The past several months have been busy...
Life Happens!
Lots of catching up to do!
Grab a cup of your favorite beverage...
this is a long one!!
invited Lisa McCarthy
from East Kingston N.H.
In the workshop we started the "Happiness" paper pieced pattern by
Jacqueline de Jonge
Lots of prep work for this baby!!
All my pieces cut, labeled and ready to go!!
center paper pieced star completed!
this was as far as I got in class...
four months later
no progress made!
But it's on the first UFO list!
It has to be done by Sept 2019 for SCQG's biannual show!
There is a special section in the show that is solely to display all
of the projects members made in guild sponsored workshops!
Time to get cracking!!
In April I attended one of my favorite quilt shows!
Taking way too many classes!
Must contain myself next year!!
"On the Edge: The Devil is Still in the Details"
was an outstanding class.
Her process is unbelievable!
She gave wonderful hands-on instructions.
If you ever have the chance to take this class...
Take It!!
The 5" quilted squares were proved by Bethanne,
Made it so easy to get right to work with the edge designs!
My samples from the class!
Definitely need to incorporate these techniques into my next few quilts!
Another outstanding class was
"Dense & Dainty"
Margaret's talent is .... amazing!
Awe - Inspiring!
After following her work for several year,
it was a privilege to soak in all the information
she provided in her class!
There was a FUN evening with
you had the opportunity to pre-purchase an Octopus kit!
We were able to start the wall hanging that evening...
mine is again in that UFO pile!
The above photo is Kathy's finish wall hanging - outstanding!
"Graffiti Quilting"
was an interesting class and totally out of my tool box!
This was her first year teaching!
She did a really good job!
This musical quilt is fabulous in person!
Just loved her style - will definitely incorporate it into
one of my future quilts!
To get out of my quilt box and into the paint box,
Kathy McNeil's class on fabric painting was spot on!!
Her work is just outstanding -
that's why she is an award winning quilter!!
June brought me down to Texas to visit this sweet Gal!
Gosh I miss her so much!
We had a nice visit!
Victoria took me to the
Art Museum of South Texas for brunch
and to see the beautiful works of art on display.
But the show stopper for me was this magnificent
Chihuly display!
This hand blown glass piece hung in a center pavilion,
we walked up to the second floor to get a good look at it...
amazing!
Outside the art museum there was a bronze statue of a
Texas Longhorn steer ...
so of course we had to take the obligatory vacation photo!!
And it was only the beginning of JUNE!!
Yup it felt HOT that day!
Victoria had to attend an Athletic Training Conference so I was the
Doggie Sitter!
The pillow speaks for itself!!
Since I had her apartment to myself for two days...
there was lots of paper piecing going on!
Managed to accomplish quite a bit!
darling daughter has been asking for this quilt for two years!
Time to get it started!!
Selecting the fabric was the hardest part...
made several changes along the way!
A year ago, as Program Co-Chair for SCQG I met
She is a retired doctor and VERY talented quilter.
The guild LOVED her!
We have become great Quilty Friends
(she was my roommate last November at the Houston Quilt show!),
for some Fabric Therapy! and lunch at the Bolton Bean.
Fabulous day!
We are already planning our next Fabric Therapy session!
The amazing thing about Quilting ...
it brings the best people into your life!
Life changes....
My son Matt and his fiance Emily have relocated from
Florida to Cape Cod!
To say I'm thrilled ~ is an understatement!!
The best thing is Emily LOVED my
mom's Mid Century Modern Dresser...
so off it went to the Cape!!
It looks fabulous in their bedroom,
my mom would be so happy!
She always wanted to live on the Cape...
well a little piece of her now does!
And Of Course I had to see if there would be any interest in Quilting!!
the answer is YES!!
Emily is hooked on quilting!
Yippee ~ another young new quilter!!
Thrilled that my extra sewing table could be put to good use!
Its just waiting for a shiny new "used" Janome to arrive from ebay!!!
My gift to the new quilter!!
And for her first pattern a so easy (LOL!!)
diagonally paper pieced quilt!
"Atomic StarBurst" by
Emily is doing a Phenomenal Job!!
Her design wall -
flannel backed table cloth from the Christmas Tree Shop!!
My Hubby loves his Gold Panning hobby!
July found us in the mountains and streams of New Hampshire...
well he was in the streams...
can you see him??
Hidden in place sight!
Didn't help that he was wearing a green shirt!!
Thankfully I had lots of EEP and a good audible book!
enough to last for two six hour days of watching hubby play in the dirt!!
But id did find ... a real flake of Gold!!
He was THRILLED!!
On the way back to the hotel after the first day he yelled
"Quick, stop the car, turn around, there's a moose"!!!
Sure enough this big gal was having a late afternoon snack in the swamp!!
It's the first time we had ever seen a moose live in the wild...
such a majestic sight!
She hung around for several minutes then after a long look at us,
turn and meandered into the woods!
The mountain do not appeal to me much -
your either a mountain person or and ocean person...
I am definitely an ocean person,
but the view from our hotel (have to admit!)
was breathtaking!
The rolling clouds over the different shades of green...
Just Beautiful!
Now that I'm adjusting to true retirement!
feeling the need to DO Something!
to help hang new installations is becoming something
that is filling that void.
Hanging the exhibits in the classroom is my favorite,
once its done - to stand there,
twirl around and see it all hanging and beautiful...
well ... it's inspiring!
The current exhibit features quilts from the Material Girls Quilt Guild -
winners of the NEQM 2017 Summer Celebration
they had some fun quilts!!
Another hobby of my Hubby's is Fishing..
or another opportunity for me to catch up on my EPP or applique projects!
This cute fellow joined us for awhile!
No fish ...
but the boats were pretty!
this one was spectacular!
Speaking of boats...
Ship #9 is DONE!!
YIPPEE!!
now onto the sashing and designing a swag border!
Still debating...
Hand Quilt vs Machine Quilt???
My sewing area has undergone a few changes!
My mom's bedroom has become the
Guest room / Quilting Annex!!
Design walls are up!
Big Border Ironing Station and big cutting table are up!
and the closet is now filled with quilts ready for quilting,
extra batting, projects in the wait!
and a quilty retreat bag packed and ready to go at a moments notice!!
The sewing room now is just for quilting and sewing!
The Janome will be the quilting machine
and the Bernina the Piecing machine!!
All (well most all!) of my fabric is neatly folded
onto comic book cards - to make it easier to "Shop My Stash"!
this closet is filled with more quilt projects "In The Wait"
(they are just waiting to be started, continued or finished!!)
my Mom's "back room" has been repurposed as my library
and a quiet place to sip coffee/tea/lemonade,
browse thru my books, update my blog!!
and watch the hummingbirds!
Till the next time!
Happy Quilting!
Janet
