Where do I begin?

 It's been a busy month and I'm behind on blogging so I don't really know where to begin. I haven't done much sewing myself, but I've had a lot of classes. Unfortunately, I  didn't take a ton of pictures, so I will share what I did take.

I had 9 students in last week's Explorer Tote class. It was busy busy til the end, hence no pics. No one finished their bags in class, but two came in to share their totes with me....Susy (above) and Nancy P. (below) used the same fabrics as I did and were excited to finish them. I hope the other ladies send me pix or stop in to show me their finished totes too!

Nancy B. brought her Log Cabin bag in to show us during the Log Cabin Tuesday class. She wanted to make it instead of a quilt. Very pretty!

Nancy P. has her blocks all finished! She is making a twin size quilt. 

Deby is about 2/3 finshed with her blocks. She is making a queen size quilt. Martha and Debbie couldn't make it to class so we are excited to see how far they have gotten.

I taught the T-shirt quilt class a few weeks ago too. We got a good start on some layouts! 

 I have several of the new Optical Illusions Sampler Clubs going on now, so here are a few pix frothose. Love how they are getting excited about the curved piecing and making these eclectic blocks.

My guild meeting is Tuesday night, so it will be fun to see the "reveals" on the Alphabet Challenge. I want to try to get some pictures of some of the other members' projects. Mine was the Unzip Clutch, that I posted about last time. 

 I don't have too many new classes in the next few weeks and will be out of school in about a month, so hopefully will have more time for sewing! I'm off today and want to clean and organize the quilt machine room so I could maybe load a quilt and quilt it. Plus the grass has been growing like crazy with all the rain, so it needs to be mowed. Have a great Mother's Day weekend!

Whole lotta sewing going on....

It's been a busy month of classes...I've been working with beginners as well as starting 3 new Sampler/Fun Clubs last week. The 2nd Tuesday Fun Club is working on a Log Cabin quilt using the Eleanor Quilt in a Day book and method. They worked on getting their First Light and First Dark sewn on all of the blocks. Nancy is starting with blues...

Martha with yellows...There are some really pretty fabrics, which will make gorgeous quilts.

Nancy is making the bag, so she only needs one block for it. She is ready to start assembling the bag now.

Shirley can't join the group this time, but tried making a few blocks too. Look at those reds, blacks and whites! They really pop!

Debi's reproduction fabrics are looking good, with the red in the middle for heart of the home.

Debi also showed us her Circle and Spin to the Moon, back from the quilter. Very pretty!

Circle and Spin to the Moon

Pat came and made up class 2 of the Beginning Quilting More Peas in a Pod. It's looking great! Most of that class will be coming tonight to layer, pin and tie their quilts. 

Michael took his finished Bluebird quilt to CUAQ Therapy last week for show and tell. Wowser! Can't wait to see it quilted and finished!

The Wednesday Fun Club also decided to do the Log Cabin the Quilt in a Day way, so it will be fun to see both groups work through their fabric rounds towards a finished quilt.

Linda loves green! Me too!

Marta chose more traditional reproduction fabrics with dark centers...do you know what that means?

Crystal is part of the beginners group and came to layer, pin and tie her quilt Monday night. It's a big class so hard for them to do it all at the same time.

Myneeka came as well and finished her  blocks. Now to get them sewn together!

My daughter, Wendy, started a More Peas in a Pod quilt recently too and came to work on her blocks with the others. She has her blocks completed as well, though I didn't take a picture of them. 

Here is a picture of a couple of her blocks.

It's been fun this month helping people start new projects and finish their first project. Pictures from tonight's class soon.

Sisterly Surprises

My sister, Sharon, has been teasing me for several weeks about a gift she made me. I tried to guess what it was, but she didn't want to give me very many hints. Since she has many talents, among them woodworking and sewing, I was clueless about what it was until I went to my hometown for Mother's Day last Sunday. 

Using repurposed wood, she and her friend Kelly made me this beautiful table and set of boxes. If you look closely, you can see that the design on the table is a log cabin pattern!  

She used wood from several remodeling projects to make this table.

They also made this cute box by clueing  wood together and cutting it the shape they wanted.

When you open the drawer....there is another little box.

When you take it out and open it...

Another drawer. Is this adorable or what?

The biggest surprise of all came when you looked at the sides of the boxes...another log cabin block. The block shows up on both sides of the boxes. I couldn't believe how cute this was and we spent some time looking it over and figuring out how she had done it. I love figuring out how things are put together!

I am really excited over this gift from my talented family!

I love when quilty things come in the mail! I received some gift cards for Mother's Day and ordered some new fabrics and a panto, Cool Beans. They came yesterday! You know I can never have too many batiks, and I decided I needed to collect a few "wordy" fabrics for a future project.

I don't have any classes tomorrow, so I plan on working on a new Sampler. I've been playing catch up for awhile now, very little actual quilting being done, so I'm ready for a sewing session!

An oldie, but a goodie....

A friend gave Dianne some log cabin blocks that were given to her to finish by another friend. The quilter  had originally given them away because she grew tired of the project and didn't want to finish it. She didn't want it back, just wanted the quilt finished after she had done so much work. The bundle included the pattern, strips and a lot of finished and unfinished blocks. We guesstimate that it was started in the early 90s because of the fabric choices. Her seams were impeccable and everything pressed well!  So Dianne set to work choosing a layout. After we counted the the blocks and organized them by types and colors, we determined that there were still blocks that hadn't been made, and blocks that weren't completely finished. She decided to finish some of the blocks that were started and go from there. She got this much sewn together on Tuesday. She still has some pink blocks that need one more strip so she is going to finish those next for a top and bottom border.

It would be fun to know who the original quilter was, but there is no name on the bundle, and the original giftee didn't really know the lady, just worked at a shop where she shopped. So I guess it will remain a mystery.