Where did July go?

      A month has gone by with no blog posts!  Lots was going on!  The kids were both home at the beginning of the month and so the house was full of family and friends.  The quilt studio reverted to a guest bedroom for a few weeks!   After our company left, we found a pair of little sister shelter cats, and decided to bring them home.  It has been a year since we have had a cat in the house.   They have similar coloring to our dear old Chester, but they are young and peppy.  Holy moly!   They are Judy & Betty - named after the Haynes Sisters from the old movie White Christmas.

Chester the Cat 

     I also got some quilts registered and delivered to be shown at the annual Erie County Fair.  This is one of the largest county fairs in the country.  I entered some quilts long ago, and decided to enter a few this year.   I'll do a fair post later this month.

The quilts all rolled up to go to the Fair! 

       I also finally finished the bits and pieces of the "On Ringo Lake" quilt and got most of the quilt up on the design wall.  I must say that I love it.  I have just gotten started with sewing the bits together, but I do think I'll be able to finish the top before the next mystery quilt is announced! 

      I also got a top finished last year sandwiched and quilted.    This was the sampler I did with solid colors, making each Block of the Month from one of my quilt guilds.   This is a nice size for snuggling while watching TV, so I wanted to get it done before winter arrives.  While I like the look of the brights against the black fabric - that black fabric gets really linty looking! 

 I also ended up finishing two baby quilt tops, and have part of a third cut out and ready to go, using that crazy circus striped fabric.  I took all my ETSY listings down and am going to revamp with baby quilts and patterns.  I  have been finding it hard to let quilts go!  
      I also have been playing around with the EQ8 software I finally purchased.   My progress is slow, but it is certainly easier than coloring in graph paper, and there are lots of helpful blogs and videos to supplement the instructional books!  Today I entered an  EQ design challenge.   This involved designing a quilt on EQ, using Christa Watson's new fabric line.    I spent a few hours, learned more EQ, and actually really like my design, which uses 6 of the fabrics in the Fandangle line.   You can see all the entries on the EQ Challenge page,  here.

      So, that's the update of all my July fun.   

Enjoy the rest of the summer!
Take care,
Gretchen 

Playing with Stripes

This spring, I completed a little table runner from a scrap of striped fabric I won at a quilt guild winter auction.  

     I had found a great tutorial from Jordan Fabrics showing a technique for this fabric line, Hoffman Artisan Elemental Stripes.  Video here.  I really liked how it turned out, and had a request for a wall hanging in similar colors.  Unfortunately, I had used every piece of the scrap I had won in the table runner. 

     I never need much of a push to buy more fabric.  I started looking around, but of course, now the fabric is no longer really current.   I couldn't find the exact fabric I had won, but found a bright circus-y version -

A pastel version-

and a muted grey and sand colored version.  

    I was kind of regretting the purchase of the circus colored fabric.  It was so outrageously bright.  I was looking for a quick project before diving back into "On Ringo Lake" and started cutting up the fabric.  I was thinking a few wall hangings (maybe to put up on Etsy - as I am in the process of totally revamping that site of mine), or maybe a baby quilt (ditto).    

Once I started putting it together, I loved it.  I set out a 4 block square (about 18 inches square)

Then I did a 16 block square - about 36 inches square.    Maybe a baby quilt if I add a border.

Then I kept going until I ran out of blocks.    Now I am loving this so totally as a large lap quilt.  But, I like longer quilts, so I actually ordered up MORE of this fabric to add a row or two to the length, and then I'll have enough to make some wall hangings. 

So, when I was ordering up that extra fabric, I found some other colors, too.  No half measures for me!  Now I have a dark orange version -

A light creamscicle version -

and a blue version - 

    I can't wait to play around with these beautiful fabrics.  I think the neutral gray/sand one will be stunning in a large piece.  I recently purchased the EQ8 software, and am starting to try designing some other patterns with striped fabric.  I also want to work on the block sizes to get wall hangings and baby quilts to sizes I prefer.  Stay tuned! 

Take care,
Gretchen