Big News and Updates Galore

It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted, but I have good excuses for that. Really, I do!!

First of all, I've accepted a six-week sub-teaching position at a local high school and I've been spending some quality time brushing up on my literature knowledge. Yep, that's right. I'm teaching American Literature to sophomores and British Literature to seniors. I have a Media class thrown in there for good measure. It's interesting, challenging and fun all at the same time.

I am very fortunate that the regular teacher was awesome and prepared all the lessons for me. You have no idea how amazing that is (unless you're a teacher). Of course there are always the glitches of a new year, but the students and I are adjusting well and things are beginning to fall into place.

Nikki and family were here for a wedding two weeks ago and as usual, it was wonderful to have them here for the weekend. This was the best picture I could get of the entire group right before they left for the wedding. I really do stink at taking pictures!

The great big news and latest reason for my absence is that I am a grandmother again! Avery Lynn was born Saturday, August 24th and she is just adorable.

Of course I've got more pictures, but I don't have time to post them right now. I'll try to do that in the next couple of days, and I might even try to post something quilt-related. :-)

Nikki and family came back for Avery's birth and I have some wonderful pictures of Quinn riding a bike and Sadie playing office. Ronan is just too darn fast for me to get any good pictures. It seems that they are all blurry because he's always moving. I'll keep looking to see what I can find.

With all the wonderful things happening lately, I've been in a really good mood, so I'm going to spend some time in the quilt room this weekend and pull out items for a giveaway. Sound like fun? I'll post details later this week or early next week.

Until then, have a great day!

Design Wall Monday

I've been quite busy the last few days and will not be home most of the day today so I doubt that too much will get done on this quilt, but I really do need to work on it soon. This is for Lynn and Ty's baby. They picked out the fabric and design a while ago and I kind of procrastinated.  :-(

Of course, we were all hoping that Lynn would go into labor this weekend because Nikki and family were here and school starts this coming week, but it didn't happen.

I've been having some fun and have been sending text message to Baby, via Lynn and Ty with suggestions and encouragement on the best days and times to make his/her grand entrance. So far Baby hasn't listened. Do you think that a finished quilt will be enticing enough to move things along? Oh, I think I need to get busy!

Check out what other quilters have on their design walls today.
Check out Judy L's Patchwork Times.

Friday Finishes

Well, at least the top is finished! Does it count that I have the backing ready for this quilt, as well as the binding?

The pattern for this quilt is in Spring 2013 Fons & Porter's Scrap Quilts magazine. The designer is Tony Jacobson and this is a very scrap and fat quarter-friendly pattern.

 

I had no intention of making this quilt and didn't even own the magazine, but then I saw Eileen working on this during the last Old Bags' Day Sew-In.

 

(If you really want to see some awesome quilts in progress and finished, click HERE to check out this picture-laden post from the Old Bags' Day.)

 

Anyway, I saw Eileen working on her quilt and thought it was really cute. I kept thinking about Eileen's quilt and finally just bought the magazine and started pulling fabric. I love how it turned out (except the outside border. I don't know what I was thinking when I was attaching those. Well, obviously I wasn't and I'm not changing it now. I'll just be sure to quilt the heck out of it and hide those misguided seams.)

Check out what other quilters are finishing up today.
Go to Sarah's Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Late Pictures of Old Bags' Day

As promised, here are some pictures from our last Old Bags' Day Sew-In. There were 30 people in attendance, plus Kare and myself so we had a full house and a bunch of fun. I really do need to work on getting pictures of EVERYONE during these events. I just never seem to have my camera with me when there's a really good photo op. I'll try harder during the next event in September. :-)

I really don't know which part of these days I like best.

Is it a room full of people with a common love of quilting? Look at the concentration and hard work of these talented ladies! They mean business and are ready to complete some projects.

 

 

 

There's lots of consultation during the day and PJ, Karen and Cindi always have some great ideas.

 

 

 

Maybe it's watching people work together to discuss a problem or offer design suggestions. It looks like Chris, Mariann and Connie have some possible solutions to a design issue.

 

 

And Kare, Janet and Mary lay out this somewhat complicated quilt that will just be stunning when it's all together. This picture really does NOT do it justice.

 



 

It could be witnessing a stroke of genius, like Connie figuring out that those pockets are a great place to put your rotary cutter so you don't cover it with the quilt when you're trimming. 

 

 

 
 
Perhaps it's sharing a laugh and wishing you had a shirt that offered such kind words to quilters everywhere. Thanks Pam!

 

Maybe it's the food!

 

 

Or the fact that you get to share a meal with some really talented, creative and fun people!

 

Or maybe it's being there when projects are being completed and shared with the group.

 

Ann is the queen of purses and bags and I just love these fabrics!

 

Carolyn is ready for her next border.

 

 

Fran was a busy bee, finishing a couple of projects.

 

 

 

I love seeing the progression of all the various projects.

 

 

Someone in Janet's block exchange group didn't complete their block, but that didn't stop Janet from getting  a head start on this quilt top.

 

 

I also love the fact that relatively new quilters feel comfortable enough to bring projects that they've been working on and ask for opinions on thing like borders options! I love Chris' Weaver Fever.

 



 

And Chris' Twisted is gorgeous! It looks so much like blue china dishes. I can't wait to see this one completed.

 

An then of course, there's the show and tell.

 

 

I think people like the back of Connie's quilt almost as much as the front.  :-)  

 

Isn't Mabel's Bali Wedding Star stunning?!?
 

 
 If I'm not mistaken, this is an old guild mystery quilt project. Congratulations on finishing it Mary!

 

I know Pam is thrilled to have this Trade Winds quilt top done. It's beautiful and ready for quilting.

 

 

Darla's ready to bind her scrappy Buckeye Beauty; and it sure is a beauty! 

 

 

Aren't these blocks of Karen's so much fun?

Look out Karen. I think April likes your completed row! 

 

And so does the next generation of quilters! Sadie came to visit and just loved all the quilts. She even gave one of them a hug and said that it was beautiful and she loved it.  

I'm still playing catch up with posting so in the next few days I'll be showing some of my projects and sharing some pretty exciting news.

Break Time is Over!

Well, I've missed you all while I was taking my little blogging break, but I'm happy to say that I'm back and will be catching you up on lots of things that have been happening. Jack and I had done a little bit of travelling and then followed that up with lots of visitors and special events like an Old Bags' Day Sew-In, a coupe of baby showers and various classes and programs for which I needed to prepare and teach. It was wonderful traveling and having visitors , but my blogging and quilting time really suffered.

In my blogging absence, there were some surprises around here, like when the big storm hit and we lost a big chunk of one of the driveway trees.

 

And part of the big maple tree in the back yard,

 



But the real concern came when a large black walnut tree uprooted itself and landed on the back room - MY SEWING ROOM!!!

 

Do you see my panic concern? We were so fortunate that there was no damage to the inside of the house. Can you just imagine the damage if a big tree limb had broken off and come crashing down on the back room? That would have been ugly with all those windows!



 

 

Ouch!!!

 

 

A few days later, the tree guys came with big trucks and a crane and things looked a lot better.

 

 

In the whole scheme of things, we were very lucky. Sure, we lost some trees and were without power for 2 1/2 days, but there was no devastating damage. Besides, the logs that were left in the yard provided some entertainment while Nikki and family were here.

 

 

Of course all good outdoor play sessions should end up with everyone resting on a quilt, right?

 





 

Next up will be a review of the last Old Bags' Day Sew-In. I love spending time with these creative and talented people! I'll post pictures tomorrow.

Design Wall Monday

Technically this isn't on my wall, but on Denise's. I have the exact same pattern, fabric and pieces made so I'm saying that this is on my wall. In reality, my pieces are still in the bag they were put in to travel back to Ohio, but they will be up very shortly. (That means later today. I promised myself!)

Jack and I spent a few days in Tennessee visiting our friends Denise and Allan. Denise and I both worked on this Christmas Celebrations Tree Skirt that we bought when we were at the Judy Niemeyer workshop at Tennessee Quilts way back in April of 2012.  Isn't this going to be wonderful?

 

This is the fifth one of these that Denise has made. FIFTH!!! It really does go together easily and I'm already planning to make more so I guess I can understand making five. Neither one of us is going to use this as a tree skirt. We both wanted something for Fall and I think this is perfect. Judy Niemeyer picked out the fabrics for us while we were working on another project, so I am excited about that.

 

I'd love to say that I'll be working on this later today, but I doubt it. I have to finish preparing for the classes I have the next two days and get some things ready for our guild meeting Saturday. I wonder if I could go without sleep a few more days and get this done. mmmmmm  Food for thought!!

 

Check out what other quilters have on their design walls today.

Go to Judy L's Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday

I haven't had much of a chance to sew "just because" lately and I've been missing that. It's been a bit crazy around here since the beginning of June when I spent a wonderful time with my awesome sisters at Burr Oak, came home and co-hosted another Old Bags Day Sew-In, and then Jack and I went to Toronto for four nights and three days.

Last week I posted the quilt-in-progress I was making for the Milan Library. These blocks were all painted by youngsters in the summer reading program and I was in the process of laying them out and beginning the quilt-as-you-go technique. (This was a bit of a challenge because some of these squares had multiple layers of thick paint and of course many of them had paint and writing that extended past the penciled seam line. It was challenging, but fun!)

Well that quilt is complete and has found it's home in the children's reading room at the newly renovated Milan Library. 

 

Jack and I went to the grand re-opening on Saturday afternoon and it was wonderful to see the large turnout, despite the rainy weather.

 

 

 



It was even more fun to see some of the kids and their parents checking out the quilt and searching for the block they painted.

Since that project is done and I don't have much time before we head to Tennessee, I pulled out the quilt I was working on during the Sisters' Weekend. If you are a regular reader, you'll probably remember when I asked you to vote for your favorite layout of these blocks. Well the votes were counted and layout #1 was the favorite but I hadn't had a chance to begin sewing the blocks together.

Wanting to do some quick piecing, I placed these blocks on the design wall and started sewing the rows together. This is what I've done so far. Ahhhhhh, it sure felt good to sew!!! I love the sound of a sewing machine's motor.  :-)

These are the bottom four rows and they are all sewn together. The top four rows are sewn, but not sewn together. I'm pretty sure I have the blocks in the same order as I pictured earlier, but I' not sure. Since the first picture was taken at an odd angle, it wasn't easy to see the fabrics well. It's close and I like how it's laid out now, so it works for me.

I don't think this will be done before we leave, but it's a good start. I not going to border this. I'm afraid that a border will take away from the block layout and subdue the design too much. I think I'll just do an all-over quilting design and then bind it. It's a decent size (about 60" x 80") and I can live with that. I've already been playing with a second quilt made using these blocks, and the layout will be similar to option 2 (the loser in the earlier voting) with some minor tweaking.

Realistically, I don't see that next quilt being made for at least a month because I have others with deadlines to finish first. I also have a number of classes that I'll be teaching this Summer and I want to begin preparing for my Fall classes soon. Then again, I may just get excited about it and work on that before anything else. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Check out what other quilters have on their design walls today.
Be prepared to be amazed and inspired!
Go to Judy L's Patchwork Times.