Summer sewing....

 I filled the second bean bag chair the other day....I think the bag was a little fuller as it is a little fuller than the green one. It looks more like the picture on the tutorial, DIY Kids Bean Bag.

 Since I used a directional fabric, it is going sideways. I could've pieced it, but wasn't sure I would like that look either. So since I liked the fabric, I went with it.

 Conrad likes it no matter which way it faces or which way is up!

I had a great time on the retreat with friends last weekend. I sewed on the new sampler all weekend. I will have some pictures soon. 

These pictures are from last week's classes...an assortment of pretty projects!

I did a trunk show at the Piecemaker's Quilt Guild in Missouri Valley Tuesday night. It was a great group of ladies. I knew more of them than I realized and had fun chatting with them afterwards. I'm not sure public speaking is my forte, but it's easier when talking about quilting! I'm heading up to teach a class on the Miss Tess quilt today, so that should be fun. I will take pictures to share tomorrow! Enjoy the mini quilt show below!

Classes and holidays...

 I had two sampler clubs meet last week. The newest one, Simply Posies met on Monday night...Laura's quilt is almost finished. She is adding one large border yet. She didn't end up using the last pieced border on the quilt, so I have a feeling it will end up somewhere...maybe on the back? The border she is adding is a wide asian print that coordinates with the Posies black fabric in the center.

 Karen is working on her first pieced border...she hasn't had much time to quilt lately. Several people had to miss that night, plus the camera fairy forgot to take pictures of the others that were there. Bad fairy.

My Simply Posies Sampler 21 quilt

Larkspur Sampler 22

 I've been working on my new sampler design, Larkspur, so I showed them a preview...it's getting finished in the next few days I hope.  It's in rows in this picture. I designed most of the blocks in this quilt as well as the layout, so I'm really excited about it.

Marta

 I also met with the My Little Pretties Sampler Club on Wednesday. They are making great progress! They worked on the Grandmother's Quilt block. Marta finished hers, it's the upper right block. The others were close to finished. I love how these quilts are turning out. We went over the directions for the alternate block, so I expect to see some almost finished layouts when next we meet for their last class on this quilt next month.

Billie Jo

 I spent some time shopping with my sister, Nancy and her husband, Dale yesterday. They are here for a holiday visit from Canada. They are heading up to my hometown later today to stay with my folks, so I will see them again on Christmas. We are also planning our annual sewing day for next Sunday. Lots of family time coming up and no work for 2 weeks.

Sheryl

Class highlights and a Happy Village

Jane

This week has flown by and I've been busy sewing and meeting with sampler clubs. Monday night's group is one of two that are working on the newest sampler, Simply Posies. Jane is using 30s repro fabrics for hers and decided to make one large posy. She had some multicolored strips left from another project, so is using them for the narrow border around the center. Her center has a pretty nine patch that ties in perfectly.

Laura W

 Laura is using two fabrics for the posies. Her fabrics have an asian feel with the gold overlay. She hasn't added her narrow border yet...she is planning something interesting for that too.

Deb M had her squares cut when she came, so got most of them added to make panels.

 Tuesday night was a work night for the group making the To The Point sampler. They didn't have experience using setting triangles and corners, so we spent most of the time cutting them and starting to sew the panels together. Two of the quilters worked on blocks they still needed to finish (oops, forgot to take pix of those!). They were doing well by class end and excited about seeing their quilts come together.

Nancy B sewing her triangles to the blocks.

Debbie McQ has some beautiful batik blocks!

Martha is using a white fabric for her setting triangles so that her backgrounds show up better.

 I took a day off from sewing yesterday to clean and mow, but I have plans to do some more quilting today on the Happy Village quilt. I need to get it finished this week.

 I worked on it a few weeks ago, but then got caught up in retreat sewing and other things that I haven't gotten back to it. Since I want to teach the technique in Oct. I need to get it finished and to the shop.The quilting wasn't as difficult as I thought it might be as you are basically tracing around each piece. My biggest problem was being able to see around the presser foot, so I found a plastic foot that I think will help with that.

As I was quilting, I decided that there was a blank space on the far left under the black, zigzaggy roof, so I added a new house. It really is hard to know where to stop, but I think it looks better now.

Off to quilt! Are you quilting too?

Friday randomness

I've taught quite a few classes this past week so I thought I'd share some of the pictures of blocks from these sampler classes. I have one group that chose which sampler they wanted to make and are each making a different quilt. The others are making the same quilt. Sometimes they put their finished blocks up on the design walls to see how the new one fits in. So it's always fun and colorful. 

Some are beginners and some are seasoned quilters. I didn't get pics of everyone in the classes as some didn't finish their blocks so didn't want them taken until next time. One group has to make 10 of these friendship stars, so they definitely have homework.

                                        

 Several brought show and tell also, so I'll share those tomorrow. 

                                  

                                

                                    

I got together with my small but mighty quilt group last night. We had fun chatting and sewing...I attached the binding on my challenge quilt for that group, so it is finished! One of the gals had an accident with her challenge quilt...her dog chewed a hole in it, so she has a new challenge to face before next time! We are all bringing them when we meet in May so that we can take a picture of our challenge quilts together. They are all so different but incorporated fabrics from all of our stashes.

The CB quilt show committee met for the first time Thursday night. We felt we had a productive meeting and have chosen a theme and laid the groundwork for next time. We are going to focus on modern quilts this time, including art quilts. If you live in our area and want to help plan this event please let me know!