The Polka Dot Debutante

I have spent the last two weeks doing nothing but work on this quilt top. I pieced it using Ruth McDowell's method which works so well. It's slow going but it really works. And now it is finally done. I finished it on Wednesday afternoon and took it with me to my knitting group yesterday to get everyone's reaction. Which was very gratifying. I've got a great plan for the quilting and will get that done by mid-September so it can go in the Northwest Expo Show here in Portland. I really like how the quilt turned out. Now I need to come up with a good name for it. Any suggestions?

I made new pillows for the guest room bed earlier this summer so of course I need to make a new quilt to go with those lovely pillows. I decided to make the "Olive Rose" pattern by Valori Wells. It lets me showcase that great large print from one of the pillows plus I don't have to think too hard since Val already figured it out! She has the pattern for free at her blog so check it out.

When I start pulling fabrics for a new quilt, I put my focus fabric on the floor and then go through my shelves throwing down everything that even remotely goes with it . This is the first throw with the focus fabric in the middle.

Now it's time for round two. I really look closely at each fabric and decide if it stays or goes. Here is the group after round two.

The next picture shows the fabrics I discarded. Basically I took out all the ones with too much pink, orange or yellow. I also got rid of some stripes and a dark blue. I decided the quilt should be mostly blue with purple and lime highlights.

I went to Seattle last weekend for the big APNQ show. Friday night I participated in their new "Instructors for Hire" program and it went really well. I got four new bookings, gave out lots of brochures, and had a good time.
Because of copyright considerations, they ask that you not post pictures from the show so I can't put up pix of my favorite pieces. Instead I'll show you some pictures from the new Olympic Sculpture Garden. It is affiliated with the Seattle Art Museum and is free to all. It was a rainy, grey day but I really enjoyed our visit there. It's right down by the water and is just lovely.

The day started out pretty virtuously. Vivienne and I went for a 5 mile hike at Silver Falls State Park. It was cooler today and we started at 9am, but even so, we were sweating hard by the end of it. So we decided to head over to Silverton and have some coffee before heading home. It turned out that the best coffee shop is right above the new yarn/quilting store. Who knew? We really didn't plan this.
Turns out to be a fantastic yarn store and a darling quilt shop. They opened in June and have some unusual things that I haven't seen here in Portland. Figured I'd give them a big plug in case anyone is heading to Silverton or wants to plan a day trip. It's a cute little town and there were several other shops that looked pretty deadly, especially this shoe store with these great boots in the window. Thank goodness they were closed!

The shops are Snippets: Sewing Bar and Lounge, The Purl District, and Stomping Grounds. They are all in the Wolf Building at the corner of Main St. and Water St.

And here is the quilting half of the store. They are really new and still getting in fabric. What they do have is great.

It also turned out that this weekend was the big Silverton Arts Festival. It is in their big town park and there were over 70 vendors. We managed to get into some trouble there as well. There were some great potters and we just had to get a few things. It was a fun day for sure.

You know from one of my previous entries that I collect monsters. Well, James DeRosso participated in an art show Saturday called Brew N Art out at a Brew Pub in Tigard. Of course I went because how can I pass up the opportunity to add another monster to the collection?! I've decided that this one is really the older brother to the last one I got. Here are the two brothers together:

And here is the whole group on the mantle in the living room:

Aren't they adorable???? I going to try and make a fabric insert for behind all the monsters using satins and painted cheese cloth, something that looks creepy and more monster appropriate. Probably in burgundy and black and grey. Fun.

I finished the Olive Rose top last week and am happy with it. I needed to make it bigger than the pattern so I used some of the leftover fabrics and put them around the border.

I didn't have a lot of fabric left over to piece up for the back and I hate to buy new fabric to put on the back of a quilt. Then I remembered a top I had made about 15 years ago that is the same color palette or close enough. I dug it out and sure enough, the colors work. It wasn't big enough but I had stashed some fabric with it to use as a back and so I pieced that around the top and now it's big enough to be the back. I'm just so pleased with my self! Another old top out of the closet and plus, my new guest room quilt will be reversible. I love it when things like this happen.