Aunt Shelby's Wedding

I meant to post this last week when I got it done but so many other things have been happening I haven't had time! I finished the mermaid for the doll quilt. I will work on the quilt once I get the top done for the challenge. Here she is


One of my oldest and dearest friends got married yesterday. There was a party for them on Friday (also my 27th wedding anniversary). It was at his sister's house and it was fabulous!

Yesterday was the wedding. This is my friend, Shelby (yes, my oldest daughter is named after her and she is DD2's Godmother)


Isn't she beautiful?? Eve nher feet were adorable! This was pre-wedding. We have been friends for around 28 years now. We met when I moved into the apartment under hers when we both lived in Kalamazoo. I needed to borrow a phone so went upstairs and used hers. We have been best friends ever since! We don't always see each other as much as we would like, although we are trying to change that, but we have been through LOTS of life with each other. Her husband, Mike, passed away around 6 years ago. Very suddenly and no saying goodbye either. VERY traumatic for her (and all of us). She was devistated, but life goes on whether we are ready for it or not. She never thought she would be happy again. Then she met Don. He has made her sooooo happy again. When I walked into the bedroom where she was getting ready yesterday morning it was all either of us could do not to burst into tears. Remembering her wedding to Mike (I was a very pregnant matron of honor) . I looked at her and told her all the new happy memories were about to begin again and we had to look forward not backward. We both kinda sucked it up and no more tears.

The wedding was outdoors at a dear friend of Don's. It could not have been more beautiful.

So here are 2 of my children all gussied up too. I thought I would show you a pic of DH and me too.


The sad news? I dropped my camera and now it won't turn on! I will have to see about sending it in for repair. = ( Luckily DD1 has the same brand and I was able to put my photo card into her camera and download all the pictures from this weekend!
Now off to clean, laundry and sew.

PS Just in case you were wondering, I made them open the quilt and they loved it. Here is how I ended up doing the label. Oh and the whole quilt and then Aiden "helping" me wrap it up.

See? I told you there was a lot going on this weekend!

It's GREEN!!

If you were guessing about the second color in the quilt it is green. Here are the humble beginnings on my work table.


Along with a sneak peek at the rough graph of the quilt.

It is really my thinking pad, so what's there may still change. Sometimes these things evolve as I work.

Of course I have to show you the "help" I am receiving with this one too. You would think they were hatching eggs as they seem to take turns shedding laying on it, like a hen brooding over her eggs.

I thought you might like to see the books we are able to choose our blocks from too so I snapped a quick pic this am.

So there you have it. I hope to begin some sewing tonight, or at least maybe finish all the stripping (of the fabric, now get your minds out of there, although it *is* my 27th anniversary on Friday so there is someone that might actually appreciate the other kind of stripping = ) LOL!!!

Let me know what you think.

More on the Design Contest

I just received an email telling me I can share the progress and the process with you all on my quilt top entry. In fact they are "encouraging" us to share with you all! Imagine that! I haven't taken any photos yet but will begin tonight.

So if you want insight into my process I can begin writing about that. If not skip this post and come back later for photos. BTW my DD2's 22 birthday was yesterday and so we are celebrating tonight. What does this mean for you? Possibly no pics until tomorrow. Sorry but got to keep the fam happy you know?

Back to the process. When I first found out I was a finalist, I had no idea what the first challenge would be. Then we found out that it was 2 traditional blocks. OK, how to make something that would catch your eye and make myself stand out using only 2 blocks? Hmmm. I considered a Halloween quilt using a haunted house. Nope no applique other than the blocks in Barbara Brackman's applique book. Next? Well, let's see, they wanted it to reflect who we are as designers. One of my favorite things to design with is strings. You know I have done lots of that. At first I thought of making 2 different kinds of multi colored string stars on an aqua background. I continued to think about it and finally, last night it came to me. I will make 2 different string stars, BIG ones (kind of like the orphan star I made using left overs from the big M quilt). I have drawn them out on graph paper. I went to the library and picked up the 2 books we are allowed to use blocks from. I was kind of anxious to know that what I wanted to make was in the book! I found a different take on one of the stars that I think will be awesome for this quilt!

I also changed the color palate. Instead of multi colored stars I am going to use single colored stars. Aqua and red? orange? or green? Decisions, decisions. Can you guess which one I chose? (remember we are supposed to show who we are). I let you know when I post pictures!

McCalls Quilt Star Design Contest

Remember me continually bugging you all to go and vote for my quilt? Well I was selected as a finalist in the McCalls Quilt Star Design contest!! That is what I needed the profile pictures for!!! If you click on the link on my side bar it will take you to the profile page of all the finalists. If you want to see what I wrote you can click on mine. If you have another minute it would be great if you can leave a comment. I think every insecurity is flaring up in my body at the moment!!

There are 3 challenges we have agreed to participate in. The first one was given to us on Friday. I'm so excited and nervous! I have changed my design at least 10 times but I think I know what I want to do now. The challenge is to use 2 traditional blocks to make a top no smaller than 24" . It can be bigger than just not smaller than. We have to send a digital photo of the completed top (they don't want this one quilted) by September 13th (I think that's the date). We had to sign a paper stating we would not tell anything about this until we had permission. I don't know if we are supposed to share our tops and progress, I guess I will have to ask. I have been assigned to one of the editors and she has been very nice and very helpful.

So that's the BIG adventure here. I will see what I am allowed to share. You should know that once the quilt tops have been sent they will be posted and the month long, vote for me every day emails and posts will resume, right?? Seriously, thanks to everyone that voted and helped me get to at least the first round.

Happy 84th Birthday to my Dad!!

Yes this is finally the end of last weekend!! On the eve of this weekend. I know, but I have been really busy. I went to my dad's house last Saturday after the workshop. His 84th birthday was August 1st and I was going to cook him dinner. I got there and he asked me to go down the basement (it's a HUGE mess). He pointed at an area and told me how much he would like that area cleaned up. *sigh* so I started cleaning. How many empty boxes inside empty boxes does one person need, really? He had begun to take "junk" out and put it in his snowmobile trailer to haul to the dump. He still had his snowmobile inside taking up half of the room.

I worked for awhile and then DD2 called and told me she and my DH were coming to the celebration too. They arrived and DH made his way to the basement to help me clean. Now, there is a corner in that basement with "treasure". I, however was cleaning the trash area! Where do you think DH went to clean? Of course, the treasure corner. I told him to leave that alone, I know what's there. After about 4 hours of non-stop cleaning and hauling, we had filled the other half of the trailer and it was time to eat. Oh, his stove/oven is almost as old as I am and it had decided not to work that night. We ended up going out for dinner.
I did buy him a cake and here he is with his cake!

He was so happy that we were all there to celebrate with him! I need to make time to go and visit more often now that he is getting older. It's only about a 2 and a half hour drive so not that far.
I took some stuff from the basement to donate to charity (we always say Goodwill or Salavation Army) and some that I wanted to look though to see if we can sell it. Here is what the back of my car looked like as I parked at my house.

I did find some treasure though. My mom's mom (my grandma) apparently, was a quilter. I found a box with some cut up feedsack pieces in it. All cut into Dresden wedges and some butterflies. I showed them to DH and he told me too bad those were such little pieces and I wouldn't be able to do anything with them. I just laughed. I also found some very old patterns that I have not gone through yet. I might have found some vintage paper stuff for a certain friend that loves that kind of thing too. I will get some pics when I get a minute.

You will all appreciate this story too. I had separated out the stuff for charity from the try to sell boxes. A new SA shop just opened up by the gym (how lucky am I?) so I was bringing stuff in to them. There were 3 small root beer mugs and I put my fingers into them to transfer all 3 at the same time to a box. Out of the corner of my eye I happened to notice color in one of them so I sen them down and looked into the mug and saw this

Yeah, you all know how much I *love* spiders so um, you know I was thrilled to find this, right? I couldn't donate that! It came back home with me and I had DH clean them out (I'm NOT touching spiders) and now there is another full box of stuff for the SA for me to drop off tonight!

DD2's birthday is Monday so we will probably do something to celebrate that this weekend. I hope to get to my machine and be able to sew sometime soon. I am behind in my JR quilt a long. Maybe tonight?

The Weekend Continues

On Saturday morning we all went to Carol's church to sew. We sewed for a little bit and then Amanda Jean talked, showed her quilts and did some demonstration of the process she uses when she is sewing. Most impressive was the fact that she sewed while standing up!
Carin is in the pictures with Amanda Jean too.

I want you to meet some of the other people that were there too. Carin (in charge)and her mom Carol and sister Amy.

Carin's best Friend Jen (I had to take this photo. She is a new quilter and wanted to be there to support everyone, so she was pressing for people. I hardly think the pregnant person should be on hands and knees pressing, LOL. She was a lot of fun!)and my roommate Kate with Amanda Jean.

I brought some fun manly fabric I had picked up from some fabric cards. I thought it would be great for a guy quilt. I did not know what the quilt would be but as it turns out it was perfect. I had enough to do mine and I gave some to Rebekah and she made one too!! She did hers with a dark brown background and I used Kona Ash. I like them both!

You should all know by now how much I HATE having my picture taken and yet, somehow I have been in more photos recently than in a long time, LOL. I leave you with this last one and it is me with Amanda Jean as I was getting ready to go and see my dad.
Thank you for a wonderful day Carin and Amanda Jean. I hope you will do this again next year!!

Advise Please

EDITED : I sent them both!

I need to choose a "profile" photo for something I can't talk about yet. Which one do you like better?

This one?


Or this one?

I have to make the decision by tomorrow, YIKES...help!

What a Weekend!

My weekend began on Friday during the day. DD1 and I were going to Grand Rapids. I was going to drop her off at my dad's house on Friday with her ducklings that were supposed to go to her friend and then I was going to Lasting Impressions B & B. There was an event for Margret's Hope Chest and none other than Amanda Jean (Crazy Mom Quilts) was going to be there on Friday to speak with us and then on Sat to show us a new pattern that we would be using to make tops for the charity.

This is what I saw when I drove up to the B&B.

and that was my room. I shared with a woman named Kate that came all the way from Chicago. We got along very well and had a wonderful time. So on Friday night we all went into a room with lots of tables and lights and thought we were going to do some sewing, and some did. Then Amanda Jean got there. We had not met but we have spoken through email. She walked up to me and asked if I was Mama Spark and introduced herself. I could have died on the spot! She is a very sweet person and very humble. I enjoyed talking with her though out the night and on Saturday too.

Carin, the woman that organized this and is the head of the charity had us playing some games. During one of the games we were on a team and one of the things we had to do was to pile quilts on top of one of our team mates. You had one "Minute to Win It," as Carin kept saying. So here you go an up close and personal pic of Amanda Jean.

What's that you say? You don't know which one is her? Well, she's the one they are piling the quilts on!! She really was a good sport.

She brought some quilts she had made using the pattern we would be using on Saturday. Love the pattern! I really liked the blue and green one (shocker I know)

Amanda Jean is a very unassuming person and it was kind of funny to see her just sitting there sewing down a binding like the rest of us. She just wanted to finish it! LOL.


Things wound down around 9ish I think and Amanda Jean went to her hotel to stay with her DH and her kids. Some of the women that were staying there went out on the porch, I sat in the sewing room and stitched on my mermaid. Around 11, I think, they were going to bed but told me that one of the young women was not back yet and the inn keeper had asked them to bolt the door. I decided to just stay up I think she knocked around midnight and I let her in. I went to bed around 1am.

In the morning we woke up to fresh pineapple, homemade cinnamon rolls and a wonderful quiche.

We all packed up and headed to the church to sew for the day. I need to leave it here for now and will continue the story later.

I Need Some Assistance

I just received and email from a friend that bought some of the fabric I was selling and she told me her package was missing a couple of pieces of fabric. I know that the fabric was mailed out because it is no longer here in the bin of sale fabric. Did someone else happen to receive some fabric that was not a part of the fabric you purchased? It would have been 3 extra pieces. A dark blue print, a brown flower print and a yellow cloud kind of print. In the photo it is the first fabric on the left, then the middle one and the yellow one next to the dark one. If you did, please email me so I can get the fabric to the person that wanted it. I appreciate your help with this.

Preparation

Yep, you read that correctly. I have today off and somehow I find myself up at 6 and heading out to meet PTM at the gym at 7:30! I need to get my day going because I have a lot to do. First the gym, then home and shower. I am going to Grand Rapids to attend a 2 day event where Amanda Jean will be teaching. You did read that correctly too. Cray Mom Quilts, Amanda Jean will be teaching in Grand Rapids and I will be there! I am so excited I can hardly stand it! I need to bring snacks so have to get to the grocery store and then I want to bake some banana bread and maybe cookies, while I pack up the car. She is coming to work with the Margaret's Hope Chest group. They make quilts and give them to people who need a little hope in their lives.

I spent several hours with PTM last night teaching her how to upload photos, use her bloglines, open a Flickr account (turns out she had one and didn't know it), and just generally do some more stuff on her blog. I am wondering if she has an updated version of blogger because some of the things on mine are different on hers. Anyone know anything about that? I think I made her head spin! She did upload pics to her blog though and I think she will be practicing more this weekend. Now she has to get in the habit of carrying her camera everywhere with her, LOL.

Since I took the process pledge I thought I would show you the beginnings of the doll quilt I am working on for an auction. Here is the mermaid I am stitching that will be a part of the quilt.

I think she is adorable! The stitching is going along quite quickly too. After she is finished, I will be making some hst's and sewing them into a zig zag pattern above her. I am hoping it will look like she is under the water. First things first though and I must get her finished.

OK, enough blogging around, I need to get myself in gear and get off to the gym. Have a wonderful day and if I can get internet at the B and B I will be in touch later, if not you will hear from me when I get home. My dad is turning 84 on Sunday and lives in Grand Rapids so I will be going to his house on Sat night to cook him a birthday dinner. Nice when things line up like that, right? OK GTG!

Wedding Sampler Blocks 7-12

Now I will show you blocks 7-12

Block 7 Front and Back

I love how this block came out. Look at how those leaves landed in the corners! The little squares did not line up quite perfectly at the top in the center but I loved it and would use it again.

Block 8 Front and Back

I am glad that I used this design in this block. It seemed to fit this block well. It wouldn't work for something with no pattern on the outside in the corners.

Block 9 Front and Back

This block looks kind of circular so the quilting filling the entire block worked well with this block too. I liked this block a lot.

Block 10 Front and Back

I like how this one turned out too. Hearts again, and the same thing, having some piecing out to the corner made the block look ok with this.

Block 11 Front and Back

I like how this one worked with the piecing out into the corners. Loved the swirls with the straight lines.

Block 12 Front and Back

I liked how this one worked with this block. The quilting was perfect with the piecing in this block.

OK, there you go. The fifty cent tour! Please let me know what you thought of the process of this quilt and my quilting choices.