Brights & black

Bear's paw
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

I've always meant to do one of these bright-and-black quilts. (So far, the closest I've gotten is red and black.) I don't think I want to do a bear's paw any time too soon, though, the block is constructed too close to the way my maple leaf blocks were, and I think 200 blocks like that is plenty to hold me for a long, long while.

Rail fence variation

Anna's Starry Night

Another really simple quilt top. Of course the secret to both this quilt and the one below is really great fabric - this one is all fabrics from the "Anna's Starry Night" line, which I have always loved.

Florals & stripes

Community service quilt
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

I think this is an example of a really simple quilt that works really well. This is made out of fat quarters that were given to everybody at the retreat as sort of a welcome gift. There was a group of three that spent the entire retreat making community service quilts, and this is one of the results.

Anime creatures

Anime creatures

This was made by a quilter's 8-year-old son, y'all. (His mom is doing the quilting, though!)

In lieu of a retreat report

I'm not going to try to write up a day-by-day report on the retreat, because it was fairly uneventful, on the whole. It went by awfully fast. You can see two things that I worked on below - I had a couple more projects that I worked on a little bit, but I really spent the largest amount of time cutting out pink and orange blocks.

And because I mentioned the exchange-happy guild members below, I realized that I ought to say that I got roped into doing another one - it's going to be stars in Christmas batiks, green and pink/burgundy. (I also probably ought to say that they really didn't have to do much convincing.)

I will have to take pictures of the exchange blocks I got in the fall batik exchange, as well. I have a lot more pictures of other peoples' quilts, and I will get at least part of them up here, but if you don't want to wait or you want to be sure you see every single picture, they are here.

Finished top

Here's the green quilt top, all done and ready to quilt. I was a little worried that that lime-green inner border would be too much, but I think now that it looks fine. (And I might have made the outer border a little bigger, but I only had half a yard of that Paula Nadelstern marble and I really liked it and wanted to use it. So, 2-1/2" it is.)

Starting the zipper quilt

Fabric for the zipper quilt

Here's some of the fabric I'm planning on using in the zipper quilt. You can get an idea what I've got in mind, at least! I got about 50 of the big blocks cut out (out of a planned 72, I think) - and the little 1-1/2 by 2-1/2" rectangles to go with each one, which are a pain, let me tell you.

I also sewed a few blocks together to get an idea what it's going to look like - I haven't taken a picture of those yet but I will when I get a chance.

Retreat pictures start here

Radiant star

There are some people in my guild who are really exchange-happy, and this was the result of one of those exchanges.

Update: I'm told that "radiant star" is not in fact the right name. I don't know where I got that! I got an e-mail from one of the people who was making one (a few of my guild members have discovered my weblog in the last week or so), and the correct name is Spring Wheels. It's from the book "Once Upon a Season" by Piece O'Cake. Thanks to Denise for correcting me!

Country delights

vicinity of Round Top, Sept 2004

This is what it looks like in the place where we go for the quilt retreat. Seriously out in the middle of nowhere. (Hopefully there won't be as many love-bugs as last year, though!)

(This is a picture recycled from last year, of course. You can probably expect plenty of new ones, though I doubt that I'll make my mother stop the car to take pictures of cows this time.)

Ultimate Guild Challenge

I went to my guild's website to see if they had any information about the fall retreat there, and they didn't, but y'all have to go look at the quilts from the Ultimate Guild Challenge at AQS. (It's not set up where I can link directly, but click on the link above and then go to the link inside the box where it says "view photos of our Ultimate Guild Challenge quilts in Nashville") There are really some fabulous quilters in my guild.

Retreat time again

Here's part of my "don't forget" list for the fall retreat that I posted in one of my very first posts here a year ago:
seam ripper
right color of thread
starch
scissors
ruler
mat
iron
pins & needles
sewing machine
breakfast for Friday morning
clorox wipes (to clean bathroom)
sewing lamp
camera & memory card
pillow(s)
towels
powerstrip

I'm definitely taking batting this year - I think I have a couple of packages floating around here that will do. I also need to figure out what fabric I'm taking - I'm going to at least do a little bit on the zipper quilt, or that's my intention, anyway. I'm taking the Ohio Stars for sure, and the damn autumn leaf quilt, which I was also working on last year. Maybe the green top too, for good measure - I could get it quilted if I got in the mood; it's not that big, after all. I like to have several projects to work on so I don't get sick of just one.

Quilts for Katrina

Quiltzine.com is trying to coordinate the making of 10,000 quilts - preferably twin-size - for people who've lost everything in the hurricane.

The very first quilt I ever made is not quite twin-size but it's close, and it's just sitting unused in the closet. I'm thinking I'm going to send it to one of these places. (I'll definitely have to take some pictures of it before I send it, though, because I don't have any online. All I have is some old film ones sitting in a photo album someplace.)