Can I do it? Going for 3 for 3!

"Ostentatious" 30" sq wallhanging.
Made by Naomi Hernandez Perry, as part of a black and white and one other color gold challenge.
Completed Feb 2017.

Ok!! I think I have a minute to breath now. I've been very focused over the last month. So much so, that I didn't dare stop to blog even though I wanted to tell you so much!

I did get lots done...

Two quilts completely finished and we're still in February!

"Ostentatious" was made for the Mountain Quiltfest 2017.  The theme was Black and White and One Other Color.  

A Pintrest pin caught my attention.

It lead me to the tutorial at Spotted Stones: cathedral window. 

I've always been very intrigued by the dimensional element that folded fabric brings to quilts. And I adore Cathedral Window quilts!  The amount of handwork in them is truly amazing.  

Here's my blog post with details about starting "Ostentatious", which is now on it's way to Mountain Quiltfest 2017 to be displayed with 13 other quilts from my PTQ guild!  I am so blessed to be part of a group of so many talented women!!

I tried super hard to get this second project done in time to send to the quiltfest too. But I just couldn't make it happen.  But to ease my disappointment, our local library Columbus-Lowndes Public Library is hosting a reception in celebration of National Quilting Day!  I even got a personal phone call with a request for me to bring in any quilts I'd like to display this year. 

It was a great project to show myself that I CAN free motion quilt on my regular home sewing machine.  I spent too many years thinking it would be too difficult to maneuver a big bulky full sized quilt in the space of a regular machine.... Thank goodness for youtube tutorials like Leah Day's tutorials on getting started.

Here's some of my favorite blocks.

And here it is before the binding, which the ladies at Maple Street stitched down on the day it was submitted to the Library for display! ... just in the knick of time :).

The quilt top, named "Midnight Sail",  was pieced in Stack and Whack method by Lawana Shultz of Columbus, MS,

quilted by Naomi Perry.  Made by/for the Maple Street Charity Wednesday morning group.  completed Feb 22, 2017.

Actually, I did manage to get a second quilt sent to Mountain Quiltfest!  My friend Judy Stokes encouraged me to enter "... Beauty of the South" to be displayed.  It's amusing to be excited that I've kind of lost count of how many places this first quilt made specifically for entering into shows has been.  Two years old and it's been entered/displayed in at least 6 venues.  (I usually give away my work and never see them again, so this is a new experience for me!) 

At the Possum Town Quilt guild meeting in February, I helped along with a few other guild members to put together a charity quilt from appliqued Heart blocks that were donated to the guild. Guildmate Carla did a fantastic job organizing this effort!  I am so tempted to make a similar Heart quilt (if I didn't already have too many projects waiting to be worked on and finished, lol.) 

The Possum Town Quilters are offering a chance to win our Broken Star Log Cabin Quilt. Raffle will be held on April 8, 2017!  Keep in mind, my cellphone-photo does NOT do this gorgeous quilt justice!! 

At Maple Street, Lawana is working on a new quilt. It's going to be a smaller size, more like a cuddle quilt, but I think it's already beautiful!!

There is a new quilt loaded on the quilting frame, with bright primary colors, but I forgot to get a picture... Maybe next week 😉.

and a little sneak peak at what I'm busy with at the moment. My friend Karen Arzamendi asked me to "proof read" a pattern she just wrote. And in my excitement I thought she asked for a tester and started making the quilt, lol!  She'll be using this pattern in a class she's teaching in March. I've made the class date my deadline date, so in theory I'll have 3 quilts in 3 months. Not bad for 2017!!

I'm using a pin cushion my Aunt Mary gifted to me this last summer.  She's seems to be quite happy sitting on these wild bright colors, I just had to get a picture of her and two pics side by side seemed appropriate :p.

OH YES! As a celebration of 2's -- 2 quilts, 2 months, and my blog has finally reached over 2k views!

  I am going to have my first blog Giveaway!! If you're interested in winning "Ostentatious," a 30" sq wallhanging or it could be a table topper,  leave a comment (make sure I know who you are!) on this update and I'll put your name in the basket to be drawn when I get the quilt back on March 29.  Once it's yours, you may keep it for yourself, or give it as a gift, or donate it to an art auction, or whatever. 

one small caveat that there be at least 25 names entered :). 

 

no end in sight! How blessed I am :)

My Black and White and One other color quilt is complete. I have named it Ostentatious. But I don't have a good picture of it yet so I think I will write more about it in the next post... plus, I think I'll have a surprise for you :). I can hardly wait!!

Apparently, I have a very difficult time working on only one project at a time. 

While trying to figure out how I was going to quilt Ostentatious, I was inspired to finally at least baste this top that the Maple Street quilters kindly allowed me to practice my machine quilting. I've had the top for close to a year now and haven't had the courage to attempt this on my home machine. Then seeing how well Ostentatious was turning out (and the encouragement of one of the ladies saying it would be nice to see it hanging at Mountain Quiltfest too) gave me the spark I needed to begin! I'm not sure it will be completed in time for the Mountain Quiltfest deadline (I will really have to push it now), but I am so pleased with the progress on it. 

 

And because I got stumped on quilting designs for both the B&W+1 and the Maple Street quilt, I had to distract myself with organizing in my sewing room and I couldn't resist playing in my scrap boxes.  The result is 60  2.5" crumb squares! I couldn't stop making them. My Sweetling (14 year old daughter) was so intrigued by these little squares that she asked if she could make one.  She has sewn a few articles in the past but hasn't cared to sew anything for a couple years now.  I quite enjoyed watching her at the machine.  She didn't care to autograph her block like I suggested, and I'm sad to say can't pick out which one she made from this picture, but it's in there!! 

In the meantime, I am VP of Possum Town Quilter's guild this year.  It looks like my main duty is scheduling education opportunities.  It's an hour drive from the town that I live in to any quilt shop.  I decided to organize day trips to visit some of the surrounding shops. 

Our January day trip consisted of two cars and seven ladies. We first went to Heirlooms Forever in Tupelo.

Kaffe Fassett is one of Heirloom Forever's featured fabric collections.

Kathy Pizza (pronounced Peeza) gave us a fantastic presentation explaining the anatomy of a sewing machine needle and suggested sizes and threads for  projects. 

Since we arranged to arrive first thing in the morning
Kathy had coffee and donut holes waiting for us :).
But she definitely has our total attention!

I had to take a close up of the
simple yet elegant quilting on this circle quilt table runner.

Circle quilts by Kathy Seymour were featured

We had lunch at Peppers in Tupelo, then made our way to the Oxford Fiber Arts Fest 2017.   I got so caught up in looking, that I forgot about documenting and only got this one picture.  Just about everything you could think of for knitting, crocheting, spinning, weaving, tatting, and quilting... all fiber things were repesented there!! 

Lustrous 100% silk skeins shimmering in the sun rays.

Our last stop was to the Sit and Rock quilt store in Oxford. Again, I only got one picture.  I decided I might need this book.  It shows how to quilt a project on the long arm, and how you can also quilt it on a home machine. 

It was a long day. And in the end I concluded that our first day trip was a success. I was quite pleased and the ladies say they want another trip soon!

And I guess, since I was still struggling with a quilting design, I figured another distraction was in order, and decided to try out a new piecing technique. This one will also be in a future post.  But another couple days away from the B&W+1, and the deadline gets closer! Crazy as it is. When it seems I am no longer thinking about it... finally, in the nick of time, the border design magically presents itself! What a relief. And "Ostentatious" is ready to go!! More about it in the next post, I promise :).

Last, but not least. Yesterday at Maple Street, we finished quilting one quilt and another takes it's place on the frame! We'll get started working on it next week.

I've been really busy this past month.  Much of my time inbetween taking care of my family is spent in the sewing room. I estimated maybe 6 hours every day.  So you see...as soon as one is finished, there's always another to work on, another idea, another technique to try.... I could quilt day in and day out, and still never run out of projects! Oh, how blessed I am!! 😊💗