Chickens Create

There were no questions about eggs and chickens today -- it was obvious the Chickens came first!  My friend Kathy invited all available Chickens over today to celebrate National Quilting Day.  Nevermind that is was officially yesterday.  We make up our own rules.  So I picked up Carol and drove to Kathy's house, where we met up with Deb, Joyce, and later Pat, who needed a lot of prodding to come over.

 ** WARNING -- LOTS OF PICTURES TODAY!! **

We were busy, busy, busy, working on various projects.  I suggested to Kathy that some day we should all bring our own projects and have a round robin where we each get to work on whatever the other Chickens brought.  There could be mayhem in the coop!

I took plenty of pictures with my new camera and while I was able to get them onto my computer I still need to figure out the editing features.  So these are definitely 'raw' photos.

Kathy surprised me by showing 2 finished quilt tops using the blocks I had cut and sewn last year from her jungle birds fabric.  The technique involved laying four carefully cut layers of fabric on the cutting board and cutting them in such a way that when you turned each square 90º and sewed them together you'd get a block like this ~~

Kathy did a fabulous job selecting the sashing and cornerstone fabrics -- I love how it turned out!  She didn't just randomly place the fabrics.  Oh, no, she had a carefully drawn out system ~~

One of the projects that Kathy showed us involved tiny 16 patch blocks using Reproduction fabrics.

Don't believe it's a tiny center block??

Joyce placed this bobbin from her Featherweight Bernina beside the block for comparison!

Kathy has been super busy -- here's another WIP ~~

Kathy still has some work to do on this one.  Carol, Joyce and Deb were ready to lend their advice.

I think this is a project from one of Gwen Marston's Kaffe Fassett's books.  Thanks Joyce. 

Joyce was working on a super clever quilt that looks like wool but uses flannels ~~

Doesn't it look just like wool???

Carol sewed down the binding on this year's Mystery Quilt Day quilt ~~

Deb worked on blocks based on a quilt that Becky had shown at the GLHQ guild meeting in February -- so darn clever!  She used her hand-dyed fabrics for a beautiful effect ~~

Deb also showed this fabulous quilt top, also using her wonderful hand-dyed fabrics ~~

Aren't her fabrics delightful!!

Kathy worked on her project from last week's Dianne Hire workshop ~~

Here are the pieces so far, albeit upside-down ~~

Pat showed us the prototype for the veil she's sewing -- no pics, don't want to risk any bad luck for the bride to be.

Now I know what you're thinking -- all this productivity documented with photos -- what the heck did Suzanne work on all day??!!

Well, everyone who knows me knows that I'm not particularly prolific when it comes to sewing.  Every now and then even I get disgusted with my lack of productivity.  Today I pulled out a charity quilt top that I've had in my possession for what appears to be more than 3 years.  Get ready to beat me up -- I didn't even have to sew it -- it came to me as a kit from someone else in the guild.  Okay, okay.  Not for too much longer.  I pressed the top and backing (one particularly dense sort of muslin) and layered it up with a dreadful polyester batting, pin basted it on Kathy's countertop (so much better than crawling around on the floor), and tied it using a gold wool yarn ~~

Now I need to trim the edges (seems the top was a bit more generous than the backing) and sew on the binding.  It will feel so good to turn it in to the Charity committee next month.  One big item to cross off my list of things to get done and out of my house.  Thanks to Kathy for hosting the day.

And finally, here's the Teal Knit Hat I finished yesterday while knitting at Joan's ~~

It's made to fit a large woman's head or even a man's head.  I don't often make them this size but I always get requests for them so I better crank out more.

I've got a busy week ahead with both dentist and doctor visits planned.  I also have my monthly meeting with my manager where we'll be discussing my development plan for the year.  Woohoo.  Not sure where this year will take me......

Go Green!  Go White!  Go Spartans!!