Irises and Sonoma County - Two Quilts to Show You

Irises at Dawn by Cathy Geier

 I finished a sample project for my Strip Pieced Landscape quilt class. Well sort of finished, I haven't quilted it yet. The last 3 little quilts I made have yet to be quilted actually. I think I'm a bit burnt out on the quilting part of making quilts. Maybe I should take my old machine in for a tuneup and enjoy the time off? 

And get busy baking Christmas cookies and fudge! 

Quilts from Elegance in Stitches

Springtime Duet

 I've been saving this batch of quilts for a special blog and today is the DAY. These quilts are part of a special exhibition called Elegance in Stitches by Joanie Zeier Poole. If it comes to your part of the world be sure to see it! 

Quick Project - Strip Applique. (Striplique?!)

Pink Azaleas

 I thought I'd be completely wild and crazy this week and blog on Thursday instead of Friday! Lol, I don't get out much do I!? When I'm done blogging I'm going to put on a CD, turn up the volume and mop the kitchen floor. While dancing. Sometimes cleaning the house feels so good! 

(And once in a great while I give in to the feeling...) 

Death and Dying and a Quick Quilt

Julia's Garden by Cathy Geier

This is a heck of a title for a blog isn't it!?  

You know how sometimes old friends drift back into your life and you can almost pick up where you left off - even though it has been many many years since you've seen them? (Like 30 years!) This week I got a phone call about a mutual friend our ours from way back when, only this friend is very sick. This friend was diagnosed with a terminal disease and is dying. 

Back from Bonaire

Autumn Path?! I don't know what to call this little landscape. How about 'Birch Trees Along a Trail in the Fall - With Rocks", lol. 

 Last week hubby and I took our oldest son and his fiancé to beautiful Bonaire. The waters around this little island which is just off the coast of Venezuela are an International Marine Preserve. The island is governed by the Dutch but they use US currency. You can park your rented car along the road side practically anywhere on the Eastern side of the island and tramp right out into the water and snorkel or scuba dive.  Of course you have to be very careful where you step so you don't destroy the coral.

I have a few pictures, but my son had the underwater camera so all those babies have to wait for him to process them. 

Fall Colors and Play

Devil's Lake State Park - Wisconsin

 This week finds me packing. *Insert maniacal laughter*

Why you may ask am I laughing? Because I'm really not doing all that much packing. I wanted to play with some fat quarters so instead of doing what I should be doing - which isn't all that fun at times - I'm doing what I need to do when I'm stressed. Goofing around with fabric can be a real stress reliever.

Landscape Quilts from Wisconsin Quilt Expo 2015

Gotta Dance! 

I finished my quilt and shipped it off to Colorado for photography yesterday. (Scary!)  Lori from Quilter's Newsletter Magazine saw a pic of my quilt on facebook and wanted me to ship it to her for possibly putting it in their magazine. Soooo, within a day of finishing the faced binding, I was removing all the cat hair and fashioning a shipping tube.

Then I filled out the entry form for the National Quilt Museum's New Quilts from Old Favorites contest and saw the date I'll get my quilt back if it is accepted into the exhibition. Gasp - the date is the end of 2017.

I miss my baby already, lol. On the other hand, this expresses my feelings as I walk away from it.

Wait for it...

Gotta Dance - Quilting Done - Whew!

Gotta Dance - drying after blocking

 Well all that is left is the faced binding and tweaking some of the quilting... from the back there are a couple of not so perfectly straight rows of quilting so I'll be ripping out some stitches here and there. As I mentioned last week, I lost the whole folder of my in progress shots making this quilt, but I did have a couple images here and there to show you at least how I made the pattern...

Gotta Dance!

Gotta Dance by Cathy Geier

 As promised, I'm finally showing you what I've been working on all summer...

WI Quilt Museum, Busy Summer and More Quilts from Paducah

Night Hunter at the Wisconsin Quilt Museum 

 It has been a long time since I posted hasn't it? If you remember, the last you heard from me was right before we drove to Virginia Beach to help my daughter move back home. We got there and back in 3 days! And then it took me a day to organize her stuff into one big pile in the only place left in the house - the entry way in the foyer. Yes, we can get in and out of the front door now! 

Golden Birches and Faced Bindings

Golden Birches

 All DONE. Yippee! Now I can go on to making the quilt I've been thinking about for 3 months (since Paducah and the Quilt Museum's announcement regarding their New Quilts From Old Favorites contest for 2016. I have an idea... and no, I'm not talking about it yet. Don't you hate it when bloggers do that!?) 

I still have to write up the Golden Birches pattern and then I'll kit it and sell it from my store. Maybe by next week that will be ready.

In the meantime I'll show you some closeup shots of the quilting and show you how I've been facing my quilt edges to finish them off. 

Shipshewana Quilt Festival 2015

Me and my quilt. (Sunset Sentinel)

 This big old long blog is all quilts from Shipshewana's Quilt Festival.  Hubby and I camped and enjoyed the tasty food and the 34 mile Pumpkin Vine bike trail. Yep, we biked the whole thing - and in one day too! Rain came in the next day... 

Progress & My Character and More Quilts from Paducah

Me, lol.

This week I'll show you some progress on my latest landscape and show you more quilts from the big AQS Show in Paducah. Thank you all for your comments last week, you all were right on! Debbie mentioned 'anchoring' the base - that started me on the road to the finish line. And Ellen also wanted more depth... and she was right that one thing always leads to another...

As it turns out, I only had a couple more hours of work on it and I was ready to quilt. 

Newest Quilt and Life

Late Autumn Birches by Cathy Geier

Well, this is what I started work on yesterday afternoon. I've been REALLY busy, whine whine whine, and YES I'd like some cheese with that!

First though, as I was getting my camera out to show progress on my quilt I figured you might want to see what a genuine online fabric shop looks like!

Ribbon Winners - AQS Paducah 2015 and Life

"Ricky and Lucy" by Nancy Sterett Martin and Karen Sistek

Among the phenomenal quilts at the show, this one really appealed to me. It is gorgeously quilted and the color variations in the feathers are so subtle and pretty, they look so real! 

This week I'm going to show you the rest of the winning quilts in the larger categories.  I also did a bit more work on my quilt Come Walk with Me, as I'm entering it in various quilt shows and want it to be perfect. I'll show you what I added and see if you don't think it is better too.

Spring Quilt Market - 2015

Welcome to Quilt Market! (Minneapolis Convention Center)

 Twice a year something 'big' happens in the world of quilting. It's called Quilt Market and it happens in the spring - somewhere in the Midwest, and in the fall - always in Houston. The spring market is smaller, not as many vendors are there and not as many new products are demonstrated.  I was fortunate to get to the spring market this year and I thought you might be interested in seeing it.

More Quilts from the AQS show in Paducah, 2015

Georgetown Wedding by Ann L. Peterson

 I'm actually hoping to blog 2 times this week, knock on wood. I thought I'd show you a few more quilts from the wonderful AQS show in Paducah last month and then I'm going to show you what Spring Quilt Market looks like. (Lots of fun; new fabrics, new products and new quilt patterns!) 

So, without further ado, let's get to the quilts.

More Quilts and Fun from the Paducah Quilt Show

Beneath by Wing by David Taylor

 This week was another of those kinds of weeks where I hardly had any time in my sewing room. I'm starting to work on another quilt for RJR and have 2-3 others in my mind that I'm dying to make.

Sometimes I get frustrated and think that everyone in the world - especially family - needs to understand that quilt making is my 'business' and 'job'. Or to put it in other words; leave me alone so I can do what I want. *Insert evil laughter* 

I think we must all feel that way at times.

Swampingly Busy and Pics from Paducah

It's me and Julia Graber in Paducah! 

 Or is is Julia and me!? Lol. Actually it has been 2 weeks since I've posted and I want to keep you at least a little up to date! You may remember that I went off to Quilt Week in Paducah, KY last week and part of my time there was happily spent signing books at the National Quilt Museum. 

New Fun and Crazy Quilter's Quilt Show, Mukwonago

Danscapes - new fabrics from RJR

 A few weeks ago, a representative from RJR Fabrics contacted me and asked me if I'd like to make some landscapes from their Danscapes fabric line - possibly to be made available as Free Downloads to you all.  I said, "Sure!"  The boxes began arriving... one yard or so of Danscapes I and II collections. How exciting!

 There is much to show you and when I get the details I'll share it all. Suffice it to say, I've made one already but I'm not ready to unveil it yet.

Last weekend, a local guild held their anuual quilt show and I took some pictures of interesting and fun quilts for you, that is mostly what this week's blog is about.

More Quilts from the IQF show in Chicago

"Decisions, Decisions" by Serena Vrnak, quilted by Patricia Harrison

 When you walked into the quilt exhibition you walked under and through a fabulous exhibition of red and white quilts. It was well done and very dramatic - I loved it!

"In Full Bloom" and Flower Quilts at the IQF in Chicago 2015

She's a Wildflower by Joanna Wilczynska. Inspired by a graphic drawn by Gracjana Zielinsak and used with her pemission.

 I began going through the photographs I took at the International Quilt Festival in Chicago last weekend and decided I had WAY WAY too many to show you all in one blog. Since spring has sprung - finally! - in the upper Midwest and this weekend is Easter weekend I felt like showing you flowers and more flowers from the quilt show. 

 Easter is meant to be celebrated and I can't imagine a better visual image of 'celebration' than flowers.  When it is their time to bloom, they do it with all their strength and open up their blossoms in joyful celebration of beauty.

Come Walk with Me, Done!

"Come Walk with Me" by Cathy Geier

 Hi Everyone! I'm done with the quilting and this is the finished quilt. This blog will be very short, sweet and to the point. Last weekend I went to the International Quilt Festival show in Chicago and in a few days I'll be putting together a big ole long blog with lots of photographs of the gorgeous quilts there.  Before I set that one up though I wanted to show you the final images of the quilt I've been working on for the last month or so. 

Progress on "Come Walk with Me" quilt and Poetry

Come Walk with Me

 Last week I showed you pretty much all of the nuts and bolts of using a tear-away foundation to piece - it was a LONG blog to put together. This week it will be short and simple. (So I can get back to quilting!)

Last week I pieced the quilt top.

Using a Tear-away Foundation to Piece Squares & Progress on the new Quilt

Detail, Come Walk with Me


If you have my book Lovely Landscape Quilts, then you have read about my technique using a tear-away foundation to piece. Well, let it never be said that I don't show you how I do whatever it is I'm doing! Lol.  Today I'm going to show you how I use a foundation to piece squares and half square triangles.

Much of this material is in my first book - the out of print one - but the one available for about 3-4$ from "Other Sellers" on amazon.  The book is called Watercolor Landscape Quilts.

Caryl Bryer Fallert - Gentry at the Wisconsin Quilt Museum

The interior of the Wisconsin Quilt Museum

 Last weekend hubby and I went to the Wisconsin Quilt Museum to see the Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry's 30 years of Quilts exhibit. WOW!

I took a lot of photographs and this blog is for all of you who won't be able to see this marvelous exhibit.

Overhanging Oak Branches and Start of "Come Walk with me"

Overhanging Oak Branches

 All Done. I had a lot of fun quilting this time and I think the quilt turned out beautifully. (Though I'm not sure it looks like the branches are hanging over pond water.) I just love the color combination.  And I don't think I've had enough of a 'autumn color fix' for now, so I'm starting another fall quilt.

But first, I'll show you some closeups of the quilting.

Morgue File and Oak Branches (in progress)

Overhanging Oak Branches -  in progress

 I've been getting a lot of messages from quilters who watched my youtube interview with Melissa from the American Quilter's Society. They want to know "What is this morgue file" you talked about!? 

Today I'll tell you. 
And show you progress on my latest quilt. 

Carpathian Mountain Sunset - DONE! And baby fish...

Carpathian Mountain Sunset by Cathy Geier

 ~What a week (or two!) I've had ~

 *Cue the music* 

What have my last couple of weeks been like?

Click to listen and guess. 

Bed and Wall Quilts - Albuquerque 2015

Blessings by Sandy Sutton and Diana Maas

 Hi Everyone! Today I'm posting some of the photographs from the AQS Show in Albuquerque. These are a mix of bed and wall quilts, some traditional and some contemporary.  I have 54 shots here so I'd better get to it! (Click on each quilt to get a larger image.)

More Quilts from AQS Albuquerque - People

Detail from Chasing Bubbles" by Hiroko Miyama

Today I'm just going to upload more beautiful quilts from the AQS Show in Albuquerque. This time, I'm showing you how various quilters represented people in fabric.  I hope you'll like them and be as amazed as I was when I saw them!

My 1st Place Ribbon at the AQS Show and Landscape/Animal Quilts from Albuquerque

I won 1st Place! Sunset Sentinel by Cathy Geier

 I dropped everything and flew to Albuquerque last weekend to go see my quilt at the show. I can't tell you how thrilled I was about winning the First Place Ribbon in Landscapes! It was amazing. The wonderful AQS people even interviewed me and if I look nice and said sensible things I'll post a link to the video, lol!
 (Otherwise I'll keep it secret!)

More Great Book Reviews!

Lovely Landscape Quilts

I'm so excited about the book reviews! Debbie from Stitchin' Therapy wrote "Cathy has gotten glowing reviews since the book was released, and I am hopping on the wagon and saying it is a keeper for me!"

New Year - New Quilt (In progress) and New Book

My latest quilt - the flowers are on!

 I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks, and I'm still zonked out from the holidays!  I did get some quilty work done though; I added flowers to the foreground.