The Show is Over, Folks!

And I survived!

I want to start off with the last few quilts I finished up. I started this Mariner's Compass soon after agreeing to do the show. The compass has a 3" diameter. I had tried to set it in a circle of flying geese, but in trying to combine the elements from two different patterns, I couldn't get them sized compatibly. So I ended up with the border from the original compass pattern. The original was in shades of blue, but I wanted Christmas colored batiks. I'm happy with how it turned out. I've been trying to decide whether or not to hand quilt it, or leave it unquilted and frame it. I'm not anxious to hand quilt on batiks. This piece is 9 1/2" square. I think I will name it "Sailing Home for the Holidays"

I got the little "Wandering Geese" quilted and bound. I did SITD around the geese and columns. The border and sashing are hand quilted. I don't usually bind in a lighter color than the border, but I liked this better than any of the other colors, and I didn't have enough of the border or sashing blue to do the job.

Ended up doing straight line quilting, in diamond formation, in the center of this, and kind of a half orange peel design in the border. Because of its diminutive size, this is named "Trip Around the Block" (rather than TATW).

If you look closely at this one you may be able to discern that the binding is only pinned down. Didn't quite have time to get the whole thing finished before the show. Since this was made from part of an "airport project kit" gifted to me by good friend Annie Miksch, before DH and I flew to visit DD#1 last fall, I have named this "Annie's Neighborhood". I hand quilted the houses and did the rest by machine.

Okay, here we go--show time. My apologies to those who asked for lots of pictures of the show. I didn't get any of the actual show. Though my friend took at least a couple dozen with my camera, something went wrong and when I tried to download them, nothing was there.
But I took a shot of my setup when it was all over.

 As I would tell about a quilt, I would take it from the little trunk (this was a mini trunk show, after all), and hang it with small clothespins to the lines strung between the poles. Many thanks to those who loaned back minis in their possession, that I had made. That helped so much, as I did not have time to complete everything that I had planned to make. In fact, four of the mini quilts are still flimsies.
Closer view of each display below.

Barb Vedder (Fun with Barb blog) made that sweet little flying geese quilt
in the upper left corner of this display. I used it with her permission.

I had another group of quilts that are small, but not mini. As they fit into the story of how I came to make miniature quilts, I would hold them up. Tonight I stuck them all up on my design wall and took a photo.

 You may recognize eight of them from SALs and QALs from Humble Quilts blog, Temecula Quilt Co. blog, quiltsbycheri blog, and Heartspun Quilts blog. Seven of these have not yet been quilted.

This is a re-creation of the display I had on a little table. Those are pincushions made of tiny quilt blocks in a bowl under the tree. To the far right is the trunk that held the mini quilts.

Click on this photo if you'd like a closer view of the tree ornaments (many of which were made by DD#1) and pincushions.

On the felt covered bulletin board I placed jewelry by Julie Letvin (Me & My Stitches blog), and two micro minis.

Which brings me to my final photo. Friday was the 3rd anniversary of my blog. Sometimes I think I have been blogging forever, and other times I feel like I am such a beginner. But however long it seems, I have met some incredible women who inspire me and support me and make me want to be better (not just in quilting, but in life). To thank those of you who are following along on my quilting journey, I offer this little anniversary giveaway.

There are 2 charm packs of new lines that I love, one of my micro minis (Baby Steps to Heaven), a 2" basket ornament, and a bag of my herbal soap. If you are interested, leave a comment and I will draw a name when I get around to it (that shows you how tired I am as I am typing this up--getting punchy). Let's say Wednesday is the cut off. I will draw at 9 p.m., or thereabouts. : )
Giveaway now closed.

Until next time,
Janet O.

p.s. Saturday morning I am attending a class by Sue Patten on quilting feathers. I am anxious to see what I can learn.