Tidewater Quilt Show

The Tidewater Quilters Guild had a really good show last weekend in Chesapeake, Virginia. I had an enjoyable few hours looking at all of the quilts and vendors booths. So good a time that I didn't take as many pictures as usual and missed taking pictures that I wanted to get.

I thought I had a photo that captured the entire quilt. I was wrong, but if you missed the quilting detail, check it out below.

This is a gorgeously detailed applique quilt with closely packed quilting. Wow!

I wish I had done a better job with pictures. The people captured my attention. I really enjoyed talking with so many friends and others I hadn't met before.

Thank you ladies. It was a really good show. Well balanced and well presented.

Eating and Talking over the Worlds Cup

I enjoyed a very pleasant dinner Monday night with my friend Cathy, and her friend Lisa at an incredibly NOISY Mexican restaurant. We could hear the instructor talking and see the students working at their easels for a painting class going on in the adjoining large room. The big screen TV showed the US win over Ghana in the World Cup, followed by a baseball game. The US debuted in the World Cup and won their very first game! The frequent cheers had us repeating what we said so we could be heard.

Lisa designs quilts, takes commissions for quilts, gives talks, and judges quilts. You can see her designs and other things that occupy her time on her blog and her website. She is in Hampton Roads to judge the Tidewater Quilters Guild show coming up this weekend, Friday through Sunday, June 20th through 22nd.

She showed us her designs for the Row by Row Experience, a unique shop hop going on in several states.

I showed her the applique mermaid block I completed recently. Here's the picture again, in case you missed the post on it.

We talked about Lisa's dog Shelby, her experience with facebook's restructure of how people see, and now don't see, the small business pages they are interested in, print shops and anything else that popped into our heads. I really enjoyed meeting Lisa. The three of us had a good time.

Mermaids

I spent about forty hours from concept through execution of this 9" x 36" mermaid applique block ~ designing, choosing fabric, converting the design into individual pieces for applique, cutting out fabrics, arranging bits, tweaking, pressing and sewing.

I then decided that machine embroidery on the face didn't give the right look. So I took out the stitches and used fine tip markers. The fabric for the face on the right was slightly roughed up when I took out the stitches, so it did not turn out well. It has been pointed out to me that her face looks masculine.

I had fun selecting the fabrics and choosing which parts of the underwater scene to cut from the fabrics I used for the critters and plants.

Colonial Williamsburg

I am waaaaaay late posting this.

Pictures from a fun day at Colonial Williamsburg with my friend Laurie.

When we lived in land locked Kansas, SAIL magazine featured an article on celebrating Christmas in various ports of call. The only location I remember was Colonial Williamsburg. I really wanted to see it during the holiday, but Christmas is wrapped up with my family. No way did I want to venture away from home for my favorite holiday.

However now that we are living on the Virginia coast, it is a perfect time to visit.

Click each picture for a larger image

Horse drawn carriage tours of the colonial section of Williamsburg, which covers several blocks

A cobbler at his trade

Cobbler's shop

Boots and shoes for sale with shoe forms in a rack on the wall

The tradesman preparing to leave after work

Colonial Williamsburg Courthouse

The clerk's office at the courthouse

Another view of the office

Stepped vegetable garden down an incline behind a house

Vegetables, yes this is late December

Garden paths. I was rather fascinated with the gardens in Colonial Williamsburg

Weather protection for plants

Small stables bedroom with a cozy fire place and canopy for the narrow bed

Second stables bedroom. I don't recall this one having a fireplace  

Small house with a proportionally large fireplace

Embroidered bed cover

Two Colonial Williamsburg kitchens from which they serve scrumptious dinners.

The next four photos are of the Randolph House.

A silversmith filing a spoon

Spinning

Spinning on a great wheel

Weaving on a floor loom

Williamsburg was the seat of government for Virginia during colonial days. This is the magazine where firearms and ammunition were stored 

Pikes and walls and walls of muskets

We went on a Friday shortly before Christmas. Colonial Williamsburg was decorated for the holidays

Wren Hall, is named for the famous English architect Christopher Wren, who is credited with the modeling the design. It stands at the entrance of the College of William and Mary.

The other time I had been to Williamsburg, another good friend and I searched the Wren Hall trying to locate the chapel to no avail. This time, I opened one of the few doors we hadn't looked through and there it was!

The organ pipes and a magnificent lion

Yours truly in the chapel in Wren Hall. It is the oldest building in continuous academic use in the country.

I was disappointed to learn that the display of lights only happens on Saturdays. However we stayed for the fife and drum corps marching down the main street and that was special.

Open Again!

The Fabric Hut is open again finally! After almost four and one half months. 

Come visit us at 828 E Little Creek in our new location at the corner of Sewell's Point Rd and Little Creek. There is parking available on the side of the building as well as the front.

We have the same hours, Monday through Friday 10:00 am to 7:00 pm, Saturday 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. I'm off on Fridays, but otherwise I'll be there somewhere.

Mega Bloom Bloom Count

I received an email from a concerned orchid grower today. My blog has an orchid page on it. One of her concerns was her orchid pots. The only orchid I have in an orchid pot is my mega bloomer.

The first season it bloom I was so excited when it started blooming and counted how many it had so far frequently throughout it's blooming cycle. Now I look at the spikes and shoots after it has finished blooming and count the number blooms it had during it's entire cycle. When it hit fifty one year I was in total awe. Mom told me not to expect it the next year. The following year it had sixty some and that was with the secondary spike broken off before it had finished blooming. This year I was really happy to see that it was mature enough to have more than one side shoot.

The secondary spike broke off again this past bloom cycle. It gets a bit of rough treatment including the young cat deciding he just had to share that bit of window ledge. But the secondary spike decided it wasn't done for yet, and it grew a side shoot. My determined orchid had a main spike with two side shoots, and a broken secondary spike with a side shoot! It's obviously loving it's home window.

How many blooms did it have? drum roll please.........................................





One hundred and twenty-two !!!!!!!!!!!

Honest! It did!!!

It has several blooms at one time over the course of five and a half months, and they are small blossoms so it's not an "Oh my gosh LOOK at that display!" phenomena.

What's sad is that I tend to take pictures to illustrate a talking point on my Orchid Page (tab at top) so I don't have any good pictures of it. Here is one from early in it's bloom cycle to give you an idea of what it looks like. It bloomed, struggled with orchid blast, and then bloomed nicely.

Mega Bloomer

Military Bride's Veil

~ Here is the story about the wedding veil from my fb entry.

I took the last stitch on a wedding veil about a half hour ago. A girl in the military called to see if the Hut sold veils. I said no, but we sell everything you need and I can teach you how to make one. 

When she asked for names of seamstresses and told me she was leaving for Germany on Saturday (less than 48 hours later) I doubted her chances of finding a seamstress to do the rush job, and I told her I would. Thankfully Friday is my day off, because I'm slow.

The pretty lace trim she chose required two lines of stitching to hold it in place. I also decorated the comb on both sides.

Now, here are pictures as requested both face to face and facebook ~

~ click on pictures for a larger image ~

Blusher portion at bottom of picture
Black shape is our young cat touching it

Gathered onto comb with blusher at bottom

Little lace bit at back of comb

Lace along front of comb

Here are more details ~

She wanted her hair styled in an updo with the veil placed under it on the back of her head. She also wanted a blusher. I measured. The blusher needed to be approximately 24" long and the veil hanging down her back 27" long. 

I cut the veil in a typical fat oval shape and then modified it for the blusher. In order for the blusher to fall into a graceful curve with the veil placed that far back, the veil was cut into an unusual shape. The first picture shows how blusher curves in the front across the face, the curve flattens out, then becomes a sharp curve again near the back of the head. The second picture shows the difference between the shape as the veil is gathered into the comb; the smooth line of the veil and the tight curve at back of the blusher.

I placed a little bit of lace on the back of the comb where it will show when the blusher is in position over her face.

The pictures I took holding the blusher up as it might look on her head were fuzzy. She has promised to send me pictures and I will post them.

She picked it up 9:00am Saturday morning before flying out that afternoon. She was thrilled with it.