Down the road to Muscatine ... next to the other river...

I had good weather for my road trip to Muscatine, IA on Thursday. Muscatine is on the eastern edge of the state, next to the Mississippi River. Since Newton is a little past half way, I decided it would be a good idea to stop there and walk around a little bit. Luckily, there just happens to be a nice quilt shop in Newton...Crazy Redhead Quilting. I didn't take any pictures inside, but there are bolts and bolts of colorful fabrics and a very nice selection of batiks. A few managed to come home with me. 

 Deb from the Melon Patcher's Quilt Guild had invited me to do a trunk show at their guild meeting and teach the Circle and Spin class the next day. So I met her and several other guild members at a local restaurant (that is conveniently next to a quilt shop!) for dinner before the meeting. They were interesting, lively and fun...I felt like I'd dropped in to my hometown by the time dinner was over. We then headed to the church where they meet.

They have many projects going on...there had been a comfort quilt sewing day before we got there. Plus lots to show and tell by the members. One member had made a special dog bed that was too large to bring, so she showed us the picture on her phone! Love it!

 Then it was my turn to talk. I have no pictures of that, but they were a great audience with lots of feedback on my designs, use of color and other quilty things. Many of them came up to me before and after the meeting to chat and two had stories to tell about my hometown, Earling, IA. One has a relative, Jenny, that lives near there who I know through her blog, Down to Sew. It really is a small world!

 The next day we met back at the church for the Circle and Spin class. I would love to have a huge place like this to teach all the time! Everyone was excited to begin and had their squares cut.

 I laid out the three quilts I had taken on tables so they could examine them closely if they wanted to.

 They all agreed that it was easier than they thought it would be and were soon filling up the wall with blocks!

 I eventually laid the quilts on the floor so that we could look at some of the designs you can make with these circular blocks. Since I had recently updated the pattern to include the Circle and Spin to the Moon with smaller circles mixed in, we talked about how they can be incorporated. Some of them were going to add the smaller blocks to their quilts.

Sheryl

Sherry

Deb

Joan

I had a great time with this group and can't wait to see their finished quilts! Send me pictures, ladies!

Almost summer...

I spent the this past week working on getting the library closed for the school year. Besides getting the books all back....200 left to go...I also had to do an inventory on the 13,290 books in the library. That means scanning every book in the library into the computer. I got that finished on Thursday, but then spent most of Friday looking for the ones that got missed in the scan. Some were a missed section, some were odds and ends of missed that I had to hunt for. Some I found and some I still didn't find. My scanner hasn't been working properly this year, so I think there are books out that never got checked out. Big sigh....but my hope is that a teacher will find them today or Monday when they are closing up their rooms and turn them in. I go back on Monday to finish up.

Then I get to put the carts full of books away. I was hoping to get more put away yesterday, but didn't get very far. I got back about 900 books this week, so I have my work cut out for me.

Today I'm teaching the Circle and Spin Plus quilt to a private group so that will be fun! Hopefully I'll get some good pictures! Are you quilting today?

What... Friday already?

It's been a busy week around here. I've been working on a new quilt plus getting paperwork and other necessary jobs done for the Circle and Spin Plus class. I have taught the Circle and Spin technique many times, it's always been a class favorite. But a year or so ago I made a new version of it for my daughter ( all of my daughters have a Circle and Spin quilt!). She loves blues and purples and batiks, so I started beefing up my stash, but I had long been wanting to try some smaller circles and decided to make some hot spots using reds/oranges/golds. I wasn't sure if she would like it, so I let her decide before I sewed it together. She did and a new version was born! I haven't ever taught this version, so I will be teaching it in May. (Warning: if I make you a quilt, I may borrow it back to use as a class model.)

I met with the Sunbonnet Sue Sampler Club Wednesday night. Two of the members couldn't come, but Marta and Avis did a great job making their Lover's Knot blocks. Marta wants to incorporate some corals with her teals, so this was a start in that direction.

Avis used her border fabric with yellow to make her pretty block.

It's fun to see these quilts start to become a reality!

I don't have a class tomorrow, so I plan to spend National Quilting Day finishing the string pieced quilt I've been working on. I just need to add a border or two and quilt it. Sounds simple enough, right? How are you celebrating quilting tomorrow?

A finished bedroom!

 My daughter sent me a couple of pix of her Circle and Spin Plus quilt on her bed, with the pillows. This quilt took longer than it should've to complete, but now each of my daughters have a version of this quilt in their favorite colors.

Circle and Spin Plus is finished and in its new home!

I hung some old blankets over the old swingset/workbench so that I could get some decent pictures of Wendy's quilt. 

 It's truly finished since it has a label...I think it's important to attach labels, but I don't always get it done.

  I love the purple binding with the teal border. I realized that I should've taken some pictures of the back too, as there were 3 more rows back there. I want to get a picture of it on her bed.

 I finished writing a pattern Wed, and also started scraping and painting a different section of the house. It's addicting....

Cutting it pretty close.....but it's finished!

I have a really hard time judging how much thread I will use when quilting a quilt. Wendy's quilt is about 100" x 108. so I knew it would take a lot. I wanted to use this variegated teal because there were lots of blues, greens and teals in the quilt, plus the background had some running through it. I thought there was probably enough, but knew I could order some if I needed to. This is what was left on the spool when I finished! 

It's hard to tell how much is left on these bobbins, but it's not a lot. Quilting across the row took most of a bobbin, so most of the time I put in a new bobbin at the end of each row. I think I used about 20 bobbins for this quilt. 

I sewed the binding and the label on it today so it's officially finished, though I don't have any finished pictures yet. It's too big to hang in my doorway, so I need some "holders". I used the purple backing fabric for the binding.

 Hopefully you can see the teal thread if you click on one of these pictures to enlarge it.

 I spent some time last night organizing my projects for my upcoming retreat. We leave Thursday morning and will stay until Sunday. We are going to Quilter's Cottage near Woodbine, so it's not too far to drive. I am excited to get away with friends and spend the whole time sewing...no painting!

New pillows to match a quilted quilt...

I made these pillows to match my daughter's quilt. I made three sizes...

This one fits a bedsize pillow. I gave her another pieced bedsize pillow awhile back.

These are 18" and very simple, but pretty. Last, but not least, is the 12" pillow below.

I finished quilting the quilt yesterday, so hope to bind it and get some good pix later!

A good quilty start....came to a screeching halt.

 I loaded my daughter's quilt top this morning. I decided on teal variegated thread for this quilt and am using the panto I have been using for the last few quilts. I really like it.

 I  wound a bunch of bobbins and after about 4 passes, the thread messed up and broke. In rechecking the threading when I was ready to start quilting again, I noticed that the spring on the upper tension unit was broken off. No quilting happening now!

 I called APQS in Carroll IA to see if they had the part and could send it to me...they did and it's on its way, so that's good. But no quilting until it gets here and then we find out whether I can put it in or not. They are sending me directions on how to install it. Yikes! Will keep you posted on how that goes.

 Awhile back I made a tray to ride on the rails while I pin. It works pretty well. It's just a plastic tub lid and some hooks on the back to keep it from sliding off.

 I worked on the the letter quilt yesterday and have the letters made into words and partial rows now. I hope to finish it today at Tuesday Sewing.