Arcadia Avenue BOM #1

I'm teaching an 

Arcadia Avenue

Block of the Month!

This is SO much fun!!!

Listen to this...

The shop owner at 

Block Therapy

has let each person chose their 

OWN

color combination!

AMAZING!

This makes it SO much fun to see each block come together!

Here are pictures of some of the first blocks...

(We're making 2 blocks a month!)

 
These blocks have not been sewn together yet!
Look at these bright colors together!
WOW!

These are sewn together...look at how great they did matching the lines!
Great job!!!

Look at these two sets of blocks 

VERY closely...

Can you see a difference?

There is a mistake in one...and then she kept on going

and made it a design element!

Isn't it FABULOUS!!!!

If you didn't notice,

It's the upper right block...see how the colors alternate

going up the row? 

 It's all supposed to be the same color, like the bottom right block.

Don't you LOVE the way the colors go from the lightest blue,

to greens, to purple!

Everyone did such a great job choosing their colors!

Thank you Block Therapy!

You let each person have their own personality come through!

I'll post more Arcadia Avenue blocks later

Sew the pieces of like together!

They make a BEAUTIFUL quilt!!!

Nina Clotfelter

2015 ACQG Challenge #2

Well...

It's been quit a day...

My cell phone totally died...

as in CRASHED and BURNED!!!!

And...

I LOST EVERYTHING!!!

ALL

pictures and contacts!!!

UGH!!!

Enough about my issues!!!!

The challenge was 

SO

much fun!!!

The competition was VERY TOUGH!!!!

EACH

quilt was absolutely

AMAZING!!!!!

The work everyone put in was 

FABULOUS!!!!

GREAT JOB EVERYONE!!!

And the winners are...

only separated by one vote...

First place!

Crazy about Labrador Retrievers.

SO WELL deserved!!!!

Look at ALL the work she did to

share her LOVE of Labrador Retrievers!

I'm so proud of her work!!!

AND EXTREMELY happy for her!!!

You ROCK!!!!

Second Place!

Crazy about Cathedral Windows.

AGAIN an AMAZING job!

This quilt was like most traditional crazy quilts...heavy!

Third place!

Crazy about Feathers!

Yay!

I can tell you this really stretched me!

I did push the boundaries of crazy quilting some...

This is NOT traditional

crazy quilting!

Take a Challenge!

Think outside the box!

Sew the pieces of life together!

They make a BEAUTIFUL quilt!!!!

Nina Clotfelter 

2015 ACQG Challenge! #1

The Challenge?


{Since the challenge is due Tuesday...(as in tomorrow),
I can start posting about it.
AND...
tomorrow I'll post the winners of this challenge!}

What are you CRAZY about?

Can you guess what the challenge is?

CRAZY quilting!

NOT,

I repeat...

NOT a technique I do!

You have to crazy quilt something you're crazy about.

GREAT idea!

So, what am I passionate about?

Hmmm...

Does it have to be quilting related?

No.

Can it be personal?

Yes.

Can it be what I do for a living?

Yes.

My pets?

Yes.

ANYTHING you want!

So...

How do I pick just one?

In chatting with a friend, 

we talked about how I LOVE quilting feathers.

I LOVE FEATHERS!!!!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!

I found my subject!

BUT crazy quilting?

YUCK!

(No offense for those of you who love it!)

I don't do hand work well...

so, I did my crazy quilting by machine,

 using my decorative stitches.

As you can see,

I used all the decorative stitches I could!

We had to use as many different kinds of fabrics as we could...

There's linen, satin, chiffon, silk, lace, rick rack, zipper teeth, sequins, 

netting, and probably more.

Now...

think outside the box!

Since I'm crazy about feathers...

I used monofilament thread and free motion quilted

feathers all over my background!

I wanted this subtle and only a slight texture... 

I like it!

Another picture...

I'll post some more tomorrow...

Go ahead...

push those boundaries!

After all, they're only guide lines!

Stitch the pieces of life together!

They make a BEAUTIFUL quilt!!!

Nina Clotfelter

I Just HAVE to Share...Continued!

AND...

The results are in!

(The first post on this little challenge

with my friend was on 6/9/15...

you might want to go back and read it 

so you remember what these results are from.)

I said I wouldn't post my finished project

until my friend finished hers.

Well...

She sent me her picture the other day!!!

YAY!

I've been dying to share this!

So, 

here's her completed challenge...

I love how she did the grid work in the boarder!

Great job!!!

Here's mine...

I decided to make my center darker by

 quilting circles in a dark blue thread.

Then...

the boarder was just simply FUN!

Of course I did feathers!

(I couldn't resist!)

LOL!

They each turned out 

FABULOUS!!!!

And they each turned out different!

This was such FUN!

Work with a friend on a challenge...

you'll be surprised how much fun it is!!!

Sew the pieces of life together!

They make a BEAUTIFUL quilt!!!

Nina Clotfelter

Dog Portrait

We had a Judy Holley teach 

Dog Portraits

the other day!

We all worked on the same dog portrait

so we could learn the fusing technique...

What I LOVE is how very different each persons dog is!

Here's our dog show of bench puppies!

The dog on the left was starting to fall over, that's why his head is wonky...LOL!

So, I'm guessing I'm pretty predictable...

I sent that picture to my daughter and she guessed which one was mine 

RIGHT away!!!

Here's my dog...

I used the a black fabric that had stars on it for the eyes,

and why not use the stars! 

So my dog has stary eyes!

Here are the others close up...

The dog on the left is starting to fall over, that's why his head is wonky...

Aren't they great!!!

Go do a FUN something today!!!

Sew the pieces of life together!

They make a BEAUTIFUL quilt!!!

Nina Clotfelter

Shop Hop!!!

WOW!

Talk about FUN!!!

Roaming around on the 

Row by Row 

website got me in trouble!

There's this little shop in 

Ellerslie, GA

Sunday Best Quiltworks.

In checking out the different rows

at each shop, 

I found out this shop was having

Gail Garber

come teach a class!

Gail Garber 

is from New Mexico and I have her book,

Flying Colors!

When will I be seeing her again?

So, 

it's ONLY 4 hours away...

why not?

YES,

I signed up for her class that was this past Thursday!

FUN!

BUT...

why make a straight shot there?

I had to find other quilt shops on the way...

Crestview, FL has

Margie's...

FABULOUS shop and Bernina Dealer!

Here's their Row.

YES...I had to have it!!!

Isn't it beautiful!!!

Then we went to Opp, AL.

What's in Opp?

T J's Fabrics!

Here's how we found this shop...

I asked Vicki Crooms if she could/wanted to go on this 3 day adventure with me...

she said yes!

Vicki actually is the one who said Opp has a quilt shop...

so we went!

This is a Pharmacy and Fabric store combination...

Vicki was in heaven!

(She's a Pharmacist.)

Open the door...

AND...

CANDYLAND!!!

EVERYTHING is bright and cheerful!!!

ALL fabrics are happy and content...

ALL fabrics were cheerful and bright..

They were happy to be there...

But happy to go home with me, too!!!

But they DID want to ALL go home with me!!!

This was pure heaven for me!!!

I LOVE BRIGHTS!!!

And BOTH of us made a GOOD purchase!!!

They did inform us about their website!

It's only bright fabrics, no batiks, civil war, or 30's...

And a FABULOUS staff!!!

If you can go out of your way to go to Opp, AL...

GOOOO!!!!

Don't you feel a day trip coming on....

Sew the pieces of life together!

They make a BEAUTIFUL quilt!!!

Nina Clotfelter

Shop Hop!

Have you even done a 

Shop Hop?

I have not.

As I've roamed around the

Row by Row

website...

there's a map of 

EVERY

shop participating in the US!

They have addresses and websites on there too!

Talk about AMAZING!

So,

in roaming around...

I kinda got in trouble!  HAHA!

There's a shop in Columbus, GA,

Sunday Best Quiltworks,

Gail Garber (from New Mexico) will be teaching there tomorrow!

Gail's work in simply AMAZING!

And...

the BEST part?

It's ONLY 4.5 hours from my house!!!

I CAN DO THAT!!!

DONE!

Simple, right?

Well...

There's a few shops on the way....LOL!

And...

IF, I come home a different way...

YES,

there are a few more shops!!!!

BLAHAHAHA!!!

So,

the final schedule is...

3 shops today on the way to Columbus, GA.

Class with Gail tomorrow,

2 shops on a different route home Saturday!

Sounds like a great time to me!!!

6 quilt shops 

in 3 days...

I'm game!

GO SUPPORT YOU QUILT SHOP!!!

And stop by others on any of your travels this summer and all year!

Sew the pieces of life together!

They make a BEAUTIFUL quilt!

Nina Clotfelter