Hawaiian Shirts

The February block of the month for my guild, Amador Valley Quilters, was this cute pieced Hawaiian shirt. I bought three blocks and assembled them, tripling my chances of winning several more in the monthly drawing when I enter three raffle tickets at the March meeting. The prints are so fun. When the block of the month chair made her sales pitch, she commented that the pattern would be a good one to use for the Hawaiian print fabrics we all have in our stashes. I realized she had a valid point.

I have this bundle of six one-yard pieces I bought on impulse at Houston when I went to the Festival with my daughter in 2017 (post for 11/9/2017). That package of those luscious colors – purple, aqua, rose, orange, blue, and yellow – was delightfully bright and it was bundled in a fashion that made me drool.

I am grateful for the idea I got from the February Block of the Month for using a tan fabric for the background. The color makes me think of sand on a beach and wiggling your toes in it, a perfect complement to Hawaiian shirts. That image made me call to mind the Slicin' Sand song. There are two versions. I listened to both via YouTube for nostalgia purposes. The one with which I am most familiar, courtesy of my three kids, is from a Beach Party at Walt Disney World. We watched that video over, and over, and over. The other – and probably original – version was in the Elvis Presley 1961 movie Blue Hawaii. These are the lyrics so you can follow along if you choose to listen to either or both at the previously provided YouTube links.

Take off your shoes, let down your hair

Turn on the music and we'll get somewhere

Dance, dance, dance, til your toes gets tanned

We're gonna have us a ball on the beach

Slicin' sand

Hug me a heap, swing me a lot

We got a lot of ocean if it gets too hot

O-o-o, o-o-o, baby, take my hand

We'll have some real rockin' fun in the sun

Slicin' sand

Come baby, come, let's dig some holes

You'll find it's heaven with sand on your soles

Yeah!

Slice through to the left, slice to the right

Slash down the middle baby hold me tight

O-o-o, o-o-o, baby, hold my hand

We'll have some real rockin' fun in the sun

Slicin' sand

Just think – all those memories and images and sound bites from an itty-bitty block of the month. That's one of the reasons I love quilting. It is so multi-faceted it can lead you anywhere.

DVQ Quilt Show: Entries, Winnings, Favorites

What I Entered:
This past weekend was the quilt show for the Diablo Valley Quilters, located in the Diablo Valley of the Greater Bay Area of San Francisco. This is a second guild I belong to although it is a bit further for me to travel. The show displayed  ~200 quilts.  I had entered three quilts and a pillow. The show entry deadline motivated me to finish off the binding and label on Out of the Blue (8/16/17), my quilt from Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

This quilt is actually going to get deployed for use in my family room instead of being folded up on storage. I liked the result from a kit much more than I initially thought I would, hence part of the reason for the title Out of the Blue beyond just that of the color.

My second entry, Storybook Charm (7/5/17), was bound several weeks before the show, but I needed to scurry to add labels and a hanging sleeve.

The third quilt was a Monkey Quilt and the pillow was a Bunny Pillow. Yes, indeed, these are very creative titles, I must admit. They belong to my youngest son Alex and I borrowed them back from him for the show. He was amused to spot them there when his dad brought him to the show to see them displayed. The monkey panel quilt (5/26/14) had been a birthday present.

The bunny panel pillow (12/15/16) was a Christmas present I'd made for him.

Here is a closeup to show how I quilted the rolling hillsides.

Alex is waiting for his ride home with dad. I stayed behind to help with show take down. I must say that is a lot of work, but the team of volunteers cruise along like a well oiled machine.

What I Won:
Raffle baskets were awarded at the end of the show and I won one! I think I only dropped one ticket in basket number #16 but one is all it takes. I was doubly surprised because a friend I had come with the day before also won a basket. I can add my winnings to those I was also lucky enough to score at the Amador Valley Quilters Show in April. Yes, that is right. I won a basket at each of those shows. With the AVQ show I won a basket titled Christmas in April (5/2/17).  This DVQ basket was titled Elm Creek Extravaganza and, indeed, an extravaganza it was! 

What a haul! I initially cringed because my husband and I are trying to declutter our stuff - especially years of quilting and model train accumulations – and this prize was high volume.  But I must have secretly longed for this collection because, after all, I did drop a ticket in as a contender. Basket #16 was laden with everything you can imagine that was Elm Creek themed, with lots of fabric and notions as well. I must have taken the person who donated the prize years of dedication to have amassed such a complete collection. I feel lucky to have inherited it all in one fell swoop. Even my husband, as he helped me lug the pounds of books and fabric all out to the car, echoed that it would be a shame to break up such a beautiful set. (See why we have such a problem paring things down?)

I was not familiar with Amelia fabrics nor Jo Morton but I was soon to be educated.

The basket was perched on a set of fifteen hard bound Elm Creek Mystery novels.

There were five smaller hard bound books within the basket.

A companion book (on the right) was included as a roadmap through all the novels along with character and plot summaries and a timeline. Wow! There was also a spiral bound pattern book of 140 block patterns,

Four other pattern books were included for the quilts cited in the novels.

I lined the smaller books up within the basket to show off the lovely Longaberger basket complete with custom fitted lining.

The assortment of notions were all useful and some very timely. My current seam ripper is getting dull (Perhaps from overuse?... Nah!) and my needle threader is getting finicky from repetitious depression of its internal spring, so these are both welcome. I have never used a stand for the needle threader so I am curious about that gadget. That Jinny Beyer PERFECT PIECER looks like a real time saver with the the different angles available.

And finally I got to see the fabric. It will be a great complement to my stash. I bet those Jo Morton prints (on the left) will lend themselves to great FMQ work along the scallop lines. There is three yards of each piece. You know how you always tend to buy the same type of fabric over and over? My stash is very lopsidedly brights. The other day I had to go out and buy a fat quarter just to do a tree trunk. I rarely buy soft browns so these fill a big void. The stack has 34 fat quarters! Yoo-hoo! That is one of the big plusses about bargain kits or basket wins - they tend to hit your weak spots and stretch your creativity. I am all set for a fall theme quilt or placemats. Let's not get extreme. I am not all set. I am sure I will need to buy something to fill in here or there ...

What I Especially Liked:
There were just under 200 quilts in the show, in six loosely organized entry categories: Best Use of Color, Innovative, Modern, Traditional, Seasonal, and Nature. There was also a category for the Challenge quilts "Painted Ladies" which ran the gambit from San Francisco Row houses, to butterflies, to impressionistic portraits of women's faces. 200 is too many to show them all, but here were some of my personal favorites. End caps of the rows had clever round tables decked out with reminders for each of the categories.

In the BEST USE OF COLOR I loved the appliquéd flowers quilt titled Flower Garden. The owl wallhanging is titled Oliver. His background is all fabric selvages.

In the INNOVATIVE category table had a whole slew of adjectives to mean innovative.

I was bemused by this clever map of the transit system of Gotham City where Batman lives.

I liked the way the city blocks are quilted in a grid and the water ways  are quilted in waves.

In the MODERN category I absolutely loved the bed size quilts titled Friendly Forest and Jack.

It is very humbling to realize that Friendly Forest was made by one of our junior  guild members, thirteen years old!

The quilt titled simply Jack could equally be categorized as traditional but the print fabrics are from the Aborginal culture, giving a very unique feel to the results. It is named for the nephew who requested it. He picked out the fabrics from his aunt's stash and after being a bit skeptical about his selections she realized he had good taste!

The NATURE end cap featured pine cones, leaves, and feathers but also shells and a pewter scarab beetle, in colors one would expect from nature. 

But my favorite quilt in this category was a black and white baby quilt. I was fascinated by the detailing in each of the woodland creatures, a bear, a fox, a bunny and a large featured owl.

All in all, it was a fun two days – tiring, but a lot of fun. I do not think I will put away my winnings just yet. I am leaving them out displayed on the dining room table to admire for a bit longer. Now it's time to have more fun linking up with Let's Bee Social #195.

And the Winner Is...

My good friend Vickie, although a non-quilter, still came and supported my guild's quilt show the weekend of April 22-23, 2017. She bought a ton of raffle tickets.

"A donation to your guild," Vickie claimed. "I never win anything and besides I do not want to bring more stuff into my house." 

"I hear you," I replied. "There is only one basket here that I would love to win. It has tons of fabric and sewing notions in it."

"Which one?" she asked. "I will put just about all the tickets I bought in that one". I advised her which basket was my favored one. It was labeled 14 and titled Christmas in April.

Well, what do you know? A short while later Vickie comes over to where I was working at the membership table, beaming and carrying a basket just about as wide as her arms could span.

"Guess what? We won number 14!" she exclaimed.

The label with the contents revealed a bountiful haul. We had agreed before hand that "when" we won it (snicker, snicker, very unlikely) that I got all the sewing stuff and she got all the food gift cards. I guess it pays to talk positive. She got $115 in gift cards, all for eating establishments she frequents. I got all the rest. What a deal! I set out to explore my goodies starting with the fabrics – a lot, over 32 yards – in two Christmas design themes.

There was a Christmas fabric by Loralie Harris, which I will show first, and nutcracker themed  fabric which I will show afterward. The focus fabric for the Loralie Design is an 18-frame panel of lady caricatures getting ready for the Christmas holidays, titled Holiday Delight. A few of the panes are holiday symbols so if I get tired of the femme fatales I have five other options. The panel is about ⅔ yard of fabric... just the beginning of the Loralie Design assortment.

There were coordinating fabrics in generous lengths, enough for sashing or backings (7⅝ yards):
     Christmas Party, showcasing ladies bedecked in their finery – 2⅝ yards
     Holiday Fancy,  striped and polka dot holiday icons – 2 yards + 1 yard
     Candy Cane Crowd, bow adorned candy canes on black – 2 yards

I also discovered a ½ yard of a white background fabric titled Holly Scroll that will also go with that ⅔ yard panel of those ladies.

But there were many more cuts of tone-on-tone blender fabrics designed to go with the Loralie fabric line but in reality will prove to be very versatile. From left to right, a total of 6 yards in ½ cuts:
     SCRIBBLE in red – 3 x ½ yard
     SCRIBBLE in green – 1 x ½ yard 

     Confetti in red/black – 2 x ½ yard
     Confetti in green/black – 2 x ½ yard
     LOTSA HOLLY – 2 x ½ yard
     HOLLY DANCE – 1 x ½ yard
     Elegant Scroll – 1 x ½ yard

Underneath these is a 1 yard length of Space Dots.

    

There were similar yardages from a nutcracker theme, all but one from the Nutcracker Suite line by Marlene Moore for Northcott. First there were three mini-prints with nutcrackers, teddy bears, trains, horns, and drums (pattern #711). They would make great points on an Ohio Star block - not too large scale a print to be erratic as star points when cut, but not too small as to be uninteresting.
     red – 1 yard

     green – 3⅜yards
     blue – 3 yards  + ½ yard

This block fabric (pattern #708) would make great fussy cut star centers. There are 6 styles, each 5" wide x 3¼" tall.

There is a coordinating border print (pattern #710) and classic-looking stripe (pattern #712) to go with the block fabric, just right for outer borders and striped binding. I think a quilt design is forming in my brain.
     border – 1½ yards
     blocks – 2 yards + ⅔ yard
     stripe – 1 yard

There was one last nutcracker themed fabric in the assortment, a print from VIP fabrics. Each nutcracker is approximately 3" high not counting his legs which are hidden since the nutcrackers overlap. This fabric has a more playful feel than the others so I would use it elsewhere - maybe as a crib sheet for my grandson for the holiday season... ? I have 3⅛ yards of this and need just over 2 yards for a crib sheet. Maybe a pillowcase or two with the leftovers?

The rest of the goodies in the basket included a dozen adorable christmas buttons. Those I will try to press into use embellishing clothes for my four grandchildren. Snowmen might be more appropriate for the Oklahoma crew. The Southern California crew love hiking among nature so perhaps the trees and cardinals will go that way. The ice skating bear? TBD.

There were six  patterns. I think my two favorite are the snowday...sewday and the coiled snowflakes, both on the far right in both photos. Some are heavily appliqué so I may be sharing the wealth with others on those. That deer one is awfully cute, though. Give him  red nose instead of a black one and you've got Rudolph. I have never worked with  wool so that JOY and Sled could be a skill builder for me. The stained glass window angel at the far left bottom claims no bias tape and no turned under edges, only contemporary techniques. Now my curiosity is aroused.

There was a set of quilting stencils. These could be a good way for me to get inspiration for extending my FMQ skills. I do not think I will be doing a lot of hand piecing but I am curious about the statement on the package to "Mix+ match for endless geometric patchwork designs."

There were lots of tools and gadgets. I do love wonder clips and the rainbow assortment is bright and cheerful. A long tape measure in PURPLE, not yellow will surely be easier to locate in my often less-than-pristine sewing room. I held those red poppin™ scissors and they have a nice hand to them. The stainless steel blades are longer, teflon coated, with a blunt tip.  It is still to be determined if I fall in love with them as fabric shears or keep them as a visible standout for paper cutting tasks. They sure are sleek and attractive and I love red. I plan to try out using that red pincushion for my machine needles. I saw a tip somewhere to write in each section a needle size such as 90/14 or 80/12. Then when you remove a machine needle you can store it in the appropriated sized section. .

There was a bobbin case and an assortment of Superior threads; three spools of So Fine in neutral tones for the bobbin and red and green Magnifico for topstitching.

There were a couple of books for my reading pleasure. I loved the touch of playfulness the basket creators added by including the third item on the far right. Depending on where I sit to read, I may need to use the Poo-pourri™ spray first. If you have never seen its introductory ad, check it out on YouTube. It is delicately hilarious. (The Amazon ad is funny, too but in a gross, middle-school humor way. I like the classier introductory ad much better.)

Someone contributed a cute felt snowman tote bag, blanket stitched around the edges. Note too how his body sections were printed to look like buttons. There was also a gift certificate to one of my local quilt shops, Wooden Gate Quilts. One of our guild members does beautiful professional longarm quilting. She included a gift certificate for up to $100 worth of her services.

As I cleaned out the base of the basket, having emptied it of its treasures, I found two more  useful items. The red background that I thought was cardboard to support and display the contents was really two glossy red folders with inner pockets, great for project notes and pattern. Some of the smaller items had been corralled in a tapered side cardboard box - just the right size to sit on my sewing room counter and collect those cutting scraps that are too big to throw away and need to mellow in a bin until sorted and trimmed. This raffle basket was put together by the Amador Valley Quilters friendship group, the Quiltinators and man, those ladies who packed this basket thought of everything!

I kept the outer wrapping of the basket: 1 yard of 72" wide white netting, some lengths of red ribbon and of course the spunky bag tag. I did initially throw away the crumpled white tissue that had been used to fill up the few and far between gaps in the contents, but then I had second thoughts. I retrieved the tissue paper from the recycling bin and smoothed out each of the seven sheets. Aside from a few wrinkles it was not torn and was in good shape. I folded it carefully; you never know when you will need white tissue paper.

The gold metal embossed "basket" itself was a thing of beauty. It found a home displayed on top of my china hutch.

As I folded, fondled, photographed, cataloged, and blogged about the winnings I could not but help feel a welling up of gratitude. I hope all the contributors know I really stretched out my enjoyment of the prize. The joy will be ongoing as I relish making the projects from and with all the goodies.

• Thank you to the Quiltinators for creating such an awesome, thoughtful raffle basket.
• Thank you to the businesses and guild members who contributed to fill the basket.
• Thank you to Vickie for coming to the show and buying those raffle tickets.
• Thank you to whoever drew the winning ticket.
• Thank you to my husband who refrained from rolling his eyes when that huge volume of stuff entered our front door. He has been enduring its display on our dining room table, in our living room wing chair, and across the upstairs counters for going on two weeks now.

It is time to utter that last sigh of contentment and put it all away - where I can find it. I will also share this tale of good fortune with my online quilt friends at Let's Bee Social #175.