Machine Quilting Day

Hello Everyone,

Yesterday was machine quilting day for me.  I have to be in the right mood before I can tackle a long-term project like this.  There are days when machine quilting goes so smoothly and yesterday was one of those good quilting days.  You know when you have to start ripping out, that it is time to step away from the machine and find something else to do!

The March Madness Shop Hop begins Thursday, March 3rd.  My goal is to have this quilt hanging in the shop before all of the  "hoppers" arrive.

 
I debated whether or not to have a floral or bead board border.  You can see which design won the debate.  It is difficult to quilt on black, and I thought this design would be easier to accomplish while looking good at the same time.

I have between six and eight more hours of quilting before this one is finished.  I'll get the binding on while watching American Idol next week. There is a lot of good talent this year and I'm looking forward to the show.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  We have an agenda full of grand kids and I'll try to squeeze in some quilting.  Our oldest grandson's 14th birthday party is Sunday.  We are having a sleepover with the twins tonight.  Zinny will be in heaven having her little girls here.....and so will we.

As always,

Lynn

Party in the Garden Class

Hello Everyone,

For those of you making my Party in the Garden design, here are a few tips, ideas and suggestions from last nights drop-in class.  I learn so much from the girls!  Carol used the pink and yellow fabric to outline her door.  I used the gray lattice fabric on my quilt.....but we all thought Carol's version looked the best.  You should have enough of this fabric leftover from past months to be able to make this change if you wish.

Here is Carol's finished cottage.  So adorable and welcoming!

Paula was not liking the steps leading up to the house.  I must admit, they are a bit challenging.  Paula first cut her steps out in strips. Notice the little flower at the top of the gray fabric, giving them some depth.  Now that is attention to detail!

She then stitched them together on the machine, pressed the seams open, and they were ready to attach to her background.

Mary changed her flowers to be 3-dimensional and added buttons and embroidery.

Remember just how hot the little applique irons can get!  Mary had a mishap and had to do a little repair work to her burning garden gate block! 

Kathy attached Mother of Pearl buttons using French knots to her watering can. Isn't that clever!

Mary bought several different kinds of leaf buttons to add as enhancements to her watering can.

I think in the future I going to sit and do all of my designing with this group of women.  I'll use all of their suggestions and have one gorgeous quilt by the time I'm finished!

Today is machine quilting day.  I loaded the second version of Summer's Blush on the machine yesterday so I'm good to go bright and early this morning. 

As always,

Lynn

No Phone...no power.....no Internet....no quilting

Hello Everyone,

We finally woke up to electricity this morning. Time to put the old peculator away and go back to the coffee maker.  Crystal blue sky and puffy white clouds are a nice change from the 31 inches of snow over the past three days.

The snow was so powdery that Zinny ended up with all of these little dingle-balls on her.  We had to keep her by the fire to melt all of the snow sticking to her fur.  When we had power, we used the blow dryer which she absolutely loved.

Kade and Harleigh had the best snow cave under the boughs of a pine tree.  They felt safe and secure and played here for quite some time.

It was almost too deep for my 'angel' to make snow angels.

I got in on the fun with the snowshoes to help make the sled run.  Tromping up and down the hill several times was enough for me to qualify for the next Winter Olympics sledding competition.

The melting snow from the trees looked like silver glitter.....just beautiful!

This has been a very interesting week.  It is the first time in seven years that we didn't see a snow plow for days.   We felt totally isolated from the outside world.  Our son arrived with his family yesterday and we were so happy to see them arrive safely.  We felt as if the Calvary arrived with more food and companionship.  I'll get back to some serious quilting next week.

As always,

Lynn

Party in the Garden Month #10

Hello Everyone,

For those of you working on Party in the Garden BOM, you will be receiving your cute bundle of fabric soon to create the following two blocks.  The three flowers go under the flower box block.  Don't forget to make the little yellow and pink flange that add so much to this quilt.

Have some fun with the flowers poking through the picket fence.  This might be a fun time to try the flower tutorial that I put together.  Just click here and it will take you to the tutorial.  Try different denominations of coins to achieve different sizes of flowers.  They would add a lot of depth and dimension to this block.

                                    

The trees are heavy with snow this morning.  Large, fairy flakes are falling in the forest.  My view to the outside world is much different than the pictures of Spring on this post.  I expect we'll loose power today as all of the electrical transmission lines look rather droopy.  If you don't hear a peep from me over the next few days, just know that we are snug as two bugs in a rug.  The wood burning stove will keep the cabin warm and will do double duty in a pinch for cooking.  Zinny will be bounding through the drifts like the Loch Ness Monster and will be in heaven on our walks through the woods.

Enjoy your day!

As always,

Lynn

Summers Blush Class is in Session

Hello Everyone,

Tuesday was a class day for me at the shop. It was the first class meeting for my Summers Blush design.  The classroom was decorated with blocks by the end of the session.  What a fun day for me to be with this group of talented, organized and fun women. 

Lisa was all prepared with her Fig Tree Designs fabric with her selections for sashings, flanges, inner and outer borders.  Lisa concentrated on cutting her whole quilt out so she could do some major power sewing before our next session.  She takes her homework assignments very seriously!

Jean selected the sweet Lily and Will fabric line from Bunny Hill.

By the end of the day she had blocks and pinwheels spinning in her work area.  This combination was so delicate and sweet.

Ann had a tower of Wild Rose by Blackbird Designs and also added some additional yardage complimenting the line.  Wild Rose is one of my favorite fabric lines and I can't wait to see her finished quilt.

Peggy was so organized and matched her combinations for pinwheels and flying geese ahead of time.  I was impressed! 

Peggy selected blacks for her sashings and border which will really make these blocks pop!

Nancy was so prepared and had all of her pieces cut out before class.  She got the prize for putting the first block up on the wall.  This smart lady shopped in her own stash and organized beautiful combinations of pastels.

Colleen selected French General fabric and had most of her pieces all cut prior to class.  She was so organized with her baggies full of squares and she completed so many pinwheels yesterday that she is well on her way to having many of her blocks done soon.

Marsha set up her cute little Featherweight and started making pinwheels.

She selected Buttercup by Fig Tree.  Marsha looked around the shop and picked out this warm, brown and white polka dot for her background.  The combination was so pleasing and different!  I loved the contrast with the darker background.

We meet again the middle of March, so check back to see the progress on these quilts.  I will be so excited to see what these creative women will be putting up on the design wall.  The classroom will be all decked out in quilted splendor!

Thank you all for such a great day!

As always,

Lynn

Christmas Quilt Along - February

Hello Everyone,

It's today, it's today!  The Christmas Quilt Along begins......and I'll be working at the 9th anniversary sale at the shop!  So, I just pretended that I was in a different time zone and had my own private Christmas Quilt Along all day yesterday.

I started with this wonderful grouping of "Christmasy" fabrics and worked on my little Jack-in-the-Box for the Toyland Tree quilt for most of the day. 

He still needs to have his little face put on....I'll get to that later.  I can tell by this photo that the little dingle-balls on his hat don't show up very well.  Maybe I'll switch them out to something more vibrant.  I love the little candy cane crank on the handle.

I also got a little piecing done for another Christmas quilt idea that is floating around in my head. These little blocks take forever to make since they have 53 pieces of fabric in each one!  They are only 8-inch blocks!  That is why you only see two of them completed.

You'll be seeing more of these later.

I hope some of you can make it down to the shop this weekend.  There are going to be some nice prizes!  To see what everyone else is working on today, go to the Christmas Quilt Along button on the left side of my blog.  Pour a cup of coffee, sit back and relax and hum a Christmas carol or two.  It will drive your spouse crazy.....trust me.

As always,

Lynn

Madrigal Class Part Two

Hello Everyone,

I was at the shop yesterday teaching the second part of the Madrigal class.  The girls worked so hard over the last month!  I was so impressed with their results.  Judy introduced aqua blue into her quilt creating a wonderful contrast with the gold and blacks.  You would never know that she is new to applique when you looked at her flower basket.

A gorgeous, simply gorgeous creation.

There were flanges being sewn on all over the room......

......all over scissors......

....and calculators.

Row by row, these lovely quilts were coming alive.

Applique was in the preparation process.

Blocks were starting to be displayed on the design wall.

Kathy used her embroidery machine to create this absolutely beautiful Geisha for her center section.  It blew us away!

More baskets.......

More color.......

More blocks......

Ann is using the beautiful Luna Notte fabric line for her quilt.  The same that I used.

The colors and Geisha in Kathy's quilt were breathtaking.

She fussy cut each and every block!

This is my reward for being a new quilt designer and instructor.  I get to spend two days with a wonderful group of ladies that take my design and magically transform it into a work of art.  Thank you all!

As always,

Lynn