Common Threads Quilt Show Continued

While I don't dislike my job by any means, I have discovered that leaving the house at 8:30AM and not returning until 11PM, three days per week, cuts in to my quilting time, blogging time, and blog reading time.  It appears I'm destined to be a weekend blogger for the foreseeable future ~ unless I can get far more organized.

To continue with the Common Threads Quilt Show photos from last week, I bring you these:

I found the color scheme in this quilt rather unique.  Not sure how much I like it, but I don't dislike it.  The feature that drew me to it is the setting of the appliqued flower blocks.  The dark sashing around those blogs really makes them pop.  They look almost 3-D

There were two heavily embellished wall-hangings.  Fascinatingly ornate!  I tried to get overall pictures of them, but if I got back far enough get the entire wall-hanging, the dainty embellishments were lost.

I stared at this wall-hanging for a long time, trying to figure out how it was made.  The swirls appeared to be folded fabric, but I'm not really sure.  How this was done remains a mystery to me, despite having the opportunity to stand before it and study it.  One of the most enticing pieces of the show, in my opinion.

But this is not all!  More to come.

Common Threads Quilt Show ~ Wichita Kansas

Along with my mom, I attended the Common Threads Quilt Show in Wichita KS this morning.  Featuring over 500 quilts, it is the biggest quilt show that I have ever attended.  I am glad it wasn't any bigger.  As much as I enjoy looking quilts, I found that I reached a point where I just couldn't take any more in.  Quilt saturation?  Who would have thought it?

When I got home and surveyed the pictures I'd taken, I tried to decide what drew me to some quilts more than others.  I'm very partial to certain colors, but that's far from the whole story.  So much is in the design ~ both of the quilt pattern and the quilting.

Glad some quilters somewhere have been busy.  Despite my best intentions, I haven't sat down at my sewing machine yet.  So over the next few days, I'm going to share some of the quilty eye candy, and be glad I have something to report on my quilting blog.

First Storm at Sea.  Aptly named, the "motion" of the design never ceases to intrigue me. I've liked it in every color combination in which I've seen it done.   

Hard to see in the overall picture, the quilter used a lot of circular quilting which only served to accentuation the sense of movement.

I took the next group of pictures with Shay at Quilting in My Pyjamas in mind, since I know she has been working on a selvage quilt.  (I've been so long absent, she may have finished it by now.)  My apologies that the picture of the overall quilt is rather blurry.  There was a very slight breeze that kept the quilts subtly in motion.

Fortunately, the close-ups below do the quilt justice.  Isn't the quilting fantastic?

I'm not much for quilts in subdued tones and old-fashioned colors, but the design and quilting in this piece fascinated me.  This quilt is so subdued that you might be liable to think that the lighting at the show was bad, or something was wrong with my camera.  But no, these are the actual colors in the quilt.

Stay-tuned!  There are more quilts to come.

It's a Dog's Life ~ Literally

Yes, I know.  After my long absence, you're surprised to see me pop up again.  A new job as an instructor at a local career college in mid February, followed by a move into a rental house in early April has pretty much kept my life rather hectic.  I'm hoping to find a routine that will allow me to pursue some more creative endeavors ~ find my inner quilter again.  We'll see how that goes....

Meet my two cats, Lovebug and Max:

When my room mate, Susan, was making the decision to move in with me, she had asked how I would feel about her getting a dog.  I like dogs, although I'm not really a dog person.  Susan, however, likes dogs the same way I like cats.  I don't really feel complete without one or two.  Knowing this, I couldn't deny her having a dog.  My only caveat was that her dog not eat my cats.

For the last several weeks she's been checking the local humane society website, looking for an adult dog with a known history of getting along with cats, or a pup that the cats could train.

Yesterday, Susan brought home an as yet to be named, 4 month old, Giant Schnauzer female.  The cats were mostly nonplussed when the dog came through the door, and the pup initially shied away from them.  However, as all puppies do, she eventually got playful, and got to racing around a bit wildly.

Training commenced right away when she got too close to Lovebug.  When I snapped the photo below, Susan had grabbed the pup so that I could get a picture of her.  It was then we noticed the blood dripping all over Susan's hand and cast.

Needless to say the new pup has learned to pay both cats the proper respect.  I'm betting she won't need another lesson in etiquette very soon.