linda Roy’s quilts.  I got to meet her and she is a lovely, encouraging person.  She also won “Best in Show”… http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/jul/16/best-sew-knoxville-quilt-show-wraps-local-earning/

Linda Roy at Knoxville

The other special exhibit that stopped me in my tracks was the Alzheimer’s exhibit… this link explains what it’s all about, but nothing on a blog can show the impact of all those little purple strips each with the name of an Alzheimer’s victim.   http://www.alzquilts.org/alil.html

Leah Day's quilt was totally awesome, of course!

 each area was filled with a different quilting pattern!

Another impressive group effort was this quilter's view of the river....

A River Runs Through It special group exhibit

Later that day we stopped by the Smoky Mountain Palace to see the Cirque de Chine

for info go to http://www.smokymountainpalace.com/

        A troop of amazing acrobats, jugglers and contortionists who performed the most impressive feats of daring I’ve ever seen on a stage.  The only downside was that there were so many empty seats in the auditorium.  They deserve a full house every night!  ...and those daring guys on the motorcycles just woulda knocked my socks off if I'd been wearing any!

The following day, we dropped by the birthplace of that famous American icon, Davy Crockett.

There is a state park bearing his name in TN.  http://tn.gov/environment/parks/DavyCrockettSHP/index.shtml     The park has a very nice pool conveniently located near the entrance and a nice looking camp ground.

Crockett memorial w/Dwaine McCurry

DeeDee gave it a 2 paws up!

David Crockett birthplace - Limestone TN

Outdoor oven at Crockett homestead

The little cabin is reconstructed, of course, but it’s still impressive!  The Park Ranger at the museum/visitors center was gracious and entertained us with his stories and memorabilia.

The cabin interior looked pitch black to me... but fortunately, the flash on my camera was up to the task, although it lacked somewhat in focus.

to the right of the door, the sleeping area

.

 and to the left of the door, the living area.....

garden behind cabin - looks a lot like mine - full of weeds!!!

 

The garden behind the cabin was 'maintained' by a local gardening group who must all be too busy pulling their own weeds so the contents of the cabin's garden were a bit on the wild side - much like Davy Crockett!

Then we went on to Jonesborough for the Contra Dance – a highlight of our Saturday night.

http://www.historicjonesboroughdancesociety.org/ where over 100 dancers filled the floor for several hours of good dancing fun with an ice cream break for good measure!

Good to be home – to savor the memories of a wonderful trip!