What? My daughter...sewing?

 You might think that with my love of fabric, sewing and quilting, that at least one of my 3 daughters would like to sew. As it turns out, they love fabric and have even been known to buy some, but haven't really done a lot of sewing. My middle daughter, Wendy, did make a rail fence quilt a long time ago, and has hemmed some curtains, but that is about it. So imagine my surprise when we were shopping at Big Lots one day and she found fabric. Jelly rolls to be exact. She really liked the fabrics and kept asking me what people make with them.  More specifically, what could she make with them.

So I suggested a Jelly Roll Race quilt...quick and easy for a beginner. She got her jelly rolls and we made plans to get together and work on it. She came over last night and I showed her how to sew her strips together with a 45* angle. We both like that join better than the straight seam. 

 Isn't that a pretty pile?

 Resident quilting expert Smokey came along to give her opinion about the quilt too.

 She got them all sewn together and had started pressing them when she realized that she had sewn some of them together right side to wrong side, so she cut them apart and redid them. Then we noticed a few other problem seams, so she spent some more time fixing them.

 Finally she was ready to begin sewing the two ends together. We think it took her about an hour to get that first 800" seam sewn.

I explained how to do the next step, so she is going to try it at home. I will keep you posted on how it goes!

Grand opening and a new quilt

 I should've been writing patterns yesterday, but after doing some cleaning and class paperwork, I just wasn't in the mood, so I cut fabric instead. I've been itching to try a new variation on the Circle and Spin quilt. I love the idea of using different size circular shapes in the same quilt. One I have seen like this is the Afternoon Delight quilt. Those blocks are made differently, in that there are only 2 curved pieces cut for each quarter circle, but I thought it might work with the method I use.

I wanted to make the quilt predominantly blue, purple and green with some "hot" colors mixed in for balance and fun. So I decided to make the smaller circles out of red, pink and orange batiks and the larger ones out of the blue, purple and green batiks. I hope by doing this that they will shine out among the cooler colors. I got 3 of the orange/red blocks done and one set of the cool colors cut and sewn. 

You can see the difference in the size of the 2 squares. I am happy with it so far and hope I have some time tonight to work on it.

I had a great time yesterday at Cut Up and Quilt during their Grand Opening. I did demos all day on how to use the Flying Geese x4 ruler. People were really receptive and there to have a good time. They had quite a crowd at opening time and many people came throughout the day. It was great to see such enthusiasm for the new shop. There were several other demos, prize drawings plus donuts & cider from the local apple orchard, so lots was going on! 

A plant question and a present

My daughter, Wendy, brought over a back to school present the other night. Lots of fun things I can use at school!

I might have to keep the pens at home...sort of need them here! 

I have everything about ready to open the library next week. I always start off by having each class come down individually to talk to them about expectations, where things are, & how to look books up on the computer search. They will each get to check out a book as well. After this, the students come down on their own when they need a new book...only the First graders, Kindergarten and Preschool come for a storytime every week. 

 One of the ladies brought this plant specimen to class the other night. She has a tree that these grow on and wanted to know if anyone knew what they were.

They aren't crab apples, and they don't get any bigger than this. She moved to a new house last fall and is curious to find out what it is. She said even the squirrels wouldn't eat them, though one of the ladies in class tasted it. It didn't really have a distinctive smell, or at least one that I was familiar with. 

 
 Any ideas what it is?