Kelly says Yes to the Dress!

Last Thursday my daughters and I went to Kleinfeld's Bridal Salon in the city to shop for Kelly's wedding dress.  We bought Colleen's dress there in February of '07 and we were really excited to go back for Kelly.  We have also become addicts of the reality show Say Yes to the Dress. (I currently have 11 episodes on my TIVO which we watch ad nauseum.)  They were having a trunk show of Jane Wang's designs that day and she did buy one of her gowns.  It was so cool to actually meet the designer.  We got to do this with Colleen's gown too.  

We met Anne Barge and  Colleen purchased one of her dresses for her wedding.  We saw Ronnie and Mara, the owners and a few of the consultants that were on the show.  Sadly, we did not see Randy (our favorite) or Keasha, who we hoped would be our consultant.  Ironically we got Judith, a very sweet, helpful lady who also was our consultant with Colleen's gown.  Here's a picture of "the one."  Next on the agenda will be bridesmaid dresses.  I'll post when we decide on that next.

Photo is from Brides.com

Ruth McDowell Iris blocks rediscovered

As I was searching for something else in one of my plastic bins, I came across these iris blocks that I made a few years ago. I couldn't decide what to do with them at the time so I forgot about them as other projects crowded them out. They were my first attempt at paper piecing from a workshop I took at Budding Star Quilts in Lebanon on Ruth McDowell's pieced flowers. I think now I might make them into a long rectangular wall hanging to hang on a narrow wall in the shore house. I also thought of putting them in an irregular setting in a square quilt. I would love suggestions or other ideas from anyone that has one.

Here's the One Block Wonder with the borders. I was going to applique the flowers from the fabric but I decided the center of the quilt was busy enough and I liked the idea of fussy cutting the purple flowers for the corner blocks. I think it ties in the purple color with the border even though there isn't purple all over the center of the quilt. I really like this quilt now with the border on it. Before I put it on, I thought it was just OK and I liked many other One Block Wonders better. I have a new free motion pattern I'm practicing for the border. I really like stippling but I'm getting tired of putting it on almost every quilt. The new pattern is a perpendicular zig zag in a nine patch layout. I like the way it looks on my sample scrap. Now I just have to practice so I can do it evenly.

New Jersey State Guild Quilt Expo

Here are the pics I took on Saturday. I got there a little late but I still saw all the quilts and spent more money than I should have. However, I'm well stocked for the summer when I can sew everday if I want to!



This quilt was done by Lacey Hill . I loved the cityscape fabric and the interesting use of black, white and yellow. I'd like to make a quilt with these colors for my daughter sometime. She coaches tennis at Hanover Park High School and their colors are black and yellow.





I really like the 3-D edges of these Dresden Plate motifs. It was an interesting spin on a very traditional pattern. It was done by Dawn Hayes.

Adeline Hart made this one. I was intrigued by the concept of the quilt more than the actual quilt itself. I would put pictures of people or places you went on a trip and make the angles of the olded cards a little smaller to get more depth.

This was an amazing landscape quilt by Linda Vizi. Another maybe someday idea to make for the shore house. Landscape quilts are really appealing to me. I even have a collection of fabrics to make one but like I said, it's still on the someday list.

I loved the abstract quality and uneven edges of this quilt which was done by Jane Lange . It makes me want to break out of traditional pieced blocks and rectangular borders and bindings. I have to work on this!

This quilt inspired me to try to start using fabrics that I wouldn't normally choose to go together. In addition to wanting things symmetrical, I also tend to want my fabrics to be matchy matchy. I'm learning that the really interesting designs don't do this and taking risks with colors and patterns really gives you something spectacular with the end result. This was done by Carol Benner. She had a comment from the workshop she took with Kaffe Fasset. She said his words of wisdom were, "Keep it simple, keep it calm."

I saw the technique used on this piece on an episode of Fons & Porter. However, I liked the effect she added of the foreground/background of looking through the garden fence. This one was also done by Lacey Hill. I guess I'm a fan of her work. I'll have to keep an eye out for her stuff in the future.

When I first looked at this quilt, I was kind of puzzled as to how it won a ribbon. Then I read the paper posted next to it and it was made by Caitlyn Campbell who is only 10 years old! Way to go Caitlyn. Can you imagine the work she'll be doing by the time she's 50?!!!

And last but certainly not least, the quilt that won Best in Show by Anna Faustino. I hope you liked my view of the show. I really love to see photos on other blogs of shows I couldn't possibly attend. It's another great thing about blogging.

A fun horse for me, finally!

I feel like I should have been sewing this weekend but the weather was so beautiful, I couldn't pass up a chance to ride. This is my daughter's roan quarter horse Jump to Conclusions aka Clue. She bought him a few years ago and showed him in Beginner Hunter and Pre-Adult Hunter classes. She hasn't been riding or showing much this Spring so I've been trying to get on him whenever I can. After 30 years of having horses with my husband, I am so happy to have a horse that is fun and easy to ride for me. I have always been stuck with his crazy racetrack rejects or riding my kids show ponies for them. Clue is quiet and sweet even if you haven't been on his back for months. He can jump 2'6" and does automatic flying lead changes. My plan is to finally ride consistently this year and get so that I can trail ride him and even have lessons with my daughter's trainer jumping a small course of fences. I haven't done this since I was in my 30's! I'm even going to start giving her money in installments so he is either partially or all mine so that when she doesn't want him anymore, I can keep him for myself! Stay tuned for pictures over fences. I estimate a week or two!