Quilt Show this Weekend

Good Morning to all of you. I have been preparing for our Quilt Guild's Annual Quilt Show. I am going to enter some quilts for the first time ever. I will be entering 2 small Paul Klee inspired applique pieces, my scrappy 9 patch, the still to be completed Western Quilt...

Needless to say I have been stitching like crazy. I have one more cattle brand to stitch on the western quilt and binding. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. I needed some motivation to finish this one and this is it. I think I will get it done!

I also volunteered to paint some sandwich boards to place around town the day of the show. I have them complete and I need to do a bit of touch up today. I learned quite a bit on this project. I now can tell you what not to use when making stencils for spray painting lettering. Thankfully my neighbor had some sturdy plastic I was able to cut the stencil from and use spray adhesive to hold the stencil in place while I sprayed the paint.

I will return next week and fill you in on the adventures at the Gold Beach Quilt Guild Show.

Butch Says Hi

Butch is complaining that he has not been on the beach as much as he would like and I am happy to report that he and I spent a wonderful morning on the beach!

I have been a busy woman lately. I am a Hospice Volunteer and here in our community we have a Rummage Market with donated items from members of our community. This year I was in charge of shoes and bags. We had an incredible sale this year. In 3 days we made over $45,000 dollars. :-) and some 50 volunteers. It was a lot of work but what a wonderful cause. This money will go for end of life care for members of our County. Now, one thing you have to understand is we live in a community of 2,500 people. I am just astonished that we were able to bring in this much money. Every year more and more people hear about our sale and plan their vacations around it! I have a month or so off before we start collecting items for our other sales.
This has been one of the best organizations I have ever been part of!

I would encourage anyone to see if there is anyway you can support your local Hospice Organization. I do not think I could ever be a care giver but I sure feel good about helping out in this way.

I hope all of you have a great week and Holiday weekend. Butch and I will be spending more time on the beach.

Oh, and I am quilting. I am trying to finish a couple of projects so I can enter them in our local quilt show mid-September...

Shaving Cream Marbled Fabric

A few months ago I took a class in Marbling Fabric and we used shaving cream. It was a very fun process. I imagine many of you have done this but it was a new process to me and I had a great time doing it. I am not sure what will become of my fabrics but it was a great way to spend a morning.
I love learning new things and new processes. A couple of these pieces of fabric are more successful than others. I like the fabric with more dye and less white. We dyed fat quarter pieces of fabric.

I hope all of you are having a great week. We had a great week with our guests. Three little boys 3, 5 and 7. Busy, Busy Busy. I loved having kids in the house. They have such great energy.

Now back to my quilting, I am working on the hand quilting of my Batik Applique piece. Photos to follow soon.

My obsession with Paul Klee

OK, my obsession continues! As all of you know I love Paul Klee and have made 2 pieces inspired by his paintings. Well, here we go again. This time I am cutting into my stash of shot cotton. I have had it sitting here for about 8 months so here it goes.
Here is the start. I am planning on making mine square. We will see if I follow through with my plan. I work very loosely. I cut pieces and place them as I go. I love applique with this cotton it is very nice and soft and easy to work with.

Now, I have company coming for a few days and the house is only partially ready and I need to prepare something for dinner, or at least have a plan of what I will prepare...

Have a great week!

I really have been working

Here it is... My second piece of applique where a Paul Klee painting was my inspiration. Several months ago I won a blog giveaway on June 8th from Applique Addict I received a lovely bundle of 4x4 batiks. I thought since Marjorie was an applique fan, I should do just that applique.
I think the batiks are such fun for this piece. I have it pinned and ready to quilt. I will be quilting between the pieces of applique. Thanks so much Marjorie for sharing your stash of lovely batiks with me!

Now, my babies are doing well! Stevi purchased a beautiful used car. She did it on her own and made a great purchase. As I am writing this Rick is on a train from Germany to Sweden where he will spend the next 9 plus months studying, we hope. :-)

Summertime

I have been trying to figure out how and what to write about. I was reading other blogs this morning and I was visiting one of my favorites, The Silly Boodilly. Victoria has such an incredible way with words and as I read her blog I was inspired to just let you know what has been going on here in my world. I will not do it as wonderfully has she has but here it goes...

It has been a wild and busy summer, sure I am doing my own thing but the adventures of my babies has taken a major part in my world these days. Now, I am not complaining one bit, however I am one of those women that once a mother always a mother. My babies are grown and out in this world making me proud but I don't have the time with them I would like.

Let's start with Stevi first, She is the oldest and living a 10 to 12 hour drive from us and working her first adult job since graduating from college. Which means no vacation... :-( So we have not been able to have much time together. Her car has also died (really gone) and she is having to make her first major purchase of wheels. It is a daunting task for anyone let alone being 23 years old and away from home. I am sure she will make a great decision but doesn't she need her mommy??? Not really...

OK, now on to the boy, he is a Junior in college this year and going to study abroad in Uppsala Sweden, now that is a looooong way away and he will be gone for 11 months! He left last week for Europe and is going to travel around with a couple of friends for a few weeks before he settles in at school in Sweden. I am having major withdrawal. I am getting an email from him periodically and they are not terribly informative. However he is having an incredible adventure and I am thankful for that but I really miss him and again Doesn't he need his Mommy??? Not really...

So I am spending a fair amount of time thinking about my babies and what they are up too. I keep telling myself I raised them to go out on their own and have a wonderful life and they are both doing just that. But shouldn't they still need their MOMMY???

I hope all of you are having a wonderful summer and I will try and get some photos taken of my work and post them and let you know what I am up to.

All is good though! I am a lucky Mommy!

Sister's Outdoor Quilt Show

I just returned from a fabulous weekend with friends in Sister's. I was fortunate enough to be invited to join some friends from our quilt guild and attend the Sister's Outdoor Quilt Show. What a fun trip!

It was overwhelming. It was just too much to really put into words. I saw so many wonderful quilts and had an absolutely wonderful time with friends. The women I went to the quilt show with were such fun. I did not know any of them real well but I sure do now.... :-)

I would like to tell you all about the wonderful quilts but there were just too many to talk about them all and I am still on overload. I still do not believe I was there to see all of them.

I can hardly wait to put all my new ideas together.

I am off to sleep and dream about quilts.