NC Quilt Symposium & Hidden Treasure

I had so much fun teaching at the North Carolina Quilt Symposium. This was the first time that I taught at such a large venue and it was FUN!

Quilt Symposium was held at Peace College in downtown Raleigh, NC. It is a small all girls school with a beautiful campus. Opening day was Thursday the 2nd of June and the temperature was around 98 degrees and humid all day. So just walking from building to building was enough to work up a nice sweat! Thursday night was the opening ceremony where all of the teachers introduce themselves and briefly talk about their classes. This means getting up on stage in front of 400+ people. I am very comfortable teaching in a classroom of 10-20 students, but 400 is NOT in my comfort zone! To make it worse, I was in the company of very famous national teachers, like Pepper Cory, Jan Krentz and Patsy Thompson, to name only a few, who are very comfortable with large audiences. Fortunately, we went in alphabetical order and M is in the middle of the pack, so I didn't have to go first. We had our own "Vanna White" holding up our class projects while we talked about our classes at a podium. I think I managed to say everything that I needed to say in the microphone before I moved toward "Vanna" to try and show the tote myself. I'm sure the front row of teachers heard all about the remainder of the tote. After that was over, I felt much better and was really looking forward to teaching my class.

Here is a description of the tote bag that I taught at Symposium. It is a brand new pattern that will be available for sale. The name of this new tote will be Hidden Treasure Tote.

Store all of your shopping purchases in this roomy tote. It has 2 large front pockets and up to 3 zippered outside back pockets. Inside this midsized tote you will find a hidden pint-sized purse for all your essentials that stays safely secured in place until you want to take it out for a night on the town. Don't worry about changing purses for the evening; everything you need is already in place in your pint-sized purse. Remove the purse to find a shoulder length strap hidden inside the back pocket. This pint-sized purse has 2 outside pockets and one inside pocket and it closes at the top with a zipper. Place it back in the tote and you are ready for more shopping tomorrow.

Here is my class at the end of a long fun day of sewing. Every one of them finished the Pint-sized purse that hides inside of the larger tote. The smaller purse uses most every technique that is on the larger tote, so they shouldn't have any problem finishing the tote on their own.

Front of Hidden Treasure Tote

Back of Hidden Treasure Tote with 3 zippered pockets

Front of hidden mini purse

Back of hidden mini purse

Ann, front row right, finished her tote on Monday and sent me these wonderful pictures above. 

Cruise

Hello again!

My husband and I are back from our wonderful cruise and seeing our son, Dan. (That's my son in the picture, not my husband) It was so good to see him, he looks great and happy. Isn't that what moms want to know. After being so busy right up to our departure date, it took me about 2 or 3 days to finally get really relaxed. The cruise stopped in Cozumel, Mexico; Belize; Isle of Roatan and Grand Cayman Island.
I have to share one special day we had with you. It was my birthday on Thursday of the cruise and we were on the Island of Roatan which is a beautiful island off of Honduras. My husband rented us a cabana for the day and we had a ball. I am not a beach person, but I could get used to it if I had a place like this every time.

There is an air conditioned room and a front porch on our cabana. We also had our own hammock.

 Two more lounge chairs on the beach, 2 floats for the water AND A WAITER! The waiter got our drinks for us as we lounged on the beach.

These pictures above where all taken from our private beach area. All I can say is WOW, honey thank you so much, it was a blast.
We even had transportation to and from the beach to the pier via a "Magical Flying Beach Chair" shown below. (a.k.a. chair lift)

Back on the ship, Dan was able to give us a tour back stage and show us were he works and what he does. I love seeing all the behind the scenes activities. One of Dan's consoles is in a perch above the stage and just happens to be right above the dancers changing station. I think I have an idea why he is so happy with his job!

When we got home our daughter, Carol,  greeted us at our house with a birthday cake "of sorts" for me. As a part time job Carol is a balloon twister and entertains children and adults with her awesome works of art.
Here I am modeling my birthday cake. My hands are in that position because it's a good way to hide the double chins. I tried to look cheery after a 10 hour day of driving.

Ok, that's enough fun for now. I will be back soon with pictures of quilt symposium.