More Projects

I've recently been asked to make Faith Hope and Love wall hangings for a couple people. The good thing is that since I've already made them, it was easy and I didn't have to hold my breath and hope that the pattern was correct. The "bad" thing is that I sometimes get bored when I make a quilt more than once. Nevertheless, I'm happy with the results and so are the recipients. 

As requested, I made all three sets using the same fabric so I'm only posting one picture here. I'm hoping that the final recipients (they are Christmas gifts) will enjoy them.

 Annie and I had an umbrella class this past Thursday. Here are a few pictures of the umbrellas made by the courageous ladies who braved the winter storm in order to get to the class.  Thank you ladies! We had a wonderful time and we love your creations.

I love the fabrics Chris chose! She did a great job and was very quick too. :-)

Bonnie is shy and didn't want her picture taken. Her fabric brighten up the classroom and almost made us forget about the snow and cold. 

Beth and Jeanie were a lot of fun, just like their fabric choices! 

 Jeanie's key fabric was really neat and I love the finished umbrella!

Isn't this fabric fun? 

Kathy didn't want to show her face either, but I love how this umbrella turned out. I think it looks like raindrops on the umbrella. The best part for her was that the fabric was on sale. Yay!

 Diane's umbrella fabric umbrella (would you say her umbrella umbrella? 😉) looks great! She was going to alternate panels with a really fun big dot fabric, but decided to make two umbrellas - one from each fabric. I look forward to seeing the next one. 

It's fun to teach these classes and I always look forward to seeing the finished project. I know some people that are getting some homemade umbrellas for Christmas! Yay!!!

I finished the Wayward Transparency quilting, but don't have a good picture to show. Hopefully that will happen tomorrow morning.

Another Umbrella Class

On August 9th, Annie and I were at Somewhere Sewing in Millersburg, OH teaching an umbrella class. I just realized that I had not posted pictures of those awesome umbrellas. Oops!!

Here's Debi, the shop owner with her wonderful umbrella. She used such fun fabrics!

A few of the gals did not want their pictures taken, but we just had to share their umbrellas.

Kathy loves Minnie Mouse and fussy cut her fabrics to make Minnie front and centers. Try clicking on the picture to see if you can enlarge it and see it. She has a bag and small purse/wallet made from the same fabric. 

Some umbrellas match their maker's outfit.  😊 It's a challenge to see, but the red fabrics are pin cushions and the dark fabrics are sewing items.

June's umbrella was so pretty! You can't tell in the picture, but the light fabric has some shimmer to it. That'll make you smile, even when it's raining!

There were two Sues in the class and their umbrellas were very different, but oh so darn nice!

We are so lucky to be able to teach these classes all over Ohio! Thanks Umbrella Joan. We love representing you east of the Mississippi.  

Umbrella Class

Annie and I taught an umbrella class at Angelic's yesterday and as usual, all of the umbrellas turned out beautifully! We had a couple of late cancellations and ended up with just four students, but that didn't stop us from having a wonderfully creative time.   😊

Marlene has been patiently waiting for this class and when her husband got into a little tugging match with poison ivy, she almost had to cancel again. Fortunately, she was able to take him to urgent care and get some medicine for him and still have time to join the class. We found out during the class that Marlene chose to spend her 15th wedding anniversary making this umbrella, so we felt extra lucky to have her join us. Isn't this beautiful?

She had called me about this fabric quite a long time ago, questioning if she could use it. It is 97% cotton and 3% spandex. We figured we could, but suggested she bring a back up, just in case we ran into issues. I'm thrilled that she used it and love the results!

Nancy's butterfly fabric looks awesome next to this solid blue! She was worried because the blues don't match perfectly, but I'm happy to say that she was thrilled with the results. Just look at her smile!

Rosemary chose a wonderful Kaffe Fassett fabric and we all love the results! This picture does not do this umbrella justice. It really is BEAUTIFUL!

Terry, the shop owner was finally able to take this class. She has been trying since March to make this umbrella but scheduling conflicts, full classes, and illness always got in the way. We love her fabric choice and her finished umbrella. 

Everyone went home with umbrellas ready to waterproof and a hope for rain.

I love teaching these classes! Thanks Umbrella Joan for such a wonderful pattern and product. You rock!!

My Happy Place Reveal #1

I'm finally getting around to posting pictures of a project I made using My Happy Place fabrics from Studio E. I fell in love with this fabric as soon as I received it and was thrilled to work with it.

My first project was an umbrella; and I paired these four of the grey fabrics of the collection fabrics with Surf Peppered Cotton. Love it!!

I really do like this!

While I was trying to figure out a fun way to take pictures of this, my step-daughter Sheryll and her husband Jim invited Jack and me to a concert at Blossom Music Center.

This is a wonderful facility that hosts a large number of musical programs each year; and it's the summer home of the Cleveland Orchestra. Blossom is an amphitheater, located in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio which is less than two hours from our home. Yay! The pavilion seats 5,700 people, and there's space for about 13,500 more on the lawn. As usual, we sat on the lawn, simply because we think it's fun and relaxing. 

There was a chance of rain the day we were there, so took my umbrella - just in case. While we were walking toward the facility, I had an idea and knew that Sheryll would be up for helping me. She's always fun and up for a challenge!  😊

At first, I just snapped a few shots of Sheryll and the umbrella. 

I wanted to get a few pictures with the amphitheater in the background...

And then the fun began!

Do you remember the "Where's Waldo?" books?

My kids loved those books, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I kind of liked them too. So, I decided to use that theme and create a "Where's My Happy Place?" blog post. 

We arrived early, so before the concert began, Sheryll took a stroll around the facility and I snapped pictures of her and the umbrella. She had fun doing this and it started a lot of conversations! FYI - projects made with this fabric WILL be the start of many conversations. It is that wonderful !!

So, how about joining the fun and play along with me?

Can you find "My Happy Place" in each of the pictures? Just like the books, sometimes it is really easy to find it, but you'll have to look hard on others. 

So, where's YOUR Happy Place?

I know where it'll be if you use this fabric!

Tomorrow, I'll show a completed quilt top made from this block.

Check out other eye candy on

Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

and

Beth's Monday Making

Umbrella Making Time Again

Annie and I taught an umbrella class this past Thursday at Angelic's in Canton, and it was a blast. This was the first time for us to teach at the shop and even though we were in tight quarters, we had a lot of fun and everyone walked out with a completed umbrella (minus the waterproofing spray)!

As soon as the advertisement went out about making your own umbrella, the shop's customers were really excited and the first class filled up very quickly. We added two more classes and when we arrived Thursday, the owner asked if we could discuss adding more classes because they had a rather long waiting list. Four more classes have been scheduled and if they are anything like the one we had Thursday, it's going to have so much fun! 

All six students brought wonderful fabrics and I knew right from the beginning that they were going to make beautiful umbrellas. After a brief discussion about fabric choices and an overview of the process, they ladies got right to work pressing and cutting.

The cutting and pressing seems to take forever, and when they finally finished they were very happy to start sewing. Look at the concentration!

And look what they created! It almost looks like a real umbrella.  :-)

Sorry Joyce and Sandy. I didn't get as picture of your "almost an umbrella."

It's time to put the umbrella fabric on the frame and do a bit of hand work. It is so exciting to get to this point because it means you are almost done!

And we have umbrellas!

Again, I don't know how it happened but I didn't get a picture of Sandy's umbrella by itself. Her fabric was so pretty and I knew as soon as I saw it that it was going to be fabulous. You can see it in the pictures below. She's the third from the right.

Here's a close up of Sandy umbrella. I know it's grainy, and far away, but if got really blurry when I tried to zoom in more. See what I mean about her fabric? Isn't it wonderful? I just realized that it matches her shirt.  :-)

  Thanks for a great class ladies!