Thursday, January 02, 2014

Smith Mountain Morning Day in Plano!

Yesterday was our Smith Mountain Morning workshop ---what a great way to spend New Year’s Day!

Learning new tools, making new friends – lots of networking in the works!

And oh, the color choices! These I love to see!

Of course, when The Hubster came to check in on us – this was the one he wanted to claim as his own – it’s Blue & Orange, perfect for a Boise State Alum whose blood runs in the same colors!

Things that touch my heart ---Even though we were here focusing on our own projects, several of our gal’s thoughts and prayers were encircled around a couple of special ladies who were NOT able to be with us due to recent medical reasons.

Impromptu photo ops with messages of love and caring are always a fun way to say we care, and we gathered against a gorgeous wall of batiks at Fabric Fanatics to pose for a “Wishing you were here” photo.

To Candy and Kitsey – wishing you were here!

There’s always NEXT year! We will be repeating our New Year’s Bash at Fabric Fanatics every New Year at least through 2017!

Smith Mountain Morning is found in my book String Fling. Signed copies can be ordered HERE.

Here’s the slide show of our day’s progress! Click the image below if you can’t view the slide show on your mobile device. You’ll be taken directly to the photo album.

Smith Mountain Morning, Plano TX 2014

Today we do it all again --and it's a Mystery Quilt Day! Don't worry, you won't miss out on this one --it has a date to appear in the July/August 2014 issue of Quiltmaker Magazine so stay tuned for it -- not as a Mystery, but as a full pattern all in one issue!
Our most recent Mystery Monday Link-Up will stay open until 11:55pm EST tonight, so if you have any progress to post, get it in there!
We will also be doing another one this coming Monday -- and then we will have a reprieve for a few weeks...I'm thinking the next Mystery Link up, to allow people time to get their quilts together will be Ground Hog Day, Sunday, Feb 2nd! That will give everyone a month from today to make what progress they can. Have a great day 2 of 2014, everyone!

Click Here to like our Quiltville Friends Page on Facebook for more fun! You do not need a Facebook account to read the Facebook posts - They are viewable to all! Feel free to read & quilt along with us!

Cruise the Caribbean with Me!

HOUSTON • ROATAN • BELIZE CITY • COZUMEL • 3 DAYS AT SEA

November 2 - 9, 2014

Bonnie Hunter Author, Educator & Designer Visit Bonnie's Website: Quiltville.com	Pam Holland Educator & Quilter Visit Pam's Website pamhollanddesigns andproductions.com

Catherine Redford Fiber Artist, Teacher & Speaker Visit Cathrine's Website: catherineredford.com	Kim Diehl Author, Designer Educator Visit Kim's Website: kimdiehl.com

PACKAGE INCLUDES: Accommodations onboard the ship, meals & entertainment, a welcome gathering, quilting classes, sewing machines provided, cocktail party, a Sew Many Places totebag and featuring our celebrity educators, BONNIE HUNTER, PAM HOLLAND, CATHERINE REDFORD and KIM DIEHL!

ONLY 7 CABINS LEFT:

$1298.00 | Inside Cabin
$1598.00 | Window Cabin
$1798.00 | Balcony Cabin

based on double occupancy

View the Printed Flyer for this Tour

Reservations

To make your reservations you can call us toll free at 877-887-1188 or make your reservations online.

For additional questions regarding airfare, transfers, insurance, pre-night packages, or our convenient payment plan, please call our toll-free number or use our contact form.

Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines'
Navigator of the Seas

Optional Pre-package
to the International Quilt Festival of Houston

Join us in Houston prior to the cruise for pre-night package including a pass to the International Quilt Festival of Houston and transportation from the hotel to the cruise port on the morning of the cruise. The dates are from October 30 - November 2, 2014, staying at the Hilton Americas Houston. The cost of this 3-night package is $643.00.

Itinerary:

Day	Port	Arrive	Depart
Sun	Galveston, Texas	--	4:30 pm
Mon	Day at Sea	--	--
Tue	Day at Sea	--	--
Wed	Roatan, Honduras	8:00 am	5:00 pm
Thu	Belize City, Belize	8:00 am	5:00 pm
Fri	Cozumel, Mexico	7:00 am	5:00 pm
Sat	Day At Sea	--	--
Sun	Galveston, Texas	7:00 am	--

Itinerary and pricing are subject to change. Some restrictions apply. Space is limited and on a first-come first-served basis. Please read our Terms and Conditions before placing deposit. Prices are per person based on double occupancy. Single Occupancy available at an additional cost.

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!!

I’m a day off in sharing class photos because of today’s Celtic Solstice mystery reveal that went live at midnight as the ball dropped!

Class is done for today, and I have some time to upload the photos as an evening post.

But before I do that ---many of you may have noticed a format change on the blog.

If you click to the blog home address, http://quiltville.blogspot.com you will notice that instead of there being one big, most recent post – there is a chronology of short post summaries, looking much like a mobile app ---I want to try this so it is easier for people to choose which post they want insteads of paging back and paging back and paging back to get to a post a few days previous. There are 6 recent posts on the HOME page so you can just click the READ MORE option to go to the post you want.

The only thing that is happening is that with the code I inserted, the first picture of each post on the home page is a bit stretched and weird. I do NOT know how to fix it. I’m thinking it’s because of the large photo format I use in Windows Live Writer, but never fear, when you click the READ MORE link and actually get to the REAL POST – there is no circus mirror look to the photos.

In other words, you don't have to email me or comment asking "Is it just me?" or "did I do something wrong?" because you didn't -- it just is, and it doesn't matter. :)

Back to our CLASS!

Roll Roll Cotton boll was our mystery FOUR Mysteries ago. How can time go by so quickly?

It is also one of my favorite classes to teach, because the string piecing segment is so fun. We get to really break out of our boxes and find what really DOES qualify as a neutral, share strips with each other to increase the variety, and play stress free. And we get to play with the Easy Angle Ruler for triangles in two sizes --- starting big to get a bit of experience under our belts, and moving to small ones that frame the center church dash in each pieced block.

I loved all the different color combos that made an appearance – you’ll see them in the slide show below!

I also hope you can tell by the photos what a great time everyone was having –what a perfect way to spend New Year’s Eve Day!

Click the image below if you can’t view the slide show on your mobile device. You’ll be taken directly to the photo album.

Roll Roll Cotton Boll, Plano 2013

iPhone-o-Gram! Smith Mountain Lunch

It's time for our lunchtime update from fabric fanatics in Plano Texas!

I hope everybody was pleasantly surprised with the release of Celtic solstice at midnight last night.

It was a lot of fun to do it that way and it really made my holiday special, I hope it did yours!

It's also fun today using some of the same units in Smith Mountain morning class as we used in the Celtic solstice mystery – I am a traditional quilter, and my favorite units keep popping up in quilts again and again and again.

Today we are using the same tri-recs unit and the same size of small half square triangle down to a pinwheel.

When designing any quilt – there are always other options and other layouts that come as test runs, and Celtic solstice was actually a cousinto Smith Mountain morning And has spent years saved in my EQ files :-)

We've got a great group of ladies today, several who have been here for three days straight already – and their energy is just as Viber today as it was on Monday with our first class.

Check out the very cool blue two-tone machine and read what it says on the upper arm – life long! We are forming life long friendships with every stitch we take.

Hoping that your first day of 2014 is wonderful wherever you are –