Thank You East Cobb Quilt Guild

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things only hoped for. - Epicurus

I wanted to share some awesome quilts that were part of the East Cobb Quilt Guild show and tell. I enjoy the quilts very much, so between all the Sue Spargo quilts and these quilts my eyes were blinded! 

Not a great photo but it is a great quilt!

40 bazillion little pieces! sheesh

Who doesn't love a good star!

Great soft colors. NICE!

The borders on this quilt really add a lot to the overall look.

A chain mixed with applique' are you kidding? Sooper Dooper!

Gasp! the string piecing..the color. My oh my!

Black and White row by row. Soo graphic!

Are you kidding me. Check it out! My mouth flew open and I swallowed a fly.

I tried to tackle this lady and steal this quilt. Buggy Barn pattern in Dusty Purple and Green.........can this one be my favorite?

Neutral. hmmm wonder why I loved it so much????

Well done!

No maybe this one is my favorite. Of course I worship anything by Blackbird Designs. Workmanship..superior!

Simple and a visual treat. Nicely done Ray!

Ray's table runner. Super!

Great fabrics, very good!

How many pieces are in this one. My goodness!

I wish I could acknowledge the makers of all these quilts. I know a few of them...but since I was a visitor I can't list all...so I will just smile and say Thank you East Cobb...it was quite a SHOW.

As for me...I need to go sew I've seen so many quilts in the past few days I need to go roll around in my stash.

The person who is overcautious will accomplish little. 

- J.C.F von Schiller

Home from the Sue Spargo lecture. I swear I have not recovered. These quilts made my skirt fly up for sure. I got you some pictures to look at so you can wish you had been there!

Love love love...happy happy happy

Class photo, nobody told me I supposed to bring my project. I'm so cool, right on top of everything,yes sirree yes I am!

Quilt love, how I love thee!

Hahaha yes everyone was stickin their faces in the quilts!So funny.

This one is my favorite.

No I love this one.

This is Sue's 50th Birthday quilt! She was excited to be 50 and maybe a little tipsy!

Ok, this is IT!

Blue Birds and color my favorite.

I'm a gonner now. I vow to make this quilt. I laid down in the floor and hyperventilated.

 

A bit of a close up on MY QUILT! Those red birds! That tree,the holly and berries. MY SKIRT BLEW OFF!

 Yes I had a great time at the lecture and spending the day with Debbie, Kristie, Brenda and Becky. Guess where we ate lunch...yup Chick Fil A! perfecto! And then there was more quilt shopping.

Start Your Engines!

He that waits upon fortune is never sure of a dinner. - Benjamin Franklin

BJ and I are getting ready to start our third quilt together. We decided we would have a day of shopping and planning. Quilt shops, with credit cards, TROUBLE...TROUBLE, TROUBLE TROUBLE. Recently I have refrained from too much fabric buying. Don't tell anyone but I have a stash. Anyway, this new quilt is going to be different in color and fabrics for me so there was a need. (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

We had the best day. Shopped, laughed, planned,lunched. (we interrupt this blog post for a reminder that much of what is being written here is in code. All is a secret because there are creepy people out there who like to pirate other peoples stuff. This is not fair and if you know any of these people please punch them in the nose and tell them I told you to do it). We are beginning this new quilt in search of different colors, a slight departure from what we are both used to working with. Specific designs to follow we didn't worry too much about the end design we just concentrated on color and fabric. BJ loves primitive and traditional. I love whimsical and light..Together we have a blast each doing our own version of the same design. It works well for us, and so we began yesterday. Armed with credit cards and a semi firm idea of  what the end result/quilt will look like off we went. We shopped and played and disrupted the quilt shops and in general had tons o' fun. This is what ensued. I suppose I'm going to have to answer for this. 

"  My name is Pat and I'm addicted to fabric"

 What was needed for this quilt is a little bit of a whole lot. My long standing policy is not to buy fat quarters, pre cuts etc. normally this just doesn't for work for me but in this case it will.  I always say why buy a fat quarter when you can buy 5 yards! ( I will be seeking therapy for this policy in the very near future.)

I  bought some 1 yard cuts (10 of them to be precise) which will be the backgrounds and backing. Other than that I bought in small amounts. We have two more stores to visit before we begin the next step in our quilt making journey. Today we did the West side of Atlanta..Next East side. We will leave no stones unturned in search of the perfect fabbies. 

We stopped at Chic Fil A for lunch. If you live in a part of the country that does not have a Chic Fil A..I'm so sorry, but frankly you should consider moving. I looked at BJ and said. "Is there anything better than a Chic Fil A sandwich?" She said "I swear I could eat them everyday!) hahaha she is sooooo right. 

 As for now my side of the bed is higher than Sir Quilt Dudes he asked why.."Oh I don't know sweetie!" I said (That is where I stashed the bags. I guess I'll answer for this at a later date). 

Check this out! While at Little Quilts look what I found. 

Yup! There are the cutest greeting cards in the whole gigantic world! A whole side of the card rack, a virtual SHRINE of cards.  They are all on my website now check them out! I told the girls in the shop that the rack should be spun just so, thus greeting the customers as they walk into the shop.(no wonder they run screaming into the parking lot when I walk through the dang door).

 Here we go it is going to be a great quilt! And so much fun to work on together.

JOY RISING

Confidence...is directness and courage in meeting the facts of life. - Henry Miller

So much to tell, so much happening here (so whats new about that) so much fun I can't stop smiling. I will begin with yesterday and Sue Spargo. sigh, be still my creative heart!

 The workshop was called Altered Textures. We got altered alright. It was the funnest fun that ever was fun. First of all there was Sue. She is so delightful, soft spoken, a gentle lady with so much to show us. She obviously loves her work and loves the art she so generously shared. Here is an amazing thing. There were probably 20+ women in this workshop. Ordinarily you would have to strain to hear the speaker because there would be so much conversation in the room. NOPE it was fairly quiet. We all were working at our tasks and listening to Sue...Oh how I enjoyed it. A full day with a needle and thread in my hand and listening to the expertise of a master textile artist. 

Here is one extra special surprise I got when I arrived. 

I sat right behind a dear friend who I don't see nearly enough! Jean..I love this lady and vow to make the effort to see her more often! We did get to catch up and enjoyed working on our flower vases together.

 

 

 

 

 

  On to the photos of the workshop. I took 52 pictures, I was a snappin photo fool. I asked Sue if I could post a few and she generously said yes. I will choose some of the best.

A little leaf sampler of different stitches and embellishments. It was amazing. I think this would be a fun way to practice different stitches, fabric combinations and beads etc. I would like to make one. I will probably have 4 leaves on mine.

This is the project of the day. It is Sue's. She was asked "When do you know if it is done?" she said "It is never done, you can always add something!" Good answer.

A orange wool flower with velvet appliqued on top and a zillion chenille french knots. Check out the leaves and the embellishing there.

I love this birdie. I wanted to take him home.

And then Sue had a table..actually 3 or 4 long tables with evil little packets of embellishing goodies to buy. I visited the table, they gave us a sheet of paper to start our "tab" kinda like a bar... this was like turning alcoholics loose in the dang bar. I visted the bar many times. OH MY!

Sue teaching, no she guided us..She sat and we practiced and she had another little group at her side. I loved it and it confirmed for me that this is a great way to teach. I do similar demos like this in my classes and often wondered if it was effective. I know now that the answer is yes. Sue was determined that we would all have first hand demo and practice, she did not want us to leave with questions. If we were not at the table everyone else was very respectful that Sue was teaching and the people at the table were learning..It was very cozy. I like cozy!

 

 

 

Oh the flowers and the details. My heart is pounding again. So creative.

And those leaves, and that fly stitch! Velvet and beads galore!

There are simply no words when you see this in person!

Just getting started. Don't know who was working on this one

I'm tellin ya this is just too much!

I think you can tell I had a lovely day. It was a complete pleasure. Thank you Sue Spargo...Folk Artist extraordinaire. 

I had a lovely day with BJ today. I'll send along details on that one tomorrow. We are fired up about our newest design!

And guess what!!!! Tomorrow...Debbie, Kristie, Brenda, Becky and myself will be attending Sue's guild lecture..and then lunch and shopping.  The fun just never ends. hahaha

                                      JOY RISING!

It is often hard to distinguish between the hard knocks in life and those of opportunity. 

-Frederick Phillips

A weekend filled with Thimbles Club meeting and the kids home for Fathers  day weekend, TALK ABOUT JOY OVERLOAD!!!! The Thimbles were rockin the house as usual we laughed and did a fabric trade which went very well! We traded 40: 10" traditional squares or 40" 10" batik squares. I demonstrated the Twister ruler and the gang is off to the races ready to make a twister quilt. TONS O' FUN for sure. I can't wait to see what everyone does with the fabrics that were traded. 

 The excitement is beginning to build as our group approaches July. What happens in July? other than Atlanta being stinkin hot in July. SUMMER STITCH IN. yup, yeah baby!!!! July 18-23rd. Can't wait. I'm making all the arrangements and plans for us to have a rockin good time. We sew from 9am-9pm for six straight days (only the strong survive!). It is the funnest fun that ever was fun. More on this topic later. 

Here is Marie in her adorable little jacket. I wish I could remember the name of the pattern. hmm perhaps I should take notes!

And Suzanne with what she called "Easter Quilt" no bunnies but great springy fabbies.

Suzanne again, fabulous quilt! Warm colors, maybe this is her "Fall" quilt. I dunno!

Linda with a stunning quilt. I said to the group "That Linda sure does have an eye for color"   She looked at me and said it was a pancake (layer cake, jelly bun bun..or some such pre cut stuff) At this point the whole group gave me the You sure are a dumbo look! swell.

Bad photo. This is Shelia with another one of her outstanding stitchery quilts. Too bad you can't see it good.

Sheila again. Look at the dark green inner border. It really adds a lot to make the design POP. If she had put a softer color in there it would have washed out. Very smart that girl Shelia.

And here is a close up of some of the stitchery. Does this make up for the crummy photo from above?

Carol finished a UFO from November 2004. This was a kit we did. Way to Go Carol! bringin those projects to the finish line. (proof that it can be done!!!)

And as for me, I'm still making pillows. I'm about over the home dec stuff.

Guess where I'm going tomorrow? I'M TAKING A WORKSHOP WITH THE LEGENDARY SUE SPARGO! I'm so excited, I will sit very quiet, no cutting up in class and absorb everything. 

I'll take my camera. wooohooo, here I go!