Companion Throw

When Maggie brought over her Mom's clothes for the memory quilt, she asked for a queen sized quilt for herself and a "throw" for her sister.I have been working on the quilt, I have the pieced borders on and the backing fabric bought, it is just waiting to be pinned.  You know how I dislike pinning a quilt!  Soooooooo.... I put that project on hold, and I have been working on the throw for Becky!  As I worked on making blocks for Maggie's quilt, I would make a similar block for Becky's throw, so most of the blocks were already done.  I sewed the blocks together without sashing, and found a 4 yard piece of purple fabric in my stash for the backing. (this is left over from the backing of Kaylyn's Kaleidoscope quilt).  I pulled a light purple fabric from my stash as well for a small border, and a piece of funky purple fabric with electric teal lines for the border.  I am now almost done with the quilting of the throw.  Smaller projects go a lot faster!!  The throw is 3 blocks by 4 blocks and measures @ 42" x 54".  Here is a picture of it:

Becky's Throw

Madison Quilt Expo

Every September, the city of Madison has a Quilt Expo.  Every year, I am sure to go, and this year was no exception.  There are hundreds of venders selling everything from long-arm quilting machines to fabrics to notions of every sort.  It is so vast and so busy, with so many people, it can be a trifle overwhelming!

I always go alone so that I can spend as much time as I want at any given booth, I can meander around at my own chosen speed (slow) and get lost without any "advice"!  This year I bought some Pounce Powder and a couple of stencils.  No fabric this year for me, as my stash is starting to look more like a fabric store than a box of scraps.  I spent a lot of time in the "Hall of Quilts", oooh-ing and ahhhh-ing at the beauties that fall into the category of Art and Art +++  as opposed to "Quilts."  Each quilt was exquisite and the detailing always inspires me.  I always come home fired up and ready to create another masterpiece!  I took 229 pictures of the beautiful quilts I saw.  Here are a few of my favorites:

 This one was the BEST OF SHOW and for good reason.  It was unbelievable in it's tiny details, it looked like a big storybook, and the more you looked at it, the more you saw.  Little fairies,  stars and flowers.  Beautiful!

 Look!!  Another Harry Potter Bookcase quilt!  It got a lot of attention from the viewers, just like mine did!

 I loved this quilt.  The geometric design in the building, and the skinny pieced quarter circles in the corners, plus the scroll around all appealed to my sense of order!

 The bright colors of this quilt and the very large feathers in the corners is what made this quilt so appealing to me.  Simplicity in design, but intricate at the same time.

 This was a double Sampler quilt.  Each of the blocks features a different block, but also each was quilted with a different free motion stitch.  I looked at this one for a long time, because I can do this kind of quilt, and so I examined each block individually, both its construction and its quilting.

 This block is a simple construction, but it also had a kind of hypnotic movement to it.  I also thought the appliqued flowers added a nice touch.

This quilt was just plain pretty!  There were thousands of crystals in the quilt, so it sparkled from every angle.  I loved how the colors flowed into each other from light to dark and it seemed to glow.










I also took lots and lots of pictures of just parts of the quilts, mainly quilting designs or creative borders.  I hope I can make use of these ideas in my future projects.

I spent 5 hours at the Quilt Expo.  LOVE IT!  Can't wait til next year to go again!