Another Finish

I just finished my BOTV Challenge, which is due on March 1.  wow.  The theme is "Valley Agriculture."  I'm not sure if anyone grows purple peppers, other than in their backyard, but I had this block in my orphaned block box and it was already 16" x 16".  The finished piece is 18" x 24".

I made the pepper block in a class taught by Ruth McDowell in 2002, at a C&T Teachers Workshop in Santa Clara.  Wow.  That was a LONG time ago!!  The block was finished in the class, and has been in storage ever since.

I'm not sure I'll be getting much quilting done in the next couple of months, but that doesn't mean it won't happen.  This evening, I will be sewing on my last sleeve.  Tomorrow, I'll stitch out the last three labels, and attach them to the quilts.

The rest of my time?  Is either spent babysitting, or working on the upcoming Best of the Valley Quilt Show.  I hope you've marked your calendars and are planning to attend.

 Grandchildren are quite the blessing!!

A Finish, and then some...

 For the past month or longer, I have been quilt, quilt, quilting on my entry for Best of the Valley Quilt Show.  Sure, I had a few other quilts waiting in the wings, but I wanted to be able to enter a true Show Quilt this year.  It's been three years or longer since I've finished what I consider a Show Quilt.  Boy, does it feel good!!

This is "Sunset Stroll," a quilt that I began in my first Katie Pasquini Masopust online class.  This was actually my second project.  The lesson was on "composition."  After doing all of the applique by hand, I really wanted to continue what I'd begun, so I quilted it by hand as well.

 It involved a LOT of quilting!!  I squeaked in under the deadline, finishing the entry form at 10pm.  The deadline was last night, at midnight.  whew!!

I was also trying to transform our Sew Eclectic "Broken Shell Beach" into a single quilt for entry.    The twelve individual quilts are all attached to an "authentic" used fishing net.  I put a slat through the sleeve, and had my husband hold it to be sure it hangs straight.  If you don't think that was tricky, well, think again!!  Thank you to Linda M., for suggesting the fishing net for mounting.

 Drought-stricken California has been getting some wet and woolly weather this month.  This picture was taken in my backyard yesterday.  I ran outside to close the umbrellas, as the wind picked up and whipped my trees as though they were cooked spaghetti.  I was certain one of the Sequoias would snap.  Thank goodness I was mistaken!!  The rain has been coming down, and no one is complaining.  We might actually hit our average rainfall of 8" this year.  Season to date is 4.96".  Normal to date is 6.39".  To date last season?  1.53".  So yes.  The rain falls, and the people rejoice...even when it has the potential to cost a tree or two.

Next on my quilting agenda?  Let's see if I can get my Valley Agriculture Challenge Quilt together before that deadline of March 1.  Goals?  Oh, goals are good!!

Quilt Faster! Quilt Faster!

With the Best of the Valley entry deadline LOOMING on the horizon, I'm quilting as fast as I can.  By hand.

Quilt faster!  Quilt faster!

My quilt isn't all that large, it's just that I'm quilting it with close to matchstick quilting.  okay, so not really, but it seems like it.  For handquilting?  It's about as close as I ever want to get.  I don't have a recent picture of the quilt, but here's where I blogged about it.  I added a few more details and some embroidery before beginning the quilting.  And now I am quilting, as fast as I can.

Quilt faster!
Quilt faster!

All that remains to be quilted is the sky.  And the sky is the bulk of the piece.  oh well.  Goals are good!

Our Art Group (Sew Eclectic) shell challenge pieces have all been turned in.

Now the challenge is to decide how to link them together into a single piece.  Because they are not all the size of the section we were supposed to replicate, there are some gaps.  In other places, the pieces fit right together.  A friend suggested that I mount them on a fishing net.  What a great idea!  I've ordered one from Etsy, and am awaiting delivery, hopefully this week.  Until then, I will keep quilting on the Lifeguard Tower quilt.

I have a couple of other quilts I wanted to finish for the show, but that doesn't look like they'll be happening any time soon.  oh well.  If I don't set goals, I don't know what I'm striving for, and without a target or a deadline?  I end up finally getting around to quilting a quilt that deserved to have been finished two and one half years ago!!

And I guess that's it.  Thanks for stopping by!