Full of Soup

The last weekend of April, the Northern Star Quilters Guild had there annual show in Somers, NY.

It was a beautiful, cold spring day.

The raffle quilt was a take-off on Kaffe’s Bounce Quilt. Instead of snowball borders, they used pinwheels. I loved the look in pastels. It still doesn’t make me want to go back to that project yet though.

The halls of the high school were lined with vendors and the library was transformed into a “boutique.”

The quilts made by the guild members were displayed in the gym.

I’m planning to make a quilt with a few mariner’s compass blocks next. I was inspired by this sampler of them. I think the bottom center one seems the most reasonable for me to try.

Applique!

I love this quilt! My big plan is to make a quilt with all the mariners flags, which this quilter used as one of her borders. There are 26 flags and I want to make the four corners of the quilt mariners compasses. This quilt made me want to start immediately.

These cranes were 3D. Ill!

This quilter and her friend make the same quilt together every year. This was her version of their 2009 quilt. I love the idea of doing a complex project like this with a friend. I’m sure doing something like that would help me keep pace. Or at least keep sanity.

The women with white gloves! For you non-quilters, you have to ask these ladies to show you the backs of the quilts.

Love these colors and the thin sashing.

I’m forever impressed by tiny piecing.

Yes, this is a quilt. All those tiny black lines are strings of fabric. Mind blowing!

The first Seven Days of Christmas!

The rest of the days of Christmas. I want this.

Stars! Reminded me of the quilts from the 70’s I saw at the Folk Art Museum.

I purchased one fabric to make something for my niece, but I haven’t decided what to make yet.

I’ve been jonesing to try a smaller project step away from Bounce and when I was invited to a bridal shower, I had the perfect reason to put away the quilt and try making something different. I was thinking of making coasters or oven mitts, but then I remembered seeing Nova post about a whole new category of household things: mug rugs.

Seriously, click that link and look at those photos. Mug rugs are bigger than coasters, but smaller than placemats. They are supposed to be sized for a mug and a snack.

I started at the fabric store.

Then I pulled out my personal stash.

After clicking through tons of examples of mug rugs, I started putting together my design.

I spent a day psyched about how quickly I finished the top.

I have very little experience machine quilting, so even though it was straightforward, it took me some time to get comfortable.

And of course the thin, blue binding wasn’t finished until I was on the train headed to the party, which made getting shots of the finished product difficult.