Wordless Wednesday

Sister's Weekend-2010

It has been awhile, but I wanted to share our sister's weekend quilt blocks and some pictures of the event.

I think we all had fun just relaxing, eating, visiting, and being silly. We missed Lonita this year and welcomed the newest member Allison, Michael's wife. I hope she wasn't too overwhelmed by the girls.

I was so proud, each sister brought eight 12x12 inch quilt squares. That is a lot of squares. Lonita had hers made by Donna. Her blocks have cows in her design, which is so appropriate for Iowa. Krissie made hers after arriving. I was jealous hers were made so fast. I can't tell you how much I love all the squares.

Donna has homes and a heart on her block. Jeni has triangles with hedgehogs, flowers, and mushrooms. Suzanne has a sunbonnet girl in a flower dress on a hot pink background. Lonita has cows with brown triangles. Her dad has a farm in Iowa with cows and corn. Her block was so "on spot" for Iowa. Sally has orange flowers with a chicken in the middle. Allison has green triangles with blue flowers on a tan background. Krissie, our non-sewer, has 3 large circles of orange, brown and teal on a background of dark brown. I was blown away how chic it looks. I love roosters, so I put a rooster in the middle of the square with red, blue, yellow and green around him. I had a different rooster for each square.

Jeni had her quilt done before she left for home. I'm sewing Lonita's and Krissie's quilt together, I just have the top done so far. Life seemed to get in the way of finishing it, but that will happen this summer. Summer starts this week. I can hardly wait to see the finished product.

Lonita's Quilt Top - It may all get done someday!

Krissie's Quilt Top - Just be patient!

Puzzel mania

For Christmas, grandsons Cole and Clayton gave me the neatest puzzle. It was a tranquil country scene with hanging quilts. It had eleven quilts in the puzzle. It was really fun to look at the picture of the finished puzzle. But, it had 500 little pieces. Once I started it, could I ever finish it? Did I need to send for granddaughter Meagan to help me work on the puzzle? She put a puzzle together very quickly when here a few years ago. Alas, she was in school when I started and couldn't be called in to help.

For some reason, January and February flew by this year and I hadn't started the puzzle. Then on March 1st I said "this is the day to start my puzzle." I took out the pieces and laid them on our big coffee table in the front room. Oh, so many pieces. Remember, there are 11 quilts in the puzzle, two houses, people and the background of flowers, sky, and trees. To bring some order, I took sticky notes and put numbers on them to correspond to each quilt and house. Working with the colors in each quilt and the lines in the houses, I made piles of each item and put them by their assigned number. Dan made fun of me, but he wasn't doing the puzzle. Then, I was finally ready to start. I started with one quilt that was on the left side. I was able to get most of each of the 11 quilts done and connected.

Whenever someone telephoned me, I worked on the puzzle again. After exercising on the bike in the front room, I worked on the puzzle. It was so fun and addictive. I just couldn't stop working on it. Even Dan got involved one day and helped put some of the last pieces together.

The construction only took a week, from Monday to Friday. Thanks Cole and Clayton for sending me such a fun puzzle to work. I would show you the completed puzzle that Dan took a photo of, but he has it on a small drive he can't find!

Eye Candy

Last month, Dan and I visited the Dunn's in Albuquerque and the Allen's in Denver. It was a wonderful visit with daughters and their husbands, grandkids, cats and dogs, too. We always love to stop at quilt stores while visiting, plus along the road and highways coming and going. I'm always on the look-out for new quilt stores. Quilt stores are my candy stores. When you walk in a store, the colors jump out at you and the fabric feels like silk. Of course, quilts are displayed beautifully and you are sure you can make a quilt just like it, in every detail. We wish.

This trip was no exception. While in Albuquerque, Dan and I visited two of our favorite stores. One of these stores is advertised in many of my quilt magazines. That knowledge makes it fun to know "I've been there." The owners know their customers, because they have an area for hubbies to sit and read or work on their computers, while waiting for the cash register's total. It's fun for everyone. What a great husband I have, he knows what I need to be happy.

New Mexico inspired design and colors for friends of ours who just had a new baby.

On the way home we stopped in Williams, Arizona for gas. It is a very cute little town off the main road. Guess what was right next to the gas station? A quilt store! What luck. We had been driving for awhile, so while stretching my legs, I discovered it. Of course I, we, found treasures we couldn't do without. What fun. We won't forget it's location.

So, three shops and lots of eye candy to keep me happy. For how long? Oh--- a while, till I need some more fabric to match this piece or that piece. It might be that extra dark fabric that will make the quilt. There is always a quilt just on the horizon that NEEDS to be made. I have even enlisted daughters in the search for the perfect group of fabrics I need. They were more than happy to help their mom find what she needed.

The Spanish Fork to Denver to Las Vegas Fabric Express