More hexies & Happy New Year!

While Dad was in the hospital I did have a chance to make a few more hexies, so now I am up to 13. I will have to start sewing the flowers together as I have run out of mylar hexies and need to sew some together to pull more out. Good challenge for me now...should be interesting!

Loaded the Spiderweb string quilt yesterday and quilted a few rows, hope to get it done today. I am using a new panto that I got in DM in Oct. I really like it so far, will try to get a pic of it later. 

It is snowing sleety/snowy balls right now, so not sure what the day will bring as far as weather. They have forecast a couple inches of snow so could get interesting.

Happy New Year!

A little too much excitement, but hopefully back to normal!

 I received my giveaway prize from JoJo's Quilt Shoppe yesterday. What fun, I spread them out this morning so to better enjoy each and every beautiful fabric. Wow is all I have to say! Now what should I make with these.....

 As you can see some are the animals from the park, some the florals, and some just plain fun!

We had a little too much excitement on Christmas. My dad fainted while we were preparing to eat. So we went to a local hospital to have him checked out. They referred us on to Creighton Hospital in Omaha. He has had most every test known to man, and about 10 Drs. conferring!  We are thankful he did not have a stroke or heart attack. They think it was a side effect to some medicine he started back in Aug. So they have changed 2 meds and he got to go home yesterday. He has felt good throughout his stay in hospital, no more fainting. So now we wait and see, I guess. My dad is an active 86 yr. old, so pretty much keeps on going.....lol!

I plan on getting back to sewing today, need to finish the spiderweb stringpiecing today. I just want to add a piano key border. I have many strips pieced at this point, just need to cut them into sections and sew them to the quilt.

Cottage blocks and other exciting news

 In 2009 I thought it would be fun to host a seasonal cottage swap among friends and ladies who take quilting classes with me.  I swapped with a group of friends as well. We swapped every 2 months and kept it seasonal to the months.  It ended last December, so then we had a cottage workshop where I offered some tree patterns and people had a chance to work on setting their cottages together. We had a blast and I set a day in March to have a party and everyone brought what they had done. It was so much fun to see all the creative ideas! I put my blocks together with some trees set in here and there and hung it on display in the classroom. Well, it has been there ever since, so I decided it was time to take it down and finish it! I have had many comments from people who didn't participate so I am going to teach a workshop in January as well.

This morning I found out I was a winner in Michelle's Birthday Bash at Quilting Gallery. I won this Central Park fat eighth bundle! What a wonderful surprise! Michelle has taken a great idea (listing quilting blogs) and turned it into a wonderful haven for quilters. You can find quilting blogs listed by state, check out quilting shops, participate in swaps and weekly contests. She has been working on a cookbook as well. She is one busy lady with lots of great ideas. Thanks Michelle!

My sister, Nancy and husband Dale came in from Vancouver Island last night. We are going to spend the day shopping and chatting, then they will head up to Earling, our hometown. I will be going there for Christmas, then will stay over so my mom and sisters and I can have a sew-in on Sunday. I am going to help Nancy get started on her first quilt...should be fun. She picked out a pattern and fabric when I visited there last summer.

Fun sewing day

Last Saturday,  6 of the 7 ladies who went on a retreat together at Farmer's Dotter Quilt Retreat  last summer got together and had a sewing day. Poor Cindy had to work...we missed her! With predictions of an inch of blowing snow, we headed over to Kim's house. We had a great time sewing, chatting and eating! She was a great hostess and had lots of room for us to work.

 There is chili cooking in that pot behind Kim. It was yummy!

 Diana is moving so fast in the background I almost couldn't catch her on film!

The blowing snow got so bad that several people left early. Diana comes from Avoca, a small town about 40 miles from here. She was packing up to leave when her husband called and told her not to try it as it was so bad. She ended up staying overnight at Kim's and they got a lot of sewing done...or so they say. I know a bottle of wine was involved at some point....

My sister is coming in from Canada on Tuesday, so I am trying to get some cleaning done.I finished quilting the Cottage Quilt yesterday and went shopping with my sister. I am officially finished shopping!  I bound the quilt today and hung it at the store. 

 2 more days of school and we are out for the holiday break. I'm ready! 

Enough to go around!

I made my 7th hexie tonight, so I have enough to make something.

 But I will probably make some more.

I also worked on the string blocks tonight, but didn't take any pix yet. I have 7 of them finished as well.