Galaxy-gram! Portland Head Light!

Hello from LaGuardia where I am catching my last flight!

Paula and I enjoyed the sunshine and blue skies in Portland Maine today and drove out to Portland Head Lighthouse for some photo taking.

It was a gorgeous day and these are just a sampling of what I took--more to come!

Of course we finished up with a delicious lunch and I had to indulge with the Lobstah!

One more flight to my own bed!

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Quiltmaker May/June Winner!

Good Morning from a bright and sunny MAINE!

It’s the morning we’ve been waiting for – I’m about to draw the winner of the May/June ‘15 issue of Quiltmaker Magazine.

This issue has my quilt Garden Party on the front cover, and my Idaho Square Dance block in my Addicted to Scraps column!

It’s an issue you won’t want to miss and it should be hitting news stands and shops near you any day now.

Those of you who have a subscription – be checking your mail boxes, it’s on its way!

Out of 1,149 entrants we there will be ONE lucky winner!

Let’s fire up the Random Number Generator and see who it will be!

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Inside Day in Maine!

I started my day off with a bit of block trimming.

Remind me to always carry a spare rotary blade in my checked luggage ---this one started skipping and I have been fighting it to the point of frustration this trip!

Lucky for me, my guild contact and friend Christine promised me a stop to pick up a new one while we were out and about so I can finish trimming these up before my flight out tomorrow.

Our plans for today included some light house pilgrimages, lunch out, and whatever other trouble we could find ourselves in.

I was ready and waiting for her in the lobby area by 10am ---but when I looked out the windows I couldn’t believe what I saw!

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Come Talk Turkey in Windham!

Remind me to give up horizontal stripes…and shirts that are too big and comfy!

Seeing this photo I realize it is not my best look, but boy did we have fun yesterday.

It’s been two days of full workshops, and amazing pot luck lunches ---

Of course, the dessert table stays out for the duration of the day. 

Hence the need for said big shirt…voluminous shirt!

It’s time for spring to warm up and make it nice enough to be outside and resume nice long walks on a regular basis, don’t you agree??

Thanks to everone who made this visit possible.  For all of the hard work of organization that goes on behind the scenes.  We’d been planning this for 3 years, and it finally arrived!

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Talkin’ Turkey in Windham, Maine!

27 Quilters – 27 bins of scraps!

27,000 flying geese!  ((or what felt like it!))

2,700 string blocks ((But oh, what fun!))

We had such a nice day ---and the Maine sky decided to  shine blue and put on her best sunshine for us –we let it stream through the windows while we sewed inside –the best of both worlds!

This is just a sampling of what we got up to ---take a look!

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Tumelo Trail, Windham Style!

Give quilters a chance to paw through pre-cut and gifted strips ready to sew into their projects and a whole lot of fun ensues!

We spent yesterday in Windham, Maine in a Tumelo Trail workshop, chatting, laughing, and filling the rest of our time with a whole lot of stitching!

It was fun reconnecting with quilters I’d met a couple of years ago when I was here teaching for the State guild, and even some I’d seen at other venues in the northeast --

Quilters are always ready for a scrappin’ good time!

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A Saturday Night Woops!

Tumelo Trail class was a riot today!

That’s not the woops part of this post…..but let me tell you, I just learned how easy it is to batch delete a group of photos that I thought I was watermarking!

ALL of the Show & Share photos I took today – and there were many and they were ALL beautiful—were gone from my phone and from my laptop with one foul click!  It was just a matter of hitting the wrong selection on the drop down menu in my photo editing software and pfffft!  They were all gone!

I am so bummed…so so so very bummed!  So if any of these gals have photos they took during our workshop today I would really love to have their show and share photos back!

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A Walking Tour Round Portland, Maine!

Yesterday temps were quite balmy in Maine –we reached a wonderful 43 degrees and folks were out in droves ---

The huge piles of snow are everywhere, but are slowly melting.  Roads and sidewalks are clear and there are a lot of folks up here EAGER for spring to set in for sure and for certain.

Jackets may be worn by most, but hey – they were unzipped as if to say “It’s almost warm enough to not need this coat!”

Christine met me at the airport and we gathered my bags, crammed them into her car and went downtown for a few sights and some grub.

It took a while to locate a parking spot within the parking garage, but we persevered and  hoofed it downtown from there.

She had told me about a place called the Portland Public Market that had great and unique food vendors,

I was game!  And on our walk we passed sights and sounds of Portland ---

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A Friday Flight to Maine!

Fingers busily stitched as I flew from Greensboro first to Detroit, Michigan –and then on to Portland, Maine.

It may seem like a bit out-of-the-way route, but this is how things go.

When you fly from a smaller regional airport, like Greensboro, you HAVE to hit a major hub before continuing on to your destination.  Hubs are like bus depots.  You may not be able to get directly to Portland, Maine from Greensboro, North Carolina – neither are hubs, but you CAN get there as soon as you hit a hub which can get you anywhere from there.

I fly Delta.  My choices as far as hubs go are mostly Atlanta or Detroit.  Sometimes La Guardia, but that one rarely works out as the times are odd, and I avoid La Guardia with a passion anyway!

Today – it was Detroit.  It’s only an hour’s flight from Greensboro, and nearly straight north, so it really isn’t out of the way.  Atlanta would have been, because that is flying south westerly to go north west!

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I’m a Cover Girl! Quiltmaker May/June ‘15 Give-Away!

**NOTE** This Giveaway has ended! Congrats to our winner, Sue!

I was feeling really tired and a bit down in the dumps when I opened this large white envelope on Tuesday morning to find…

My QUILT is on the COVER of the May/June 2015 issue of Quiltmaker Magazine, soon to be found at a newsstand, shop or bookstore near you!

I have had to keep this quilt under wraps for so long that I really did forget about it.

If you remember back in December ((Oh wow, that rhymes!)) I was getting ready to teach a “MYSTERY WORKSHOP” in Plano, Texas over New Years, this was it!

It is a two block quilt, perfect for a one day mystery and we had a lot of fun playing in the scraps, swapping strips and sewing up a storm.

You will find the full instructions for Garden Party in the soon-to-be-released May/June 2015 issue.

You might recognize the main block…that is Hot Cross Buns from my Addicted to Scraps column in the Nov/Dec 2010 issue.  2010!!  My how time flies.

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Diana and the Girl Scout Gold Award!

This is Diana!
 
A while back Diana emailed me, introducing herself and telling me about her Girl Scout project.
 
She asked if she could use the Scrappy Trips tutorial to make quilts, and then in turn give a presentation on quilting, and what she intends to do with these quilts for her Girl Scout Gold award.
 
Not only is she great at digital communication, coming across as to the point, and very mature for her age, she is quite the quilter to boot!
 
Yesterday I received her email reply with these photos and the following story.
 
She writes:

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For my Friends in Tulsa!

It was just Tuesday morning when I posted my photos of downtown Tulsa along with the show and share quilts that had been brought to our Scrappy Mountain Majesties workshop.

What a difference two days makes!

I wasn’t aware of the tornadoes yesterday – I have this habit of leaving OFF the news when I am up here for some cabin R & R.

It wasn’t until this morning on my hike with Sadie that I was alerted to the fact that Oklahoma had been hit with some terrifying and deadly tornadoes yesterday.

My thoughts went immediately to those folks I just spent a wonderful few days with, worried about each and every one.

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A Rough Start, but a Wonderful Finish!

Yes, this is me ---at Walmart.  The closest optical place to the cabin in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

I know there is a lot of bad talk about Walmart.

But let me tell you something – when it is the only thing you have, the only optical center for miles, and you are in a real fix with broken glasses and no where else to turn, it is a WONDERFUL place!

I got there at 10am just as the eye center was opening, and told my whole sob story to the gentleman optician behind the desk.

He untaped the scotch tape holding my glasses together at the nose piece ((Yes, this is vaguely reminiscent of an experience I had in the 4th grade, where I had to wear tape on my glasses for months because getting new glasses was an expensive thing for my family ))  and told me that if I could leave the glasses with him for an hour or so, he MIGHT be able to just replace the whole nose piece if he had one on hand that would fit the holes in my lenses.

I have never been so happy or so hopeful!

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Galaxy-Gram! Glasses Disaster!

I was just cleaning my glasses and this happened.

Just simply wiping them dry and the welding came apart at the nose piece.

I am completely blind without my glasses and my bifocal lenses.

I fly to Maine on Friday and I sure hope that I can find a place to fix this in a hurry.

It looks like my plan to stay up at the cabin until tomorrow has been curtailed and I am making a beeline to the closest optical place, which is back in Winston Salem.

My prescription is out of date, I'm going to need an eye exam and I doubt I can get one on the fly.

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R&R on the Mountain!

Do you see this view?

My one lone forsythia bush has burst forth into yellow!

I LOVE forsythia season.  That yellow doesn’t tone itself down for ANY ONE!

It is what it is ---whether you like yellow or not, it stands true and proud to itself, fulfilling its purpose. 

One of the first signs to me that spring really IS here, along with the daffies and the dogwodods.

It’s a bit cloudy, and late this afternoon after a nap, Sadie and I headed out for a much needed slow hike.

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Tulsa Oklahoma and Quilts!

Headed into downtown Tulsa!

Just look at that blue blue sky!

I hadn’t seen the sun for days so it was awfully nice to spend part of Sunday under some Tulsa sunshine before heading to the airport.

I learned things that I didn’t know ---Tulsa was native territory, and a small spot on the road, until the oil boom happened.

I enjoyed my a nickle drive-by tour of downtown Tulsa, and I thought I would share these great photos with you while interspersing them with the Show & Share photos from Saturday’s workshop.

The best of both worlds…oh look!  A building!  Look!  A quilt!  It will keep your attention that way..hahaha!

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Quilt-Cam! 3/23/2015

Hi Everyone! 

It’s been a long while since our last Quilt-Cam opportunity.

Before I left for Florida we fit one in….and on that 2 week trip I got sick, with no voice!

Do you know I am just NOW feeling back to normal??  Whatever it was laid me flat for 3 weeks, so take care of yourself and if you even THINK you are coming down with an ear infection or sinus infection or bronchitis – don’t be brave and put it off!  It’s a nasty bugger this year.

I want to start out this evening by introducing you to a special lady, Sherri!

In December she sent in an email during Quilt-Cam and she told us about her quilt mission.

She emailed today with photos to share with you.  She writes:

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Family Quilts in Tulsa!

Saturday was our Scrappy Mountain Majesties workshop with the Green Country Quilters of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

During our show and share a couple of very special family quilts were brought in, to all of our delight!

These quilts may have never won public awards,

But they won first prize in the eyes of those who were given these quilts in love.

Who slept and dreamed and felt comforted beneath the pieces and stitches these quilts contain.

These quilts are a family life line, a visible reminder of favorite people who are no longer with us.

These quilts are a legacy!

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Brunch at the Philbrook!

Yes, this is an oil rig ice sculpture!

It’s TULSA, OKLAHOMA after all!

And this is a Sunday brunch at the
Philbrook Museum.

What a way to end my time in Oklahoma...the sun was finally shining on a beautiful Sunday morning.

And then I was asked if I would like to brunch at the museum and wander the gardens before my flight out on Sunday afternoon.

My answer came with a resounding YES!

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Scrappy Mountain Majesties, Tulsa Style!

“I am a brand new quilter!” She said!

“This is my first ever workshop!” She said!

“I hope this isn’t hard, because it looks hard, and I’m very nervous!” She said!

“Trust me!”  I said in reply.

This is the easiest quilt EVER and a great way to bust those large hunks and chunks – those unloved layer cakes and languishing fat quarters!

And if students come with their squares already cut, we get down to the nitty-gritty of matching pairs of squares with right sides together, slicing them into giant half square triangles, trimming and squaring and away we go!

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Green Country Quilters Showin’ and Sharin’!

Those Oklahoma Quilters really know how to wow an audience!

They brought such wonderful creations to both guild meetings.

Yes, BOTH!

Two different groups, one a Thursday evening where over 100 were in attendance, and a Friday morning group, just as varied nearly out-numbered the first.

This unique arrangement of my Perkiomen Daydreams quilt from Scraps & Shirttails stole the show with its 10,000 1” squares!

Have you made one?  They are so fun to make, I know some quilters, like my friend Jo Kramer of Jo’s Country Junction has made TWO!

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Boxy Stars on a Tulsa Afternoon!

Busy, Busy, Sew, Sew, Sew!

Our afternoon Boxy Stars workshop with the Green Country Quilters of Tulsa Oklahoma was an absolute blast!

I absolutely love that this class comes with pre-cutting instructions so that all the pieces for each block quarter are cut, baggied, and ready to go.

When the first two square pieces of the first block quarter are sewn, we press and measure to make sure that the seam allowance is where it needs to be.

With the first seam we know!

Two 2.5” squares sewn and pressed should give you a measurement of 4 1/2”, not 4 3/8”, not 4 5/8”!

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From One Grand Illusion to SEVEN!

How do YOU tackle a UFO??

Take it from Donna who has sent me an email on how she has learned to “Divide and Conquer!”

The quilts you see here ALL came from the units used in our Grand Illusion Mystery!

Here are the words from Donna herself about this Divide and Conquer undertaking:

Hi Bonnie! 

When GI began, I decided to make all of the pieces while knowing I wouldn't make the full size. 

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Antiquing to Tulsa!

What is the view between Stillwater and Tulsa, Oklahoma?

WIDE OPEN!

You can see we had a cloud covered drizzly kind of day.

Too cool!  Where is the blue sky and sunshine? It hasn't found us yet!

Hopefully I will see some before I fly home on Sunday, but as for today ---we call this “easy on the eyes” when driving long distances --

With three of us in the car our chatter carried us all the way to where we hoped to discover some treasures – Tulsa style!

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Showing & Sharing in Stillwater, OK!

There was a whole lot of sharing going on in our workshop day in Stillwater, Oklahoma yesterday!

So many quilters said “We didn’t know or we would have brought something!”

My reply?  If every one of all 50 of us brought quilts to share, we’d NEVER get back to sewing!

Still, those in the know who have read me for a while understand that I love show & share at the end of our lunch breaks.  It gives us a chance to get to know one another – where we are from, what guild we belong to, and a chance to show our stuff with the quilts we have made!

If you are coming to one of my workshops in the future, your show & share quilt is always welcome.  You don’t need an invite, just bring it!

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My Blue Heaven Day in Stillwater, OK!

Here I am with the representatives of the Central Oklahoma Quilters Guild who came to join us yesterday in Stillwater!

Such a great group of ladies!

They all were – is there anything better than a room full of quilters with machines and fabric flying?

Yes – a room of FIFTY Quilters in a room with FIFTY machines and fabric flying!

It was a really great day yesterday and I sure enjoyed the Oklahoma hospitality.

We also had a whole corral of lovely vintage machines in attendance. 

Black featherweights hummed in droves ---

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A bit of Stillwater Antiquing!

Downtown Stillwater is all a-bloom in Bradford pears!

From a distance, the trees resemble giant popcorn balls, and it is a sight to behold!

It would be MORE of a site if it weren’t dreary grey and drizzly misty outside—I have always thought that blooming trees looked BEST against a vibrant blue sky.

But today I’m happy for blooms of any kind, against any kind of sky.

SPRING!  We long for it, we wait for it, and if you don’t pay attention, it is over all too soon and then we have to wait another year for it to happen again.

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Happy Scrappiness from Peggy!

I received the most awesome email with such great quilts, I have to share them with you!

I absolutely LOVE seeing photos of what you have made, and if you include the story of the quilt – that’s even better!

Don’t these gals look like they are having a great time?

This email came from Peggy, and I asked her if I could share the photos with you, my readers.

This is what she had to say:

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Oklahoma ---OK!

It was a beautiful day for flying!

This was the sunrise over the tarmac at the airport in Greensboro this morning ---

Just look at that sky!

I am so happy for spring – even if it means that it is dark a bit longer I the mornings.  When that sun comes up it is just BEAUTIFUL!

I was eager to get to my destination ---Tulsa, Oklahoma!  Here I come!

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A Sneak Peek! A Preview ---and a Postponed Giveaway!

Several weeks ago I was contacted about previewing a new release by Sherri Lynn Wood.

Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters.

Of COURSE, was my reply!

A few weeks went by ---

I returned from a trip to find the book waiting for me.

Awesome!

The whole look and feel of this book is glorious.  You want to turn every page.  You want to read it like a novel, because unlike books where quilt designs are more like “recipes”  The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters enables you to create your own “SCORE” Like you would in music –allowing yourself to build your quilt to the beat of your own drummer.

The groundbreaking new guide includes “scores” for visual improvisation that allows readers to create unique quilts from a set of parameters, but that will look unlike anyone else’s. Hundreds of quilters submitted “test quilts” for the book and the end result includes just 22.

I signed up to do my blog post today, as I leave for Oklahoma –with the understanding that I would receive more gallery photos from others who had submitted quilts for the book that were not included.

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Quilter On Board!

Dear Black Durango,

I pulled up behind you at a red light while leaving Wilkesboro, NC on March 16, 2015 at approximately 10:20am.

I got as close as I could to your bumper…within safety limits of course ---

What drew me in?

Your rear window tattoo – I Heart 2 Quilt it screamed at me!

Me too!!  Me too!!  I screamed back.

But evidently you couldn’t see me waving madly through your dark tinted windows.

Or maybe you did ---and you wondered who this crazy woman was nearly beeping with glee at the wonder of finding someone else out on the road who wears her passion on her sleeve back window just as I do.

A sign for all the world to see.

I AM A QUILTER!!

Wherever you were going, I hope it involved fabric!

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Deep in the Land of H!

When one gets tired of sitting, one stands!

When one stands, she may as well be cutting and kitting up something – after all, that takes little to no effort, right?

Besides, color and texture is extremely good for the eyes, the spirit and the soul.

So cut out, I did.

A LOT.

Boxes of gifted scraps have gone a long way into making their path into recent quilts, and it is so fun to find a place for each piece.

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Winner!! Country Girl Modern Give-Away!

I hope you have all enjoyed a restful Sunday!

As I type this, early evening sunlight is streaming through the windows, bathing the inside of the cabin with a lovely golden light.

Birds are chirping noisily outside ---

A gusty March wind is blowing my flags around in their own version of a spring time dance.

It’s been a wonderful day!

And I’ve watched it all from INSIDE.

I want to thank you for the kind emails, comments and concerns.  I am doing everything my doctor has asked me to do, and everything is progressing as I was told it would.

Without being gross – things are running clear and no longer yellow or green.  My abdominal muscles are sore from so much coughing, but coughing has cleared all of this and I am breathing easier.

It’s just going to take some time, and I know what to watch out for and when to get myself back to the doctor should it be required.

Really.  I’m a big girl.  I’m on the mend!

Let’s draw for our winner of Jo Kramer & Kelli Hanken’s new book, Country Girl Modern ---there were 964  folks who left comments and I am using the random number generator to choose our lucky winner.

Will it be you?

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On the Oldie but Goodie side!

Can you tell these are ginormous hexie baskets?

We had quite a bit of vintage show and share at our workshops at Country Crossroads in Orange Park, Florida ---and I saved their photos for a special show and share all of their own –they deserve it!

Today seemed to be the best day to relax and post them all.

Oh dear, it’s been two weeks and I am going to forget names ---Vickie? Veronica? Oh, forgive me…it starts with a V, that much I know…is hiding behind the quilt on the left.  You can just see her head peeking out behind the far left top basket.  This is a family quilt, one her mother or grandmother started, but evidently didn’t know where to stop or how to finish it because it is still NOT DONE.

So much patience..what looks like large white areas, are all pieced from solid white hexagons, and V has memories of this quilt being worked on when she was young.

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Virginia Bound in Tampa!

I’m back tracking a bit.

With post after post after post during my 2 weeks in Florida of daily workshops, lectures and show and share, and a give away post,  and flying from one part of the state to the other -

And winding up sick and at the doc-in-a-box twice ---some things just had to be saved until I returned home because I was already doing as many posts as I could do.  On what time I had.

Plus.  I  was sick.  Sicker than I’ve ever been in a long long time and let’s face it, sometimes you just can’t post it all.

When sick, it’s hard to sit there and edit down all the photos, write all the text, and post everything.  On schedule.

I knew there would be time to make up for it this weekend.

And as I go back through these –I remember what an awesome time we had.

And I’m happy to see them all again!

These ladies were so much fun!

And just crazy enough to fit right in!

And the blocks!  Oh, the blocks!

All of the colors – SO FLORIDA!

So, I present to you the long over due ((with very good reason)) slide show for our Virginia Bound workshop in Tampa!  Thank you for your patience!

Click the image below if you are unable to view the slide show on your mobile device.  You’ll be taken to the photo album for viewing.

Virginia Bound in Tampa, March 2015

Today --- rainy, foggy, clouds hanging low.  I love how the view of the mountains change hour by hour, not just day by day.

Respite.

The perfect day to curl up in my comfy chair and bind, baby bind!  I finished stitching down a hanging sleeve on a quilt I’m sending in to Quiltmaker shortly.  Just have the label to go on that one, and then on to the next.

These two I’m working on are for future publication so they are being kept a bit under the radar, but I am so happy to see them done!  You’ll be seeing them in the future.

Tonight we’ve got 8 of us gathering for a dinner to celebrate the Hubster’s birthday this week.

With my oven out until last night it was decided that I would be responsible for rolls.  Hahaha!  I can do that!

Enjoy your Saturday, everyone!

Click Here to like our Quiltville Friends Page on Facebook for more fun!
Click Here to join our sister group, Quiltville's Open Studio on Facebook, a place to Sew, Share & Grow!!

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Recoup to Quilt Villa!

It’s rainy and grey and cold in the Blue Ridge!

And that’s fine with me.

We left Winston Salem around 4:30 pm, making our way westward toward the mountains.

It was iffy as to whether I was really going to come up this weekend ---

But you know what?  There is more relaxing and recouperating to do up here at the cabin than there is at home where work really pulls at me.

I’ve got bindings to finish. 

I can sit in my comfy chair and watch movies, do little at all besides binding.

Everything that needed to be done before the weekend hit was tackled, including this:

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A Bit of Country Girl Modern! ((Give-Away!))

It’s a Give-Away Day!

But before we give away anything – I want to introduce you to a brand new book by our friends Jo & Kelli of Jo’s Country Junction!

I have known Jo & Kelli for quite some time, I love them to bits, and I am so excited for them and their new book release, Country Girl Modern -- It's just been released by my own publisher, Kansas City Star Quilts!

I'll be seeing Jo and Kelli in person this summer when we host a retreat together!

These two Iowa girls have got it going on, in a very colorful scrappy style, and you may already be familiar with the many patterns and tutorials that they have over at the Moda Bake Shop.

Hot off the presses is this new release of 11 great patterns for those of us who LOVE fabric and love our scraps!

Contemporary feeling quilts deeply rooted in tradition, just how we like them!

Open the cover and you will get a quick glimpse of just what you will find inside to inspire:

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Some Quilting Today ---

Today.

Suitcases remain mostly unpacked.

Mail has been slowly gone through.

It doesn’t take much breathing power to sit here and print out invoices and mailing labels, so I was able to feel productive even though laying low.

I took a 3.5 hour nap this afternoon after lunch!

I never nap that long – I must have needed it.

Obey your body, they say.  Sleep is restorative.  Sleep when you need to.

I hope I sleep tonight!

It also doesn’t take too much energy to pin a certain long awaiting quilt top into the long arm and load it with a backing and a batting.

And we can just see how one row of quilting looks, can’t we?  Not much effort for that at all ---

Besides, sunshiny yellow makes me feel so much better!

And so ---just like that, the Serpentine Web is in the process of being quilted!

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Boxy Stars Before Home!

I miss these smiles this morning!

Camp Weed wrapped up after lunch yesterday --

The machines were packed up,

The fabric was folded ((or crammed and stuffed!)) and put away.

Cords were wound.

Irons were cooled off.

Projects were piled ---

Wagons were loaded.

Bins and boxes and bags were set on top of rolling sewing chairs and wheeled out through the double doors, through the foyer and out to cars waiting in the parking lot with doors and trunks wide open to receive the “going home” contents.

But ---before all of that – we had a Half Day Boxy Star workshop to continue our fun and enjoy our last day with the Lady of the Lake Quilters Guild!

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