Friday, April 23, 2010

Rainy day - quilting day

Wow, what a rainy day! Wow, what a day to quilt.! Actually, my husband was hoping for a little rain and hoping we aren't going to get the storms as predicted. I spent Monday in the tractor "helping" my husband. He told me what I did looked good from the road. Of course I laughed to myself and thought of us quilters as we say our quilts look good from a galloping horse! My mother-in-law asked me if I enjoyed being out in the open air. Truthfully, I told her, "No, I don't really enjoy it." I am really an indoors kind of gal. I appreciate looking at beautiful gardens, but I don't really want to have one. Isn't it wonderful that God made us all different? I LOVE to do applique, some don't like it at all! I love the "h" word - "hand-work" - and Beth prefers to do everything with her machine. I love to look at diamond quilts with all of the set in seams, but have no desire to try one. Some like a challenging quilt, others like to do simple quilts. I prefer the simple quilts. I like the mindless-brainless ones that I can talk to my friends while making them. Imagine that!!! And, I especially love giving them to people who don't quilt. They are impressed with anything! And if you love giving things, don't forget about our pillowcase challenge. The girls who stayed in our retreat center last weekend made us a boatload of pillowcases to take to Freedom House! They were so inspiring for us. They found if they purchased a yard each of two different fabrics in the clearance section, they could get two pillowcases. You should see the beautiful pillowcases they came up with. Marianne (the lady who takes the pillowcases to Freedom House) told me the kids get so excited when they see a cool pillowcase on their bed. She said it is even more exciting when she tells them they get to take it with them when they leave! Well, just in case you have nothing to do on this rainy day, think about making a donation of a pillowcase for someone who would really appreciate it!

TTFN,
Carol

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

We're Back!

Yes, we're back and have hit the ground running! Dallas, Texas was WONDERFUL! We got the red carpet treatment while we were at Moda/United Notions. Our minds are spinning from all we learned. We spent the airplane ride making a big list of everything we wanted to do. We took 2 classes from Joanna from Fig Tree Quilts. She taught the most adorable pin cushion. Beth and I were able to get them cut out while in class and hope to get them together this week. We also liked one of her dresden plate patterns. Another lady we took classes from was RoseAnn Kermes. She did lots of demos for us and gave us some super ideas. Susan Fuquay from American Quilt Retailer presented 2 classes also. Boy, is that lady organized. Very inspirational!!! We flew back into Chicago on Saturday evening, stayed at a hotel, and went to Troy's Fabriganza on Sunday. We came home with a van load of material. Our biggest "find" was Petal Pusher's fabric by Pearl Louise. It screams SPRING! The colors are red, white, green, blue and yellow! Stop in and see this new line. We have lots of projects planned for it. - Our purchases from Moda should be arriving any day. Moda is the king for jelly rolls so we couldn't leave Texas without a new grouping! Well, we have Garden Club this evening so I better get back to work! In case you were wondering, my April Fool's joke backfired! AARGH! Beth carries a Miche bag. (I'm sure you all know what these are and if you don't, just ask us and we will show you.) She has three openings for pictures on the front of the bag. Of course she has two of the openings with pictures of her grandsons in them. The third opening has been empty for weeks! So, I put a silly picture of myself in the third opening and thought she would carry it for weeks without noticing. It just so happened that she noticed it within 2 hours! Of course her son-in-law took it a step farther and put a mustache and beard on my picture! What kind of family does that Beth have anyway?!!!