I'm Back From Vacation

I wonder if you even noticed that I was gone?  LOL  

We took a road trip from MI to FL and just got back.  

I have lots to share with all of you about the trip so here goes. 

First few days we spent by the pool.  

Ahhhhhhhh.

On Monday I visited the Cotton Patch and bought this adorable Sea Horse quilt pattern.

Fred is the local inhabitant at this shop.  He was very friendly and helpful!

 I found the perfect backing for my newest project too.  

Aren't those fish adorable?  

The 2 FQ I will use for a fishy or two.

One day we drove down to Venice Beach and it was the absolute perfect beach day!

What a crazy surprise when I walked into the local quilt shop and saw one of my patterns hanging!

Even my hubby was enjoying the warm weather with a drink at the local Daiquiri Deck!

I got the shrimp tacos and they were amazing!!!

I spent a little more time at the pool over the course of the week.

One day we drove to the area that Mote Marine is and walked out into the bay.  I found these shells.

and these weird little tube worm things.

We had the company of this heron.  A black heron maybe?

I thought it was interesting to see this large footprint with the smaller ones imprinted in the mud.  There was water covering these! 

 It was fascinating that the mud held the prints even under the water.

Then there was this elegant fellow.  He let me get really close.

He stretched out his very long neck when the fisherman on the next pier caught a fish!

We drove to Anna Maria Island and walked out on the pier.  We even saw a dolphin!

My SIL and BIL bought a beautiful home on Bird Key.  This is on their patio overlooking the ocean.

We had a fabulous time!  

We stopped at a few quilt shops on the way down and back and I will write about that in a future post.  I picked up lots of goodies along the way. 

 I am hoping to do WIPs With Friends tomorrow so please stop back to link up!

Have a wonderful day!

~XOP~

RJR Color Inspirations Club Quilt-January

I showed you the quilt I designed for the January Color Inspirations Club the other day.  

I picked it up from the quilter this week and 

wanted to show you the fantastic job Kathy did on the quilting.  

RJR wanted all of the quilts custom quilted and boy did Kathy step it up on this one!  

The January color palette is called Forest Floor and 

I wasn't sure about the colors until the fabric arrived and I saw them together, live and in person!  

BEAUTIFUL!! 

You can purchase this group of fabrics right here, at Pink Castle Fabrics.

 The RJR solids were fantastic to work with too.

The next step was to design a quilt to showcase those beautiful colors. 

 I made a few suggestions for a design that I was happy with and Kathy made it shine!

The company is calling the quilt Snow Globes but it didn't seem very wintery to me.

I felt like the design really was like the forest floor the color group was called.

I asked Kathy to quilt it like you were walking in the forest floor.

Stepping stones in the squares but not sure about the snowball blocks.

Kathy filled those in with plants from the forest!

Although it is really difficult to show you in a photo, 

each block has multiple straight lines around it.  

You know how some people use wood to outline a garden pathway?  

That's what this is supposed to simulate!

Amazingly executed.

 Just look at those square stepping stones!  

Brilliant!

Every plant and flower block is different!

My favorite block in the whole quilt?

See the dark purple one in the center of this photo?  

There are bunnies in it, because of course, there are bunnies in my forest!

I could not be happier with how this turned out. 

I put the binding on last night.  

I will be delivering it to Brenda at Pink Castle today for quilt market.  

If you want to purchase any month in the club just head over to Pink Castle and read all about it.

I really appreciate being included in this instillation of the Color Inspirations Club.

I hope I will be able to participate next year too!

So...what do you think of this quilt?

I love it!

~XOP~

PS Linking up to Finish it up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts

RJR Color Inspirations Club

Have you heard about this club?  

It is a monthly solids club using the RJR solids.  

Brenda at Pink Castle is the person that got this set up and

 had some of people do some pattern designing for.  

There were 12 color pallettes chosen by Brenda and the quilts designed around those fabrics.  

One of the months I had was March, the Daisy Field colors. 

 I fell in love with these fabrics!! 

 My quilt was entitled Daisy Field.  

I don't have very many photos of the quilt as I just finished the binding on it this weekend and it has to be ready to be mailed off for spring market soon. 

There will be kits available for this quilt and the pattern will be available for sale as well.
Pattern is available here.

There are FQ bundles of each of the month's colors available for sale too.

Here is what I have for photos so far.

A photo taken by Brenda with her son David on the quilt just after it came back from the quilter. 

 He just might be showing up the quilt!

Some of Librkat's (Kathy) amazing quilting!!

This weekend I was putting the binding on and had a little "help"

So NOW this means me spending a lot of time today getting all the car hair off the quilt

 before I can send it = )

How was your weekend?

Linking to ALYOF here.

~XOP~