A little progress.

Very little, but hey, that's life.

So, now that we are done with our school year, I am focusing hard on two big projects. Remember this post?

Remember these patterns I was working on?
French Kiss

And Posies a la Mode

Did you know that I am still working on these quilts??? Did you know they aren't even technically quilts yet, because they are still in a million little pieces? Ok, so I exaggerate a bit.

So, I made this decision to finish these two quilts in time to submit to the State Fair of Texas this year. That's right. The State Fair. You know, the place where they only showcase the best of the best of thousands of entries??? Yeah. I aim high. Not, I am high, but I AIM high.

Let me just say that, no, I don't think I'll win. Wouldn't that be nice? Aw, yeah! I'm simply trying to stretch myself here. You know, you take care of little people all day and, while that's satisfying in itself, sometimes you want to do something satisfying in another realm. And let's face it, I really don't have very many hobbies. So, this is the one I turn to.

I will admit, I was taught to quilt by the best! Two ladies from our church taught several beginning quilting classes and I was hooked! We then (as a group) continued to make baby quilts for all the new babies in the church and, once in a while, someone would say, "We should have an Intermediate class!" The response from the ladies who taught us was, "This IS the Intermediate class!"

That was so true. I took that to heart. It was up to ME to continue my education in quilting. It was up to ME to seek out more challenging and difficult patterns to work on. Those ladies taught me A LOT. And now, I'm teaching myself more. Plus, I must like deadlines or something. Thus, entering the Fair.

Here is where I'm at with these quilts today.

I have finished all the little posies in Posies a la Mode. Now I need to applique the little red centers on them before I applique them onto cream background squares. The rest should go together quickly.

These were really easy!

I also finished a few more diamonds for French Kiss.

I almost had a disaster with this quilt. Somehow, I ran out of cream fabric. You know, the cream fabric that is supposed to be the same in every block? I'm using it in both quilts and I was 1 1/2 yards short! A YARD and a HALF??? How does THAT happen? The only explanation I can offer myself is that I stole it for another project. But I don't do that sort of thing. I keep all my projects separate so THAT won't happen.

Anyhow, I took a scrap of it with me to the closest quilt shop, hoping to find an exact match. No such luck. Then, I drove over half an hour away to the next closest quilt shop that was still open that day. Not even close. Every fabric was either too light, too dark, too pinkish, too grayish, too yellow. They just weren't the right shade of cream. I couldn't find anything that was even close enough. I intended to go to two other shops, but they were closed for the day.

The next morning, I went to another shop and....................SUCCESS!!! A great lady there helped me find the.exact.fabric. Not a smidge off in shade. Whew! I was beginning to think this quilt would just not make the cut for the fair if I had to start using another fabric. See, it needs to be perfect.

I bought 4 yards. I probably need to order a bolt. It really is the perfect cream.

So, I will be sewing away this weekend! I'm excited to see how much I can get done. I have just over a month to submit these quilts before the cutoff date.

Think I can do it?