Spring Market 2014

I just returned from Spring Market in Pittsburgh, PA.  I went with two other friends. It was a 4 1/2 hour drive and raining on the way up there.  But we had a great time talking quilting and other stuff while on the drive. Our Hotel overlooked the river and we could see the tug boats up and down the river. It was a room with a view.

Market was exciting as always. It is a way of renewing friendships and networking. I had two friends doing book signings at the Schiffer Publishing booth and it was great to see the warm reception to their books.

What we all want to know is where are the fabric colors going? Well, I am personally pleased to see some bright colors. Maybe it is because of the long winter but I am ready for color. I think the color of the market was bright green and not the color of money but the color of spring leaves. Combine the green with teal or turquoise and yellows or orange and that is it. Medium to large flowers or other prints in the stated colors and that is the trend that I saw.

Another wonderful item is the Scan it and Cut it by Brother. I cannot detail all the wonderful things it does but look to the Brother sites and read all about it. I was so impressed that I bought one. I usually mull over my purchase decisions for months before buy but I buy it the very next day.
Happy Spring Quilting.

Look who I saw. Eleanor Burns and Leah Day. Leah is a very sweet lady and talented too!

Wool and Sheep Show

I went with my daughter to the Sheep & Wool show in Maryland today.  My daughter is a terrific knitter, I am not.  There were exhibits of dog herding sheep, farm equipment auction, sheep shearing demos, and sheep in their pens to be petted.  There were lots of vendors selling wool – in roving, yarn and by the oz.  In natural colors and a rainbow of colors. They sold patterns, buttons, pins (jewelry), needles, spinning wheels, and everything else you cannot even image.

My granddaughter (14) and her friend went to see the dogs do their thing and then to the barns to pet the sheep. They phoned to ask about our progress only to hear we had barely put a dent at the vendor’s barns.  A funnel cake, another dog show, and sheep shearing demonstration and we were finally ready to call it a day.

My daughter brought two shawl patterns and some yarn. I hope to become the precipitant of one of those shawls. It is too bad I do not knit but I am better at quilting. All I bought was a bag of candied nuts.

What I did on Spring Break

My granddaughter (14) was on Spring Break last week. Her idea of vacation is to sleep ‘til noon, go to a movie, and have sleep overs with friends.  The adults in her life had different ideas. She had a class project to work on. Mom said to clean up the yard after the dogs, and Nana said it’s time to learn to sew.

I (Nana) had some fabric to make a quilt for donation.  I had pre- cut the fabric and a simple strip quilt would be ideal to work on her sewing skills. And she could get some volunteer time to her credit.

She has a little experience on the sewing machine so most of the time she kept a straight seam line. The blocks were made and then came the lesson on joining the blocks and rows. The last border was sewn on and she finally could have lunch! Two whole hours. But like most teens she secretly liked the finished top.

I am quilting and finishing the 45” X 50” quilt which will be donated to the local hospital Chemo clinic. She did by the way see a movie and have a sleep over during the week.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. In the mid-Atlantic it is just another snow day. 9 inches fell during the night and everything is closed until we can dig our way out again. We really hope this is the last snow storm.

I last wrote of not being able to accomplish much sewing but the last 3 weeks have been nothing but sewing.  I completed a baby quilt and two small wall hanging  (26” X 22”) challenge quilts completed. I belong to the Mason Dixon Quilt Professionals Network. Every two years we have a challenge which is often exhibited at major shows. This challenge theme is US Modern Era – 1914 – 2014. I choose space exploration as I have an Uncle who worked on the Saturn rocket engines. The second quilt I made had to do with Television. I created a Television with many iconic show titles on the ‘screen’. This project was fun but hard to make the choice of which titles to include. There were so many to choose from.  If you have chance to see our exhibit I’m sure you will enjoy it.

Educational Weekend

What a wonderful weekend I had.  I had been invited to join two talent longarm quilters in our area to join them at a longarm quilt conference.  Classes were offered for all levels of experience, which is good because I am not at the same level as these two ladies.  After registering on the first morning we were chatting with other students. One of our group asked a young woman (any woman than my 60 + is younger but as it happened she is my daughter’s age) where she is from to which she replied “Australia”.  We asked if she had come just for this event, which she replied “yes”.  Well we decided Catherine would not be by herself this weekend and we dragged her along with us. 

We spent a long evening at Seafood Restaurant learning about Australia. She learn probably more about America and us than she wanted. We all learn a lot in our classes and look forward to applying those lessons on our longarm machines.  Catherine had plans to stay one more day and travel the return trip on Tuesday.  I have heard she has been delayed as the flights have been cancelled by the winter storm.

I hope that we will meet again, maybe at quilting event somewhere. My husband would not mind taking a trip to Australia even if it’s to a quilt show.

January events

In the month of January I usually inventory my quilt projects. I count the number of unfinished quilts and the state of completion.  I try to use the rest of the month finishing quilt bindings or labels just to nudge a few of them into the finished pile. None of this has happened this year.

Most of the country is suffering from the coldest winter in years if not decades. We too in our ‘neck of the woods’ are cold.  Thank goodness we have a fireplace.  As long as we keep the wood box full the fireplace helps keep the house warm and with the added asset of keeping the electric heat bill lower.  So the year started out by moving a lot of wood closer to the house. Snow has greeted us several times and that means shoveling the drive and sideway.  But mostly it is cold, several days there was no school or work so the house had a husband and daughter making noises of some kind.

In middle of the month my mother-in-law had passed away. She was 86 and had been in poor health for several years. She led a full life the way she wanted and passed in her sleep.  This event had us flying to the opposite side of the country.  The weather was warmer there that was a plus. We returned to bitter cold again.

All this has led me to the end of the month with no inventory, no blogs written for the month and little time in my sewing room.  I hope this is not a sign of the rest of the year.

Time goes by

Happy New Year! We are now in the year 2014.
I noticed that my last entry was around Thanksgiving, my bad. I have of course preparing for Christmas, working on 2 donation quilts, and my book which means making another quilt for it.
Oh yes, we also had new granite counter tops put in a couple of weeks ago.   The counter tops were the gift my husband and I gave to ourselves.

Yesterday and today was spent putting away the holiday decorations and fitting in a little sewing.  My husband and daughter went the movies a couple of times. Have to support the 'arts' you know.

Now its back to work and routine.  I wish you a Happy New Year.