Starch experiment and more quilting

Remember when I starched the wonky, baggy block on the horse quilt yesterday? Well, it worked!! I was astonished to see how much the excess fabric shrunk up. With a bit of manipulation, I was able to quilt the block without any tucks or pleats. Yippee!! It goes home tomorrow. Don't worry, I will post pictures. I was so busy today I didn't take them yet.
The quilt show in Pigeon Forge was pretty good. Not as nice as last year. There seemed to be fewer quilts. The vendors were wonderful, making up for the smaller number of quilts to see. Here are a few of my favorites.

I really like this quilt. Colorful and fun.

And the quilting is great, too!

I bought this pattern and want to make the quilt. This and a hundred others...

The quilt that won for beat hand quilting deserved the award!

Absolutely stunning.

Teeny, tiny stitches, all perfectly the same size.

I liked this one because of the simple but elegant pattern.

The flowers are a bit more complex than they first seem.

Oooooh! I need to make this...

So cute!

The border is whimsical and fun.

Oh, yes! This one is beautiful.

Simple nine patches in soothing colors.

Quirky owls, and a mouse!

I fear the mouse has met his match.

Zzzzzzzzz...

I can use this leaf idea on a quilt someday.

My favorite quilt at the show. All indigos, with perfect placement of the striped fabric.

There's the stripe! The quilting was subtle but lovely. I especially like how the quilter mimicked the stripe with the quilting motif.

From far away, this is a fun and exciting quilt.

Paper pieced with less than beautiful scraps. See what can be done with all those scraps?!

I just liked the simplicity of the design here. You get the whole story in just two blocks.

Mr Wazoo stayed home and finished his quilts for the Florida customer.

Castles for a grandson

The customer requested a shamrock pattern for the quilting. Minkie backing.

This calm quilt is for the quilt maker.

Beautiful backing.

I worked all day on the Glacier Star quilt. I had just finished the third color of the day and started on the black bits when I decided I didn't like the way the thread I had picked looked on the dark fabric. One 12 inch feather took over an hour to pick out. By the time I finished that and gave it a spritz of water to close any needle holes, it was past time to quit for the day. I should be able to get the quilting almost done tomorrow. Oh well, it is what it is.

Quick post, then off to bed!

I made some good progress on the Glacier Star quilt today, getting nearly all the white parts done.I hope to finish the rest and move on to turquoise on Friday.

There are four of these

Eight of these

A loooong snake of these flying geese, too!

Just these flying geese to do, and I'll change colors!
My tools are still laying on the quilt...there is no orange in it.

Mr Wazoo did two quilts today, but one is still on his machine.

This is the first of three quilts for a Florida customer.

I can't remember the name of the panto, but it has good open areas to keep it soft.

With fleece on the back, we didn't want anything too dense. That makes the quilt a bit stiff.

I had to add more fabric to the backing of this quilt as well as sew the fabric together into a back! I like it when everything is big enough, square, sewn and pressed. Sigh...I'd say one out of five quilts needs some work before we can quilt it.

I didn't finish the quilting because I have to wait for the spray starch to dry. I'm attempting to get the far right square to shrink a bit so it won't have numerous tucks from the quilting. Fingers crossed!

Last night at guild, my friend Linda the art quilter showed this quilt. She and her grandson were at a museum somewhere and there was a sculpture made from thousands of tiny mirrors. She took a photo of the two of them, and made a quilt! Weird, but so cool.

Linda with the original photo.

And here is the quilt! All tiny pieces of fabric. 

Tomorrow early, I am off to Pigeon Forge for the quilt show there. It is a nice big show with fun vendors, and the best thing is...it's FREE! I'll be driving because one of the gals had a small surgery today and is on medication that makes her drowsy. There will be three or four of us going, so it should be a grand day out! Now, off to bed!

Back in the saddle

Today began with a visit from two lovely ladies who needed a quilt done ASAP. We chatted and laughed for a while, then I loaded the quilt and did a quick E2E on it. At the same time, I loaded my next custom job, a big Glacier Star quilt. The remainder of the day was spent moving back and forth between the two quilts, and making the binding for the small one.Mr Wazoo also quilted, and Molly snoozed under my machine. It's good to be home!

Little quilt, all done! I added the binding later.

Panto: Woven wind

Very cute boys and girls on the back.

Mr Wazoo quilted this interesting project. It is made of socks!!
The customer's friend had quite a collection of fun socks, so she used them to make this tribute quilt. Great design, and I especially like the sashing fabric with the socks on the line.

Panto: Square Spiral

Inspirational words on the text backing

I'm about half done with the stitch-in-the-ditch on this Glacier Star beauty.

Tomorrow I have a board meeting as well as the evening guild meeting. Cuts my quilting time, but it can't be helped. I need to see what other quilters are up to and get some inspiration! (and snacks...)

Retreat and Louisville fun

The retreat (and my free motion quilting class) ended with a bang before everyone went their separate ways. I won the challenge block contest with my red bird block, and quickly spent the $50 taking Mr Wazoo out to dinner later in Louisville. After the retreat, I took Kay back to my house where Henry was waiting for her. I unpacked the dirty clothes, packed some clean clothes, and set off for Louisville, KY with Mr Wazoo. I signed up for a longarm class with Linda Hrcka (pronounced Hirshka) of Pineapple Quilts, and was excited to meet her as well as Angela Huffman, the owner of Quilted Joy. I really didn't take a lot of pictures at either place, but had a wonderful time with my friends in Dillard, and my classmates in Louisville.

Some of the girls at the Dillard House Inn, yukking it up while waiting for the farm fresh breakfast.

Kay taught her 'Lucy" class...and it looks like it was a roaring success!

These students all did a great job.

Some of my students with their free motion projects.
We were wearing our silly hats...

More of my class showing off their quilting. 

Good job, ladies!!

Diana, in the indian feather hat, taught creative borders. Her class made beautiful pieced and appliquéd borders.

More of Diana's students.

These gals all made and donated quilts for charity.

Someone will love to get these. Thank you to everyone who sewed for charitable causes.

Switch to Louisville, where we had our class at Quilted Joy, home of APQS sales and a longarm shop, owned and operated by Angela Huffman. I learned all about my Millie by watching Angela on Youtube. 

Linda Hrcka's quilts were hanging on display for us to study.

She showed us many many samples of her designs as well as slides of quilts she has done. Everything was stunning...and a bit intimidating. I felt totally inadequate as a quilter, but determined to try to improve using Linda's tips and techniques..

Just, Wow!

I took this picture of a slide on the screen. It is the back of a quilt, showing the quilting.

Linda is a young woman with a bright future in quilting. It's good to see these new quilters rising through the ranks of the best of the best.

Mr Wazoo, driver for my tired self, and faithful companion on quilting trips.
We had a nice room in the hotel to relax in, and he enjoyed his time going to garden centers and antique malls. On Saturday night, the QOV coordinator, Sheryl, cam down from Dayton, OH just to meet me! Mr Wazoo and I went to a swanky Italian restaurant for dinner, and had a wonderful time chatting and getting acquainted  We both had a good time, but it was nice to come home and relax with Molly. I'll be hard at work tomorrow!