Long Beach Quilt Show (VERY heavy in photos)

The most beautiful view is the one I share with you. 
~Author Unknown

What a busy and fun weekend I had.  Saturday morning we were on the road headed south bright and early.  We arrived in Long Beach just as the doors opened to the 2011 International Quilt Festival.  We spent the morning admiring and drooling over the gorgeous creations that were entered in this year's Festival.  Oh, by we I mean me and my sweet DH.  And, yes, he really does enjoy looking at all of the quilts.  He is just as in awe as I am at the craftmanship in the quilts.  After a very mediocre lunch we hit the vendors.  I was a little intimidated with all of the people and trying to maneuver around in my power wheelchair but we managed.  Believe it or not, I didn't find any material that I couldn't live without.  I saw many long arm machines that I would love to have but settled for a few patterns and some darling buttons which I will share below.  We arrived home in time for dinner where DH took me to dinner at Hungry Hunter for some excellent steak.  Sunday morning we awoke to sprinkles - well, you could have walked between the drops, but it was still a welcome surprise - until the sun came out making the humidity horrid.  We celebrated the day by going to the theater to watch the final episode of Harry Potter - still as good as each previous one.  Now I'm ready to start the week.  Plans are in the work for some serious sewing along with maybe a surprise at the end of the week and I'm eager to start.  Here we go.........

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PHOTO FACT OF THE DAY

Catfish

August is National Catfish Month.  Can you believe that we celebrate such an odd looking creature for a full month?  Just so you can be informed for the month of August, here are a few interested little facts I managed to find:

* Catfish are found nearly everywhere in the United States and in much of Mexico and Canada.

* Catfish live on the bottom of lakes, rivers and ponds – often in areas with hard sand bottoms

* One catfish can lay up to 4,000 eggs a year per pound of body weight

* Named for the barbels near its mouth that resemble cat's whiskers, catfish are immediately recognizable by this feature and their scaleless skin.

* Catfish have highly complex bone structures that form an extremely sensitive hearing apparatus, much like their cousins the minnow and sucker.

* When catfish reach 4 inches long they are called "fingerlings" (the size of an index finger).

* About 95% of the nation's farm-raised catfish is raised in Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, and Louisiana.

* The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds, that makes the catfish rank #1 for animal having the most taste buds.

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THANK YOU!

I want to thank you all for voting for my little quilt, June Bugs, in this week Quilting Gallery's Summer Fun quilt contest.  Thanks to all of you I WON!!!  This is the first time anything I've quilted as won anything!!!!!  You don't know how happy that makes me.  And, maybe, just maybe, at the end of the week, I will share some happiness with all of you!

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2011 INTERNATIONAL QUILT FESTIVAL

There were so many beautiful and unusual quilts at the Festival this year - I'm sorry that I can only share a few of them with you.  We were both very disappointed that we couldn't take pictures of the gorgeous Baltimore Album quilts - there were some truly stunning quilts on display.  Anyway, grab your favorite beverage and enjoy the photos along with me.....

Flower Songs by Eileen R Campbell

Close-up showing the details.  The quilting was done in a gold metallic thread.

Montana Tigers by Karlyn Bue Lohrenz

(the plastic shiny strip toward the bottom of the photo is the ribbon boundary to keep us back from the quilts)

The detail quilting and stitching on this was truly amazing. 

I'm Watching You! by Barbara McKie

Royal Amethyst by Rachelle Denneny

The back was a painted recreation of the front!

Basket of Tulips by Andi J Perejda, Joan Bruce, Barbara Collins, and Rene Jennings.

This was needle turned applique and was all hand quilted.

Good Morning Sunshine by Manon B Gagliardi

This is for all of you yo-yo lovers out there.  These were all hand pieced and not attached to a backing.

Dogwood Shuffle by Lynn D Buske

This shows how Ms Buske carried the dogwood into the quilting.

Feathers by Robyn Fahy

This is one of the few traditional patchwork type quilts that there was at the show.  The quilting was amazing.

1 Divided by Three by Jane Lloyd

Boston's Back Bay by Mary Lou Schwin, Janet Dye, Joan Randall, Janet Duncan Dignan, Patricia Smith and Graciela Piccolo.

Brown Bird's Lullaby by Sally Magee

This quilt took Ms Magee three years to make.  The detailing was fantastic.

Just one of the little birds on the quilt.

Some more of the exquisite details.

Summer Solstice by Lynne Buske

The back was an entirely different quilt and was just as beautiful.

Good Golly Miss Molly by Deborah Mackay and quilted by Michalee Sloan

Orphan Blossoms by Timna Tarr

This is the catalog cover quilt.

There you have it!  A very quick sampling of what we were able to feast our eyes on.  I hope you enjoyed the parade of quilts.

Here are my purchases minus another pattern I'm expecting in the mail later this week.  On the left is a book, "Growing Hearts" by Kay Mackenzie.  Center is a pattern, #109 Wildflowers from Farmhouse Threads that combines cotton with wool applique.  The adorable buttons on the right are from Incomparable Buttons.  They are the wonderful group that give employment to women in South Africa.

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FMQ - Day 14

Friday's FMQ practice gave me some difficulties....

Cartoon Tree and I just didn't get along.  About the time I would add some curve to the design I would be almost to the end of the row and would have to start again - very aggravating.  I'm looking forward to another of practice - I think.

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HAPPY SQUISHIES

I won this gorgeous fabric and great pattern from Barbara of Cat Patches.  I know I will be using the darling pink fabric on the right for a backing of a Loving Hands quilt but I'm still deciding what I will use the other two pieces for.  Barbara also included a beautiful handmade card from one of the many wonderful photos she takes around her place.  Thank you so very much, Barbara!!

I won these wonderful squares from Debi's giveaway over at Quilting With Debi.  There are 100 blocks and that is just a sampling of some of the wonderful prints included.  Thank you so very much Debi!!  I can hardly wait to use them.

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TODAY'S GOAL

Today I plan on finally starting to piece together the backing for Colors Thru the Window.

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GIVEAWAYS
(With my being gone so much this weekend, I didn't have time to scout out many giveaways - sorry!)

The Flying Needle is having a giveaway to celebrate her birthday.  You could win a $50 gift certificate to 123Stitch.  This giveaway ends Sunday, August 7.

Heirlooms by Ashton is having a giveaway.  You could win a GO! Baby Cutter and your choice of 3 dies.  This giveaway ends Saturday, August 6, at midnight CST.

Growing Stitches is having a Super dee Duper Blog Giveaway.  You could win a gift subscription to American Patchwork and Quilting and a charm pack of Ruby by Bonnie and Camille.  This giveaway ends Tuesday, August 9.

Incomparable Buttons is having a giveaway.  You could win some fabric and adorable matching buttons.  This giveaway ends Friday, August 5, at midday South African time.

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FINAL THOUGHT

Thank you for sticking with me through all of those quilt photos.  I so enjoyed the show and wanted to share some of the beauty with you.  Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and you may have selected different ones to share if you were there.  I don't know about you, but I always stop and linger on blogs that share quilt shows.  I love to admire their beauty and craftsmanship.  I also use them for inspiration and to build on my dreams.  I first started attending quilt shows for the vendors, but I now find that is the secondary reason for going.  I'm just as happy to do most of my shopping online but you can only get so much out of a photo.  Seeing these works of art in person is so much better - you can see the true colors, the tiny details, and the so much more.  I hope you had a great weekend and are ready to start out a brand new week and a brand new month!!!

The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning. 
~Ivy Baker Priest

Thankful It's Thursday

"The foliage has been losing its freshness through the month of August, and here and there a yellow leaf shows itself like the first gray hair amidst the locks of a beauty who has seen one season too many. "
                                                                ~Oliver Wendell Holmes


Thundering Thursday!  I can only wish we were having thunder.  That would probably mean rain!  Something we haven't seen here in over 3 months :(  Everything is looking dirty and tired as we are heading into fall, nothing a little rain couldn't help remedy.  I know it will come - think positive - I know it will come!!  I'm still looking for the first fall coloring in the leaves of the liquid ambers or in the mulberry trees.  I envy those who live back east with all of the fall color splendor.

Photo Of The Day:

Orange Trumpet Vine

The truth, as in many things, the Orange Trumpet Vine is somewhere between a plant thug and the garden answer for this millennium.  To begin with, the vine is aggressive and can reach thirty to forty feet, climbing and scrambling over any obstacle. It never met a trellis it didn’t like and it will cover a screen or trellis very quickly. When planting it, jump back quickly as it has been known to break gardener’s ankles ;) in its zeal to find growing space. It self sows and you’ll quickly have little trumpet vines (I wonder if the babies are called “coronet”  or "pocket trumpet" vines?) popping up.  You have to prune it heavily to keep it in bounds. And do not worry about whether you are pruning it properly or not. It grows back so quickly, you’ll have to wonder if you did it at all. Some people (never myself you understand) say that the proper way to prune this plant is with a chainsaw.  It is currently climbing a neighbors pine tree (that is mostly dead) adding odd orange blooms to an evergreen.  The hummingbirds really like to stick their beaks deep into these flowers, sometimes irritating a visiting bumblebee.
         
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Yesterday when I went out to collect the mail, there was a large envelope waiting with MY name on it!!  Last week I had won a giveaway from Char over at Cloth Stitched!  This was the first time I had won anything in blogland!!  I opened the envelope to find a nice note from Charmaine and pretty pink tissue paper sealed with a bright yellow happy face:

I almost forgot to take a picture before opening it :)

Inside I found the charm pack,  Park Avenue by 3 Sisters for Moda, I had won and a darling hand made scrap pincushion made by Char.

Here is a close up of the cute little Scrap Pincushion Char made.  I'm going to put it on my stitchery stand to hold all of the stray pins that seem to find their way there.

Thank you, Char, for having such a great giveaway and for the very special scrap pincushion!!

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Some of you may remember my posting about my friend, Leona, and her request for help in making her sister a comfort quilt.  Yesterday morning I spent some time making up two 9" blocks for the quilt.  She had requested either a nine patch or a 4 patch block in any type of fabric with white or off-white combinations in the block.  So I couldn't decide which to make to I made one of each (these are the first two blocks I have made without following a pattern):

Here's my four patch block

And here is my nine patch, sort of a nine patch inside of a nine patch

These will go out in today's mail to Leona.  I thought I would get them to her early so that maybe she can get a head start on piecing the blocks together.  If you are interested in helping Leona create a quilt for her sister, jump on over to Leona's Quilting Adventure for all of the information.

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Maybe some of you noticed a couple of new buttons on the right hand side.  Would you like to know what they are about?

Are you ready to Blog Hop.  Starting September 27th, Gudrun is hosting a Fall-O-Ween Quilt Designer Blog Hop.  Gudrun has 10 designers lined up and each day she will bring you a great project and 10 themed blog posts.  Sounds like loads of fun!  

The cute little scarecrow is announcing that Debi of Quilting With Debi is hosting Fall into Fall Quilters Giveaway beginning October 1.  She is hoping to get at least 200 quilters to participate in this blog giveaway.  What a great way to get your blog out there and noticed!  If you are interested in joining in the fun, just link over to Debi's site for all of the information.


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Today I received an email from AccuQuilt in response to my request to be considered to host a GO! Cutter giveaway.  They said I had to have 100 followers :(   Currently I have 82 followers, and a big thank you to all 82 of you!!!  Could you help me find 18 more followers?  Tell your friends, your fellow bloggers, your relatives, to come join my blog and then maybe, just maybe, I will be able to host a GO! giveaway!   Oh how I wish for a GO! Cutter to come into my life.

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Me dreaming of an AccuQuilt GO! Cutter

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Reminder - My 2nd giveaway is still happening. 

Enter today!  Just click HERE to enter - the winner will be announced Monday!
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Final Thoughts
We are almost to the end of the week and into the weekend - nope, shouldn't think that way.  Don't wish days away in anticipation of what may come in the future.  Enjoy today, enjoy tomorrow, enjoy every minute you have!  Thank goodness for Thursdays!