Monday Morning Star Count, July 20, 2015

I had such and amazing time at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show last weekend...  It was super cool to finally be there and to see my quilts on display all over town.

Travel Quilts #2 and #3 were hanging and they looked so... intricate from across the street or down the block.  I guess I forget that I stitched them from 1.5" diamonds?  

I had 3 other quilts in the show too, maybe I'll post about them later, I want to keep the focus on EPP today.  Of course I found some time to work on Travel Quilt #6 that weekend:

and got in a bit of stitching on TQ#5 during the car ride too:

I'm back home in NY now, but omg, I am SO in love with Oregon.  The quilt shops, people!  The quilt shops alone are reason enough to buy plane tix and rearrange your schedules to get out there.  And I didn't even make it to that many (4 maybe?).  It was enough, though.  I came home with an extra suitcase (I had to carry the 5 quilts...) and probably around 20 yards of fabric.  Quilting heaven, I'm telling ya...

I have cut up a bunch of new fabric for hex-diamonds and I hope to get some stitching done throughout the rest of the summer.  I'm also working on some big machine pieced projects though, so I've got to balance my time.  Yesterday it was just plain too hot to quilt.. maybe this week I can convince the kids to hang out at the public library for a while (or anywhere else with free air conditioning?).

Now it's your turn.  Who has been making progress on their EPP this week?
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LIQS Show

This was a big quilting weekend for us on Long Island.   The Long Island Quilters Society holds a huge quilt show every two years, and because I taught a workshop for them in January, I was in the loop enough to fill out the forms and submit my quilts on time this year. 
I went yesterday morning and saw the show with Eri.  It is held at the Garden City Field House Gymnasium which is big airy space.  Everything felt fresh, bright and beautiful. Promise that spring is on the way.  I was very happy that Travel Quilt #3 took two ribbons-- Best in class for Piecework, and 1st place for commercially quilted in its size category.  (That's completely Shannon's fault!  thank you!). 

It's only recently that I became interested in entering my quilts to be judged.  Winning a ribbon is pretty cool, but I have always been a little anti-establishment when it comes to the "proper" way to make a quilt.  I still feel that I made the quilts for me, and I want to share what I've made with a larger audience.  If a judge likes or doesn't like it, that's fine.  It's my quilt, I won't be ashamed of that.  So tonight when I go to pick them up, I'm curious to read the judge's comments.  I don't know if it will change anything about how I make my next quilt, but it's interesting to get feedback nonetheless. 
Here are some of my favorites from the show.  Quilt maker info is on each pic. 

As Eri and I were walking around, I thought about why I love these quilts, scrap quilts.  When I saw the Cathedral Windows below, it hit me.. I like to look closely and see if I have any of the same fabrics.

 (Btw, this quilt was hung behind a guild booth, without any identifying information. If you know who made it, please let me know!!)

I thought about the quilts I have been making, and the ones I'm planning to start or work on soon.. I think I've been getting distracted by what others have been doing again (bad, bad Instagram!), and I want to find time to get back to some of the projects that really spoke to me.  I've also got a bit of gift sewing I want to finish this spring too.  Hope I'll find time for all of it.
Anyway, here is my finished Travel Quilt #2.  Completely me.  No ribbons, but I still love it.  Made between 2007-2014, there's a whole lot of my life in there.  (the border does go all the way around, but the hanging sleeve is placed 88" from the bottom, as per the show requirements)

Ribbon!

I put some quilts in the local show this weekend and look what I got!

 

I took first place in my category (pieced quilts over 245", professionally quilted), yippee! 

But the best was the judge's note, "meticulous workmanship."  I read that in the car after pick up last night and I was beaming.  I wanted to put the paper up on our fridge, but it's better to post it here.

It was a very good show over all, but made for a busy weekend.  I've got lots to catch up on, and after that, maybe a blog post on the quilt top I finished last week?

Blogger's Quilt Festival (and Quilt Retreat Invitation)

I was racking my brain (and sewing room) for something to enter in this fall's Bloggers' Quilt Festival.  My Lime String quilt isn't finished yet and I haven't had time to work on much else.  Then it occurred to me that I never did a real blog post on Travel Quilt #3, the one that is featured in my book.  So, here it is:

I started this quilt in July 2010, stitched the last diamonds by hand in February 2012, and had the entire thing finished in October 2012.  I took a few detail shots of my own, but then it went straight on to my publisher for photography for the book.  (And I wasn't supposed to blog about it til the book was released!) It ended up on the back cover, which I was really pleased about.  This is the third in my Travel Quilt series and the first time I actually wrote on the stars as I pieced them.  The full pattern and instructions, including step-by-step photography, is available in the book. 

Long arm quilted by the brilliant Shannon Couvillion in Georgia, this is a very personal quilt, a fabric scrap book of where I went and how I spent my  time. 
Of course this isn't the first time many of you are seeing this quilt.  I heavily blogged my progress as I carried my EPP sewing kit back and forth across the globe, completing a few stars at a time.  Here's a quick recap of my favorite in-progress photos:

Have you ever quilted on the beach?  Would you like to?
I'm organizing an English paper piecing retreat that will be held on the Greek island of Paros in June, 2014.  Come enjoy amazing food, perfect weather, relaxing atmosphere and good company as we stitch together in the middle of the Aegean.  Check out my "Greek Island Retreat" tab above, or just click here.  Registration is open through February 1st, but space is limited.  I'd love to have you join me and start a Travel Quilt of your own~

Posting from Paros~

I'm super happy the blog tour has been going so well.  Thank you so much for visiting my blog and all the others on the tour, and for talking about or buying my book!
I know it's crazy, but I'm not even at home to enjoy all this book tour madness this week, we're actually in Paros and this is how I'll be blogging for the next few days..

baby on my lap and everything.

I know I posted a picture of the ferry boat this morning,  but this is Paros:

 It is a small-ish island in the Aegean sea and it's really quite lovely.  We have been coming to the same resort (Anezina Village) for the past 3 years and not only does it have excellent food and beautiful beaches, but I always manage to get a lot of quilting done when I'm here.  A large part of the Travel Quilt was stitched here..

(We are lucky enough to be staying in the same bungalow again this year, which makes me very sentimental about the quilt and book and everything..)

Anyway, with the baby it has been harder to find sewing time this trip, but I'm determined.  He's gotta nap sometime, right?
Wishing you all lots of hand stitching time this summer~
Love from Paros,
Jess

Making

I read two really beautifully written blog posts last week, and they resonated with me in how I feel about quilting and the creative process.  How I feel about being a quilter.  First was this amazing post from Chase  (especially the paragraph under the 5th photo).  And then this one from Little Island Quilting, which I'll quote a bit of here:

"My quilts are all just an expression of who I am and the journey I took to get there."

It’s the end of the year (almost) and people are starting to get reflective.  I want to make more quilts that reflect who I am.  I guess I have been doing that, but I need to feel the satisfaction of having done that once I finish them.. maybe it’s a psychological thing.  But anyway..

I finshed something.
It’s big, REALLY big, but it’s not exactly done yet (they haven’t signed off and paid me yet..)

Oh Daruma, we're almost there!

You have no idea (well, some of you might) what it’s like to be at the end of this year-long journey, and project that seemed impossible from the start, manageable in my daydreams, and harder than anything I’ve ever done in reality. 

It kept me busy.  It made me think.  It brought me closer to friends and made me hone my skills.  I feel—accomplished. 

But it also caused a horrible amount of stress and sleep deprivation, tested my endurance and my marriage.. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, right? (Costas, I love you.)

And someone asked me lately, “Was it worth it?”  My answer, “I don’t know yet.”

I wanted to write this post to capture how I’ve been feeling this week, at the project’s end, but I really don’t know how I feel about the whole process until I can share it with you.  When it’s DONE done, I’ll let you know (probably by screaming from the rooftops), but until then I guess I just need to let the experience marinate, and perhaps move on to something else?

I’ve got an orphan block quilt up on the design wall.. it’s not what I’m “supposed” to be working on this month, but it’s really speaking to me, so I need to see where the idea takes me..

It's been a long time

Guess what's finished and on its way to the long armer?

I worked on this top for a little more than 2 years, and I. Love. It.
Just a teaser shot for now, thanks for your patience...

Summer

It's like I blinked and we're home again.  Vacation over, springtime gone, and the heat of summer is upon us.

While I'm happy to be home, it is a chore to get the house back in order.   It's so strange to have flannel pjs in my laundry pile.. it was still cool at night before we left, and now it's too hot to even think about flannel.
I was inspired by so many things in Greece, one being hanging laundry out to dry.  I think many Americans take their clothes dryers for granted, running them all year for the convenience.  Today I hung my clothes outside, on two folding hangers, with clothespins I brought back from Athens.  It was really amazing how quickly they dried and how simple it was to change my habits.  I'd love to get a clothesline for the yard, but I still haven't found one that seems reliable.  My requirements: strong enough to hold a wet quilt.  Is that too much to ask?  Do you have any recommendations?
A clothesline would of course be useful for photos of dry quilts as well..but for now, I'll just share this one that I took of Merrill and I this morning during our playdate. 

I think, for both of us, the end is in sight.

Same old, same old.

It's been 10 days, I bet you're wondering how my trip to Athens is going..

Really, it's not as glamourous as it sounds.. a little food,

a little social unrest,

a lot of family,
(woops, guess I didn't upload those pics off the camera yet.)
and some quilting in the car during naptime. (yes, i forgot the tripod, sorry for the dusty dashboard)

Tomorrow though, we're headed to Paros.  I'm sure I'll get some good photos, but I won't have any internet access to share them!  Please check back in about a week when we'll be in Athens again..

EPP Diamond Quilt Along ROUND UP!

Our English paper pieced diamonds quilt along is at a whopping 81 members!  Thousands of diamonds have been cut, basted & pieced.  Millions of stitches have been taken!  Let's take a look at the projects as they are coming along:

Clare of Summerfete has been quilting!  Her 2" diamonds are lovely.

Carolyn has a nice big section started:

Carolyn aka Laughing Duck

 Traci of Stolen Moments has some good tips to share:

Traci of Stolen Moments

Lesly at Pickle Dish has been piecing for almost a year..

Amanda of Home Designs by Amanda is just starting, man I love the fabric selection stage!

I love the fabric Teegzie is using:

Teegzie's orange diamonds

Audrey Pawdrey has started with some pretty funky stars.

Luv2sign99 has some nice bold stars:

Luv2sign99's bold stars.

Nuria of La casina roja has started too, and she has the sweetest sewing box!

And here's mine.  I've been shooting for 2 stars a day since our Greek vacation started, but I don't always make it..

Travel Quilt #3

If you would like to see more or join us, please visit the quilt along page!!

Reunion

Thank you so much for all the thoughtful comments on my last few posts.  It seems that although the stress of school has ended, the hours of playtime on the internet still haven't materialized.  But they soon will.. Greek vacation is fast approaching :)

Today I want to share some moments from my 10 year college reunion.  From 1997-2001 I lived in a wonderfully beautiful haven of super-intellegent women.  It was a storybook garden of a setting (minus several months of snow and cold) and has impacted me in ways I probably still don't know of. 
Smith, I love you.