Purple Power!

Today's blog was inspired by the color purple.

I love purple. It is one of my three favorite colors (my other two favorite colors are hot pink and turquoise).

There are beautiful purple flowers in my garden.

Large Iris

Pansies

Allium

Small Iris

Violas

Columbine and Iris

A new purple perennial for my garden.

Clematis

My front door and shutters are painted purple. There is also a purple rhododendron out front (lower left).

Elvis' favorite color is purple. He has a purple leash.
Unfortunately the harness isn't available in purple anymore.

I made this purple floral quilt a long time ago, but it is still one of my favorites.
The flowers remind me of Iris. It is hanging on our dining room wall.

Here is a close-up. My friend Lynne G. quilted it for me.

Here is a purple quilt that I made in 2009 for my friend Anna.
I used all the purple fabrics that I had. It is purple-icious!
I've noticed lately that my purple box is bulging again.
Must be time for another purple quilt!

Eleanor's Christmas quilt in progress.
FABULOUS  jewel tones!

Pictured above is the quilt that I'm working on as a Christmas gift for my friend Eleanor. I bought this as a kit at the Houston Quilt Festival way back in 2004. The pattern is Trip Around the World. For the past couple of years, this has been my "extra" quilting project that lived in the trunk of my car. Recently I was inspired to finish it and give it to Eleanor. I love the hand-dyed fabrics, they are so beautiful. I have half of the quilt completely made. I'm working on the second half. Pictured above is 1/4 of the second half, so I am in the home stretch.

Linking up today to Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Richard and Tanya Quilts, and Sew Many Ways.

Purple pugs and kisses,
Nancy

P.S. Note to LarryPug, yes, I'm going to order a new house flag with all THREE of you.

In Which The Pugs Go to Annie's Virtual Birthday Party...

Head on over to Sew Many Ways and check out Annie's Virtual Birthday Party. Annie is the beautiful yellow lab who belongs to Karen from Sew Many Ways. Annie is turning 13 this week! Happy Birthday Annie!

Sew Many Ways is one of my favorite blogs. Karen has so many good tips about decorating, organization, blogging, as well as a wide variety of craft projects. She also sponsors a variety of linky parties which enable me to find new blogs and make other new blogger friends.

Here is my beautiful Pug Pack.

From left to right: Romeo, Larry, and Elvis

I brought Romeo home when he was 10 weeks old. He was just a little butterball of fur. He was such a perfect angel that I brought home his half-brother, Elvis just nine months later, in time for Romeo's first birthday. Romeo will turn 12 in December. Elvis will be 11 in October.

Larry came to us quite unexpectedly last summer. After a brief adjustment period, he settled in with our family and is quite fond of his two older pug brothers. Larry just turned 4.

My pugs are my constant companions. They grace the pages of my blog often. I hope that you will come back and visit PugMom Quilts! again soon. Please bookmark my page or you can subscribe by email (enter your information in the box in the upper right hand corner).

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy, Romeo, Elvis and Larry (and big pug Daddy, Mike, too)

Under Construction

Painting in progress. Do not enter!

My quilt studio is being painted. The painting was supposed to take place during my trip to the Berkshires. Mark, my painter, surprised me and came a day early on Monday (instead of Tuesday) circumventing me from doing any sewing on Monday afternoon/evening before I left. Fortunately I had organized my projects earlier in the week. I came home on Saturday evening and everything is still very tightly wrapped in plastic from floor to ceiling. There is definitely a fresh coat of white paint on the walls, but the room is not finished. I hope that Mark finishes very soon! I had naively assumed the job would be done before I returned...

I'm looking forward to decorating my studio with all of the cool things that my friend Dianne has painted for me as well as a few other items that I've picked up along the way. I can't wait to give you a photo tour!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Faces and Places, the Berkshires, Part 4

Are you tired of reading about my Berkshire's trip yet? I had a really good time...just a few more photos...

Here are the 2013 Attendees:

Karen

Kim P.

Kim G.

Marion

Cheryl

Jean

Me!

Nancy D.

Sally

Cordula

JoAnn

Cindy

Friday night dinner at Zuccos Restaurant

Joannie went camping and couldn't join us, but she was busy sewing in her camper. Here is her finished project for the weekend.

Have a good evening! Happy Memorial Day!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Berkshire Quilt Retreat, Part 3

Here is our fearless Berkshire trip organizer, Karen. She had just returned home from Quilt Market in Portland, Oregon. She designs original quilt patterns under the name of QuiltLily Designs. She also runs quilt weekends with her business partner, Kate, as Berkshire Quilts. And when she's not doing all this, she also has a full time job--she is an engineer!

During our quilt retreat, Karen was quite busy machine quilting for her many customers.

She also gave Kellie, age 8, a private quilting lesson. Kellie is our friend Kathleen's daughter. Kathleen usually comes to our Berkshire retreat, but her husband was scheduled to work all weekend. Kellie was able to come though! Karen and Kellie made a doll quilt for Kellie's American Girl doll. She has five of them. They are going to share.

At the pressing station.

At the sewing machine.

Kellie's finished doll quilt.

Being photo-bombed by brother Eric, age 5.

Did I mention that all of the fabric for Kellie's doll quilt came from our Left, Right, Center dice game? Yes, we taught five-year old Eric to gamble (for fabric) and he won! The fabric category was Anything Goes. Nancy D. won the Kaffe Fassett round and Jean won the Batik round. Marion won our annual game of Dead or Alive? (25 out of 33 right) and received a Forever Comfy Combination Cushion (as seen on TV). This will come in handy for long quilt weekends!

One more post to come!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Berkshire Trip, Part 2

Marion and I sat next to Kim G. this weekend, which made me feel a little bit inadequate. Kim put together nine quilt tops in four days and was working on a tenth quilt when we left on Saturday afternoon. To be fair, Kim had brought all of her blocks made and just had to assemble the tops and add borders. Kim is a lightening fast sewer and the only one who could probably truly challenge her is Pat, who was at a wedding last weekend instead. We look forward to a Pat vs. Kim challenge this fall at the Cape!

Here are some of Kim G.'s completed quilt tops. They will be on display at Tumbleweeds Quilt Shop in Barnstable, MA in July. I love all of Kim's quilts and her color choices. She uses mostly Kaffe Fassett fabrics and batiks.

Double Irish Chain. Kim G., on right, JoAnn on left.

Single Irish Chain. Both of our Kims. Kim P. on left, Kim G. on right.

This pattern uses twelve fat quarters, and is aptly named Cheaper by the Dozen from Legacy Patterns.

Kaffe Fassett Leafy Rosy Quilt, which is a nine patch, plain patch design.

This is a Double Slice Layer Cake quilt which you can find on YouTube from the Missouri Quilt Company. Kim also made one in batik fabric.

Nancy D. brought her new toy...a super-sized portable design wall. She bought it at Cheryl Ann's Design. She is laying out an I Spy Quilt for our friend Jen's new baby boy, Mason. Mason was born in the wee hours of Tuesday morning before we left for our Berkshire's Trip.

Nancy D. demonstrates her new portable design wall.

Nancy's I Spy before borders.

Nancy also added the binding to her Halloween Row by Row.

This is Cordula's finished Autumn Daze quilt.
It is a Kaffe Fassett pattern. Cordula nicknamed it, Fall Stupor.

 Cordula will have her quilts on display at Tumbleweeds Quilts in Barnstable, MA, in June.

Cindy was working on her Hoffman Challenge entry. It is entirely sewn by hand. She doesn't own a sewing machine!

Cheryl is working on this applique quilt.

The quilt features Japanese taupe fabrics. I really like the alternating pieced blocks as well.

Stay tuned, I have lots more photos!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Live from the Berkshires! Well, not quite...

I had high hopes of posting daily from my quilting retreat in the Berkshires. I brought Mike's iPad with me. Sally loaned me her magic device that allowed you to transfer photos from your camera to the iPad. It took me a day or two to realize that I needed a Blogger Mobile App, and when I tried to download it to the iPad, it told me that I needed me to upgrade my operating system. So, long story short, I got back on Saturday night, and here's a recap (Part 1) of my very fun trip!

I managed to stitch down all the raw edges of my Magic Carpet Quilt. This took a full 8 hours. I still need to go back and satin stitch over all the curves and add borders. I love the colors and if you're not looking at it closely, you can't see all the imperfections.

Magic Carpet Quilt

I finished two blocks for my Swoon Quilt. I've received four blocks (out of nine) so far (it is a block of the month). The first block took me almost eight hours to make. It has a lot of pieces and you need to be very precise in your cutting, piecing and pressing. I did a lot of pinning and I pressed all my seams open. Once I understood how to make it, the second block didn't take as long.

Block One

Block Two

My friend Kate also brought back my Hawaiian Quilt, which her son Justin had quilted for me with palm trees. Mike picked out this kit at the Maui Quilt Shop on our honeymoon last year. I put the binding on the quilt on Saturday before I left and gave it to Mike as a surprise when I got home. He loved it. It went on our bed that night.

The fabric in this quilt is bark cloth.

Thankfully, I also put the binding on our Monster T-Shirt Quilt Commission, that Marion and I had put together for one of our customers. It is a high school graduation gift. Can't wait to hear how she likes it. Our friend Kim P. quilted this for us. Thanks Kim!

Finished t-shirt quilt---yeah!!!!

Marion was a busy little quilting bee as well. She made piano key borders for her Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt, Easy Street and assembled the top of her Kaffe Fassett layer cake quilt that was a class that she took last year at the Vermont Quilt Festival. She also put together the top of her daughter Susan's 50th birthday quilt. Susan's quilt is a lovely blend of Kaffe Fassett fabrics and batiks in daring shades of oranges and turquoise, a very stunning combination.

Layer Cake Quilt

Marion in action

Susan's 50th Birthday Quilt, a Chinese Coins variation

Sally was only able to join us for a few days. She made this fabulous duffel bag for her granddaughter. It is fully lined and has zippered pockets.

JoAnn finished her scrappy batik bargello quilt which she started at our Berkshire retreat last year. Isn't it magnificent?

JoAnn then put together this quilt top with another batik jelly roll. I love the pink and purples with the stars.

Jean finished the top of her log cabin star wall hanging. Are you getting that warm country feeling?

Kim P. (on right) found this idea on a quilting blog to make circular play mats. This is the first of three that she is making for some of her co-workers' new babies.

Kim also made us a delicious low fat lasagna dinner in a crock pot on Thursday night, using Pat's Weight Watchers' recipe. Yum yum!

More to follow!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy