Fly Away Bluebirds....

 I had a great class yesterday making the Bluebirds quilt from the book Not Your Grandmother's Log Cabin by Marci Baker. You can see the pattern emerging as they get more blocks finished.

 There was a huge difference in fabrics, which always makes for interesting quilts.

 Phyllis wanted to make a different quilt from the same book, Colorado Sunset. It was shaping up nicely too.

 I can't wait to see these as finished quilts!

Sewing day fun!

I sewed with the Tuesday sewing group this week, and finished my little top for the Strip Tube Ruler demo at Cut Up and Quilt for the Aug. 30 Anniversary celebration.  We were playing with some of the leftover jelly roll strips to see what color would look nice as a border. 

 Dianne worked on her Zipper quilt....she is making it for her granddaughter.

 Cheri was working on these cute blocks. She will make them in several different fabrics but using the same pattern. She shopped at a new shop and found fabrics she couldn't live without!

 Jane stopped by with her cup quilt, make out of the appliqued cups from our swap. It is so cute! I really need to get mine out and put them together.

I spent yesterday doing some catch up work at home, quilting a few rows on the new quilt and helping someone cut out a couple of Stack n Whack quilts. I also met with the Sampler Pick group last night...it was their last class and they were all excited to get them finished! A new Sampler Pick group will start in Sept, so if you are interested in picking one of my samplers and working on it over a 6 month period, just let me know!

I have lots on the list for today, including a meeting for the CB Quilt Show later. Hope to get a little sewing in too!

Baby quilt quilted....whew!

I finished the quilting on Owen's quilt Wednesday...I'm still not sure why I had so much trouble with thread breakage, but I was just glad that it worked! I made the label for the quilt too, so it's ready to finish. I will take more pix then.

I spent Thanksgiving in my hometown with family and had a great time!

We are helping my daughter move today...she recently bought a house. The weather is supposed to be cold, but dry so it should be a nice day to do it and she will have the rest of the long weekend to unpack. 

I'm doing a demo tomorrow at Cut Up and Quilt on the Sidekick ruler, so if you live in the area, come and see me there! I will be teaching a class on this tabletopper using the ruler in January!

A quilting celebration!

Saturday's anniversary celebration at Cut Up and Quilt was so much fun...They had delicious cake, punch and coffee as well as drawings for great prizes and sales...very good sales on lots of things quilters need.

Three other ladies demonstrated new rulers, or techniques with me during the day. We just kept demo-ing and talking to customers all day.

The shop was crowded with shoppers most of the day. It was so nice to see all of the support these ladies have in the quilting community! One of the owners and a shop employee take a much needed break when things finally slowed down. this is the room I was in for my demo and most of the day it was packed with people checking out the cake, prizes and demos.

I spent yesterday working on some class paperwork...and started a new baby quilt.  I want to go out and get the binding fabric for Zig-Zag after work so I can get that finished since it's a class model too.

Happy Monday (it feels like Monday!) Tuesday!

A Cut Up and Quilt Celebration!

You might remember that last Sept. two friends of mine, Kim and Becky,  opened Cut Up and Quilt in Council Bluffs, IA.  It's been an exciting year for them and all of us that love fabric and quilting. They are celebrating their first anniversary today with a huge sale, demos and drawings. I will be on hand to help them celebrate...doing a demo on the Zig-Zag Ruler. So if you live in our area, come and see us and join in on the fun!

You can find out the sales and other info about the shop on their website!

Tuesday sewing fun

I spent a lot of time working on the new free pieced letter quilt on Tuesday when I sewed with the ladies. It takes some figuring and additions of background fabric to get the words lined up how you want them. And straight. After I got it to this point, I carefully lined it up on a big cutting mat so I could make sure that it was straight and had corners that were right angles.

After I added a border, I wanted to take a final picture....hmmmm...funny, funny Diana!

Second try!

Third try...I got her, so that was a success!

It's ready to quilt.

Diana is almost finished with her Wonky Stars quilt. She is adding a piano key border, with stars in the corners.

I also taught the first session of a new sampler group that night. Barb brought her finished Snake Dance quilt top to show off. It is so pretty made out of these soft prints. I love it!

I started scraping the trim on the outside of the house yesterday. I got one side scraped as far as I can reach on a 6 ft. ladder. I started priming some of it later in the day. The weather has cooled off a bit here and it was really pretty nice to be outside. Today I am going to finish priming the rest of what I scraped yesterday, so not sure if I will get any sewing done. I am also going to my stitching group tonight... I have a little surprise challenge for them. Happy Thursday!

Omaha Quilt Guild Show

One of the fun quilting events in our area is the Omaha Quilt Guild Show which is going on this weekend. Some friends and I went to the opening last night and spent some quality time oohing and ahhing over some very pretty quilts. This one, called Happy As a Clam, uses a log cabin block that has thinner strips on two of the sides. Each clamshell is made up of the "corners" of four different log cabin blocks, two with the wider strips on top and two with the narrower strips on the bottom. I have seen these types of blocks before, but never done in this arrangement. Very pretty. You can click on the picture to see more detail. This quilter evidently envisioned them as trees, so she quilted a trunk and branches on each clamshell. It was very pretty.

  I saw it in this vendor's booth too, so it must be an available pattern, though I couldn't find it online. It must be in a book.

I loved the brightness and freshness of this quilt.

These are some teeny tiny nine patches....1 1/2" blocks set on point. We were in awe. I don't think something this small is in my future, though I have to admit I'm tempted to make a few....

Don't worry, she isn't touching. I just asked her to hold up her hand to see the size better.

These fun flags were made for a quilts of valor event. The weren't bound, but finished with a satin stitched edge.

I loved the quilting on this one. I wish I were this talented! It's an art all by itself.

 Pretty feathers closeup.

This was a fun flowery quilt that is much prettier in person. My picture doesn't do it justice.

This quilter took her son's handprint every year. Then, when he was grown up, she traced those handprints and made appliques of the hand. She used some interesting fabrics from clothes he had worn for the hands

Of course, I love circles.

This quilt used small blocks on point and was very pretty. I don't make miniatures because most of what I design and make is for classes I teach and people don't seem to be as interested in making them. But they are so much fun to look at.

We saw our favorite quilt shop owners too, Becky and Kim from Cut Up and Quilt. They were wearing their fun, new Quilt! shirts. Truthfully, they were pretty tired from setting up their booth, but you couldn't tell it from these smiles!

This is their first quilt show...doesn't their booth look awesome!

I saw a Circle and Spin quilt at the show that a student had made in one of my classes from my pattern, but I forgot to take a picture of it. I got distracted by the pretties around me. I took lots more pictures, so will share some more tomorrow.

I am heading to Earling to see my parents today. I haven't been up there for a few weeks, so it will be fun to road trip and visit. 

Circle and Spin class

I spent a great day teaching  my Circle and Spin pattern Saturday. You can see the beginnings of some gorgeous quilts.

I taught this class at Cut Up and Quilt, the new quilt store here in town. Love the gray design walls, though we started to run out of space with all the work being done!

As they worked through the issues of sewing with curves, they became more confident and started to really enjoy it.

It was fun to see the different fabrics the ladies had chosen as well.

The all purple quilt was being made with fabrics Cathy's daughter had picked out over the last few years. Lots and lots of purple!

It was interesting just to watch the blocks multiply.

Some of them could've done some swapping!

Two different quilters' blocks, but they could go together nicely!

Southwestern flair is very evident in this group.

I got the quilting finished on the quilt yesterday, plus the patterns written and printed that were next up. It is a good feeling to get some of these things finished! Tonight we start the Laurentia Star Sampler Club...it's a great group of ladies so it will be an enjoyable night!