Catch Up Post #2

You never know when or where you'll find inspiration. This was the bed covering in the hotel where Annie and I stayed when we were teaching at Lake Farmpark. This looks really cool to me and I can see myself recreating it in a quilt.

For some reason I only have two pictures from the Mondo Bag class. I am really sorry that I forgot to take more because some of these ladies had picked really fabulous fabrics with which to work.

Here's Cathy's version using some of my favorite Kaffe Fassett fabrics. She chose to use 5" squares to highlight the fabric, make a larger bag, and be done quicker. 😍

Nicole's bag is so much fun! I love her fabric choices and think the bigger squares are wonderful.

I didn't get pictures at the class, but Nicole sent us a picture of the two bags she made after she got home. I love it when students do that. :-)

The day after I got home (Monday), Jack and I were blessed to have Lynn and Ty's girls here for a few hours while they had an appointment. It was such a beautiful day that we could all be outside without coats! Of course in the kids' minds, that means it's bike-riding time! Avery really wanted to ride the two-wheeler, but I need to get new helmets so she had to settle for this. (I thought I had plenty of time to get helmets since it's still winter. Wrong!)

Peyton was happy and all decked out with a hat and sunglasses. She made me laugh out loud!

Jack had two fine helpers with his antenna work that afternoon. 😍

Avery drew a treasure map and since it was windy, decided she needed to weigh it down with rocks so it didn't blow away. Grandpa Jack is guarding the map so no one else will know where to find the treasure. Avery told him that he did a good job and could share the treasure, which ended up being sliced apples and peanut butter.  Yummy!

One of the treasures we found were these little red nubs peeking out of the ground. That's rhubarb!

The daffodils are making their presence known too. I'm afraid that they might be in for a rude awakening one of these days - snow! Maybe not though, since it's been pretty much non-existent so far this winter.

And that evening, Nikki's three oldest kids spent the night because Zach had an early appointment (7:30am) and Nikki had to drive him. The plan was for me to drop off Quinn and Sadie at school on my way to teach a class, and Ronan would stay with Jack until he went to school at 12:30. Surprisingly, we were all eating breakfast at the same time Tuesday morning (7:40) and there was no mad rushing around, arguing, etc. These kids have really good appetites and even helped make breakfast. Jack and Ronan made scrambled eggs and toast for everyone and then Quinn and Sadie asked for more eggs - this time over-easy. They each made their own, with my help, and did a great job. Book bags were packed, my class stuff was loaded in the car, and I was having a second cup of coffee when I glanced at the clock and realized that it was 8:17! We needed to leave by 8:25 and I realized that hair and teeth still needed brushed. Yikes!

The mad rush was on, but we made it and everyone was on time and happy. I will admit though, when I got home that evening I was pretty darn tired so there was no sewing for me. :-)

Upcoming in the next few days will be pictures of some projects on which I've worked as well as some from various students. Stay tuned!

March Recap

March was National Quilting Month.

What did you do to celebrate?

I was fairly productive during the month, but what I am even more excited about was the fact that I had numerous opportunities to share the joy of quilting with new quilters. (I sometimes feel like a "quilt pusher" who gets a kick out of introducing people to MY drug of choice - QUILTING.)

I've shown various projects throughout the month that I've completed, but here are a few tops that are ready for quilting. The bottom four have the backing and binding ready to go and all that needs done is to get them on the frame. I hope to have the backing and bindings ready for the top three by next week. Most of these are donation quilts or class sample quilts and although there are deadlines, they aren't super soon.

Here's the Mondo Bag and Strip Quilt that I made using just one Jelly Roll and 2 yards of fabric. That was fun and I'm making another set, only this time I'm using more modern fabrics - Poems from Pebbles. I got my Jelly Roll from M&E Quilt Shoppe and I know they have more, along with Charm Packs and Layer Cakes. (See I AM a quilt pusher!)

I was very lucky to spend National Quilting Day (and rest of the weekend with a couple of my favorite people.  :-) 

There was a lot of laughter and even some sewing.

Of course there was also some eating! 

Tony, Claire and Ryan worked hard and made a wonderful dinner Saturday night. There was a lot of team work during the cooking process, but don't let the pictures fool you. There was a lot of laughter coming from the kitchen too!

And even though this isn't what I had intended to make, these blocks (plus three more) got sewn and are ready for sashing. These are a version of a Disappearing Nine Patch.

The original plan was for Ann, Jerry, Connie and I to follow the same Disappearing Nine Patch pattern and see how our fabric choices made the blocks look different. We spent quite a bit of time Friday playing with the block construction and none of us liked what what happening so we decided to work on our own projects. I didn't take much else on which to work, so this is what I did. I don't love it, but that's ok. I'll finish it and move on to my next new and exciting project.

But, none of the quilting projects completed during the month of March compare to what Lynn and Ty completed. 

Peyton Louise is simply adorable and a wonderful blessing to us all! 

I see a future quilter here. :-)