Just Treadle!

It was a strip set kind of day on the porch.

A repeat of the day before, only blissfully, no rain causing us to haul everything inside in the midst of a thunderstorm.

I’ve been working on the sashings for the H blocks, and it’s been a slow process, but a rewarding one.

Sometimes we tend to rush through a whole process without thinking it through, and without finding pleasure in the production.  My time up here this weekend is about slowing down, taking time, enjoying each and every moment.

Yes, there is a little IKEA floor lamp shining light on my presser foot area, if you look closely you can see it.

The treadle cabinet doesn’t have much extra space for desk lamps, and the motion of the treadle sometimes can have stuff scooting right off the table top and on to the floor.  I have a few of these floor lamps as well as the table lamps and clip ons ---call it equal opportunity lighting, the right light source for every given task.

Add to the mix that I was sewing with black thread on black fabric…I needed that light not only to see what I was doing, but to help illuminate the needle so I could see to thread the darn thing.

You know the light is bad when you can’t even see to get the needle threader through the eye of the needle!

While all of this was going on, I was being closely supervised:

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Some End of April Porch Treadling!

It was just a bit gusty on the porch yesterday, but I persevered!

Strips were held down with pin cushions and scissors and rotary cutters, anything with weight helping to keep them from taking flight with the next gust.

Those are storm clouds you see gathering, and I was bound and determined to get in as much porch treadling until the sky opened up.

It is very easy for me to roll the treadle out on the porch.  There is only one wall and a door way separating me from fresh air and beautiful views.  You wouldn’t think that a mere 8 feet would make that much of a difference, but it does!  I love being outside.  I love the sound of birds chirping and the feel of the breeze, and I better enjoy it now because HOT HOT HOT will be her before we know it.

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Garlic Knots Blocks and a Book Cover!

Quilt-Cam lost audio last night, so we got in only about 5 minutes of sew time!

I tried to figure out what was going on, I hadn’t touched anything, was just sewing and talking away and sound froze.  I couldn’t get it back even after a second try, so we tanked it.

However, I kept sewing because I really wanted to see what these blocks would do!

They’ve been on the bucket list for a long time, always pushed back for some reason or another.  This is Garlic Knots, from a previous Addicted to Scraps column.  (Click the link and scroll down, you’ll find it in 2014 I believe!) and they are so super cute.

I cut these pieces quickly out of strips that were sitting near my cutting table as a way to purpose them rather than put them away, and I’m on a roll.  These may be destined for a baby quilt!

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Quilt-Cam, 4/27/2016!

This is Kevin’s Gracie!

Obviously, she is more interested in KEVIN than what is going on during Quilt-Cam! LOL!

I was sent this photo a couple of months ago, or what feels like it and I came across it today in my files.  What a sweet face!

The dog!  The dog!  The dog has a sweet face!  As for me, I’m just feeling old and road weary…focus on the dog!

I’m really glad to be home.  It’s a ton of fun getting to hang out with quilters and do two back to back retreats, but you can’t stay at retreat forever and the pull of home is strong.

I have cleaned!  I have done laundry!  I even grocery shopped a bit, and made Jeff what he said he’d been missing for dinner.  Throw in a hair cut and a massage and massive amounts of book orders off to the post office and you pretty much have my past couple of days.

Plus this:

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A Retreat Made for Quilters!

The Spring Retreat with the Siouxland Samplers Quilt Guild was held in the Stoney Creek Inn in downtown Sioux City, Iowa.

What a great location!  Beautiful large rooms, terrific conference center – and look!  Barn Blocks on the walls!

It was as if they had decorated JUST FOR US.

And you should have heard the exclamations of quilters as they stopped at each block along the way, each speculating on the traditional name of that block.

“Oh, thats a such-and-such chain.”  “No, I think it’s a something-or-other crossroads”  You are BOTH wrong, it’s called “Someone’s pavement!”

Too much fun.

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Amazingly Simple Triangle Stars Blog Hop!

Hi everyone!

I made it home from Iowa late last night, and good thing for me that i wrote this blog post a bit ahead so it was ready to post this morning!

I’m trhilled to be asked to participate in the Kick Off of Barbara Cline’s new book, Amazingly Simple Triangle Stars!

I love following Barbara and seeing what she is up to with needle and thread.  Her design ideas are not only knock-out fabulous, but fantastic results are made easy by her wonderful way of writing directions that even a beginner can understand.

I love how simply changing the fabrics and the value placement in her designs completely changes the quilts and makes so many options possible!

About this book:

Turn a single block into eight distinctive quilts―the magic is in the fabric! This triangle block is easy to sew, but can transform using countless intricate designs when you experiment with color and value. Stunning triangle-star quilts are perfect for adventurous beginners looking to try something new or intermediate quilters who'd like to put their skills to use in a creative way. Includes line drawings you can color in to create your own designs.

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A Bit of My Blue Heaven in Iowa!

We all met yesterday morning to begin our My Blue Heaven workshop, on retreat with the Siouxland Samplers Quilt Guild and visitors from as far away as Ohio, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota….our Ohio gal drove over 600 miles to come spend the weekend with us!

Her sister thinks she came to visit her, but as a quilter, we know the truth! Ha!

We filled our day with basic units we use all of the time in traditional patchwork: Half square triangles, Quarter square triangles sewn into hour glass units, and flying geese.  the fun came when we used specialty rulers to cut EVERYTHING from 2 1/2’’ strips – something we have on hand nearly all of the time, so working with the rulers made this extra easy.

This silly group is showing off their first “Yay!” moment when their alternate blocks started falling easily together with units coming out the right size, just before lunch!

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Meet the Siouxland Sampler Quilters!

Hello from Sioux City, Iowa!

Retreat #2 of this fairly quick trip away from home….it has been non-stop quilty gatherings with all of the excitement and flurry of activity.  I have enjoyed this so much, feeling like *I* am on retreat right along with everyone else!

Yesterday morning we gathered with 46 folks for a Jared Takes a Wife workshop – and what you see here is a group all yelling “TADA!!” as they quickly mastered spinning the seams on the back of their 4 patches.  It’s the simple things that make us so happy, isn’t it?

Our retreat is being held at the Stoney Creek Inn in downtown Sioux City.  What a great place for an event.  Comfy rooms, great breakfast, our lunches have been catered in, and there are nearby eateries perfect for getting out at dinner time.

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Farewell to Okoboji!

Yesterday’s Texas Tumbleweed Workshop during Spring Retreat with the Pieceful Spirits guild held at Lakeshore Lodge on Lake Okoboji was a riot of activity, a flurry of scraps, humming machines and loads of laughter, everyt  25 hing a retreat should be!

The day flew by at break neck speed – especially when I was running between two sewing areas, one in the main hall of the lodge, and the other directly below in more conference space. 

25 students upstairs, 24 students downstairs..it can make a girl’s fitbit overheat! LOL! 

But it’s a good thing – this way I had access to BOTH the upstairs and the downstairs treat tables.  I needed those steps!

What a fun bunch these folks were and I hope they will have me back.  Lake Okoboji is a great place for a retreat!

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Quilting up an Iowa Storm!

Retreat Workshop Day 1 passed so quickly!

While half of the 49 quilters in attendance decided to arrive a day early and make good use of the “quilting by the lake” time , the remainder started filtering in after breakfast.

Soon the entire place was hopping, a continual flow of wagons pulling quilt goodies and paraphernalia – Machines, fabric, cutting mats, rulers, notions, tools, even personal sewing chairs and portable fans!

You get into a room with all of the machines and irons and women of a certain age, and we all need a little personal air space now and then!

Take a look at this photo!  don’t we look like variations on a theme?  From purple to pink and all the way to burgundy!  A quilt palette in the wearing!

Our Strip Twist half day workshop started after Lunch.  Eat first, sew second!

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To the Shores of Okojobi -

People make the world go round.

And I have to share with you the story of a new friend I made yesterday!  This is Joyce.

It’s not easy to get to this corner of Iowa from Anywhere, especially when flying out of Greensboro, NC.  My flights were full, but everything went swimmingly with no delays, even IF i did have to get up at 3:15am to leave the house by 4:00am to board a flight at 4:45am that left for Atlanta at 5:20.  This was Ordinary travel for me.

From Atlanta it was a flight to Minneapolis and that is where the extraordinary began.

I’m boarded on the plan in Minneapolis, the boarding door is soon to be closing which means things need to be turned off or switched to airplane mode.

Just before switching off, a facebook message pops up.

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Rollin’ the Quilty Box Random Number Generator!

Hello from rainy Lake Okoboji Iowa!

What a long travel day!  And even though I was able to squeeze in an hour’s nap upon my arrival, it will be early to bed for this tired quilt-chick tonight.

Quilters are arriving for retreat, many of them coming a day early to get more sewing time in, even though our workshop doesn’t start until 1pm tomorrow!

That means MORE sewing time for me!

I’m thrilled with the response for this month’s Quilty Box and am extremely excited for our winner-to-be!

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Off to Iowa!

I’m off to Iowa this morning!

I’m spending a few days with the Pieceful Spirit Quilters near Spirit Lake, Iowa and then moving on to Sioux City to spend the rest of the time with the Siouxland Sampler guild!

It’s going to be a bit of a round about way to get there –can you believe I’m writing this in between flights in Atlanta? This flight gets me to Minneapolis, and from there I fly to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where I pick up a rental car and make my way down to Spirit Lake.

The hard part I tell you, will be getting the luggage to the rental car from the baggage claim in Sioux Falls!

I had some time to spend with the machine yesterday afternoon, and after having some fun with the QOV auction quilt back, I decided to piece a back or my on-going grey string project as well.

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A Little QOV in the Afternoon!

This kind of scrappy back building happened yesterday afternoon!

It was a beautiful drive home from the cabin, temps have crept up into the 80s here in North Carolina –how did it go from too cold to too hot so quickly?

I’ll take it.  I would much rather roast than freeze, and as the saying goes, “You don’t have to shovel sunshine!”

I’m soaking it up, because I’m SURE it’s not going to be like this in Iowa this weekend, nor will it be this way at the Grand Hotel in May!

This small quilt project has really been a fun one.  Such a satisfactory fast finish.  There may be more small quilts in my future.

I dug into my little bin of Quilt of Valor patriotic type scraps, and used some fun stuff along with the extra four patches from the top to make this strippy back.  When I do quilts with a patriotic feel, I tend to play more with the color families, paying less attention to the print on the fabric, than the colors that bring about the feeling that I want.  This means that there are not a lot of flag or star things happening in the front.  Theme fabrics can be busy and overpowering if too many of them are used in close proximity.  I let the colors do the job –but the back is a great place to pull in the Americana!

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Friend Stitching Mountain Time!

It’s been a busy couple of days up on Buck Mountain!

I have mentioned before that Mona and I haven’t been able to get together and sew for months and months as her schedule of going back and forth to Ohio and my crazy schedule of flying off to everywhere had us very hit and miss since before the holidays.

I would say this craziness has been going on since last November!

We stay in touch via phone and text message, but it’s just not the same and I was ever so glad to have her walk in the kitchen door of the cabin on Friday evening and yell “HELLO!!!” down the stairs to where I was in the basement family room.  Of course all of this glorious reunion was accompanied by Beanie excitedly yapping that she also gets to come see her friend Sadie who was also whimpering and shaking her tail in utmost happiness!

We quickly set about making plans for the weekend and what we wanted to do for her NEXT project because she brought two more completed tops to show me and is eager for more.

I have a HUGE laundry basket full of smaller shirt scraps here at the cabin to work from so we decided on a Log Cabin variation for her, to get her started in the land of Half Square triangles.  Each block has only ONE half square triangle, and they are rather large, so very forgiving.

These centers are surrounded by two rows of log cabin rectangles with one half being light, the other half being dark.

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Keeper of the Plains, Wichita!

One place that is a “MUST STOP” in Wichita is the Keeper of the Plains!

This is my second time visiting the Keeper.  Being a history lover, I am just so touched by what happened in this area through history, and the Native Americans who first settled here, believing this spot to be sacred.

The Keeper is placed on a tower of rock overlooking the convergence where the Big Arkansas and Little Arkansas rivers meet, becoming one.

The natives believed this convergence to be a site of protection and settled in this area where the soil was rich and water was plentiful.

The Keeper of the Plains is a 44 foot tall Cor-Ten steel sculpture by Kiowa-Comanche artist Blackbear Bosin.

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April Quilty Box is in the House!

Look at the goodies that arrived while I was gone!

I swear, the months must be getting shorter and shorter as I can’t believe this is the 4th one we are doing this year – where does the time go?

I am thrilled with the contents, and I know you will be too!

If you aren’t sure what a Quilty Box is, here is the info:

• Quilty Box is a monthly subscription box of fun quilting supplies. We offer plans from $44-48/mo.
• 5% of the profits of multi-month subscriptions are donated to Quilts for Kids - a non-profit which donates quilts for children in need
• Each month we have 4 or more products (Fabric, patterns, thread, or notions)
• Our retail value of the products in the box is always more than $50
• May's Quilty Box will be curated by AnneMarie Chany from www.genxquilters.com
• The next Quilty Box will ship around May 11th. Subscribers will need to purchase before May 10th to receive this shipment.
• We will be using the hashtags #QuiltyBox and #GetQuilty

Your support is appreciated. If you have any questions or comments don't hesitate to contact me.
Get Quilty!
Patrick Claytor, CEO
Quilty Box
Subscribe today at www.QuiltyBox.com!
 
I love this idea!  I think it is a great way to keep us inspired, and try new things and push us out of our “same ole, same ole” box!  Plus the fact that 5% of the proceeds go to Quilts for Kids –that’s a huge thumbs up!

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Walking in Wichita!

Upon my arrival in Wichita, having time to myself and a beautiful early evening at hand, I took to the streets exploring the historic buildings along Douglas Avenue and into Old Town Wichita.

This post is VERY photo-laden and I hope you will pour yourself a cuppa and take the time to enjoy each one!  It’s a virtual Wichita Walking Tour through my eyes and the lens of my camera.

It only took a block before I noticed that there are amazing sculptures EVERYWHERE you turn.

What looks like normal passers by at first glance, turns out to be beautiful bronze statues, tucked in here and there on sidewalks, on benches, creating street scenes of Wichita past.

I was mesmerized!  I wanted to find them all!

From downtownwichita.org:

As one of the first cities in the United States to commission public art under a National Endowment for the Arts program, Wichita has literally taken art to the streets.

In 1991 the City of Wichita took a visionary approach by supporting the inclusion of public art in capital improvement projects. These actions along with generous donations from private citizens, business and community leaders have transformed Downtown Wichita into an area full of visual interest and energy.

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Catching My Breath!

This is the view off of my back deck at home.

We have 1.5 acres of GREEN right now!

After being gone 11 days, you can really notice the difference in how everything has greened up, lush and wonderful.  The birdsong is WONDERFUL, I love waking up to it, and I love hearing the peeper frogs and other nature sounds coming from the creek bed that borders our property.

Our house is small, but our lot is large, and that was more important to me than the number of bathrooms I’d need to clean.

I spent yesterday mostly inside getting caught up on desk work, laundry, and book orders.

But I took some time to quickly photo some lovelies on my way to/from the post office!

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Showing Those Wichita Quilts!

This is truly the best part for me.  I love it when blocks, tops and quilts are brought to our workshops.  We do our showing & sharing at the end of our lunch break and it gives everyone a chance to get to know everyone else.

It’s so very nice when there are visitors from outside of the guild taking the workshops, and gives them a chance to introduce themselves and share with us the beautiful quilts they have made.

Often times workshops are extremely full and busy and we might not make it out of our own group to go visit the other tables in the room, so this is a fun way to see what others are up to!

This is Kim’s Crabapples quilt from Adventures with Leaders & Enders.  Kim is on the right, Jean is on the left!  I had so much fun with these gals this past weekend.

Kim was a visitor from several hours away in some distant corner of Kansas (Ha! Like I can remember!) and it was fun to see the guild members take the visitors in, welcome them, engage in conversation, invite them to dinner.

It IS all about relationships, isn’t it – this crazy thing we call life?  We might think it’s about the quilts, but really, it’s about the PEOPLE!  Kim enjoyed a few days of respite away from her job as a 5th grade science teacher, made some new friends in the process and quilted her brains out. 

It was a very good weekend!

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And Sew This Happened!

Ever need a make shift table?

This is my suitcase, on the little hotel luggage stand next to the desk where I was using a little borrowed featherweight!

My goal for this 11 day adventure was to get these units sewn, and in turn sew them into blocks if I could.

And I did!

This is the Winston Ways project I was talking about HERE. I need a 30” X 30” small quilt for a celebrity Quilt of Valor auction.

All of the 4 patch strip sets were already sewn, matched with other sets, and sub-cut and waiting in baggies for this trip.

All of the triangle pairs were matched, cut, and also waiting for their own stitching to happen.

Between the Naperville Cocoon and the time I have had here in Wichita there has been much progress!

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Texas Braid in Wichita, KS!

Look who came by to see me yesterday!

This is my friend Brenda, from Alberta, Canada!  And her lovely mom who I am so excited that I got to meet.  How cute is she?

Brenda drove her mom down to Olathe, Kansas to meet her child hood pen-pal, a cousin she had never met face to face.  They’d been writing each other since they were little girls!

I just love this story, and as we were able to chat about the experience, it was great all around with many photos and genealogy facts being passed from one to the other.  Oh, what a tangled web family stories and family lines can be, and isn’t that what makes them interesting?  Brenda’s mom’s maiden name is Webster.  Yep, she is a direct descendant of THE Webster who compiled the Webster dictionary!

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Texas Tumbleweeds, Wichita Style!

Another day to stitch and chat and laugh and learn in Wichita, Kansas with the Prairie Quilt Guild!

They’ve done a good job in choosing 3 workshops with completely different techniques and we dug right in to a two block quilt yesterday, Texas Tumbleweed from MORE Adventures with Leaders & Enders!

From what I understand, West Kansas has it's own tumbleweed issues, and many are calling their quilts KANSAS Tumbleweed instead of Texas!

This was a whole new group, and it was fun to meet everyone!

The Prairie Quilt Guild is LARGE with 700 members, so  sign ups were limited to one class per student until everyone had their chance to choose a class, and then if there were any openings left, students could choose a second class if there was still room.  All classes are full!  And I love how busy and happy a full class room is.

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A Smith Mountain Morning in Wichita!

Squeeze it all in here girls, we can fit in this photo!

We had an ADVENTUROUS day yesterday with the Prairie Quilters in Wichita – including friends who had come from as far as Nebraska to join in our fun this weekend.

This bunch was such a hoot! We had an absolute ball, and I have made plans with Jean (purple shirt, second from the left) to do some antique mall hopping and lunch out on Wednesday because my flight doesn’t leave until later afternoon.  Yeeeeehawww!

We met at the extension office, and what a busy place it was.  Saturdays in this time of year also mean the farmer’s market has full control of the parking lot, and the place was hopping.  There was also a vintage/antique clock and watch show going on.

Just about 11:20 while we are busily cutting and sewing and pressing – the power went out for the whole building!  Our first thought of course was that “THE IRONS DID IT!”  But it turns out that something happened with the entire grid and power was out for 4,000 residents as well as some of the traffic lights in the area.

No, the irons did NOT do it!  But we were still without power!

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Bye-bye, Naperville!

It was just past zero-dark-thirty when alarm clocks went off and we got our happily weary bodies down to the awaiting limo that would take us from the Naperville Marriott to O'Hare airport and off to our own next adventures.

Pam is staying a few more days in Chicago wandering through museums and art galleries and soaking up all the city can offer before she heads to Asilomar to teach.

Lisa is on her way back to New Mexico where things are waiting to be attended to. Our limo dropped her at the terminal for American Airlines.

Pepper Cory and I  disembarked at the Delta terminal, loaded our luggage inside and gratefully handed it over.  Much lighter, we wandered our way through security and off to find breakfast.

Before I knew it, I was alone with my thoughts as Pepper’s flight left before mine and I could really stop and think and unwind while I waited for myj flight to board.

And waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.

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All Good Things Must End..

We had our closing banquet and student show and share last night, and just like that, our Naperville Cocoon 2016 was over!

There were many hugs and tears and laughs.  We’ve made such good memories over the past 5 days since we all gathered together.

We’ve learned skills, been pushed out of our boxes and expanded our  experiences.

It’s been a wonderful time and I will greatly miss everyone!

Can you see how much fun these folks are?  You know when people will do a “CRAZY” photo and not feel the least bit self conscious, you have found a group with a zest for living and there are no limits on what you can do.

I hope my paths cross with these great quilters who I call friends again before too long!

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A Quilt of Valor for Rosemary!

Meet Rosemary Daws from Texas, shown here wrapped in a Quilt of Valor and Love!

Sometimes the most unexpected things unfold when we attend events like this.

I have always believed that quilting is much more than fabric, thread, machines and patterns.  The best part of quilting is our relationships with others.

The story goes that Pepper Cory (shown here with Rosemary) was talking about quilts along with some of her own family history, and mentioned the military service of her father.

And then in a small voice someone (aka. Rosemary!) pipes up and says “I am a Vietnam Veteran”.

Before we knew it, Pepper had grabbed Kaye England, who is our backbone and facilitator at this event, and Kaye says that she will take care of it!

She calls up Rita Pennington, who is the Land of Lincoln coordinator for Quilts of Valor here in Illinois, and she arranges an impromptu Quilt of Valor “wrapping” as a surprise for Rosemary (And all who were not in the KNOW that this was going to happen) at our silent auction event last night which is raising money for breast cancer research.

Good things happen when we gather together to quilt with one another!

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Naperville Cocoon, Day 2!

THIS Kind of fun is happening in Naperville Illinois this week!

Yesterday was day #2 of Midnight Flight.  A lot of fun with small pieces, a whole new room full of excited students, and a day to play!

And of course, this is a dream for me because not only do I get to spend the time with these quilters, many whom I’ve taught before here there and everywhere including guild meetings and cruises and shows, but I actually have time to spend with the other instructors, and usually that isn’t the case.

Everyone is so busy that the instructors usually don’t get time to even get to know each other.

This really has been super.

I mean, who wouldn’t want to tag team a featherweight with Pepper Cory?  It turns out that Marilyn was able to bring us one, and Pepper and I arranged it that she could have it for the first two days, which included her lecture day, and starting TONIGHT – that sweet little featherweight will be in my clutches until class is over tomorrow.  Bliss!

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Naperville Cocoon, Day 1!

We are all here, and having a great time – even if it was spitting SNOW yesterday afternoon.

Hello? Illinois?  It’s APRIL for cryin’ out loud.  I know I wanted a stop to the pollen infestation that had my eyes glued shut in North Carolina, but if this is your way of dealing with the situation – I take it back. Seriously.  It got up to 70 on Sunday.  Yesterday – 32.  How DO these Midwesterners deal with it?

Well, we stay in and QUILT of course!  And we did!

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An Impromptu Sit & Sew!

Yesterday afternoon found me with some time on my own after we had arrived at the Naperville Marriott, filled our bellies at the near by Maggianos.

Pam, Lisa and Pepper had gone off in search of dreamland, and I gave my friend Valerie, owner of The Quit Merchant in Winfield a call after finding her email on my phone.

“Forgot to tell you I am having a sewing day at the store with some friends so I hope you will join us…….”

OH! YES!

The shop is maybe 15 minutes away and Val came and retrieved me and took me back!

I was a surprise you see, These gals just knew Val was out to retrieve something. Isn’t this fun!

Hexie corner section #2 is growing!

Valerie finished her bricks little quilt!

Thank you for an afternoon of stitching bliss!

Of course there was some shopping to be had.

Some ooh-gling,

Some ahhhh-gling

Some Oh my gosh-ing

Some “I have to make this!” ing as well!

Val has started her own pattern line for reproduction scrap quilts and her designs are just dreamy and make my heart smile!

Something to pet around every corner!

Samples upon samples!

You gotta get to Winfield, Illinois!

Thank you for the wonderful afternoon, my friend!

Quiltville Quote of the Day!

Our smiles can change everything! Turn yours on today!

I know the smiles of friends lifted my travel tired heart turning yesterday from a work chore to joys to be remembered.  Smiles make all the difference.

Vintage grandmother's flower garden quilt found in Kentucky.

Time to get myself down to my class and get this day started!

Love from Naperville -

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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Hello from Illinois! Let’s Draw!

I told you I would do this tonight!

I bet you thought I forgot!

No, didn’t forget, but ran out of time this evening before it was time to meet with all of the cocoon retreaters downstairs for our opening dinner event.

And then I had to take some time to check out my class room and get all set up in there so I am ready for classes to begin tomorrow.

What a DAY we have had!

It all started when the alarm went off at 3:15am.

Jeff drove me to the airport, leaving the house at 4am so I could be there at 4:30 am to check in for my flight to Atlanta which was boarding at 5:20am.

Early early.  Zombie early.

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Catch ALL the Spring You Can!

This is spring in Wilkes County, North Carolina!

Take a look at that blue blue sky, the dogwood blooming pink and the halo of green at the upper most reaches of tree branches.

Isn’t it glorious?

THIS, my friends, is the reason that my allergies are in hyper drive, my eyes watering, sticky, itchy lids threatening to become glued tightly shut over night thanks to all of the pollen.

Spring is wonderful – I’ve been longing for it for months, but I somehow forgot THIS part.

Sadie and I took a little detour on our way home.  There was an antique shop that is RARELY open.  At least when I go by they are always closed, but today they WERE open, and I picked up this little lady:

$35.00 later she was in my car and we were heading out.  The wiring looked suspect, but I had planned to treadle this machine anyway, so for the price, and believing I was going to ditch the wiring, off we went.  More on this story in a bit…

This is also Wilkes County, North Carolina.

Wilkesboro to be exact!

Isn’t this just idyllic?  I don’t know what it is about old houses, but I just love looking at them and dreaming what life has been lived here over the past many decades, if not a century or more.

Hello Wisteria!

You smell wonderful.  But you are still making my eyes water!

Sadie and I made a stop here for the very first time!

Doesn’t this look great?

She had been in the car for a while, and the day was too pretty to let pass without exploring these wonderful paved pathways.  Best part about it?  NO HILLS!

Pretty, huh?  See the spring green on the trees?

Those leaves will be completely unfurled by the time I am back here.

Green in the tree tops!

Redbuds! My favorite!

Back to the little Necchi, the wiring IS bad.  Upon unloading her at home, I took drastic measures-the motor has been removed and all wires pulled.  But when I went to put it in the treadle cabinet, it seems that all hinge pins are not created equal, and the holes in the base of the Necchi are too small for the standard Singer hinge pins.  There will need to be some boring out of the holes if this is going to fit, so that is now on a back burner because I ran out of time!  I just need a machine shop and I can get them to drill the holes a bit bigger for me.

There is always the option of having the motor rewired.  The cord end on it is melted, like someone plugged the motor into the socket for the light, a bad no-no on these two socket vintage cords.

As this posts I am on my way to Chicago.  Where spring has not yet quite arrived and my eyes will get a break.

We left the house at 4am to get me to the airport by 4:30am for check in.  THERE WILL be a nap as soon as I reach the hotel!

I am excited to meet the retreaters who have come from far and near for the Cocoon.  Many are staying over and including the International Quilt Show of Chicago in their itineraries.  I envy them!  The show starts on Thursday, and we wind up on Thursday, and I fly to Wichita on Friday.

Before I leave you I do want to let you know of some new goodies in the Quiltville Store!

Scrap Quilt Secrets by Diane Knott!

List: $29.95  on sale for $28.00

Strip Your Stash by Gudrun Erla

List $24.95  on sale for $24.00

Quilts for Scrap Lovers by Judy Gauthier

List: $26.95  on sale for $26.00

You can find these and many other goodies by clicking the Shop tab at the top of the blog!  Remember, all orders over $75.00 ship free in the USA by using the coupon code Free75 at checkout. Only available to USA addresses, and you must use the coupon code to get the free shipping.

Quiltville Quote of the Day!

I think the trick is to be open to the wonders of any experience from the beginning! Don't wait until it's over having to look back to find the silver lining! 😃

Vintage nine patch and star quilt found by Irene in Kentucky.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

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