Olympic Moments

Jamie Anderson at Sochi

Have you been watching the Olympics?  Have you noticed the patchwork motifs in the sideboards at the skating rink and on the skiers' bibs?  And on the US snowboard team jackets?  I especially love their bright, fresh colors.

I'm inspired to make a quilt....

Duh!  Sew what's new?
Anyway, it's a serious thought.
Meanwhile, take a look at this mess.

Design Wall 2/9/14

I spent Sunday morning trying to pick fabrics for Summer Solstice by Judy Neimeyer.  I had hoped to use a gorgeous batik my son and DIL brought from Hawaii, but I finally decided that it was limiting my choices -- which sounds impossible as I think about it now because it contained every color in the rainbow.

I went through pinks, greens, purples, and oranges before settling on this grey/gold fabric as my inspiration.  I still need to come up with an accent color to use in the Lemoyne star center.  I am determined to use nothing but stash.

Since I have five classes coming up in March, I need to get myself organized.  Summer Solstice is first at Peg Bingham's Spring Training Camp in West Virginia.  I go directly from there to Pigeon Forge for Mountain Quilt Fest where I have classes with Jan Krentz (Variable Hunter's Star), Bonnie Hunter (Smith Mountain Morning), Karen Kay Buckley (border design), and Bonnie Goolsby (Jack's Chain).  I started Jack's Chain a couple of years ago, but I'm clueless about how to put it together.  I hope Bonnie Goolsby has some good tips!  Karen Kay Buckley's class is just design, no prep there except getting my tools together.  I've started cutting Smith Mountain Morning.  The Variable Hunter's Star is going to require about as much thought as Solstice.  Again, I'm determined to make it from stash.

All of this means that if I am starting four new projects, I'll need to finish eight first!!!  Wait, wait .... technically, I can count Jack's Chain and SM Morning as UFOs since I started them before the first of the year. LOL!


But first, today is guild Monday.  I've been putting together a series of back-to-basics lessons for this year's program meetings.  We're using McCall's Quick Quilts "Studio Sampler" series as our "text".  At the end of the year they will have enough blocks to make a quilt.  I believe many new quilters started right in with specialty rulers and catchy gadgets; they have no clue how to analyze a picture and create a quilt without a pattern.  I'm on a quest to change that!

Looks like snow is going to the south of us today.  Yay, I can get down my hill!  Still cold, though, so

Keep warm and quilt on!

Check out other design walls at Patchwork Times.