Paint Chip Challenge Revealed

I spent months and months and months designing the quilt.  I pretty much knew the colors I wanted to use, and when I saw the pattern. I wanted colors that tasted like the cakes I was going to portray on the surface of the piece.

I do so love the Buggy Barn patterns, they are so wild and free and fun.  Precise piecers definitely have problems with the patterns, but not me!  LOL  I am anything but a Miss Precise and Perfectly Matched.  So they suit me to a T!

So then I searched for paint chips.  And found some really nice ones that were so very close to my cake flavors.

The Mocha Chocolate would be a problem.  I had a small amount from a fabric swap with my buddy in England, Trudy so I took a spin on the computer and ordered what I thought would be a good match for the tiny piece I had.  It turned out to be Kona Mocha and the exact same fabric!  Yes!]

Then I began to work.  And work.  And work.  And work.  I dumped four of the cakes, because I was so tired of piecing cakes!  Nine would be fine, where twelve was overload.

Then I wanted to wording to be the same sized lettering.  I got Tonya Riccuci's Work Play book out and went to town!  Easy as pie.....oh.....easy as eating cake from a baby!  LOL.  They look fabulous and I am sure that is part of the beauty of this win...the lettering.

I knew I wanted intricate quilting so I made the decision to Quilt As You Go.  QAYG is a good way to fit a block under your domestic head and not have to haul the huge quilt behind it if you are doing some intricate work.  And it worked perfectly.  However I am not totally in love with the back and the back is a lot of hand work.  I need to find a better way of doing it in the future.

The Paint Chips were Apricot, Gold and Peat Moss.  The name had to be constructed from the paint names, so mine became Golden Apricot Cakes for Kate Moss!  You know Kate would NEVER eat one of these!  But see how perfectly they match the fabrics?

Last night at 11:37 I finished the binding.  Yes!

One of the borders was a slight bit wavy.  I made the decision at 2 pm today to wash the quilt and see if it could be blocked.  I was meeting the gals at 5 pm for dinner and at 4 pm I remembered it was in the washing machine!  Aughhhhh!

So much for blocking.  I tossed it in the dryer for 20 minutes, hit it with an iron and off to the meeting I went!

When I arrived I realized that nearly half of the huge guild membership had brough quilts.  It was going to be a tough competition.  Some of the big names in the city were right in this room with quilts.  Oh, no!  I REALLY wanted a win tonight.  I NEEDED a win tonight!

So I sucked in my breath, put on my big girl panties and  entered my quilt.

I am very proud of my Third Place win tonight.  While it is not the blue ribbon, this one is the third best quilt of about 25 really wonderful quilts made by some really great quilters.  I am so glad to have won this vote of my peers (and my betters).  One of the really amazing quilters in the group, Michael, did not place at all.  That was an incredible thing for me to have won over him.  He does the most beautiful and exquisite work.

Am I happy with my Third Place?  You bet!  It will hang proudly in my room with my other wins from other places.  River City is a well respected group, and they are tough competitors.  I am humbled by my win tonight.......no I am not!  LOL.  I am shouting it from the rooftops!

 glen:  yeah, buddy!  Third Place






!

Working on the Paint Chip Challenge

The quilt for the Paint Chip Challenge is due this Thursday.  I have the center complete and need to put the borders on and get them quilted.  Actually I am doing a Quilt As You Go so I need to do just the opposite......quilt the borders and get them on!

I can't show you the quilt.....STILL!

But I will have the whole show to show you soon!  That will be worth waiting for!

glen:  now off to work.....or it won't be ready!

Blue RibbonFriday Plan for Quilting and the Cats

Cali

I took the cat in early this morning to get a fluid dialysis done.  She was not a happy kitty and once again, cursed like a sailor all the way there, demanding to get let out of the crate and released.  Cali is an interesting kitty.  She will take out her frustrations on a dog when she gets home, otherwise she leaves them pretty much alone.

Whitney Dallas

Whitney Dallas would go hunt up a dog when she wanted a challenge.  All my Swissys had their noses handed back to them on occasion by that tiny cat.  And she was a huntress.  She eliminated all birds in the area of our house in less than a year and kept them gone for the next 16.  She taught all my dogs manners.  I miss that girl.

Chips

Chips was the garrulous old guy who weighed in at 22 pounds of svelte catflesh, but was as timid as a mouse.  He was beaten up by the girls regularly, and any cat who happened to know where the big guy lived.  He was not a friendly guy, but I do miss him.  He was a good guy.

Oh, yes, I am working on my Paint Chip Challenge once again.  I have gotten the blocks quilted and nearly together and now I am looking to have the borders on by this weekend.  I really wish I could show you the fabulousness of this quilt, but it will be judged at the August Meeting and no one can know it is mine.

I know there are some who have their friends keyed in to their pieces so the votes can go that way, but I  think fairness is best.  So no pictures or description until the day after.



Hopefully with a nice blue ribbon!

glen

Design Wall 4-16-12

Well, I guess your taxes are done and you are either happy about getting something back you already paid in, or you are waiting till that last second to write the check for money you owe!  I hope you got some of your money back!  I get so frustrated with people who say, I didn't have to pay, I got money back!  That is YOUR money to begin with, you DID have to pay.......geez.  But that is the way they want you to think!

Anyway, since he got the $1,348,672  error fixed, we are getting some of our money back.  I am hoping to get to the mailbox before he does so I can claim it as quilting funds.  

I am working on the Paint Chip Challenge Quilt.  Loving it!  Here is all I can offer you at the present time.  I have changed the colors to make it unidentifiable!  But you will love it in the end.  August, you will see it in August.


I am putting the finishing touches on the Ocean Waves Zig Zag for Patsy and Chuckie Baby for the cruise.  It will be so wonderful to see them, especially in light of the diagnosis.  


I chose a blue batik scrap binding I had leftover from Matt's Star quilt last year.  I have about 2 feet of the binding to complete, and that darned label.  You know how I do so hate to sew labels on.  When I am dead and gone, there will be no labels to tell people which quilts are mine!  I know.  I know.  I am working on that.


Charlene and Xavier will be in town on Thursday and I am hoping to hug on them for a while at the casino. Who knows, maybe we will get a group for the next cruise.  That would be a blast!


glen

Stash report 4-15-12

Whew!  Nearly forgot to set this up today.  I may combine the stash report with Design Wall Monday for this week since it will be hectic for me.

This week I worked on the Paint Chip Challenge Quilt and it is coming along beautifully.  I had to purchase one of the three colors.  I received this color from Trudy in England in a Swap and it was gorgeous and luscious and mouthwateringly beautiful.  I had to have the exact piece.  And would you believe I found it!  Amazing.  And while I was looking for that one piece, I found the most incredibly and absolutely perfect backing piece so I added that to the mix.  Of course neither was on sale!

And the damage is as follows:

used this week	-7.830
used in April	-15.33
added this week	7.5
Add in April	11.5
Used YTD	-73.33
Added YTD	40.5
Stash reduction	-32.83

Not a bad week for buying nearly 8 yards of fabrics!  And I will have more to report when I add borders and backing to finish the quilt up!

I will tease you with a shot on Design Wall Monday of this incredible block.  I just know I will win this challenge, I can feel it in my bones!  But I am so afraid I won't be around for the challenge.  So I am going to have to rely on my friends to stand up for me when I win.  Do y'all hear that?  Cheer loudly when they announce my name as winner!

glen