Taking classes

I have been working on some blocks for a beginning quilt class. I am not teaching this one but taking it. I have taught beginning quilting now for 9 years but never had a class on the subject myself. I had no intentions of taking this class but I love this teacher. She just recently came to work at our LQS and I thought it would be interesting to see how she teaches. She has a beginner class, intermediate class and an advanced class and the quilts are so cute. In the beginner class, it is a 6 week class and covers everything, hand piecing, applique, machine piecing, quilting and binding. I have gone to 3 classes now and I have actually learned something in each class. It is nice to sit back and listen to someone else for a change. I plan on taking all of her classes now. I have really enjoyed this class and it is good to have a refresher/update every now and then to see how others do things. She told me when I talked to her about taking the class that she would teach me like I was a beginner. I told her that is what I wanted and it has been great. The ladies in the class are all great too. It has been really fun and I have made some new friends along the way. I'll post a picture of what we've been doing later. til next time...

May over at Abyquilt is celebrating her 2nd Blogaversary

May is celebrating her blog anniversary by having a giveaway. Go check out her blog. She has some really cute sayings and quotes and her blog is very uplifting. I read her blog all the time. Here's a link to May's Blog. Go check her out.

Another Good Thing I found on Lazy Saturday

Ok, one more thing I found that will help you and this one is with borders.


One of the blogs I read on a regular basis is Patchwork Times with Judy Laquidara. (She has a great book out called Nine Patch Extravanza. If you like Nine-patches and want something different to do with them, this one's for you!) She has a good worksheet on her site to help you with borders. It's called: Adding a Pieced Border. Check out her site while you are there. Hugs...

Playing around on a lazy Saturday with Lazy Girl-Bernina and Nancy Zieman

Today's the first Saturday in a long while that I didn't have to work. I was going to sleep late and just lay in bed for awhile but....My DH set the alarm for me when he left. The alarm woke me and I was not allowed to go back to sleep and definitely not allowed to lay quietly. My lovely little companion, Brandi, my silver Yorkie, knew I was awake and she thought we should play for awhile. Of course, she let me know she had to go out first so that meant I had to get up. I played with her for a while and turned on the TV. I got to watch Sewing With Nancy, America Sews and Fons and Porter. I came to my computer and had to read what's happening with my friends in blogland. I'm signed up with Lazy Girl Designs and was reading an old e-mail from her site. That's when I found the Nancy Zieman streaming video site and the Bernina blog. These are two great sites to check out. Of course, if you haven't found the Lazy Girl blog yet and you like to do bags, you have to check her out too.
Here are links for all. Go check them out and I hope you enjoy them. One more thing I found today was a great You Tube video from Sharon Schamber Designs (all her videos are good). This one is free and she shows you how to clean your iron...Check that one out too. For those of you that don't know yet, she will be the guest speaker in July 2009 at the TAQG Rally. Go check out her website too. Til next time...
Lazy Girl Designs
Nancy Zieman Streaming Video Site
Bernina Blog Site
Sharon Schamber video...how to clean your iron

Fat Quarter Giveaway

Okay, I didn't win the quilt from Dana(bummer!) so I found another drawing to enter....Carolyn is having a fat quarter giveaway. Go post on her blog and help her get her inspiration back! She wants to know what inspires you....check it out and check out her blog. She has beautiful flower pictures, recipes and of course, quilts. Til next time....

More Sewing with Friends

Okay, the girls exaggerated a bit when they said they were finished with the quilt...I got over there Tuesday night and no, the top was not finished but they really had gotten alot done. We continued sewing and putting together and had another good time sewing together. It was not finished when we left but was further along. It should be finished this week sometime. Judy said she was going to continue working on it and hopefully get the borders on it by this weekend. The borders have a swag and stars on them and really make the quilt. This quilt has piecing and applique but we are not doing needle turn. We are using Steam-A-Seam and we are doing the buttonhole stitch around the applique. It is turning out really well. No pictures yet, but will have some by this weekend. We might have to make three more of these. All of us like it and have enjoyed working on it so much and this one will be given away, so....it looks like we will be sewing together more but working on triplets (one for the three of us). I love patriotic quilts and this one is turning out soooo good. I can't wait to share it with you. Til next time...

Sewing with friends

I have been sewing but haven't had any finishes to post or brag about. I went over to a friend's house Friday night and we sewed on her quilt. She is making a quilt for her family reunion. She was thinking she couldn't finish it in time to get it quilted so another friend and I chipped in on the sewing to help her finish. Judy had quilted a quilt for me on a rush basis, so that was the least I could do. I love to sew with friends anyway so this just gives me an excuse to get together with my friends. We had a good time Friday night. My other friend, also named Judy, went over again on Saturday and they got to keep up the sewing marathon. I had to work and could not participate in the fun. They finished the quilt top Saturday, or should I say early Sunday morning. I'll take pictures when I go over there Tuesday night and post so you can see. It is a red, white and blue patriotic applique and pieced quilt and is very cute. Judy is a Longarm quilter and will quilt it herself...We will be binding it Tuesday, I hope. Whatever, it was fun to do this and I look forward to sewing on something Tuesday night.
I worked on some hand piecing yesterday for a class I am taking. It is so nice just to sit and relax and do handwork.

I am going to take an embroidery class in August and I am looking forward to that too. I have done redwork and embroidery but I learned it on my own. This will be the first class for me on this. It's a beginner embroidery class and covers 16 different stitches. It looks like fun and alot of my friends are taking the class with me. Oh boy, I can't wait.

No new pictures to post so I will quit rambling for now, til next time...

Quilt Give-away

Dana at the Old Red Barn is doing it again. She is having another quilt give away. Go check out her blog. She has great pictures, recipes and quilt items too. This is her 2nd quilt to give away...Check out all the videos too. I can't make a video for two reasons. 1. I don't know how and 2. I don't have the time to learn how to do it yet. However, you don't have to make a video to enter but you have a better chance of winning if you do. I love Dana's blog and she has a business too. I buy hand made soap from her and it is great...check out her store too. til next time...

Quilt Meeting and speaker

Tuesday at the Mesquite Quilt Guild we had a speaker from Waskom,Tx named Anita Bradshaw.
We had a great time with Anita. She showed all of her wallhangings and it was so much fun to see them in person. Check out her website. I bought a couple of patterns from her and plan to make them soon. Thanks Anita for coming to our guild...til next time.

TAQG Rally Day (Texas Assoc. of Quilt Guilds)

I went Saturday to the TAQG Rally Day. This year's speaker was J. Michelle Watts....She was great! I don't know what the exact count was of people that attended but I would guess about 500. I am so bad with guessing though, it might have been more. It was a wonderful day. She had a trunk show of her quilts in the morning time and her wearable arts in the afternoon. She is from Roswell, N Mexico and she focuses on the Southwest. She also now has her own line of fabric thru Moda...If you ever get a chance to hear her or see her work, it is well worth the time.

If you get a chance to go to Rally Day, go for it. It was so much fun. The food was good too. The food was catered by Applebees and they did a good job. I don't know when or where Rally Day is next year but will let you know...Til next time.

Bag Giveaway

John over at Quilt Dad is having a give away. He made bags and they are just so cute, go check them and his blog out! He even has a cute dog! Go look now. Hugs, Linda

Steph in her new apartment

Steph liked her quilt and pillowcases. Here she is in her new apartment...

Steph's Graduation Quilt and Pillowcases

Ok, I couldn't stand it. I could not give her the quilt without making pillowcases to go with it...I couldn't find the background fabric to match but I went into my stash and found some that would do...I even pulled the fabric for the band of the pillowcase out of my stash. I didn't buy anything extra for this project. Here's the pic of the pillowcases I made. There is a pillowcase pattern in my tutorials and the pictures are pretty good on this site. I deviate from the pattern in that I do french seams. I'll explain that at another time. This is an easy and quick pillowcase pattern. I make pillowcases with every quilt I give away, even baby quilts. I make baby pillowcases to go with the baby quilts, regular sized pillowcases with all other quilts except Queen Size and King Size quilts, I make King Size pillowcases to go with them. You can make a pillowcase in about 30 minutes. Very quick and easy...Ok, I'll be quiet, til next time....

Steph's Graduation Quilt

Here's Stephanie's Graduation quilt, quilted, bound and with a label. Steph just moved into her new apartment today and I'm going over there tomorrow to give her her quilt....See, I waited just long enough so she would not use it to wrap her furniture in for moving! Anyway, here's a pic and I hope she likes it. I was going to make pillowcases to match but not enough fabric and the two quilt shops I went to were sold out of the fabric too. I saw a label by another blogger and used it as a guide for my label. I hope the Gypsy quilter doesn't mind me doing this but I really liked her idea of care instructions as well as advice...til next time.

Gumbo Ya Ya

Here is a little top I made as a sample for the quilt shop. It is out of the book Gumbo Ya Ya from Paula Toups of Bayou Patch Designs. This is a quick quilt to make. I have made 3 so far of these and all are different. (Sorry, I didn't get pictures of the other two before I took to the shop, my camera was not cooperating at the time.) The book shows you how to make 3 different blocks and how to put these blocks together as a Block 1 quilt, block 2 quilt, block 3 quilt, block 1 and 3 quilt etc. I think you get the idea...anyway, if you need a quick quilt or want a quilt that hi-lites a favorite fabric, this might be the book for you. Fun, quick and instant gratification...