Quilt Display

I've got this big blank wall in my family room. I've purposefully kept it blank because I want to put a big quilt up on it.

For about the past year I've been trying to think what sort of quilt I wanted to make for this room. We spend a ton of time in here- its our tv room, playroom, reading room, computer room and basic multipurpose room. I want something colorful, fun, and lively. The quilt isn't supposed to be the focal point in the room but it will add a lot to the decor.

Its a year later and I still haven't produced the perfect quilt for this room.

And then I had a brainstorm! I don't know why I didn't think of this before. While I continue to muse over the 'perfect quilt' possibilities I need to get a quilt rack of some sort and display my other quilts. And then once I produce the 'perfect quilt' for this room I'll have the means to display it already.

So my question is... what is the best way to display quilts on a wall? A curtain rod of some sort? Those fancy new quilt holders that somehow pinch the top of your quilt all the way across and hold it in place?

Please comment and let me know what methods you've tried and what works best.

I'm not very politically savvy.

I don't watch very much news.

I let my husband keep track of the stock market.

I get bored watching debates.

I get sick of mud-slinging and Washington Fakes who just try to tell you what you want to hear.

But I vote. And for me, its mainly about just a few issues- issues that are more important than any other.

I'm not Catholic (as you can see on my sidebar). But I saw this on a friend's blog and thought it was spot on!



This is what its all about: Life, Faith and Family.

I'm voting for McCain.

I was browsing through quilt magazines at Kroger the other day and was surprised to see this:
in this magazine
does it look familiar? well, how about a closer look:
and then compare (from my post on May 26, 2008):
make mine scrappy, turn it on point and add sashing and you've basically got the magazine quilt.
i dont know this designer but we must have been on almost the exact same wave length last spring, or something.
i'm happy to know that i can design a publishable quilt. maybe if i get some connections in the magazine world i can get one of my quilts published someday.

i took a little vacation from working on this quilt for a few months. but i have plans for it and hope to get it finished soon. i've gotten more than half of the blocks done and am really excited to see how its shaping up. i still like it better in all purples and cream.

Quilt Exchanges

With so much talk on here about my beloved Loch Lomond Quilt Group I thought I should do one post with all the group exchange quilts we've had so far. So here goes.

Our first exchange (2004): Shoofly. For this one we exchanged fabric cut but not assembled. There were no requirements for the fabric except that we provided enough colorful and white fabric to make 4 shoofly blocks. Some people's fabric all matched and some people's fabric was completely scrappy. The combination made this fun. This was one of my first quilts. Its very primitive in its construction and quilting. But I love it. The fabric I chose for this one is the purple in the 2nd row 3rd column. This was the first time I'd bought 30's fabric and I've been hooked ever since. Everyone assembled their blocks however they chose.


2nd exchange (2006): House Blocks. This time everyone sewed together their own blocks before exchanging. We gave everyone the house pattern and let them choose whatever colors they wanted. Everyone was supposed to have yellow windows though, as one unifying element. I LOVE how this turned out. The greens, cream and yellow I used for the sashing, stars and fence were all from my stash and it made me so happy to be able to use them up in such a pleasing way. The dark green is from my son's nursery curtains and crib skirt. Again, everyone assembled their quilts however they wanted.


3rd exchange (2007): Brown fabric. For this exchange we got together and decided upon one fabric that we all liked. From there we could choose any block we wanted as long as it coordinated with the brown fabric (in my border) that we'd chosen. This exchange gave everyone a lot of creativity to choose their fabrics and their pattern. And again, everyone assembled their exchanged blocks however they wanted to. I probably would never have picked out the brown fabric on my own but I love it and how this quilt turned out.


4th exchange (2007): 9 patch. This time everyone had to make 6 inch civil war reproduction 9 patches to trade. We drew for colors and then chose our own fabrics. I let these sit around for about a year not knowing how I wanted to put them together but I've finally gotten the top finished (just this past week) and am excited about it.


5th exchange (2008): Praire Paisley. Patriotic Star Blocks we just exchanged and I showed on my last post.


And there is already talk of another exchange! :)

Paisley Exchange

My Utah quilt group took the opportunity of us all getting together for the quilt show to do a block exchange. Last spring we decided to do another exchange using only Prairie Paisley fabrics and any star pattern (of your choice) in a 12" block to exchange.

Here are the results:


I was so excited to get these blocks. I think this is our best exchange yet. Perhaps because we have matured as a group, these blocks were all fairly challenging patterns and were all very well executed.

My block is the third down on the left side- the one with the blue star within the red ring. I love this pattern.

So now I just have to decide how to put them all together. Any ideas?

This looks fun! I love scraps. I absolutely LOVE quilts with lots of white. So I'm playing. Go here for more info: chickpea studio

Fall Quilting

I love Fall!

I've had a hard time adjusting to living in a place where I can't fully appreciate one of my favorite seasons. Houston is the land of the eternal summer. Ok, well, maybe the dead of winter feels a little fallish, but by January/February, it just doesn't have that same autumn magic. I won't go off on a long tirade expounding the pros and cons of Houston weather. But October caught me unaware this year and I've decided that if I'm going to enjoy fall here, I'm going to have to fake it a little bit. [Fake it 'til you make it sure does have a lot of applications in life!]
My wonderful mom sent a care package last week that really helped jump start my fall decorations! Look at this cute jack o'lantern quilt! He is supposed to be a wall hanging but I liked him as a table topper so there he'll stay.
Neither of these pics are very good but you can kind of see the black card stock spiders and bats that me and my 4 year old made and hung from the chandelier for a little spooky fun.

Something about Fall really kicks my quilting productivity into high gear. I always thought it was due to the crisp weather that made me want to create snuggley quilts. But tonight, as I sat at the kitchen table working on a quilt, my husband made a great realization. I quilt more during football season! He's glued to college football for 4 months. In order to be close to him and still keep my sanity, I turn to the sewing machine for my own comfort and company. Another reason to love quilting.