Jacksonville Quilt Fest

While Tisha was here for her annual Fall visit we decided we needed to attend at least one other quilt show. And Jacksonville fit the bill-right time, not too far away, great show with beautiful quilts and wonderful vendors.

It only took us three days to make it to Jacksonville because we had to stop in Savannah and Jekyll Island on the way. I wanted to show Tisha the beauty of old Savannah and the beach at Jekyll. It was the perfect time of year to be at the beach-we had the entire stretch of sand all to ourselves when we took our morning walk. Beautiful.............

The Jacksonville quilt show was a new one for me. And it proved to be worth the drive. Here is a taste of the quilts we saw.

And the miniatures were fabulous! I love to see traditional quilts in such tiny proportions!

I just had to take a close up picture of the details in this miniature! Look how many teeny, tiny pieces are in each of those blocks! I know they are paper pieced-but who cares? That is little bitty detail at it's finest!! I'm impressed. 

I managed to spend quite a bit of money at the show too-and we stopped at several quilt shops on our way home, too. The fun just never ends when you are doing quilty things with quilting friends.

Quilt Expo

WOW! I can't believe it's been a month already since I blogged last. And I can't believe how much has happened in that month! 

First, Tisha, my good friend and quilting buddy from England came for a two week visit. She arrived on Thursday, September 19 and we hit the ground running. Pam and Anne were also here (from South Carolina) and the three of us were at the airport to greet Tisha. On Friday, the four of us were joined by Judy and we headed north to the Quilt Expo in Marietta. My daughter, Melissa met us there and we all had a great time looking at the quilts and shopping :)

Here we are outside the Expo! Pam, me, Tisha, Judy and Anne-we're ready to head in and start having quilty fun.

The quilts were an unusual mixture. There was definitely something there for everyone. From the most traditional......

To traditional with a twist.....

Some were small, but the time that went into them was evident....

Some were definitely for those that enjoy art quilts.....

But, the quilt that fascinated me the most was this one!

I took a close up shot of it so that you can see why it intrigued me so much. It's made up of thousands of tiny squares!! I can't even begin to imagine the time and energy that went into this piece of art! Gorgeous!

When we left the show we made a stop for Starbucks and then headed to our favorite quilt shop in the area. It was a fun day and we hated to see it end. 

Snoopy-Lovers Unite!

This picture is a teaser for my latest project. I have a Snoopy-lover in my family who has requested a new quilt for her bed. These are the fabrics that I have collected for her. I should be finished with it in just a few days.....so I'll post again soon. 

Birthday Quilt for Katelyn

My oldest granddaughter, Katelyn, turned 10 last week. I decided that she has now outgrown the baby quilt that I made for her oh, so many years ago. 

Those 10 years have just flown by-and I'm not quite sure where they went. It feels like just yesterday that I became Grammy. Holding that precious dear life, taking in the sweet scent of her newness, and loving every second I could spend with her. And what a pleasure it has been to watch her grow up.                                                                     

A bubbly, outgoing personality and a smile that lights up the room......

Her curiosity about everything, everywhere has resulted in a steady stream of questions, a huge vocabulary and one smart young lady.

Katelyn's creativity has shown itself in several mediums. She loves to sew, do arts and crafts and can draw beautifully!

A sweet sister, a loving daughter and a precious, endearing granddaughter. Katelyn is so dear! 

I blogged about a quilt I was working on here. It was just quick and easy quarter square triangle blocks made with a layer cake from Moda. Katelyn saw some of the finished blocks up on my design wall and loved it. I decided it was to be for her. 

Once the quilt top was done, I sandwiched it and was ready to quilt. I had done a lot of thinking about how I wanted to quilt this one. Just meandering wasn't going to do, but I did want a simple overall pattern that would stand up to repeated washings. 

I decided that I wanted to quilt loops and flowers...but I needed to work on my flowers before I put thread to fabric. I doodled for a bit and then chose how I wanted the flowers to look-how many petals, size, etc. I drew them over and over again on paper to "train my brain".

Next I tried it out on a "scrap sandwich"-so far, so good! Once I got my tension issues worked out, I was ready to roll.

And then on the quilt itself-the real test of my practice. It was going well! I was pleased. :)

Here is a larger view of the quilt. It definitely has a girly feel. Just what I wanted.

But, the true test of how well the quilt came out was if my sweet Katie liked it too. I was in luck! She's one happy young lady. 

Happy 10th birthday, Katie!