Time to vote for your favorite Red and White Challenge quilt!

It's time to head over to SewCalGal's and vote for your favorite red and white quilt in the Show IT: You Designed It/You Made It Red and White Quilt Challenge. This virtual quilt show is for the quilters who designed a red and white quilt and then made it. You can still click on the links and read about each quilter's journey to make their quilt. Then click on the heart in the upper right corner to vote. It couldn't be simpler! This is my entry, Ruby Shadow. 

The linky party is going on right now for the Show IT: Red and White quilts made with purchased or free designs part of the Red and White Challenge. This phase is for the quilters who have made a red and white quilt in 2014 with a purchased pattern. If you have made one, go over and link up!

A lot of quilty fun!

The CB quilt show went off without a hitch! Here is my "spot". I did demos all day on making free pieced letters. I saw lots of friends and made some new friends! We had two other demonstrators and two speakers with trunk shows for our show.

Trudy made this Modern Cathedral Windows Bed runner for her daughter after taking my class. It is so pretty and I got to snap her pic next to the quilt when she came to the fair.

Our local doll club presented "The Many Faces of Geo". Such an interesting craft and we thought it went along with our modern/art theme. 

 They are even prettier in person!

 Kim and Becky from Cut Up and Quilt were on hand to show how to use some of the newer gadgets they have in at the shop.

Because we were focusing on modern and art quilts, we got some interesting art pieces.

I entered my three Colorplay quilts...since we had some smaller pieces we were able to hang them on the wall.

Lots of interesting eye candy!

My Book Fair at school begins today, so that should be interesting. I am also teaching Sampler classes tonight and tomorrow night. Busy weeks like this just fly by, don't they?

Ruby Shadow class

It's been a busy week, starting with the Ruby Shadow class last Saturday. (Now I know the week doesn't technically start on Sat. but some weeks just run together....ok? )

The class went well...it was small but very dedicated quilters who were working hard to get as much done as possible in class. We went through allt he steps and marked each set of block "parts" as they made them so that they could go home with fabric patterns of everything they needed to complete the rest of the blocks.

June decided to use one red batik for her color and was excited to see her blocks come to life! Barb chose four different blues from the same grouping...she making this quilt for a grandson. I loved both of their color choices and can't wait to see them finished!

This pattern is now available in my Craftsy Store if you want to make your own version of this versatile quilt!

I have a Bookfair coming up next week at school, so I had lots to do this past week to get ready for it. The books came yesterday and I spent some time after school with  a PTO friend setting it up. I had to leave before I was finished to teach a class so I am going back this morning to finish the set up.

The Co. Bluffs quilt show, Innovative Piecing: A Look at Quilting Through Today's Eyes is tomorrow so I need to get my entries fluffed and ready to hang....we are setting up for the show later today. I'm doing a demo on making free pieced letters throughout the day, so will get to meet lots of friendly quilters! I'm excited to hear our speakers as well. We have lots of quilty fun going on, so if you live in the area, plan on stopping by!

There is no school today so after I get back from setting up the bookfair I need to get serious with my house....it needs a good cleaning. Happy Friday!

Ruby Shadow...the Red and White Challenge Show It!

SewCalGal has been hosting the Red and White Challenge all year. It started out with a virtual Quilt Show. It then moved on to a design phase. I don't use red as much as other colors so I thought it would be fun to join in and design a quilt for the  Design It Challenge.  It was interesting to focus on a two color quilt and I came up with a few variations using EQ, so I had to choose which version I would make for the Make It phase of the challenge. I decided on my third variation, Ruby Shadow.

Should I use red fabric on a white background or white on a red background? I liked the idea of the red on a stark white background, so I chose four different reds. I wrote about the process in my Make It Challenge post last month.

It's now time for the Show IT phase of the challenge. Go to SewCalGal's Show IT post and linky party to see the virtual Quilt Show of quilts that were designed and made in 2014 by each quilter. It's interesting to visit each one and see their red and white beauties. This phase of the challenge lasts until Oct. 13 then the Quilt Show starts for the Red and White quilts made from purchased or free patterns. 

While you are there, vote for YOUR favorite red and white quilt in the show! (Update, voting will begin Oct. 14. I will post about it again next week.)

I'm glad I participated in this challenge. It was fun to design a quilt within the parameters of the challenge rules. I loved visiting the other quilters as the challenge progressed to see what they had done. I don't have a lot of time to participate in many online challenges, swaps or other fun activities with my job and class schedule, but I think a challenge like this stretches us as designers and quilters. This challenge worked for me because of it's realistic deadlines. Plus I liked that it was a design challenge. The pattern for this quilt is now available for purchase in my Craftsy store!

Thanks, SewCalGal for inspiring me to go Red and White! 

Council Bluffs Quilt Show coming soon!

 We are gearing up for our 3rd annual quilt show, Innovative Piecing: A Look at Quilting Through Today's Eyes,  here in Council Bluffs, IA. It's not a large affair, as we are a small group, but growing! This is a picture of my demo spot at last year's show. I was demonstrating stringpiecing. I had quite a colorful mound of quilts! I'm doing a demo on free pieced letters this year, so spent some time last weekend preparing the demo models as I won't actually sew during the show.

 Mary demonstrated hand pieced hexies at last year's show. We will have four people demonstrating again this year, plus the Cloth Doll Creators Club will be on hand with a display of their dolls as well as a member to answer questions.

 We're excited to have Stephanie Jacobsen from the Omaha Modern Quilt Guild and Lynn Doyle from Bloomin' Minds as our speakers this year. Stephanie is speaking at 11:00 and Lynn at 1:00. There is a dessert bar at noon...it was yummy last year. Wish I would've taken a picture last year, it was beautiful!

If you live in the area, plan on coming to see the show next Saturday, Oct 11!

 This event is free, even the dessert bar!

Innovative Piecing: A Look at Quilting Through Today's Eyes

Community Hall

205 S. Main

Co. Bluffs, IA

 I taught a class on Sat. and spent all day yesterday working on a pattern. It's almost finished. I did find time to go out and pick tomatoes in the garden too. They are still good...I will miss them in the winter!  Happy Monday!

Another finish....love how that sounds!

 There has been lots going on this past week and I haven't gotten much quilting related stuff done, but I did get the label sewn on to the new version of Which Way is Up? I started the quilt in the summer and recently bound it. It's one of my favorites....scrappy with lots of batiks! The label is just the finishing touch.

I'm teaching the class on the red and white challenge quilt, Ruby Shadow, tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone picked out for fabrics. Whether they used 2 colors like I did, or multiple colors...should be a fun class!

Tess is really finished!

It wasn't hard to decide what to use as a binding on this quilt. I thought the black and white checks that I used in the center of the blocks would be perfect so I tried it and...I loved it. I made the binding a few weeks ago, but didn't get a chance to put it on until yesterday.

I got the label sewn on too, so it's officially finished!

 If you see any dust bunnies just remember they are part of the process!

I made a bunch of labels awhile back and have been busy putting them on. Here's the one for my niece and her husband's wedding gift. What do you put on your labels? Do you hand print? print from your computer? 

Amber and Matt's Stained Glass quilt

 I just realized that I didn't take a good finish pic of this quilt. Hate when I do that!

 My nephew and his wife's label on their quilt.

 I sewed on two more labels last night. I'm on a roll!

Josh and Julie's Cobblestone Path quilt