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Oh Happy Day!

I don’t know who sings that song, or when it was recorded.  In fact I know very few of the lyrics.  But what I can say, it that I’ve got that tune on a loop inside my head, and everything is looking pretty good right about now.

Today was Mission UFO day in the classroom, and I just had a couple of women to sew with today.  But boy howdy did we get a lot of things worked on.  It was a terrific day, and there are lots of pictures to share.  

So while I’ve got dinner in the oven, (and it smells super tasty), let me show you what was finding it’s way under needles and onto the design wall.

Hmmm?  What’s for dinner?  It’s Keto Stuffed Peppers, one of Gary’s favorites, and super easy and quick to throw together.  Ground beef, riced cauliflower, 2 eggs and 1 can of tomato sauce with salt and Mrs. Dash all mixed up and scooped into green peppers that have been halved and cleaned of seeds.  A generous squirt of ketchup across the top, placed into a baking dish with ½ cup of water in the bottom of the dish to keep it from scorching, then bake at 350 for about an hour and out it comes ready to eat.  And just to cover all the bases, I get most of my Keto recipes from www.ruled.me — so easy on a class day!

Anyway, let’s get to the best part of the day…show and tell from the classroom!

Jean has been hard at work on her second Prairie Star.  Yes, you heard that correctly…her Second!  Beautiful color way for this one!  And she is doing a terrific job of working through it too!  I can’t tell if I’m more excited for this one, or if she is, but it’s amazing!

Vicki finished her Rainbow of Jewels—Mirage Quilt by Laurie and now it’s off to the long arm quilter.  She’s started another one called Dragonfly Lanterns.   It’s a cutie that’s just beginning to take shape.  Terrific project!

Here are the first few blocks for Vickie’s Dragonfly Lanterns. A really great pattern/kit for a young little fella.

Jean also wanted to get some help on squaring up the blocks she made for this quilt, called Watercolor Garden.  It’s a simple little block made for a quick quilt for her granddaughter.  Another winner.

And for me, I’ve got the stacked folders happening today.  That, plus some quilting on my domestic machine to finish off some Impatiens placemats.   With a lot of repetition for this quilting, I like to mix in a little regular piecing to break up the process.  One layer of folders, then a petal, another layer of folders, than a petal, and so on until all the way through the folders.  

These are my folders, laid out for a quick view. Three different patterns between the six folders. I really enjoy working this way…helps to make quite a bit of progress every time I’m able to sit down to sew.
Here’s the setup for the first petal of an Impatiens placemat. 2 placemats down and only 4 more to go!

Then for seatwork this evening, I’m working on this vintage quilt that needs a bit of repair.

Remember this? I blogged about this and what work would need to be done.
I’ve got a nice start on removing the first damaged side. Using a water soluble pen, I marked the path needed to remove the damaged section. It’s a bit slow going but will be well worth the effort to bring this darling quilt back to whole.
Not much to finish on this side. I always love digging into a vintage quilt…there is so much to learn from each piece. This one is entirely hand pieced AND hand quilted. Interestingly, the quilting thread, which is cotton, is significantly stronger and more heavy than both the fabric and the piecing thread. Several of the hexie flowers are fussy cut as well. Definitely enjoying this one.

Lots of good things happened today.   It really was a good day…Oh Happy Day!

Until next time, may your bobbin never be empty.

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Catch Up Time

It’s time to get back in the saddle of blogging.  Believe it or not, I’ve actually missed spending time at the keyboard.  Part of my absence was due to the final push to get everything ready for the kick-off of Great Escape Quilt Camp.  But the other issue came from the failing (failed) graphics card in my laptop.  With only so many hours in a day, and each day’s list being longer than 24 hours worth of work, prioritization had to take place.  I’m happy to say that I’m back up and running on a different machine and these fingers are flying along with more stories to tell and beautiful quilts to share.

Even during the past 4-week push of readying the house, I still held classes and met with customers for their long arm work.  I bet you’d like to see some of the snap-shots taken to share here on my blog. 

Shall we begin?

Remember when I showed how to smooth the seam of a fleece backing? Well, now that this beauty has been received, I can show you the top. The fleece was the backing for this t-shirt quilt for my parents. It’s now living in Florida with them, and all these t-shirts were acquired during their years as full-time RV’ers. Lots of fun memories for them saved into a useful and cuddle-worthy quilt.
Just a close up of a shirt block and some quilting. Turtles and Florida, along with wolves and Alaska seem to be among the favorites!
Another Mission UFO day here. Valarie working on her Rocky Mountain Bear Paw, and Jean working on her Prairie Star, both are Judy Niemeyer patterns.
Here’s Cindy working on the borders of her Hanging Gardens.
And the Hanging Garden, hanging sideways to make it easier to reach the remaining sides while on the design wall.
Vicki has just put her project on the design wall, Rainbow of Jewels–Mirage Quilt, by Laurie Shifrin. It’s a real eye catcher!
And last but not least, here is my work station. I’m using up a stash of strips and turning them into area rugs for the bedrooms. A long process (hahaha, pardon the pun), but it is so nice to have some scrappy rugs that can take a lot of wear.

I think that sums up the rest of the story for the quilt related events happening to date.  I’m really looking forward to sharing more and more of the exciting work being done by my students.  

Stay tuned!  Beautiful things are about to show up!! Until next time, may your bobbin never be empty

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Great Escape Has Launched

It happened!  The day that Gary and I have been working towards for nearly 4 years happened on Friday!!  Our very first Great Escape Quilt Camp event began on Friday morning at 9:00 a.m. sharp, and concluded on Sunday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. ….’ish.   All the hard work, the worry—the excitement—the stress—the planning—the culmination and success of the event, has been accomplished. 

Here we are, cutting up before the “serious” group photo. Amazing women, one and all!

Let me tell you a bit about our weekend.  To say it was a good time, just doesn’t paint a large enough picture.  We had 7 wonderful women attend our camp to christen Great Escape, each of them bringing their own specialness to the blending of humor, insightfulness, camaraderie and caring.  Their backgrounds and occupations varied from farming to nursing and everything in between…and I mean EVERYTHING in between.  Their ages ranged from 30-something to 70-something.  But the one thing that was a constant between them all was their love and passion for quilting.  From novice beginner to quilting professional, we had them all at camp.   Patterns worked on ranged from Judy Niemeyer and Jenny Doan, to Jacqueline de Jonge and various patterns from magazines. The blending of their personalities, their talents and their humor brought only one outcome… an experience so good, they all stayed until the very end of the event.   

Now, I’ve held several retreats in the past 7 years, and at all of them, there were always ladies that would begin leaving as soon as breakfast was over and the rest would trickle away as the day progressed.  But Sunday…they lingered, and stayed longer, and left within minutes of each other.  

When do you know that you’ve finally found the work you’re meant to do?  I believe, it’s when your goals are completed and your dreams are brought to life.  How do you really know it’s the right one?  For me…it happened the first night of the retreat, when I was in the kitchen working on dinner and I listened to the sounds coming from the classroom.   There were the usual sounds of sewing…the machines, the rotary cutting and sounds from the irons.  But what laid over all those sounds were not the quiet voices of women hard at work, but the sounds of laughter, sharing of personal stories, praise and encouragement for projects being brought out, and life stories shared.  That humming of beautiful noise made my heart swell, and that’s when I knew…”we had arrived”.

A quick photo of the classroom with everyone hard at work. Projects were coming together in a beautiful way. But what the picture can’t show is all the conversation that was buzzing amongst them all.

So, without further ado, let me share with you some of the wonderful work that was being accomplished over the weekend.  You will be amazed and impressed.  I know I was.

Sharon A. working through her Wedding Ring Table Topper by Judy Niemeyer. Such beautiful rich colors!
Sharon A and Sharon W visiting after taking a look at my Vintage Compass, another Judy Niemeyer pattern.
Here’s Ivy showing us her cute little top that she completed during the retreat. As a novice quilter, she did a wonderful job with all her corners and color placements. You go girl!!
Another vantage point of the classroom with everyone busy as bees. Sharon W has a charity quilt on the design wall as she studies her block placement.
A quick shot over the shoulder of Sharon E, of Betty’s project. A beautiful project by Jacqueline de Jonge, called BeColourful. Sharon E worked steadily over the weekend on a stunning version of Judy Niemeyer’s Vintage Rose. You can see Kim’s sweet project in the foreground. Her cutting and piecing were spot on, and the hombre fabrics used were so, so fun!

And now, the rest of the adventure begins.  I’m hanging onto my hat and dipping into the wind, much like Sister Bertrille of the long ago TV series, “The Flying Nun”.

See—even she’s hanging on to her “hat”. Lift off is about to begin!!

Hang on Vera!  The merry-go-round is about to get going real fast!

Here we are, as serious as we can be, lol! Dianna, Ivy, Kim, Sharon A, Sharon E, Sharon W, Betty and me. Now, with 3 women named Sharon and their last name initials spelling AWE, how could we have had any other time, than an AWEsome time!!! Simply the best!

Until next time, may your bobbin never be empty.