I'm baaaaaaack!

I've been on the road for several weeks and am finally HOME!!!

I enjoyed Salt Lake City. Spending time with my Handi Quilter Educator girls is always a treat. I learned new tricks on the Pro-Stitcher and can't wait to use them!

Quilting Possibilities in Forked River, NJ was a brief stop, but well worth the trip. Great quilters, wonderful shop!

The quilt show in Lancaster, PA was a first for me. I enjoyed meeting Bonnie and seeing the Calico Cat and Kitten there. I just wanted to grab that baby and squish his cheeks. I'm willing to wait a few years, but I need grandbabies.

I was looking forward to 6 mellow days at home after the show. The days were more mellow than I wanted..... I was in bed with the plague. Some kind quilter in Lancaster shared it with me. I went through a couple of bottles of Purell making sure that I kept this bug to myself. I hope I was able to accomplish that goal because this knocked me flat.

Machine Quilter's Exposition in Manchester, NH almost passed me by, but I rallied and spent a week there. I was moving slowly and speaking quietly, but I made it! Janet-Lee and Mary do such a great job with that show. My students were wonderful and I am honored and humbled that they spent their valuable time in my classes.

36-hours home! I slept, did laundry, slept, and drove to the airport to go to Quilt City, USA!!! Paducah is quite a kick. Busy, busy, busy and quilters as far as the eye could see. I babysat sewing machines in Sally Terry's classes. If you get a chance to take a class with her, you will never regret it. She's a great lady, a generous teacher, and a hoot to be around! Ask her to tell you about the escalator when you see her.

After a 2 hour drive to Nashville, an uncomfortable run-in with TSAs at the airport (hi, could you please not throw my dirty undies around where everyone can see while insisting I have shampoo in my bag when it's a HAIRBRUSH for crying out loud), a flight to Charlotte, a flight to Hartford, a two hour drive home, and a far-too-short nap, I'm home for the next few weeks. There will be lots of quilty pics. Hopefully I'll get back to the cooking/cleaning/laundry and give my poor husband a break. He's been a true hero for the last 4-5 weeks and deserves some time off.

The rest of tonight will be spent catching up on American Idol and sleep. Back to quilting in the morning!

Thanks for reading this link-tastic post!

FOURTEEN!

A week in a hotel room for the Lancaster quilt show provided me with time to bind quilts!

Recently, I made a Yellow Brick Road quilt from the Taxi Fabrics from Timeless Treasures and had five blocks left at the end. I pieced the yellow and white squares to fill out this sweet little quilt.

It's 42x42 and is for my cousin's new baby. He's a Pittsburgh baby and needs a black and gold quilt. Go Steelers!

In case you were looking for the finished Yellow Brick Road quilt, it's not bound yet. Shock!

A grand idea!

I was surfing quilt blogs (a true shocker, I know) and stumbled across this post.

I'll be away from my sewing room for the next several weeks, but hope to start making my own twilts when I return. Anyone else interested?

Countdown? What Countdown?

The Fifty Finishes are on hold for a bit. I'm doing quite a bit of traveling and teaching now that the book is printed.

I did finish a project today, but it's small and not worth counting as one of my Fifty Finishes:

The fabric is from Mark Lipinski's new Krakow line. I was at Quilting Possibilities in Forked River, New Jersey last weekend and the fabric followed me home. I wanted to make this little bag to bring to the Lancaster quilt show with me, but I ran out of time.

I finished it once it set up my new sewing room:

Now this hotel room has everything!

My Books Are In!

And I signed my first copy for a customer at the Lancaster Quilt Show!

Thanks, Diana!

I seem to be over-using exclamation points!

Beyond the Lines

Beyond the Lines:

Quilting Designs for Hand, Machine, and Longarm Quilting

will be released at the end of March 2009!

pre-orders available

THIRTEEN

We had a spot of sun today so I was able to photograph finish number thirteen!

It's a wedding quilt in search of a wedding. Any young men preparing to propose?

Shop Hopping

Today was day one of the Connecticut/New York Shop Hop. I was at the Quilt Basket.



The place was definitely hopping. They had some gorgeous new quilts:



And a display of my new book:



I'm having a significant birthday in 54 days and after today I'm feeling my soon-to-be age!!! I must admit that I'm done for and heading to the couch for some pre-bed napping hand-sewing.

When all is revealed.....

Answers to the questions in my last post:

1. Who was that woman?

That woman was Fiona Santoianni. She's a graphic designer (book production). And a friend.

2. What is she holding?

She was holding a disc containing the file for MY NEW BOOK!

3. Why is she on my blog?

Because I wanted to show you all how beautiful she is. And tell you about my new book.

And Fiona.... I'm not taking down your photo just yet. Sorry.

Returning the Favor

1. Who is this woman?

2. What is she holding?

3. Why is she on my blog?

The answers to 1 and 2 will be fully explained soon. The answer to number 3: Because she's sitting at her computer waiting to see when I'll upload this. And because she took the photo of me that I use online.

Friday finish -- Gretchen's quilt?

Stash added this week: 0
Stash added this year: 2 yards
Stashed used this week : 8 yards
Stash used this week: 80 yards

Twelve Finished Quilts

Another flame-inspired graduation quilt. This one is for the king of all video games:



In case you think that this is a repeat post, check the binding. This binding is black, and the last was white. And buckle up.... there are several more of these quilts waiting to be finished.

But these go to eleven

If you've ever seen fabric that is loud, be sure that I'm in love with it. I have a collection of fabric in colors that make others shrink back in terror. I dove into that pile for my new pocketbook:




It's large enough for file folders and magazines, but I since I hand-stitched the handles in place, I'm trying to travel light with this new bag.

The bias trim doesn't lay as flat as I'd like, I may remove and redo it later. I did the quilting on my new Janome 6600. As a longarm quilting teacher, I haven't machine quilted for years and years. Since this project was small and all straight lines, I thought I'd give my Janome a try. And I would definitely do the next one on my longarm, in case you wonder.

Finish ELEVEN, done!

A Perfect Ten

My TENTH finish for the year is for my friend's baby:



I had to finish it before that baby became a big sister. I have 3 months to finish another quilt before the new baby arrives.

The full force of the LIME fabric doesn't show well in the photo. You'll just have to trust me on it.

Grandma's Album

Finish number NINE!:

I belonged to a Moda club for a few years and have kits of each project, nicely labeled in a plastic box. That particular box contains one less kit, now that Grandma's Album is finished.

This is a very light quilt that will be probably be my summer-weight bedspread.

Eight is NOT enough!

My eighth finish for the year is mine all mine! It's so stinkin' cute I can't bear it!

The fabric features Snowmen. Made from marshmallow s'mores.





Cute overload!

I bought the fabric at Elaine's in Salt Lake City. The block was pieced at my winter quilt retreat in January. It's finally quilted and bound and on the sofa, ready for snuggling.

Here's the back:




For more photos of this quilt, see my other blog.

Blog silence...

...has been caused by silence in real life. Much to my chagrin and family's delight, I dislocated my jaw. My family doesn't like to see me in pain, but I think they like the "it hurts to talk" part of it just fine.

I'm on the mend. I'll be able to chew in another 3-4 weeks but will resume quilty posts tomorrow.

First, something near and dear to my heart: a recipe for soup. Soup is good. I can eat soup.

Lentil Soup

1 pound dried lentils
1 t minced garlic
1/2 cup minced onion
1/2 cup minced carrots
1/2 cup minced celery
4 vegetable bouillon cubes
6-8 cups water.

Make sure the veggies are cut really, really small (so I can eat them without chewing). Then throw it all in the crock pot and cook all day. Serve with crusty bread (that I can't eat for about a month) and a nice salad (ditto).

Lucky Number Slevin

I love scrap quilts. I try and use every. last. piece. of fabric. And when it's too small for me, I have a quilt buddy that makes crumb blocks and miniatures from my leftovers. Bonnie Hunter has great information on managing and using your scraps. The bottom of her page has a great idea for making scrap backs for quilts. I use her technique all of the time:



I went through a phase where I cut all of my scraps into five-inch squares. Yet another quilt in the tossed/disappearing/divided nine-patch vein:



I have finished SEVEN of fifty quilts for the year. Hopefully I can keep this up, because the sewing room is still so full!

For more information on the quilting, see my other blog.

You've gotta play to win

Mark Lipinski's Quilter's Home magazine recently mentioned the book Lottery by Patricia Wood. I finished reading it last weekend and loved it! There were shades of Forrest Gump, but it definitely had something original to say. Perry L. Crandall is my new hero.

Run and get this book. And while you are at it, pick up Mark Lipinski's Quilter's Home, too.

Working on....

The scrap tumbler bin was overflowing and a lot of them were green. Since I need a lot of graduation quilts this year and was desperate for some mindless piecing......

With one child graduating from college and another graduating from high school, 'a lot' doesn't fully encompass the number of graduation quilts that I need this year.