Classes and Projects

Saturday a group of ladies got together to work on the Thanksgiving Disappearing Nine-Patch Quilt.  They traced and colored during the class and went home with lots of homework.  We will get back together in a few weeks with their stitched pieces to start putting together the quilt.  Happy stitching ladies!

This was Judy's first class with me (she takes the recipe card classes) as far as a sewing class.  She was a bit intimidated at first but got right to work tracing her designs.  I think she'll survive! 

Don't you love Sue's shirt?  Guess where she just visited?   

Dolly brought lots of treats to class plus a wonderful Strawberry Pretzel Cake dessert.  We didn't lack for something to eat today!!  Thanks Dolly! 

Debbie is the quilt instructor that has a studio in Henderson and teaches at my house.  She takes classes with me to get a break from her classes.  I love that!!!  And, of course, I take classes with her.  Works out for both of us. 

Kim is really concentrating on her piece of coloring.  She loved her first block once she got it colored and ironed.  The process is so much fun.  Let's us have a little childhood fun in a grown-up world. 

Here is a sneek peek at a few of the projects I'm working on for the upcoming fall class schedule.  This is a piece I've admired for many years but never took the time to stitch.  It's from an older Need'l Love book and was great fun to work on.  There's embroidery as well as wool applique. 

This project is from the new Need'l Love Pumpkin Patch Threads book.  I'm trying to do a couple (at least) projects from that book to help offset the cost of the book.  This piece isn't officially framed yet but I love the frame in the photo which came from Lisa at Lone Star.  Hopefully we'll be able to have those frames for your finished pieces too. 

Loved doing the towels and I don't think I've ever taught anything on towels before.  The pumpkin towel would make a great hostess gift and the turkey is done in wonderful hand-dyed flosses.  He was a punch needle piece in the book, but I did him as an embroidered piece.  Love turkeys! 

And who could resist another crazy quilt project?  This is a very fun project and very do-able!!  Not quite as overwhelming as the larger wool crazy pieces we did last year.   I've almost finished my stocking.........almost!

I'll be posting a couple more things I'm trying to finish up in the next couple of days.  And I will be trying to get the "official" class schedule done the first week of August. 

Happy stitching.  I'm doing my rain dance by the way!!!!!!

Miss Lou's Quilt Studio

Some of you may remember from an earlier post a pincushion that I presented to Debbie Powell of Miss Lou's Quilt Studio.  The real truth is I had my sister draw Debbie's shop but realized I couldn't get the entire piece stitched by the time I was teaching my class there so I decided to turn a small portion into a pincushion.  Debbie loved her pincushion and carries it with her wherever she goes.  She even told her husband if they had a fire in the house to save the pincushion.  Too funny.  Well, in the meantime I've been stitching like a fool trying to get the shop picture completed.  And a week or so ago the time came to present Debbie with the finished piece. 

Here I am telling Debbie I had something for her and she said "Are you going to make me cry again?"  I sure hope not. 

She was totally surprised and loved the finished shop.  She said something like now I have the whole building.   

Debbie is a special friend to me and has graciously shared her studio and students with me.  I have enjoyed teaching there and truly appreciate her generosity.  And, of course, I always have a good time when I'm there and have made some new friends along the way. 

Ta-da!!  The finished Miss Lou's Quilting Studio.............love the red, white & blue.

And as a result of this little adventure, several people have asked if we could draw their homes for stitching.  I now have my sister working on that little project and hopefully we'll be able to do just that.  So if you want your home, or someone else's home, or a shop drawn, let me know and I'll let you know what we've come up with.

Hopefully you're inspired to do a little stitching of your own today.............

Fabric Yard Sale!!

Hey, anyone out there want a good deal on fabric?  My friend Heather Chandler is cleaning out her closets and having a yard sale this coming weekend.  Details are listed below from an email she sent me.  So run on out and see what you might need!!

1821 White Dogwood Rd
Apex, NC 27502

I hope you are all having a good summer. I have been cleaning out my sewing room and am having a yard sale this Saturday, July 23rd, 8am - 12pm. I will be selling off a large part of my stash - there just isn't room for it all!

All of it is quilt shop quality fabric - 1yard cuts - for $5 a yard. I will also have some fat quarters for $1 each. The fabric is from all manufacturers - Robert Kaufman, Moda, Benartex, Free Spirit, Marcus Bros. etc. I have a wide range of styles - kids, contemporary, asian, civil war reproduction, holiday, etc. I also have some charm packs ($4 each), jelly rolls ($15) and layer cakes ($15) - most of them also have associated yardage. Come early for the best selection ;).

In addition, I have some good quality yarn (silk, wool) for $2 a skein, scrapbooking and other papercrafting supplies, along with other miscellaneous craft supplies. Books, toys, and other household items are thrown into the mix as well. Please feel free to tell your friends about it.

See you there!

Time Flies......

Where does the time go?  All I know is it goes by quicker than I can keep up with.  Lots of classes, my girls have been here, working on new projects for the fall and winter, preparing for a trunk show and class in Henderson, lots of things to do.

Lots of ladies attended recipe card class.  They were so busy I don't even think they noticed me taking their pictures.   

Raleigh and Reagan posing with a smaller version of the Statue of Liberty after dinner at Red Robin on Sunday evening.  The girls were spending the night and got to choose what restaurant they wanted to go to. 

Well, I didn't say play in the wool, but oh well, have at it girls.  Lots of scraps for the project binder.....and lots of creativity going on in that class. 

Teresa decided she wanted to get in on the wool fun! 

Button, button, who has the button?  Oh, what to do, which one will look best? 

Who, me? 

Have you ever been up to your knees in wool?  I needed to get to the cutting mat so I just plunged in the wool.  Easier than trying to move it.  And Lynn couldn't resist taking a picture of their teacher immersed in wool. 

More garden fun for the girls.  They each had a bag to fill up with goodies.   

Reagan decided she shouldn't have picked this pepper yet and is trying to figure out if she can put it back on the plant.  I don't think so..... 

I was trying to catch the hummingbird in this picture but he was too fast for me.  Still a pretty picture.

We had a meeting this past weekend with most of the vendors for the Porch Sale in the Barn.  Everyone is excited about the upcoming sale and busy working and creating so we will have lots of fun things for you to choose from.  I think we will have a huge variety of merchandise and can't wait to share it all with you.  Remember to mark your calendars for October 14-15!!  We'll be sending out more information in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, go find some time to stitch a little.................

Summer Gardens....

Look, is that a little bunny in our garden?

Crouched, looking for something good to munch on....... 

Oh no, it's just little Raleigh looking for some ripe tomatoes...... 

and I think she found a few........ 

Raleigh loved going to the garden, searching for ripe red tomatoes.  She wanted to know if she could do that the next time she came over.  I love that she gets to experience the garden first hand. 

We have several pumpkin vines growing........trying to have some pumpkins for the porch sale in October.  So far so good.  We're battling the deer but I think we're winning this round.  They've eaten our cucumbers and a few tomato plants but we have some new stinky things to ward them off which seem to be working.  I know probably only for a short time, but we're trying.

How does your garden grow?

We just got back from a trip to Florida where we celebrated my husband and his mother's birthdays together.  He was born two days before her birthday.   We celebrated the girls' birthdays earlier in June and now will end the month with two more.

The birthday duo....... 

Make a wish!! 

We left Mom & Dad's house and headed for Ft. Myer later in the week to visit a quilt shop that is carrying some of my patterns.  Somehow I got excited in the shop looking at all the beautiful fabrics and forgot to take pictures.  So if you're in the Ft. Myer area, look up Quilt Lover's Hangout.  A super nice, friendly, well-stocked quilt shop.  Wish it were closer.  And after we left the quilt shop, we went to visit the winter home of Thomas Edison.  Look at all those light bulbs.  If you're near the Ft. Myers area, be sure to visit this place.  It was so interesting and there was so much history and things we weren't aware that Thomas Edison was involved in.  And beautiful homes and grounds to walk around. 

This was a guest room in the house.  Love the quilt on the bed which is the reason I took this picture, of course! 

And two more red and white quilts.....really love the red and white! 

There were these huge rubber trees all over the grounds.  Seems Thomas Edison and Henry Ford were good friends and once worked together.  They were trying to devise a better way to make tires for cars and were cultivating their own rubber trees for their experiments.  The trees were absolutely huge and all over the property along with many other types of trees that I'm sure were useful to them in some way.  I told my husband if our river birch tree had roots this cool, maybe we wouldn't have cut it down! 

As we were driving up the highway we could see this rain shower ahead of us.  Apparently Florida is in a rainy season now.  It can rain every single day.  Wish we had that here!!!!! 

And at the end of the shower appears this beautiful rainbow.  At one point there was a double rainbow but I don't think I got a good picture of that. 

And of course we had to get off at one of our favorite little towns on I-95, Walterboro, SC.  The town is full of quaint little shops and many antique shops.  A good break from the long highway driving.  I found a few treasures but it was so blamed hot, it wasn't much fun to walk around. 

And after we got home we visited this general store in Durham that Pam from the Rusty Bucket told me about.  We decided to take a drive Saturday afternoon and find this place.  One of those stores that's full of stuff and you sort of have to search through or you miss something.  We had a good time looking at all the things for sale as well as the many things that were on display. 

I told the owner I would just point the camera and shoot and see what we came up with.  There was just stuff everywhere and not one good place to isolate for a photo.  So go visit if you get a chance. 

These pictures are out of order, but this was an antique shop we stopped at somewhere in Florida I think.  Didn't buy anything in the shop but loved the sign out front.

We made it to the ocean one day while at Mom & Dad's.  I'm afraid I can't do the sun anymore so I had about reached my limit here.  But the ocean was beautiful.  And we were able to see the space shuttle launch pad which was the main reason for heading that direction.  We just couldn't get as close as my husband wanted to get.

And look what we found when we got home.  My bluebirds have hatched.  I can't wait to watch them grow and turn into sweet little bluebirds.  The Mama and Papa birds are hovering, feeding and watching over the babies.  They have several places in the yard that they perch and watch over the nest.  They have been great parents!!

Hope everyone had a safe and restful 4th of July and enjoyed some sparks along the way...........

Merry 4th of July to everyone! 

Be safe.