Sharon Schamber Site and Tutorials

Have you visited Sharon Schamber's website recently? She has always been generous about posting step-by-step tutorials with photos on her webshots or webpages. Apparently she is getting ready to launch her new computer video network--- seems to be the latest hot phase for quilting information. Anyway, her sign-up page has some really cool You Tube links which show her quilting in fast forward to classical music. I have signed up for the network. Hope this does not turn out to be another pay-for-view like The Quilt Show. Here is my favorite of her videos, called "Dancing Feathers."

Jumping Around

I can't seem to stick to one project these days. I have worked on about four different quilts in the last week. I was going great on quilting my round robin top, but have come to a crashing halt. I did the entire top white border in a detailed filler using King Tut thread on top and Bottom Line in the bottom. The top looked so pretty! May I add, this is the exact same thread combination I had been successfully using already except for the colors. But when I rolled up the quilt to advance it, I got a horrible sick feeling when I saw the back. The white bobbin thread looked really bad! Some of the thread was just laying on the back, there were little knots at many of the turns, and the backtracking showed up on the purple backing.

I started ripping it out, spent about two hours, and got about five inches done. Maddening! To teach it a lesson, I abandoned the project for a couple days. I am still mulling over whether to rip it all out, go with the good-looking front side, use marker to ink out the knots.... but this series of Round Robins is supposed to go in our state Quilt Symposium show the next time my guild hosts it. I know I don't want mine to be a poor example of my quilting. So, I'm sure I will be frogging for many nights to come. (Rip-it, Rip-it, Rip-it!)

I started working on a UFO that I promised my daughter-in-law that I would make for her sister. I bought several Lilly Pulitzer fabrics in bright tropical colors, and am framing four-inch squares with various black and white batiks. It is so cheerful and pretty! Her sister had bridesmaids wear whatever Lilly Pulitzer sundress they liked at her wedding on the beach in Nags Head last year. So, I hope she will like this.

Feathers and Flowers

I feel very thankful that we are able to head for the hills like we did this past weekend. It was wonderfully cool in the North Carolina mountains. We had a great visit with family and friends up there, and I did get to float in the new pond Saturday afternoon! It needs some improvements, mainly because the bottom is so muddy it sucks your feet under. Getting in was not problem since I just flopped down on my tube, but getting out is a different story! My window box flowers were doing just fine, which amazed me after two weeks of no attention. They must have had some rain.

Today I decided to Just Do It...that is, get started on my Round Robin quilt. But I experimented with some of my new threads first. The LAVA from Superior quilted just fine with a Bottom Line thread in the bobbin. No breakage at all! The sample is just a little too bright for this particular project- sort of like the FAD 5 colors. I also tried several shades of the King Tut's in the Cottage Sampler package I ordered from Superior. I liked the rosy pink shade the best, and have used it in the purple outer border and some of the inner triangles. I have not decided if I will use the same thread throughout, or switch threads to blend with the background fabrics.

Too Hot to Quilt...Heading for the Mountains

Yesterday the temps here in central North Carolina reached 102, and it is supposed to be hotter today. My thermometer is reading 105 at 12:30PM. Charlie says that if there are no pressing issues at work for tomorrow, we can head for the mountains tonight. It is usually fifteen degrees cooler up there, and we can always jump in the creek. Or maybe the new pond, if it is not too muddy! I have already watered the plants and walked the dog- not a pleasant walk in the heat on the day of our curbside garbage pick-up!

Here is the new mountain pond, which is partially filled.


Last night I made some progress on cutting away the batting for the trapunto motifs on the green quilt. I use Quilters' Dream Poly for this step, as it is a dense white batting that will not seep through the stitching when I wash out the Vanish thread and marks. The instructions for this process are all in Karen McTavish's book, The Secrets of Elemental Quilting.





The front view is on the left, and the back on the right. I still need to trim these up a bit and do most of the small flowers in the outer white border.

Taking the Plunge

Today I decided it was time...to quit staring at my Round Robin top, and start quilting! It is a little intimidating when a project has taken over a year, and seven other people's work is represented. But, it is so pretty, and will never get to be displayed if it does not become a quilt! I am thinking that this will be a wall-hanging, since it has silk ribbon embroidery, some beads and crystals. Here is a reminder of what the quilt looks like:

Beautiful jewel colors, lots of flowers, some great quilting areas!

Yesterday, my box of pretty threads from Superior arrived. Don't they look gorgeous! I already had the Glitter, but everything else is new. Some SuperBobs of Bottom Line thread, some variegated, some metallic! The purple batik at the top of the photo is the backing I got last week.

In case I get timid, I have A-Muse-ing Violette on the wall behind the Gammill. I made her for a challenge in Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine. She is supposed to remind me to try new challenges and be adventurous.

And, while I was digging around my quilting room, I found this little project left over from the spring, and decided to stitch the trapunto designs with wash-away thread. The stitched outlines will be cut away from the white poly batting behind the top. Those areas will look white under the sheer batiste top. The rest of the white areas will appear green when I add a layer of green felt. I have used this technique five times now. The green squares contain silk, hand-painted fabric, ferny looking prints and others in all shades of green. This one is supposed to evoke springtime in the southern woodlands. The trapunto designs are from dogwood blossoms and leaves that I scanned last spring. I also added some trillium blooms and a small white wildflower. I have a feeling that this little guy is not going to remain square when I am finished with him!

What I did this weekend

We were invited to a great party Saturday night. You know we had to be looking forward to it when we stayed home from the mountains for the first time in months! It was a backyard luau, with two different bands and an island dancer floor show. There were many lighted tents, two cocktail bars featuring watermelon martinis, catered buffets, silk flower leis for the wahinis and shell necklaces for the gents, and lots of beautiful orchid flower arrangements. I would say this party must have cost more than the average wedding! It was very hot and humid Saturday night, but they had those giant fans that are used to cool the team bench at football games.

Here are my hubby and me in front of the waterfall by the pool.

Here is the first band:

And one of the tropical dance performers:

Sunday I managed to do some sewing. I worked on a quilt for the queen-sized bed in Lily's bedroom. Miranda and her mom gave me a yard of each of the fabrics they used to furnish her nursery, and I did not use very much of it when I made her wall quilt. So, I decided to make a Yellow Brick Road quilt to use up some of the fabric, and make a topper to go over the duvet on the bed. I also added some hand-dyed and batik fabrics, and included the rejected blocks from the wall-hanging. I originally thought I would make a Carolina Lily block surrounded by other borders a la round robin technique. I discarded that whole concept for the more whimsical quilt I finally made, but they look nice on the bed quilt. I have finished sewing it all together except for the top and bottom rows. I think I will not add any more borders, and just let the size fit the top of the bed. Maybe scallop the borders? I have never done that in twenty-seven years of quilting.

Here are the rows laid out on a bed in my home:

Love those grandchildren!

It was wonderful to spend a few days with my son's family this week. When you only get to see children every couple of months, it is amazing how much they have changed at each visit. The biggest change was in the one-year old, who went from baby to toddler in the six weeks since I have seen her!




Lily in mini-skirt