Bout Time

Well it's about time I get back to the blog.  In fact I've been away so long I had to get the nice folks at Blogger to help me reset my password.  Anyway, it's good to be back.  And this time I'll keep my password handy so I have no excuse not to keep in touch.

I hope y'all have all had a great holiday and are enjoying the new year.  While I enjoy Christmas--and I do--it's AFTER Christmas that I especially look forward to.  After the business of December, I'm more than ready for the slower pace of January.  If there's a better time to sew than on a cloudy, chilly January afternoon, then I haven't found it.  For the last week I've been finishing up a couple of projects that I really meant to have done by . . let's see . . . last November . . . and as a reward for finally finishing those projects, I've treated myself to a couple of new projects with  fresh new fabrics.

Bo is sitting on one of my new pattern quilts in the picture above.  I used one Layer Cake and a couple yards of a Bella Solid.  The twin sized quilt went together so quickly I decided to make another one.  The bright colored quilt is from Marmalade by Bonnie & Camille (Moda) and the blue and white version is from Spa by Deb Strain (also Moda).  These are so simple, you can seriously make one in a weekend.  I even got brave and machine quilted one of them on my home sewing machine.  It was great to try something new.  Note however that you can not see quilting on the photo--I'm not quite ready for 'close ups'.  The good news is that no body at my house cares one bit.  --More posts later on learning to quilt a small quilt on a home machine. 

One more pic of things to come.  This was one of my 'reward' projects--a nifty messenger bag for my daughter, just in time for Spring semester.  Luckily I can get two of these from a Layer Cake, so I can have one too!  (Pattern coming soon.)

Fabric line is Spring House by Stephanie Ryan (Moda).

A Fun Time Had by All . . . Despite the Wind

Boy, did I have fun at the Hennig House Quilt Show on Saturday.  I could hardly believe how many people came!  It was wonderful to see so many folks and such beautiful quilts.  We are lucky to have so many many talented quilters in our area.  THANK YOU to everybody who let us hang your quilts.

Here's a picture of a brand new quilter, Kaylee Jo, and one of her quilts.  Kaylee was in my beginner class and I can't tell you how proud I am that she's already designing her own quilts.  Way to go Kaylee!

I had BUNCHES and BUNCHES of help in getting the show going.  Thank you to Barbara for rounding up so many quilts and helping me get them hung up.  And Gail, you and your cute granddaughter, Molly, were the life of the party--thanks for all the work and good cheer.  Huge thanks to Debbie and Shirley for manning (or womanning) the cutting tables--I know how hard y'all worked.  Thanks to Osie, Paula, Jennifer and Shannon for pitching in and helping things go smoothly.  And thanks to Ashley for coming at the break of dawn to help set up--your flowers are great--more to come on Ashley's business later.  Finally, thanks to the Linus Ladies and to Linda and Yvonne of the Taylor Quilt Guild for showing their beautiful raffle quilt--so sorry about all the wind. 

One more thanks . . . thanks to Monique for taking so many pictures.  I wish I had had a chance to take more, so I'm especially grateful that there were others out there shooting.  If you'd like to see some quilt show quilts, go here  Monique's Photobucket.

And there should be more to come.  I'll post a link to Jennifer's blog real soon.  I think there will even be some video of the show.  Woo hoo!

After-Party Time

We hope our friend Meghan is sitting down right now with her feet up enjoying a well deserved rest.  Some of you from Redwork/Embroidery Club may remember Meghan.  She came in last month for some background fabric for this fabulous quilt.  In the quilt Meghan paper-pieced blocks depicting all the houses her family has lived in.  How neat is that?

Anyway, Meghan was finally able to unveil this very special quilt on Saturday when she presented it to her very special mama, Alice, at her mama's birthday party  I don't think I've had the pleasure to meet Alice, but I have to assume that Alice worked real real hard for many many years in order to raise up such a fine young woman --one who would not only sew her mama a fabulous quilt, but would also organize out of town guests and a whole lot of food in order to celebrate their mama's birthday.   Meghan and Alice--you girls rock!

Some other cool things about this quilt . . .  Meghan was inspired by a cross stitch sampler her mama did years ago.  She re-did the sampler design in her center applique block.  There's mama and daddy, Meghan and her brother.  So sweet!

And . . . Meghan's friend designed this fabric and had it printed by Spoonflower.  In the fabric, the words from mama's cross stitch sampler are reproduced.  One day soon this will be the backing fabric for Alice's quilt.  No hurry Meghan--right now you just need to rest up.

Outdoor Quilts

Donna Munson, of Country Keepers, forwarded me a link to this story about an artist who dons a pair of snowshoes and creates these magnificent designs in the snow.  This one looks like an Orange Peel Quilt.  Click the photo to go to the story.  Thanks for the story Donna!

Mobify

Thankfully, we have no snow here, only beautiful weather.  It was so nice last week the Redwork/Embroidery club met out on the porch.  I only wish I had had a hammock to laze about in while everybody else worked do diligently.

Peas & Potatoes

Woo Hoo!  We are now in full blown vegetable garden season.  After the shop closed, I picked the first little batch of peas that were ready.  There are so few we'll just shell them and eat 'em raw.  Then I couldn't help myself.  I just had to dig around the potatoes to see if we had any keepers --and voila!--we had some.  Time to boil the water!

I'm usually the last one expected to give a helpful kitchen tip, but here's a good one I picked up.  (It's on my mind as I also put some of the girl's eggs on to boil.)--  If you're making hard boiled eggs add plenty of salt to the water and the eggs will peel like a dream.  Now I don't mean just a pinch of salt.  Add like a tablespoon--go ahead, salt's cheap.  I don't know why it works, but it does.

Bad Bo

I left the chair pulled out in front of my sewing machine while I was at work today.  When I got home Bo was under the coffee table, quite busy. 

It took me a little while to figure out what he was up to.  Turns out he likes a nice full spool of thread as much as I do.  Baaaaaadddd Bo!

Quality Time with the Bo

I hope all of y'all had as good a weekend as I did.  Mine involved lots of sewing--both on my own and with my sewing buddies.  And look at this--as soon as Bo hears my machine start up he insists on jumping in my lap.  He was snoozing until my hubby snapped this picture.  Maybe the sound is comforting?  Who knows?  Do any of y'all have a sewing companion like this?

Can you tell I'm getting into the Christmas spirit a little early?

 
We had our second session of our beginner class at Hennig House on Saturday.  I am having so much fun getting to know these creative sewists.  Here are the Nelson gal's  'homework' projects from the first class.  What do you think?  I give them a big A+ !   (I also wish I had a picture of Debra's quilt from the Bonnie & Camille line of fabrics.  It was darling!)  I'm so looking forward to seeing what everybody has to show for next week.