Thursday, January 27, 2011

Don't it make you want to Appliqué

On Saturday, my girlfriend Dione came over to go to road with me.  She brought me flowers just because.  They are the most unusual flowers that I've seen in a bouquet, but just gorgeous.  This big flower in the middle looks like a head of lettuce, but with sparkles.  There are actually little pointy tips on the ends of the leaves like beading.  The combinations of purples and greens, just lovely!



And ...I'm choppin broccoli!  No really these look like broccoli's pretty cousin broccolette!




And then this week I also received flowers from my bosses, Kanwar and Anthony.  
As a thank you and well wishes.  

I received the flowers yesterday and so they were in my house all day.  When I got home, I could smell them the minute I walked in.  They are the most fragrant flowers.
I am so inspired to appliqué I can't wait to get some free time to do it. Perhaps in my near future! ;]


Special thanks to my friends and family for making me feel so special and continuing to inspire me!

Love
Nicole

Sunday, January 23, 2011

The Road was Packed!

I consider Road to California 2010 in Ontario California a big success, people everywhere!  Wonderful quilts hung end to end.  I am so proud to see that quilters and quilt admirer's are doing their part to boost the economy!

I walked in the front doors and what do I see, Beyond the Reef, right in the first spot...location location location!  Lots of bright and colorful fabrics and some new patterns to boot.  Natalie and friends were so busy and the booth was packed.
My friend Liz Isom's asian version of Tic-Tac...Oh! is hanging in the corner of the booth with some lovely asian fabric bundles....had to get one of course.  I bought some other fabric, but I'll post it later this week.

There were so many beautiful quilts in the show!  http://www.road2ca.com/2010winners/road/winners.html
The creativeness of the quilt community never ceases to amaze me.  I am astounded that I still see new ways to do traditional style quilts.  I didn't get everyone's names but most of them are described in the link above.  I took over 350 pictures this time, but figured I'm better trim it down.


I took some pictures of some things that caught my eye, but there were so many quilts I could not get everything.  So here are a few little pics and things I found interesting.

I love this quilt, I saw it online and the story about the creation of it.  It is just amazing up close.  The whole 

Thread Tails & Vapor Trails exhibit for the The 100th Anniversary of Naval Aviation.  


 Ok this picture is not very good quality, but the blow up turned out great.  See how the  fabrics transition.



Say Cheese!  Hey, that's my friend Dione.   She is a writer and editor and working on some big projects, more on that in the near future.  We had a great time and I'm so glad we got to spend some quality time together at the show.













Oh my gosh the detail on this quilt, 1st place...no surprise there!
Its a tea party don't ya know! This one was so sweet, I stood there staring at all the detail on this one, spoons and tea bags and all kinds of sweaties.  I even dragged my friend Micki and her Daughter over to look at this.  So much going on, applique, embroidery, embellishments.  

Julia Renaud of Tea for Two would just love this one!





This one reminds me of the project that I have been working on for the last couple of months.  Very cool.

Wow my husband walked by while I was posting this picture and he said "Wow!"  Pete's a man of few words.

I love the subtle change of background fabric.  And of course I appreciate the amount of work. 
More delicious appliqué.  Wow just amazing work.
One of my favorite has always been Dear Jane, but I have to say this is the first time I noticed the settings triangles are all different too.  I wonder how I missed that...probably because I have never made one myself. 

I have been working on a dutch treat another favorite traditional style pattern.  Mine is in the traditional indigo blue, but this... holy cow...this one has an beautiful bright asian print behind it.  It is just fabulous.


Yeah...ok really?  Who thinks of this stuff!




And the one I call the big fuzzy flutter-bye quilt. Just dynamic and the look at the detail on these flutter-byes.












Ok, thats enough, I'd better get busy.


Hope you were all inspired to be part of such an artistic group of people.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Aunti Nicole

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Don't Miss Road to California!

Hey Everyone,

Road to California - Ontario, California
January 20-23, 2011
http://www.road2ca.com/ 

I am very excited to have my Tic-Tac...Oh! pattern available in Natalie's booth.  My good friend Liz Isom made the pattern up in Asian fabrics as you might have seen on my last post.  I'm telling you the pictures do not do it justice, so stop by Beyond the Reef to see.

beyond the reef patterns
I'll be there on Saturday with my friend Dione.  We will be stopping by Beyond the Reef , to see all the wonderful goodies she has for us this year at Road.


Honk if you will be at Road!

Hope you all get to sew this weekend!

Love
Aunti

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Tic Tac...Oh! Asian Fusion

Let me start by saying that if you stopped by last week and tried to download the tutorial....well my bad.  The link turned up an error.  I had since fixed it and I invite you to revisit last weeks post...again.  




My good friend Liz Isom made of my pattern in her stash of asian fabrics.  I can't tell you how little justice these pictures do but I had to share them with you.

 


She had it machine quilted by a friend and I love how she quilted in different scales inside the design.


and ....scraps for the border.
Here is the original in Basic Grey.



I went to visit her on Saturday to take a look at the quilt.  She invite me along to an open house for a new quilt shop in Laguna Hills, California, Sewing Party.  http://www.sewingparty.com/  

Went to dinner at Casa Sanchez in LA, for my dear friend Dione's birthday celebration.  Great food and live music at a 5 start Mexican restaurant.  Definitely a treat!   http://losangeles.citysearch.com/profile/45876281/los_angeles_ca/casa_sanchez.html

Had a great time with old and new friends and still found time to sew today.  Nothing to show yet, but I'm working on it ;]

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Love Aunti Nicole

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Double Piped Binding Tutorial

Three months ago, I got this quilt back from machine quilter Jan Dalkey.  I knew I wanted to do a special binding but had trouble finding instructions.  So..... I created my own.  It took some patience and a lot of ripping, but I finally finished it January 1st, 2011.


So I am posting a free tutorial for anyone who wants to try it.  I recommend doing this on a smaller quilt to see if you enjoy doing it.  Tutorial - Double Piped Binding


I hope you can put these instructions to use.  Maybe not today, but keep it in mind for a future project.  Feel free to contact me yelling and screaming if you find any problems with the instructions or need help with it.
I wish you all a wonderful and prosperous New Year!  

Love Aunti  Nicole