This, that and then some

A little bit of this

So, what’s new with you out there in quilting blogland? I’ll bet you’ve all been as busy as I have been lately. With Spring just around the corner, my guess is that you all have cabin fever and are ready for brighter, warmer days. For me, the days seem to have flown by and I honestly I don’t know where 2010 has gone. Someone mentioned to me that tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day, and all I could think of was, “How can it be mid-March already?”

My travel and teaching schedule has kicked into high gear. I taught one of my personal favorite classes at Scrap and Sew yesterday — Perfect Pinless Pinwheels and Flying Geese, and the ladies and I had the best time. Their points were perfect without the use of any pins! Incidentally, my Pinwheel and Flying Geese quilt pictured above is currently on display in a special exhibit of scrap bag quilts at the Grout Museum in Waterloo, Iowa. If any of you live in or happen to be traveling through Iowa, I hope you’ll make plans to see this wonderful exhibit before it ends, which is soon. The museum curator, Robin Venter, always puts together the most interesting and visually creative and meaningful exhibits. The Grout Museum (and no, it isn’t a museum relating to concrete or bathroom tile, in case you were wondering. Robin told me she gets this from truck drivers passing through all the time…...) is a must-see if you’re anywhere near Waterloo.

Next week I’ll be traveling to visit the wonderful quilters in Bloomington, Illinois at the Illini Country Stitchers Guild to present two workshops and a lecture. If you’re in the area, I hope you’ll come by to see me and visit with the many talented quilt guild members. Click here for dates, times and information. My dear friend who has offered to host me in her home has been sending me ‘remodeling updates.’ It seems she has been updating her guest bath and I’ll be the innagural guest for which I’m very honored! (Gosh, LynnEl, you really shouldn’t go to so much trouble. I’m just looking forward to spending time with you and seeing your gorgeous, award winning quilts up close and personal!)

Back: yours truly, Kent, Birgit Schuller. Front: Ilona Baumhofer, Carla Conner

A little bit of that

After that trip, I’ll be home for a couple of days before flying to Europe. I’ll be spending time with the culturally rich group of the Rheinland Pfalz Quilt Guild. They are hosting a book signing for me and I’ll be teaching a special Mystery Quilt class!  I can’t wait to reconnect with old friends and meet many new ones. It will be especially wonderful to spend time with my dear friends, Birgit and Carla, while I’m there. (Ilona, we’ll miss you!) You all know them from the Jelly Roll Quilt Retreat I hosted while writing the book (see the last chapter) and Birgit, as you know, has quilted many of my quilts for me (each one she has quilted is a combination of genius and pure art!) Going back to Germany is always like going home for me. I love it there.

From Germany, I’ll head to Prague for the 4th Annual Prague Patchwork Meeting! I taught a workshop at this spectacular event in 2008, and I’m honored and thrilled to have been asked to teach again. Many thanks to a very talented and creative lady, Jana Lalova, for translating my handouts for the classes I’ll be teaching. The Czech quilters are amazing; they are creative, resourceful, and so eager for knowledge of all things quilting. I can hardly wait to meet and greet them again.

Not to toot my own horn, but…..

….. I can now offcially tell you that my book, Jelly Roll Quilts & More, is officially a best seller! My editor at AQS told me it already went to a second printing and it is also listed in the top 20 best selling books with Checkers Distributors! Well, golly! How’d that happen? Seriously, I feel so incredibly blessed.

And then some….

…someone asked me recently about our pillowcase-for-charity efforts. Thanks for asking! To date, the boys and I have completed 26 pillowcases! We have taken a short break since Kent is home from traveling, but after mid-term tests and other activities, we plan to get right back to making more. You just can’t know how proud I am of our boys and their efforts to contribute to such a worthy cause.

Other than getting ready for my upcoming trips, I’ve also been stitching a few things. I made a fun-and-funky little heart quilt, which I’ve already sent to the folks at Bernina for their booth. I used my EZ Hearts Cut Tool and had a great time quilting and embellishing with decorative trims and ric racs. All that was needed were a few 10″ squares from a leftover Layer Cake project and some border fabric. Simple, fast, done.

I finished one of the Jelly Roll Sampler quilts, which will be used to teach my new Jelly Roll Magic class! Birgit quilted this, and it is fresh, lovely, and whimsical! (Great job, Birgit!) Don’t you just love the clever use of the giant ric-rac next to the outer border? I always knew there had to be a good use for giant ric-rac!

And I finished this little Jelly Roll lone star top just this morning. This took me less than three hours to cut and stitch. I used leftover Jelly Roll strips from a Valentine’s Day inspired project. I really love cutting diamonds from Jelly Roll strips. And this version of a Lonestar has NO set in seams. (Really!)

And if a picture is worth a thousand words, I hope you’ll enjoy these:

 Happy Anniversary to my folks, who just celebrated the 64th anniversary of their first date! (They will have been married 64 years this coming August.) My Dad has been remembering my Mom with a little gift on the anniversary of their first date every year since they met. Isn’t that sweet?  Look closely…..

…if you know my Dad, he is the definitive example of  the word “frugal.” Yep, he wrapped my Mom’s gift with the comics from Sunday’s paper and tied it with a WalMart shopping bag bow. Clever, I say. But don’t let that humble wrapping job fool you. There was a seriously nice bobble inside. 😉

There's one cut-up in every family. Guess who it happens to be in ours.

Andrew “crossed-over” from Cub Scouts and became a Boy Scout recently.

We’re so incredibly proud of his achievment!

On a humorous note….

I’d like to leave you with something to giggle about. Read the first two lines:

Now, that's just wrong!

This sign caused an eruption of laughter from all four of us as we passed the sign on the way home the other evening. Maybe we were just tired and punchy, but it sure struck a funny bone!

Happy, peaceful week, everyone!