Shop Hopping, Darlene Zimmerman and the sewing machine

Wow, has this been a great long weekend!! I took Thursday and Friday off due to a need for some fun for me. I was checking out Tula Pink's fb page and she said she had been in Onalaska, WI visiting a shop called The Olive Juice Quilt Shop, well I got curious. looked it up online, got directions on mapquest  and made plans for my day off !! It took about 1 1/2 hours to get there. I drove down the Minnesota side to get there and boy did it rain cats and dogs! I later found out Winona, MN had 1 1/2 inches that day.

The Olive Juice had all kinds of fabrics, many of my favorites, many designers, Tula, Amy, Kaffe, Valorie just to name a few. It was truely a feast for the eyes!! I probably lingered there about 1 1/2 hours trying to take everything in, and let me tell you, when I go back I am sure I will see lots more things I didn't realize were there before. I loved it and the ladies there were so nice. I definately came home with some goodies and some great ideas!!! I found out at this time I am very fond of the designers of Basic Grey by Moda, I seemed to draw to many of their lines, love it!! I loved alot of things there!!

Friday day I did some real spring cleaning pulling things out from everywhere most of the day, but the grand Finale was going to The Burlington Hotel Quilt Shop in Alma, WI as they were having a lecture and trunk show by Darlene Zimmerman!!!!  She was talking about how ho-hum quilt tops and become Oh Wow!! She talked about colors, borders, sashing, layouts. All variables that we can choose to make a quilt really wonderful. She also had 3 huge stacks of quilts she showed different techniques and ideas with and it was so nice!! It lasted about 1 1/2 hours and then the shop stayed open for us to of course shop. I just needed some solid grey so I bought that and a few patterns from Darlene - Hankypanky and Teatime. I also got some of her newest line of fabric too to use in the future. She was truley a delightful woman, funny, delicate in her ways, and so willing to visit and help us clarify our thoughts.

While I was visiting waiting for fabric to be cut out, I realized Darlene's 30's repo fabrics were what initially drew me into quilting in a gang busters way. I loved the colors and remember stopping at the biggest fabric store I had ever been to when Matthias was 5 years old in Charlotte North Carolina. It was as big as a department store and when we were in Greenville, South Carolina everyone kept telling me I had to go to Charlotte, NC to this huge fabric store, which of course I did!! I bought several 1 yard pieces of her fabrics and that was the real beginning to my fabric stash!! Wow, what memories popped out  thinking about her fabrics.

I also have had the pleasure of sewing on projects this weekend. I am making a fabric basket for a swap I joined in. I finally figured out the fabrics I wanted to use and finished getting my last 2 supplies needed today at the fabric store in Eau Claire. Now I am ready to finish what I started!! I also have some other blocks I have finished, they are below.

 Simply Solids Bee block for May

Sunday Morning Quilts bee for May

Fat Stash Bee Block for May - Christmas in May!!

Bee Sew Modern Bee sneak peak for May! I love how this came out so far. Love the pipes!

Eliah did it!!! Stay off the roads! :)

My youngest son, Elaih, who turned sixteen on April the 19th did his driver's test today and got his driver's lisence! He was dying to go see his little lady friend, but dad said no since the insurance man needed to be called in the morning first to put him on the insurance. He was bummed, but now hopes to visit her this weekend. Of course we had to celebrate the occasion and I let him pick what he wanted where and he chose the Dairy Queen for a vanilla cone dipped in cherry. Like father, like son! LOL!

 We also stopped at Dave McMahon's to discuss Eliah's truck options. The other day he said, I'd be happy with a Chevy, you see he is addicted to the thought of a Dodge Ram and I told him he needed to expand his horizons, which he did. So..we went and let Dave know that a Chevy would be good too, but the Ram is his first  choice.

Otherwise I have been diligently creating blocks for my brother's wedding quilt. I will have to post some blocks. I think it's going to be really nice when it's done. I feel caught up with my work and Spring has finally sprung, we hit 80 degrees today only to have a snow storm with a high of 36 on Thursday, yuck!! Oh well, every year has it's unique ways!

I had the fun of being a chaperone for the post prom party here in Durand Saturday night. I have to say we have some really neat young people in our town. They all behaved so well and seemed to have so much fun! I ran a jousting game and boy oh boy do some people play hard and take it very seriously. I was amazed how many kids were completely worn out before their time was even up. They had a blast and it was an honor to serve. Next year Eliah will go, he said he wants a pink camo tux, but don't tell him I told you!

Winter Ended Today and in Shone Spring

    This has been a most unusal winter. Yesterday was the 1st day we got to the 50 degree mark since December 7th, 2012.. Today we hit 70 degrees and our little town of Durand had their community wide thrift sales kick off!! My mom is also a participant in this event. I hope she raises alot of mula for her orphanages in Burma!!

     Celia went off to Chicago today. I hope she has a blast with her friends. It is difficult having your children grow up trying to exert such independence but doing it so poorly thinking they know it all and the not so good choices they make, but I am learning to shut up after I said my peace and let them go through it as they don't want any help, but boy do they make mistakes and can a Mother's heart ache, but at this stage, they don't care. All I can do is pray, and trust me, I am praying to my Almighty Savior to guide them through it till they grow up a little more and come out the other side. Help me Jesus!! I know I can't make it on my own.

Well, March was the end of the Sew Blues Bee. I so enjoy all those ladies and miss them this month. There are plans for a new Bee with these lovies to start this summer. I plan to participate and enjoy their joyous natures!!

I have been making a few blocks though for some of the other bees I am involved in including the Sunday Morning Quilts Bee, the Bee Sew Modern group, the simply solids bee and finally I reupped for the fat stash bee. The bee mama there is also real awesome!! Ms. Rebecca!! Here are my creations for them this month of April.

Fat Stash Bee Book block with Selvedge messages of Love for a wedding quilt in progress!!

Charlotte's Gumdrops for the Sunday Morning Quilts Bee

Simply Solids Block. I love this one!!

Sew Bee Modern Bee Converging Corners Block for Kelie, but I accidentally sent it to Jackie!!

This is Jackie's Block for the Bee Sew Modern Block that I sent to Kelie! :)

This is an Orange Slap for Tessophia that I sent to Austrailia for her Sunday Morning Quilts bee. She wants to make a rainbow themed quilt. All orange scraps from my stash.

I wish a wonderful spring, with lots of sun, rain and spring flowers that make your nostrils want to dance!! I have to say one of my favorite things about spring are thunderstorms, they make everything smell so clean and fresh!! Blessings!!

Sewing away on the Winter's day

Wow, does time fly. I have been wanting to post, but time just keeps whizzing by and here we are, middle of March. St. Patrick's day is tomorrow and I will have to run and get some corned beef and cabbage to make the traditional boiled dinner tomorrow. My dad is Irish and my mom has done this for years, I just started the last few years when I realized I acutally like corned beef.

I have been a busy little Bee making blocks and rows for the various groups I am in. The Sew Blues Bee is coming to an end this month. There are such awesome women in that group. Many of us have been in two bees together. Our fearless leader Staci keeps us all corraled up and going. We were first the Orange You Glad Bee, then a new group formed and we added some new people and we be came the Sew Blues Bee. Now it sounds like there will be a third group, again many of us wanting to join that group. We have bonded I believe and what a blessed group they are! 

This is the March block for the Sew Blues Bee for Marta. A woven ribbons block. I must of had dyslexia with this block. I had to use my seam ripper more for this block then some quilts I made.

This is for Jenny from the Fat Stash Bee for March. She wanted flying geese and we could choose how we wanted to make them. I just love this block pattern.

This is a 15"x15" plus sized block. It is for Jill in the Sunday Morning Quilts Bee. We are using the book titled by that same name. We make a block for 2 people each month. It is a GREAT book with lots of inspiration and a great way to use up your scraps!!

This block is for Christine in the Sunday Morning Quilts Bee. I love this one too! Again, great way to use scraps! I love scrap and stash busting!

These blocks are for Sally in Sew Blues Bee. She is making a quilt for her dear friend who loves blues. This is called the Arrowhead block. A super simple technique from the Quiltmaker Magazine. I have actually made several of these blocks in harvest colors. I just haven't put them together into anything yet. Trying to decide if they need sashing or not.

I joined a Simply Solids Bee. There are several groups, I am in the Veradian Hive. We can stash bust here too!! We use solids to make the requested block and color way. These blocks are for Nicole.

One of our Sew Blues Bees member has been very ill, so they requested this scrappy trip around the world block with some Kaffe Fasset fabrics, one being a blue and I found 3 Kaffe's  I could use. I love the warmth of this block. The quilt turned out great she just got it this week!!

This was the February block for Sheila from the Fat Stash Bee. She is such a neat person. I love her joyful spirit!! I love this one too! The joy of bees is trying new blocks and color ways. I just love it!  

This is my youngest son Eliah. His big brother Matthias gave a poodle dog hat to Celia, his sister, and Eliah was willing, begrudgingly, to let me take a picture of him in it. I just had to post it here for posterity. If he ever sees it here, he will kill me!! But he is good natured and I just love him! I love them all!!

This is a Row by Row that belongs to a very dear person to me, Teri from North Carolina. I have grown very close to her and love her like a sister. I  added the  twinkling stars and Peace & Joy Row. She needed some twinkling stars in there and when I though of her and Christmas I thought of Peace and Joy!! The Cardinal and Holly too!! I made up my own applique. What is so fun about this project is that I used all techniques for quilting! I paper pieced, traditional pieced and appliqued. I soo love how it came out, I hope she does too!! I just sent it back to her yesterday.

Teri's quilt a full view. She make the top 2 rows with Merry Christmas and the 9 patch blocks.

Now that I am caught up, not that I was behind mind you, but for the month with bees and such I am diligently working on my brother's wedding quilt. All I know is that they are planning their wedding for October. I am torn between the Intertwined Wonky Star quilt or the Scrappy Trip Around the World Quilt. I made a star block and am not sure, but today I will try the trip around the world. They really like the colors pink, grey and black. I am going to add turqoise/aqua to it as well. Not sure what else yet at this time. Just tinkering still. Will post some pics later.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! I love the Irish! :)

Yowza!! I got it done!!

I had earlier referred to joining "A Lovely Year of Finishes" group. Earlier I had posted these blocks with the intention of getting the top pieced as my goal for January. Well, here it is January 30th and I just got done sewing the borders onto this top!! I wanted the kitty blocks to pop out from the background in an almost collage effect and I have to say, I am very Happy with how it turned out!! The border fabric is from a line by Debbie Mum and it has yarn balls all over it like kitties would play with. The blocks are set in a Kona Brown fabric.I am very satisfied with this, here is the completed top.



Piece Beee with the Kitties Top



                                                 
   

Here is the right half of it.

Here is the left half of it.

Each block has a special meaning to me. Again, created by the Piece Bee With You Bee members.

Thanks again ladies! I love how it tuned out!

The Coldest Week of the Year!

Well, this year traditionally ends up being the coldest week of the year here in Wisconsin. Tomorrow we are supposed to have close to -20 degrees, but the real bone chiller is when the wind blows with it, like today. I don't mind the cold really, except for when the bone chilling damp wind blows. So nice to have the wood heat burning here!! I am so thankful for it, it makes things warm even if I live in a drafty farm house! I have been a busy little bee sewing for my bees this past week.

These two  blocks are for Shelley from the Design Camp Bee #2. The grey background block is actually aqua/robins egg blue. Wow, bad camera, but you get the idea.

These two blocks are for Safiya from the Modern Mosaic Bee. She is due to have a baby girl this year and has requested these colors so she can make a baby quilt for her little sweetie!!! I just had to stick a few fairies in there for her. I have truely enjoyed this group. This is the last month of blocks for this group.

The last two shots are from the Across the Pond and Around the Bend  Row by Row Bee I am in. This is Susan's quilt top. Susan made the middle row. Moni made the top row and I made the bottom row. I am actually in love with this friendship star block and just had to add it to her row. Each month we send the top around to our members and we add a row. I added the colored strip as well as Moni added it above and I like how it added to the top. I have so enjoyed this group as well. What a wonderful group of ladies we have. I have been involved in bees with them before and admire each woman. Well, my next adventure is to try to finish a UFO and do the Skill Builder blocks for January.

Stay warm and snuggle if you can!!

A Good Start to The New Year.

Wow, our Green Bay Packers won against the Minnesota Vikings, on to San Francisco!! Go Pack Go!!! The whole housefull was a buzz with the game! Even Celia who tends to be luke warm to football was a true dedicated fan, she even told her boyfriend he better pay attention and he was across the state! LOL!

Well, I got some sewing done this weekend. In the Sunday Morning Quilts Group I made these strip blocks with a stash of red in them for Sandy(Tangled Threads). I just had to add some of my Sushi Fish fabric!! I just love these guys! I also made a bag for my sister for Christmas using the Red Sushi Fish fabric. I sent it to her in California. It was called a Market Bag and folded up so nice so when you go to the store it's all wrapped into a bundle and then it becomes a very nice sized bag. I will have to see if I have a picture of it somewhere to post. I would like to make more of these bags soon!

 Sunday Morning Quilts Block for January

Sunday Morning Quilts Bee January block #1  for Sandy

Sunday Morning Quilts Block #2 for Sandy

Okay, I just cant control myself sometimes so I also joined a group called "A Year of Lovely Finishes".  Honestly I have SEVERAL UFO's out there, may of them bee blocks or block swaps I have been in during the past 1 1/2 years and I need to get those babies put together! So I decided my first project, with hopes of having the top fully pieced by the end of this month, is to take these lovely Kitty blocks I received in the Piece Bee With You Bee and get a top together and hang it in my office to admire. My office walls are bare and I have been there a year now. First year anniversary was January 3rd!!

Still in the Sunday Morning Quilts Bee this is a "slab" that Nana(Sea Side Sewing) asked us to make 16+ by 27 inches in shape. It is pieced from scraps as directed in the book. This is a little bit bigger, it will allow her to do with it what she wishes. She wanted it in aquas, turqoises, blues and greens.

Off to go sew some more!!  Happy beginning to the new week! Gotta look for the good in all things! :)