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Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum…

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On Sunday, I visited the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden, Colorado with a friend. Golden is one of those charming towns in the foothills of the Rockies that holds on to its mining and western heritage.  The quilt museum is small but mighty and always has interesting exhibits. The current exhibit is “In the British Tradition: Hand-Stitched Reproduction Quilts by Carolyn König”. According to her website, Carolyn König  is an Australian quilter who specializes in Antique and Reproduction Quilt Design and Fabrics. The current exhibit represents her last 11 years of quilting. Her quilts are stunning.

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This quilt is a 19th Century Frame Medallion made with modern, reproduction fabrics. The detail photo is from the bottom, left hand corner. This quilt was machine pieced, hand appliqued and quilted on a long arm machine.

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The quilt above is named Marriage. One of the things that struck me about her quilts is that her appliqued circles are perfect. Actually, all of her applique is flawless. Many of her quilts have appliqued pieces as small as 1/2″.

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Just for selfish, sentimental reasons, the quilt above was probably my favorite of all the ones on display. This quilt is called, Sunflowers In My Retro Garden.  Hand pieced, hand appliqued and long arm quilted, this quilt represents the whimsy of sunflowers that I love.

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The photo above shows Hertfordshire on the left. The inspiration quilt was made in Yorkshire c. 1795 – 1805. It features fifteen frames or borders. I wish I had a better picture of this one as the piecing was amazing. The quilt on the right is Georgetown, this was a real fun quilt to see in person.

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I’m not sure what this last quilt is called, but the story was that the fabrics reminded Carolyn of the plaid, flannel shirts her dad wore when he was working on his tractor on the farm. I love the Americana feel it conveys.

If you’re ever in the Denver area I hope you take the time to stop in Golden and visit the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum. Golden is less than 30 minutes from downtown Denver. There’s a few touristy things to keep you occupied in Golden. Just a block from the quilt museum is the Golden Quilt Company where you can shop for fabric after viewing all the inspiration. Golden is also the home of Coors beer, you can take a tour of the facility and there is a tasting room. Buffalo Bill’s grave is also in Golden on Lookout Mountain and the location provides an amazing view of Denver and the plains to the east.

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Mini Quilt Swap Reveal…

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In a post last month, I teased that I was working on a project for the Schnitzel and Boo Mini Quilt Swap Round Four. Now I’m so excited because I get to reveal what I worked on for my partner. I used low volume prints from my stash, some Anne Marie Horner fabrics from my stash as well as some Joel Newberry fabrics I picked up. Throw in some straight line quilting and I’m loving how the mini’s turned out. The square mini came together from the scraps from cutting the feathers for the arrows. The little embroidery with the arrows was inspired by this from Sublime Stitching. At the time I sewed this cutie, I was not aware there was a pattern to download, I had only see a photo and just made up my pattern as I went. I think it’s pretty well done even though I didn’t have a pattern.

It’s been awhile…

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since I posted last. I don’t have much of an excuse, I was caught up in the day-to-day stuff of life. I had to travel to Las Vegas for a conference for work 2 weeks ago. I’m not much of a fan of Las Vegas. I don’t gamble and the cost of everything drives me nuts (what happened to Las Vegas being cheap?). Whenever I travel for work I always look forward to one night where I just stay in the hotel room, watch TV and order room service. The day I arrived the hotel I was staying at ended their room service amenity. What hotel on the Las Vegas strip doesn’t have room service? I was very disappointed. Oh well, I did manage to get a couple good meals after long days attending the conference.

Last week Katrina wasn’t feeling so good, she had the doggie flu or something. So, I spent a lot of time with my carpet cleaner trying to remove the signs. I hate when she doesn’t feel good, the house is too quiet and she looks so fragile. As you can see, she’s on the mend! I took this photo right after she came back from the groomer Sunday. She loves going to the groomer, they all love her there and she gets lots of attention.

Aside from all that, sewing has happened. I’m not sure if I mentioned it but about a month ago I listed out everything I need to finish by the end of the year. Of course I did it in Excel and printed it out and it was 2 pages (landscape orientation). I am proud to announce that I have completed all the projects on the first page. So I feel like I will be able to get everything done by the end of the year.

If you follow me on Instagram you know that I decided to take part in a Polaroid Block Swap. Above are the Polaroid blocks I have sent out so far. I think these blocks are so cute and I’ve always been intrigued by them. There are 20 people on my team so I’ll get 19 blocks and I make 19 blocks (I can make my own block if I want 20). It’s been fun to go through my stash to find bits of fabric that will look good in that 2″ window. It makes me look at the fabric in a different way. So often you look at the whole print or pattern to see how it will work with others and with these blocks you get to focus on teeny aspects of the fabric. I’ve looked at Pinterest to get some ideas of what to do with them. It’s a good project for me because the blocks will not necessarily match which is something that drives me nuts. I like projects that force me out of my comfort zone which is why swaps are good for me.

One last thing, remember the Blog Hop in September where I shared a tutorial for the Mountains All Around block? The wonderful hosts of the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers collected the blocks all the participants made with plans to make quilts to donate. Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl is working on the quilt that includes Mountains All Around. You can see it here. It’s kind right in the middle. I love how all the blocks look together! I’m so happy I was able to be part of this great group!

Making Christmas Magic…

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I’m currently working on a Christmas mini. This will be my last mini swap for 2015. I’ve been using some Lori Holt patterns from her Quilty Fun book as well as her Farm Girl Vintage book. I’ve also used some patterns she shared over Christmas 2014 on Instagram, Quilty Christmas Fun. As far as the fabric goes, I’m using a Moda swiss dot in green as the background and the rest is Christmas scrappy!!!! I’ll be able to reveal the big finish in early December.

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2016 The Quilter’s Planner…

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I was SO excited last week when Stephanie from Late Night Quilter sent me an email to let me know that my Mountains All Around Block has been chosen to be published in the 2016 Quilter’s Planner!!!

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When I joined the New Quilt Bloggers earlier this year, I never imagined I would write a pattern for a block I designed AND that pattern would be published! Thank you so much to Stephanie for such a great opportunity. She is just another great example of the generosity in the online quilting world.

Make sure you check out Stephanie’s post regarding the 2016 Quilter’s Planner. I’ve already ordered one for me and a few more for Christmas presents.