Jumping Pictures

Some quilters have trouble finding time to make anything for themselves, among all the gifts they make for others. That is not a problem I have! Almost all the quilts I have made go to one place, which is my closet.

They are so much more than just quilts to me. The represent a design process, from the initial idea to the last stitch of the binding. I've spent hours with these quilts, and I feel like no one will love them as much as I do. I can't imagine handing them over to someone else.

That doesn't mean I'm not willing to try. A friend of mine is going through a tough break up at the moment, so I thought maybe it was time to make a quilt for someone else. I knew I wouldn't be able to let go of the quilt if it was a pretty involved one, so I stuck with something simple. I even used prints, which I don't normally do.

It was interesting to go shopping for prints. It took me awhile to find a range rainbow colors that I thought went well together, and if I had it to do over I would pick an orange with a smaller print, but I don't think my friend will mind. The whole thing took less than two hours to iron and piece, so that was a plus.

This past weekend, in addition to the Portland Modern Quilt Guild sewing night, I went to the beach with some friends. It was very spur of the moment, and we had a good time.

When we actually got to the beach, I had assumed it would be like other beach trips that involved walking up and down a stretch of sand. I didn't realize that my friend would be interested in taking a series of "jumping pictures".

Apparently, jumping pictures means jumping the in air and trying to catch a moment when everyone has their feet off the ground. After a lot of false starts, the ladies of the group got one.

The guys were next, and managed to get a lot further off the ground than we did.

The more we did, the more I realized that it's impossible to a) not throw your hands in the air while jumping and b) not look like you are having an awesome time.

We tried to get a group shot of all of us in the air, but it didn't quite work out. I really like this picture though, because everyone has a genuinely happy expression on their face.

All and all, a pretty great weekend.

Portland Modern Quilt Guild

I recently joined the Portland Modern Quilt Guild, and if I were the sort of person that believed in fate, I would say that it was meant to be. I was looking for a quilt group to join, and randomly googled "Portland Modern Quilt Guild", as I'd seen a few posts about Modern Quilt Guilds in other cities. That lead me to a blog posting about how the group was just starting up.

We've had two meeting so far, both of which have been very fun. In the second meeting we had a potholder swap. I wasn't crazy about the one I made, but Megan, the woman who got it said very nice things about it to me, so I hope she really did like it.

Check out the sweet potholder I ended up with! It was made by Jill, and it is lovely.

She even hand sewed the binding on the back. I think it looks fresh and cool. I will also never use it.

Check out the state of one of my current pot holders.

Disgusting! My new pot holder is so pretty that I don't want to ruin it.

Before the meeting started I saw that one of the members, Tamara had given another member, Elizabeth, a very pretty pin cushion. Tamara had mentioned in the last meeting that we should have a pin cushion swap. This made me very nervous, because I'm not that great at 3-D things, or anything that isn't sewing in a straight line. I told all of this to Tamara, and at the end of the meeting she gave me a pin cushion that she had made.

How pretty is this! It's weighted at the bottom too, so it's super nice.

It sure beats my current pin cushion, which I made in 3rd grade as a 4-H project.

If we ever do a pin cushion swap, I'm pretty sure my swap partner will get one that looks just like this.

As Tamara and I were chatting about her awesome pin cushion, Elizabeth walked up to us both and offered us some fabric she didn't want anymore. I don't use a lot of prints, (not that I don't love prints, they're just not what I'm using right now) but it will come in useful for next month's print charm square exchange.

So I got a new pot holder, pin cushion and a pretty piece of fabric. What more could I ask for?