Aren't these beauties?

 

Had the second session of the Double 4 Patch class yesterday. We made a lap size, but you could easily make this quilt any size you want.  The quilts are gorgeous.Diana is ready to finish!

Dianne got hers finished, so put a red fleece back on it during class. She put the top and back together like you would for a pillow, turning it right side out when finished. She then topstitched about an inch from the edge to hold it (it looks a bit like binding then too!)  She will either tie it or tack it to hold the layers together.

Eileen has her center finished, just needs borders. She is contemplating a fleece back too.  Fleece makes a nice alternative to batting and a traditional cotton backing fabric. It is easier for people to finish themselves (the static involved holds the layers together well while tying and/or sewing together), and you don't need batting! It is great for baby quilts.

You can see a pic of my Double 4 Patch on the upper right corner of my blog.

Went to Earling last night for a surprise 50th birthday celebration for my sister and her husband organized by their children. It was great fun!

Happy Sunday!

Still at it

I have had classes the last couple nights so haven't had much time to sew, but I did get most of the cottages sewn together last weekend. I sewed some grassy strips in between the rows to separate them a bit. I still have the last row to do, then I will have to figure out where to go from here.
The second session of sewing for the Double 4-Patch is Saturday, so should have some good pix of them. One of the gals has already finished her top.

Stitching with friends....and cottages....

I had a great time with my friends yesterday, we all got some sewing done. We decided maybe it is best to meet on Sunday afternoon as we had more energy than when we meet at night.
Here is row three of the cottages.

And row 4.
Tonight I have the first session of a new Sampler group, should be fun.
We had some snow last night, so freshened up our piles of dirty snow left from the last 2 blizzards.

Class, cottages and birthday weekend

Yesterday was the Double Four Patch class. I got pix of 2 of the quilts in progress, and will get the third next week when we continue. It is always fun to see what people will do and how the color choices really change how it looks. Dianne used 2 that were negative/positive.

Diana used more than one for her light.

Today is my birthday and I have pretty much been celebrating all weekend. Friday night my 2 daughters that live here took me out to eat and gave me an Ottlite. I was pretty excited as I have wanted one for a long time. Last night my hubby surprised me with a cake and gift card to Best Buy (love to shop there!). Today I am meeting my S & B group to sew and chat. We were supposed to meet last week, but it was so foggy and nasty out we postponed. Should be a fun day. This is the group I have been exchanging cottages with, so we will exchange for the last time.

After class last night I worked on my cottages, deciding on the line-up and where the trees would go. I decided to line them up sort of in order by season. I got the first 2 rows sewn together.

I am filling in with strips in between the houses where necessary so that the rows all turn out the same size since the trees aren't the same size as the cottages. I am swapping with 2 others, but have more cottages because some of the ladies in the class swaps have made some for me. Aren't they sweet. So I think after today I will have 27. For the layout I have planned I will need to make one more. They are fun and easy to make, so that won't be a problem.

More trees

I made a few more trees last night. I appliqued these and machine blanket stitched around them. I may add a few clouds when I have the rows put together.

I played around a bit to see how they looked with the cottages.

 

Now I am excited to start putting them together. 

Cottage trees

I played around with some ideas I had for trees to go with the cottages we have been swapping locally all year. I want to have a cottage work day for the participants to work on their quilts next month, so want to have a few tree options for them too. We are going to have a cottage party in March too, to show off what they have done.

My daughter's kitty, Gwennie, is interested in quilting too....

Catching up

I taught the Circle and Spin class in Dunlap yesterday. What a nice group of ladies...after about 10 min. I felt like I had known them forever. They are part of a quilt guild that encompasses several area towns. They did very well, as you can see from the following photos.

I did something I have never done before, and hopefully won't do again. I took my camera, but had left my memory card in my computer!

 

So I went to take pictures and  no memory card! Luckily Paula had her camera and let me use it. 

 

As they worked they talked about upcoming projects and workshops they are going to have. It all sounded like great fun!

 

Several of them had shopped for fabrics, then done some trading, and they were amazed that even though they had some of the same fabrics, their blocks all looked different.

 

 

 

I will post these pictures to my flickr account too. Just click on the link on the side of the page.

 

Somehow I didn't manage to get everyone in a pic, but you can see they are hard at work. We had the class in the local parish center.

Getting ready

I spent some time last night getting the patterns ready for my class on Saturday in Dunlap. I usually do all my classes in Council Bluffs, but had a request to do the Circle and Spin class there after I taught it in Earling. I grew up on a farm in between the 2 towns (they are about 13 miles apart). Should be a fun class...it is always fun to meet new quilters!

Yes, I'm still sewing....

I made the Nov/Dec cottages for my swap partners...there are only 3 of us, so it is easy to get them finished. I have been thinking of how to put them all together, but the others haven't been snowed in here with me, they are at the store, so haven't started anything. I am thinking some trees in between. 

These are the applique bags I am working on for the next swap. They will have guidelines for each bimonthly swap, such as polka dots, stripes, etc. I finished the applique stitching around the edges, but want to add a few trims by hand yet. I am sewing them together with sashings so I can display them better at the store.

I am going with a friend to look at a used quilting machine today...should be fun.

Cottage swaps...

Last year around this time I decided to do a cottage swap  for ladies who come to my quilt classes. Many of them come once a month to a Sampler Club, so I thought it would be fun for them to swap during those classes. I had been hosting Block Lottos every other month, but that was wearing thin, so I thought it might be more fun for them to swap blocks as everyone ends up with blocks that way. They loved the idea! Here is my original post. They would swap bimonthly, making cottages for each other according to the current seasons.I kept the groups small (3 or 4 in each) so it wouldn't become a burden.  We are wrapping up the swap now, but I want to have a cottage party in a month or so to encourage them to actually make something out of their cottages. I am currently working on a new swap idea for them, as they have loved doing this and have been asking me what's next!

My quilting group of friends have also been swapping, so I have the last blocks to make and we will be finished also. Hopefully I will get that done today.

A funny thing happened after I posted about the cottage swap...an online friend Betsy at Quilting Fiesta 

wanted to participate, but I thought I would get too confused trying to keep track of an online swap as well as the local swap. Betsy decided to host her own cottage swap online. She asked me to participate and of course I couldn't resist. How her's differs is that each of us (12 involved) picked a month. We then make 12 blocks once and send them out to the others. The rest of the year we get to just sit here and wait for them to come in the mail! My month was August, so I had some fun using some bathing beauties I had sitting around.

It has been a very fun swap...here is the January block I received yesterday in the mail from Christina...I love it! She did a little applique to make snow on the chimney...isn't it cute?

Relook at Blogger's Quilt Festival...and...oh yea...snow

Sort of a nice fresh topping of snow we have now. I am not sure how much we got, maybe about 4 -5", but it blew around like crazy. You can sort of see the drifting in the sidewalk. It's kind of funny, it doesn't even seem that deep anymore! Now the temps are falling and it is very cold outside.

 

 

 Wish I had somewhere to put these indoors, but there just isn't room in the garage or house. I do have the cushions indoors for the winter...the cats have a new place to sleep in the basement!

 Amy is having a revisit to the Fall Blogger's Quilt Festival, which should be fun seeing as I never did get them all visited in the fall! She is looking for nominations for best quilt, most touching story, or best friend's quilt...lol She has the details on her blog if you want to nominate someone. Since I'm snowed in today, no school! I plan on visiting some. I even revisited mine, as I couldn't remember for sure what I had entered. (sad? yea...) I will check some as I take breaks from working on my patterns for the sampler quilt. Might even get a little sewing in later.

Updates

Here is a picture of my sister's Circle and Spin quilt that she started awhile back. She is making it for her daughter and will give it to her and her fiance as a wedding gift.

 

She had so much fun with the circles, that she decided to make a baby quilt too.

My mom has hers ready for borders too. It won't be long and she will have it ready to quilt! 

I am will be busy this week writing the patterns for the new sampler. I sewed 16 selvage stringpieced  blocks together last night. Will take pix soon!

Still stringpiecing...

I spent most of a cold sunny Saturday (high about 2) stringpiecing, with a little help from my friends. lol I made some using scraps, and now I am making some using selvages...yes I have that many selvages! I looked down at one point to grab one out and there was Smokey, ready to grab whatever I moved.

I went to my hometown on Friday to celebrate Christmas/New Years with my family. We had a great time.

Back to work at school tomorrow. Loving this time at home to sew!