Kansas City, cont.

I haven't much to report since I've been holed up in a hotel room for two days. There aren't even any shops nearby. So why don't I drive somewhere? Have you seen the Kansas City traffic? I'm a coward.

Anyway, I've finished five of the last nine butterfly quilt motifs I had left. I may just get finished before I leave after all. So far I've watched Finding Neverland, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and (currently) Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown. Did I mention there's not a great selection of shows on TV here? I have spent quite a bit of time blog browsing though. I don't usually have time, so I've really enjoyed learning so much about other quilters out there. Thanks to everyone for sharing their quilting adventures so generously.

Oh, I just found some pictures to share with you. I'm working on my husband's computer, and we used this computer at our 2009 Q.U.I.L.T. guild quilt show. We showed an overhead PowerPoint show of our small quilts for our Small Quilt Auction.

These two photos (above and below) are the front and back of the same quilt. My good friend Debbie found the cream background material with the colorful swirls in it. She knows that I don't often use neutrals, so she challenged me to buy the fabric and make something with it using fabrics from my stash. I found so many fabrics, that I couldn't decide which ones to use, so I made three small quilts (the one with the turquoise setting is pictured farther down and is still on my To Do List to finish). Since I couldn't decide which setting I liked better for my small quilt donation, the purple or the green, I made them into one wallhanging. I matched up the front and the back as exactly as I could and used a long, zig-zag style stitch to stitch-in-the-ditch. This made sure that both sides were quilted identically without worrying about getting out of the ditch on one side. I used the same zig-zaggy stitch in the border triangles.

I didn't know how to hang a double-sided quilt, so I made loops at the top for a hanger. I liked this quilt so much that I tried to buy it back at the quilt show. One of the vendors at the show outbid me. Shoot. Oh well, I felt very flattered that a vendor wanted my quilt. Thanks for the ego boost, Just Jennifer.

This little table runner is the third setting I chose for the same blocks. It's currently on my To Do list to finish this year. I may wind up donating it to next year's auction.

This was Mom's donation to the auction. Mom is a great quilter and has a fantastic design sense. She made the center dragonflies for a class that she taught in the peelback technique, then designed the rest of the quilt around it. (I donated the butterflies from one of my fabrics.)

We were encouraged to donate two quilts each to the auction, so I donated this Winnie the Pooh baby quilt. Just after I donated the quilt, my officemate announced that she was pregnant, so once again I tried to buy back one of my own quilts. Once again, I failed. Once again, I choose to be flattered.

Back to my butterflies... Don't be a stranger!

Debbi