One more photo from the Mary Lou Weidman Workshop

I just wanted to post one more photo from last months Mary Lou Weidman workshop. During the first day, Jan put some music on the CD player and there was some lovely waltz music. After listening for a while, Ray and Danielle decided to waltz for us. Both of them did a good job although Danielle say Ray is a better dancer than she is.

Anyone who thinks that quilting is boring doesn't hang out with the right group of quilters - join us at East Cobb Quilters Guild for lots of fun (and dancing) and quilting.

Grandparent Day at Tiny Stitches

We had a grandparent/grandchild sewing day at the shop today. Here are two of the girls with the tote bags they made. They were so proud of themselves and did a great job.



They had their choice of black or red bags and black or red straps.

Cupcake Swap

Since my cupcake partner is in Australia, it has taken a little longer for the mail to go through. I got a message from Kate today that said she received my package. Just after I responded that I had not yet received my package, Bill went out and checked the mailbox and my package had arrived.

Kate sent me a cupcake mug in the great round box you see here. Unfortunately, between Australia Post and the USPS, it arrived broken. I love the box however and think it is a great gift by itself. She also made me 4 coasters, sent chocolates and a wonderful card. I am quite pleased with my package.

Max

Max got his hair cut on Thursday. It is hard to get a good photo of him because the flash always makes his eyes look like devil eyes. Somehow red eye correction doesn't help much. Anyway, here he is. He always looks so little when he comes home from from getting his haircut.

He is almost 13 years old and weighs around 6 pounds. Isn't he cute?

I tried to get a photo of Chula but she is afraid of the flash - maybe tomorrow in better light.

Busy Day and Dazzling Dogs

I had a very busy day today but did manage to get a block finished for the blocks of the month. I started the day by having an Executive Committee meeting for the East Cobb Quilt Guild that I am president of. We are getting close to the end of the year and are working on nominations for next year. After the meeting, we went to lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. I had a great Chinese Chicken salad. After a trip to the guild storage area to look for some quilt show related books, I stopped at Tiny Stitches.

After picking up the eyes for Ted, (I can't imagine how that took almost 2 hours) I went to the grocery store and it was 4:30 before I knew it. I can't believe I spent all day away from home and don't have anything to show for it. I guess I do have one block to show for the day.

Here is block two of the Dazzling Dogs Block of the Month at Tiny Stitches. His name is Ted and he is a little goofy!

Beginning Piecing Class

I taught session 5 of my beginning piecing class on Wednesday. Here is the morning class hard at work.

I am so impressed with both the morning and evening classes. They have accomplished so much in five lessons. We have one more class next week where we will put the quilt top together. I can't wait to see what each of them look like.

Apron Swap Sent

I got my swap apron sent to my partner today. I hope she likes it. It is made from the "Clothespin Apron" pattern by Mary Mulari. I have made a couple of other aprons from her patterns. I especially like the "Church Ladies" apron also.

Part of the package was to make a hot pad/pot holder to match the apron. I used insulabrite and made the hot pad. I quilted each side to insulabrite and then joined the two together. I added a hanger on the top of it from the same ribbon that I used for the apron strings.

The other item we were to include in the package was a favorite pie recipe. I really don't have a favorite pie - I usually buy a pie or cook a frozen one. I got my Mother's old recipe box out and found a recipe for strawberry pie that I remember. Mother was not a very good cook but she did have a few good recipes. I know that most people think their Mothers were great cooks but that was not the case for my Mother. She had other talents but cooking was not one of them. The recipe was hand written on a calendar page from 1952.

I hope my partner enjoys the package.

Apron Swap Received

I got my apron from the fall apron swap today. In my preferences I stated that I like bright colors and especially lime green. Obviously Emily read what I wrote and used it to make an absolutely beautiful apron for me. It is a reversible apron and here is the wonderful batik side. Love the purple trim.

Part of the swap was to include a hot pad and she made one out of a towel. It is on the seat of the chair (please excuse the remote - I forgot it was there)

Here is the reverse of the apron - lime green! I am not sure which side I like best. Both are great!

I will post photos of the one I made tomorrow.

Friendship Stars

Thought I would post a few blocks from my beginner class. They made their first half-square triangles last week and did a great job.

Since this is so important to learn, I was pleased that they all seemed to make these without much trouble.

Well, at least most of them didn't have any trouble but here is one that got a little confused. Nice block, but not a friendship star. I took it apart and it is now a proud friendship star.

This week we move on to flying geese.

Weekend at the Quilt Shop

I work on the weekends at Tiny Stitches - the best quilt shop in Georgia! We are having a Labor Day sale that stated on Friday and ends tomorrow. We have lots of skinny bolts with 1 1/2 to 4 or 5 yards of fabric still on the bolt and we are selling them for only $5.00. No measuring - whatever is on the bolt is what you take home with you. Since we are putting out more blots every day, some of our customers are coming every day I work again tomorrow since both Maetha and Mary are taking the day off.

Of course, we are putting the bolts outside of the store on tables so that isn't fun - putting them out and taking them back in but it seems like everyone is enjoying the bargains! I have been resisting but Michele and I did find one bolt today that we couldn't resist. We bought it and split the fabric on it - we each got almost 2 yards for $2.50.

On my way to the shop yesterday, I stopped at Chick-fil-A to buy diet lemonade. While I was waiting to get to the window, I saw that they had decorated the back of the store with 3 of these planters. Aren't they beautiful?

When I got home last night, I found this in the mailbox. I had signed up for a bottle swap at http://gomakesomething.com/challenges/mib/mib-about/ and my bottle from Lisa Vollrath came today.

Here is the bottle opened but before I took the goodies out.

And here is the stuff from the bottle. I love everything I got and have one bottle ready to mail to someone else. Still need to work on the second one and find someone who is willing to receive/send two bottles. What fun!

We went out to dinner for Bill's birthday tonight. Went to Longhorn, his favorite place. I got him 1 1/2 pounds of fudge and a couple of turtle candies for his birthday. Also found a card with a photo on it of a puppy that looks like Max did many years ago.

Mary Lou Weidman

We had a wonderful day at guild. Mary Lou Weidman was our speaker and she had a wonderful presentation. Her quilts are absolutely breathtaking and she makes you think of all kinds of story's you would like to tell in quilts.

After the meeting we went to Ted's Montana Grill and had a great lunch. Here is Danielle and Mary Lou outside of Ted's.

Here I am with Mary Lou. I am wearing a Mary Lounie Pin that she gave me.

Mary Lou is teaching one more class tomorrow - Flower Power. I wish I was able to attend it but it is my regular day at the quilt shop. I really enjoyed meeting Mary Lou and feel so inspired by her quilts.

Christmas Story Quilt Class

Here is the class from today. Mary Lou is in the center, next to Ray.

I finally got started on my quilt. Here is the basic tree and the start of some of the ornaments/presents/memories on the tree. Obviously it needs a lot more things on the tree, plus a border. I feel good that I got this much done. Danielle made the stocking for me.

Here is Mary Lou making Hoochy Mama blocks. She did a brief demo of the blocks for the border.

We went to the evening meeting tonight after dinner and Mary Lou showed a couple of quilts that I hadn't seen before. She has a wonderful Halloween quilt that we were not able to take photos of. I absolutely love it and hope she will have a pattern or book available soon.

I gave Mary Lou a Magic Wand today. She had a good time with it and took it to dinner with us. I think we are going to do a Magic Wand swap on her yahoo group - I can hardly wait.

Tomorrow is the regular guild meeting in the morning. We will have more wonderful story quilts to look at and be able to listen to Mary Lou telling us about creativity. I really love being in the guild and am so honored to be President this year. If you are ever in Georgia, please visit us. Our website is here.

Mary Lou Weidman in Georgia

This is the quilt that I think I will base mine on. Mary Lou does hand applique and I think I will use fusible. While I like hand applique, I would also like the quilt to be finished sometime in my lifetime. With fusible there is at least a chance that I will finish it.

We have been waiting for Mary Lou to come to Georgia for a long time and today was the first day of a two day workshop for Christmas Quilts. Unfortunately, I had to teach my beginning class in the morning so didn't get the class until after lunch. I did manage to stop by and drop off my stash of fabrics that I was going to use. Of course, after starting, I decided needed different fabrics.

Here is one of the quilts that Mary Lou brought along with her. It is a feather tree.

Here is a wreath. Many of the people in the class are making one based on this. Pam is making hers featuring the 12 days of Christmas. Mary Lou drew special patterns for her - lucky girl.

Beyond Beginners Class

I taught one of my favorite classes last night. We are calling it Beyond Beginners - it is planned for students who have completed a beginning class or have that type of experience.

This is Stephanie's beginner quilt. I have named it Doggies Run Amok - all the fabric in it is doggie fabric. She quilted it herself and did a great job.

Here is the quilt that Stephanie started last night. She managed to find a close out on batiks and bought enough to make this quilt.

Here is the start of Lorie's quilt. Her husband went to the shop yesterday, picked out the fabrics and did all the cutting for her. He sure is a keeper isn't he.

The other two decided to make a table runner from flying geese.

We are using a Pat Sloan book called "I can't believe I am quilting beyond the basics". It is a great book and I recommend it highly.

Tomorrow I am going to the beginning of a 2-day workshop with Mary Lou Weidman. The class starts at 9:30 but I have to teach my beginner class so will go get set up and then rush back to the shop, teach and hurry back to the workshop. The topic is Christmas. Mary Lou makes story quilts. On her website she says that "every event in life is a quilt waiting to happen". It should be a lot of fun.

A few more purchases from Nashville

I finally got around to unpacking the last of my purchases from Nashville.

Here are two patterns for purses. I use the fact that I teach purses as an excuse to buy purse patterns. Sounds good to me! I especially like the purse on the right - they had a sample done in black and whites. It was great.

OK - I don't need another quilt kit but I really, really love this fabric. The quilt was so beautiful that I talked myself into buying it.

This is a cute little paper pieced cupcake pattern. They had a little kit available to make one of the cupcakes so I got it.

I was really happy to find this dog panel. We have the fabric in the shop but sold out of the panel almost immediately. I got the panel in Nashville and then got a fat quarter pack from the line yesterday. Not sure what I will do with it but love what it says.

12 Dog Days of Christmas

On the twelfth day of Christmas

My owner gave to me

Twelve tails-a-wagging

Eleven frisbees flying

Ten cats for chasing

Nine bones for chewing

Eight ropes for tugging

Seven scraps-a-spilling

Six fleas-a-dying

Five puppy friends

Four falling squirrels

Three mailmen

Two tennis balls

And a fire hydrant so I can pee!

Isn't that perfect for someone owned by two little dogs?