Central Oklahoma Quilt Show and Toads

I've been amazingly (for me) productive on some of my quilting projects, lately.  As I've posted, a number of times in a number of places, I'd rather poke myself in the eye with a needle rather than use it to do handwork.  Because of that, I get to the point of handstitching down the binding on a quilt and tend to just...stop. 

Recently, I've been working on a quilt I'm giving as a gift.  I didn't start it until last week.   It is small, about the size of a baby quilt.

I quilted it a couple of days ago and yesterday, I actually cut out the binding, machined stitched it to the quilt and handstitched it down.  ALL IN ONE DAY.  I couldn't believe it.  I amazed myself.   I felt like doing a victory lap but it was still 95 degrees outside at nearly 10:00 AT NIGHT and I didn't want to drop dead of a heart attack before I got that sucker in the mail.  After it arrives at its destination, I'll post some better photos.  For now, here's a toad:

I went to the Central Oklahoma Quilt Show, this week (this is not me):

There were so many fabulous quilts.  It was an excellent show and I am mad at myself for not making an effort to create a quilt to exhibit.  That would have been fun.  I've also lollygagged around so much that I probably won't have time to make one for the State Fair, either.  I'm including a few photos.

This photo does not do this quilt justice.  It won Best Use of Fabric.  I think it's called Shades of the Orient:

 I'm not a big fan of strip quilts but this was one of my favorite in the whole show:

If you zoom in, above, you can see that the flowers are all appliqued.  Gives me vertigo to even consider it.

An innovative and dramatic use of log cabin blocks with a great job of quilting to pull it together:

 I hate that I didn't get the name of this quilt but it was a beauty:

Who doesn't love batiks?  Closeup:

 The former First Lady of Oklahoma, Donna Nigh, gave her award for this applique quilt:

This quilt was beautifully appliqued and quilted:

Spiked stars - what a gorgeous piece of work:

Gorgeous Piece of Work:  If I ever do a self portrait, I will keep that title in mind. :)

Best in Show and it deserved it:

This was painted as well as pieced and quilted.  The photo doesn't show how three dimensional it looked.  Just lovely:

 Lot's of embroidery on this one:

 A very traditional Dresden Plate:

 Beautiful colors reminiscent of the thirties with scalloped edges:

 Another paperpieced batik:

 Loved this appliqued quilt.  I wish I had it for my breakfast area:

And no, I am not going to make one.  I don't do applique.

A pretty Hawaiian Quilt:

Very traditional solid colored fabric Feathered Stars.   Solid colors sometimes look so bold as to be hamfisted but by feathering the stars, she made it look dainty.   Beautifully quilted, too:

 This is a miniature, maybe a 15 inches long? - just gorgeous:

 Closeup of some YoYo's:

 Little works of art:

This beauty made me tired just looking at it.   The longer I look at it, the more I realize just how much is going on in there.  This quilter was a master.  She's perfected so many different techniques. It was incredibly intricate and gorgeous:

By my art quilt hero, Charlotte Hickman:

And these next two are by Lola Jenkins - she is a fabulous artist.  I saw her standing near some quilts wearing a very fine hat but didn't take a picture of her:

 I love this pattern:

 Another art quilt that caught my eye:

 I want this quilt to give to my Grandson, Charlie:

Maybe I will just make him one, myself.

This was a beauty, too:

It is toad season and the girls are driving us mad being constantly on the hunt. 

We've begun taking a bucket out on the patio at night to rescue the ones they capture.  We're using a bucket because when we put them over the fence, the little monsters come right back into the waiting jaws of death and destruction.   I put grass in the bottom of the bucket to make them feel at home but that isn't enough to make them content.  They sometimes still manage to leap out.  I felt terrible a couple of nights ago because I set the bucket on the table and a toad leaped 18 inches to the top, over the edge and landed all the way on the concrete patio floor, landing with a clunk.  It seemed to be okay but Mr. Morbid kept saying things like, "They are built like a water balloon so it probably has internal injuries and will die." 

I didn't need to hear that. 

My next quilting project, besides working on bindings, will probably be my younger daughter's wedding quilt.  She was married over four years ago and it is about time I got back to it.  It has pineapple blocks, one of my favorite blocks.   After that, I have a stained glass quilt project coming up and also an art quilt I need to make for one of my online groups. 

Happy Quilting, Penny, Evelyn and Pearl the toad tosser