Saturday

Winter Quilt Show

My husband attended the Winter Quilt Show in West Bend today and while we were there he was awarded a quilt. What a wonderful surprise. He walked up to a booth where two women were sitting to thank them for their work making quilts for veterans and the Little Houses for veterans program that they support. The next thing we knew they were giving him a quilt! He was tickled pink by the nice surprise.

The winter quilt show is something that we attend every year but something changed. It just wasn't as nice of a show as it was in the past. The way the vendor booths were set up was weird and everyone there was bumping into everything. The quilt display wasn't as large as past years as well.

We did enjoy a nice lunch after we left the show and it was nice to get out of the house in the middle of the winter so it wasn't all bad. Here's to next year!


Tuesday

Chloe and Avery

This February has been a tough month to get any sewing done. That's because I have something much better to do - hang with my granddaughters!

My granddaughter, Avery had an overnight "camping" trip with her girl scout troop. Her mother couldn't go with her because of her work schedule so I filled in. The trip was held in a cabin in the woods at a Milwaukee County park. I had no idea place even existed even though I've been to this park many times. In fact, my wedding photos were taken in the same park just down the road from this cabin many years ago.

The cabin is set up with many bunk beds in one room for kids and twin beds in an adjacent room for the adult chaperones.
During our stay we made homemade pizzas followed by a STEM project of making cars with balloons attached that would move the cars when the air is let out. It was a good example of engineering. Then the girls made jewelry out of shaved crayons that were melted and made into a pendant. It was very pretty. There were a few other events like making a game as well.

Even though Avery was having a good time, when it came time for bed she had a meltdown and insisted on going home. She was so very upset. The funny thing was by the time I drove us down the road from the cabin she was sound asleep in the back seat of my car. I could have easily turned around and went back to the cabin and carried her to her bunk bed but I have to admit, I didn't really look forward to sleeping there either so I took her to my house and we 'camped' in my bed - haha!
Brownie Troop
 A few days after my trip with Avery, I took her sister Chloe for a haircut. Chloe absolutely hates the idea of getting her hair cut. She doesn't like pampering and just refused to cooperate. I finally talked her into going to my salon where she agreed to get a haircut. And it was just in time for her birthday.

We enjoyed an evening with family at Dave and Buster's which is pretty much Chloe's most favorite place to have a birthday. She was so lucky to have the grandpas from both her mom and dad's families. My sister was there too making for a wonderful little party. For the first year in a while Chloe didn't want a party with all her friends - it was just family. What a nice change and what an exhausting week!



Chloe's Birthday Party



Monday

Have a Heart Valentine Pillow



I fell in love with the Have a Heart pattern in the new issue of Quilts N More. I knew I could make one from my stash. It's always fun to be able to make that happen.

I spent the afternoon binge-watching The Ranch - season 6 on Netflix while I sewed. I love how funny the show is and how over the various seasons, they've pretty much had parts for most of the cast of That 70's Show. That was a fun series too.

The cute pillow is now resting on the sofa in the living room. Since I don't have much Valentine's decor, I'm happy to have this.
Quilts N More Spring 2020

Quilts N More Spring 2020

Wednesday

Longarm Projects

I had a few projects to quilt for others this week. The first one is for my friend Mary. She had a table runner where she says, "no hurry". When I opened the project bag I could see why - a pumpkin table runner.... I guess she wouldn't need it for a while - ha!

The second one is a quilt for church. They will use it at their spring raffle. The quilt top has patchwork hearts so I chose my 'Love' pantograph for the quilting. It should complement the top perfectly.

Saturday

What's on the design board?

These days my design board reminds me of my thought process. My brain is jumping from one project to another - I can't seem to concentrate on one thing. From an organization point of view, it's a disaster. From a creative point of view, it's great fun. I can't decide what I want to work on and when I do I can't seem to stick with it for very long.

On the left side of my board I have a project called Flying Leap. It's a very modern quilt pattern with a few circles in it. I haven't worked with many projects with circles so I decided it was time to step out of my comfort zone and try something new. I am loving the colors, they are muted and modern. In fact, I've ordered some modern prints to complete the inside of some of the circle blocks.

On the right side of the board are my economy blocks. I am using some leftover fabrics from another project to make these blocks. They are part of a placemat pattern I found in an old magazine. I don't like how some of the blocks turned out - they are much too busy so I am going to have to incorporate some new fat quarters in with the leftover fabrics in order to make them look decent.

In the center, I've made a bookcase block. I think it turned out a little too busy so I will take it apart and try again. The quilt will be a teacher gift and I have the backing fabric picked out so I'm trying to choose colors for the book blocks to match. I just got started and I have plenty of time to complete it. I won't need it until teacher appreciation week, which is in April.