Monday's are Mine

Yahooooooo ha ha Yipppeeee,

Do you see what I see?

After a fantastic weekend which included a spontaneous quilting bee with friends I haven't seen in ages on Saturday and Axel coming home earlier from work on Sunday, Monday was as good as if not better than last week.

Call it WAW, WAM 

or just
why not?
yes!

thank you MAM!

It was goooooood!

I woke up refreshed and while Finn fed himself breakfast (yes, I know!!!), I made a big pot of spaghetti sauce and stirred together a loaf 100% sourdough rye bread to rise. I had a class in the evening to prep for but first a couple of ladies dropped in to work on our cross-stitch border samplers. I'd show you an update but I haven't taken a pics lately and the lovely light from this morning has been replaced by a lovely light drizzle.

Last night I taught the next installment of my (in)famous Skills Building class. It was fun, but it does tax my brain to remember everything while concentrating on proper translation at the same time. We're doing ok and I repeat myself a lot. I am make a list of notes / comments / thoughts under the heading 'lost in translation.'

This morning my sewing machine was still set up
on the dining room table so I thought heck. 

Why not?

Finn settled in next to me fed himself toast with peanut butter and I fork-fed almost an entire baked pear to him in between seams. It was lovely. He was closely enough to reach over and touch my shoulder. Which he did often. Peanut butter and all. I was close enough I could lean over and kiss the top of his head. It was lovely. Did I say that already?

So what do you see?

Here's a bit of what you don't see ...

 * I need to figure out this tension issue I've been having with my featherweight

 * Some body(s) are still in their pajamas

 * That seam ripper was put to good use

 * The iron belonged to Finn's great-grandmother

 * This post almost got the title "Close Enough" ... ugh, I struggled with some of my seams but persevered and I'm ok, happy. The pinwheel is better than the multiple goose ...

And today? Well it's not mine. After that fantastic start, things kind of went to pot. To be honest, I think somebody was playing me. He wouldn't nap. He wouldn't play. He wouldn't eat. He wouldn't drink from a sippy. I finally stepped back. Ate my lunch which got him a bit interested. Put milk in a sippy (instead of water .. we're trying to wean, so this was good!). Then he played before I threw him back in bed. He tried to say NO but momma held out and all is quiet in dream land. For now.

I'm just glad I made such a big pot of spaghetti yesterday. It will be leftovers tonight for sure.

So for now I'm afraid I'll have to leave you. Although the cooking is done, there is still a tad of housework to do. And darn, I should clear my sewing machine of the dining room table. 

BUT .. over the weekend there was another development .. we finally set up a table in my office so hopefully you'll being seeing more !! 

I'd love to give you some more of those Morning Stars.

And I'd really really like to work on my Troost quilt.

Those two .. that's my goal. 

Something for me. 

Something for you.

Oh, and a coat for Finn.

Oh .. and the need for 100% rye bread ??

Finn is allergic .. to wheat, spelt, milk and maybe eggs.

And a little sensitive to salmon.

So until he's done breastfeeding, I'm avoiding all those too.

Bummer but I'm coping and it's good practice for what options we will have to find for him.

At least I'm still ok with chocolate, coffee & peanut butter.

A girl can live on those after all.

... and before I could hit publish, he's awake, again ...

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Morning Star, Morning Bright ~ Block 3, part 2

Well, this should really have auto-posted last Friday ... it didn't and nobody said anything so ... hmm, should I call a head count? Are you making Morning Star, Morning Bright blocks? I sure would like to know. Of course I'll continue on, but it would be nice to know that some of you out there are making the blocks.

Did you make Part 1 of Block 3? Once you've got that done, you're ready to assemble the pinwheel windmill. Sew one background rectangle to the top of each goose. Then arrange them as you see above. Sew the upper row together, then the bottom row. Finally the two halves together. You'll want to "spin" the center seam to reduce as much bulk as possible. You can find more handy pressing plans here.

But here's the Twist .. the Spin .. that tutorial you used for no waste flying geese. It made four identical flying geese. But I just needed a little more movement in this block so ... I went back to making geese with the Quick 45° "wasteful" method (for today see block 1 but I'll add that step-by-step tutorial to Teach Me @ peawink.com soon). ~ if you'd rather use the no waste method and do four identical geese for the large star, I'm fine with that. I've given you the cutting measurements below**)


In addition to your Pinwheel Windmill block you will need:

* there should also be
four squares of
the sweet little red print
in this picture *

Background: (sweet little red print)
   A  FOUR 3-1/2" squares
   B  FOUR 3-1/2" x 6-1/2" rectangles

Star:
   C  FOUR 3-1/2" squares - dark red

   D  FOUR 3-1/2" squares - light red

Center:
   E  ONE 6-1/2" Pinwheel Windmill

** If you want to use the no-waste method for the large geese, then cut the following:

Background: (sweet little red print)
   A  FOUR 3-1/2" squares
   B  ONE  x 6-1/2" square


Star:
   C/D  EIGHT 3-1/2" squares - any red

So, now you're basically going to construct this block the same way we did block number 2.

One thing that's difference is the geese ... look closely ... see? The geese have different backgrounds. Half are dark red, half are light red. The trick to this is putting all the dark red squares on the same end of the geese shapes.

Then put the light red triangles on the other end. Sorry, I really thought I had a picture of this ... but ... yeh I don't.

Do you get mad when I do this?

Should I remake & retake or are you doing ok?

Please DO LET ME KNOW?

The construction of this block is then the same as all the other blocks in the series, but if you have questions, please please don't hesitate.

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WiP Wednesday - Week 2

I tried to sleep in this morning. Hubby even said I should. It sounded so good. I'm still pretty sore after Monday ... which you'll hear about on Friday. After all it's not really blog-worthy but it definitely made an  impact on my week.

But I just couldn't do it. After all, it's WiP Wednesday!

So let's see .. first a look at how last WiP Wednesday went. I think I might have tanked. I was all fired up. Had grabbed Oma Lena and was headed into the garden. And then I answered the phone and got caught up / embroiled in a conversation that was worse than beating a dead horse. Honestly! I've thought about whether to blog specifically about the topic but it covered a lot of things and finally culminated in pearls of wisdom. There's more to the story but I'm pretty sure I won't blog about it. Time to just move on ...

So as I stepped into the garden my mind was spinning and couldn't relax. Instead of Oma Lena I tightly knit one very tiny wee little sock. I've tried to knit it's pair but there was a substantial difference in size. Guess I might need someone to wind me up again so I can get that second one to match.

On Friday Marleen came over to help me motivate me and organize my thoughts for launching Oma Lena as a BOM available world-wide. Yes! We are getting there. So as much as I would like to sew, today will probably be spent at the computer writing up the booklet and advertizing info. Marleen has the center of her Oma Lena put together and is ready to start filling in the edges. I can hardly wait. The colors are lovely! That's the great thing about this BOM .. you can do it in colors to suit you. Your quilt will be unique! More about it all - very soon.

That doesn't mean there hasn't been some sewing going on. Yesterday my friend Lili came over and I sewed a button on! Whooohooo! Instead of a trip to the store to buy ONE button. We went through my button chest again and chose to stack two. Haha ... only now we've decided my little purse needs a handle and that it should be orange! Maybe it will be ready to show you on Friday. I did manage to sort, fold and take stock of My Contemporary Jane while looking for the right orange. So that's progress too, right?

I am going to love those What a Week posts! Honestly, life does distract sometimes and it means that once in a while you'll get one of these long wordy posts with no action. What a Week posts on Friday is all about celebrating all the things that got in the way!

Tomorrow two other friends are coming to help get Nesting moving along. I LOVE this quilt. But I can't pick it up. I don't know why and it makes me sad. All the blocks are designed it's just a matter of stitching them up. I think I'm a bit overwhelmed with handwork right now.

So there you have it. Obviously I have WiPs enough on my hands. But right now I'm just concentrating on the ones that involves a commitment to someone else.

Oi vey .. that reminds me .. this is waiting to be quilted! Mary, do you still love me?

Time to crack that WiP and go create something!

Happy Sewing! xox


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WOW - this block packs some punch!

I sewed today. 

I decided that I needed to. 

Grab a project, any project and just sew for awhile. 

Just Take 2 seemed easy enough, after all that is why I started this quilt. But / Plus I am so far behind. There's nothing worse than joining a quilt along when you already have a ton of projects and then falling behind making you feel like you have another project that will never get finished. Although, honestly I don't feel that way about this one. That was never my intention. Something easy, that didn't require too much though. So I jumped right in.

A Lemoyne Star? Easy! I've done a bunch and it's went together easy peasy. Maybe a tutorial is in order ... I know I wrote one way back when for our Skills Building BOM. Hmmmm, might be time to dust that off and share ...


Anywhoo ... on to block two. How hard can a bunch of pinwheels be anyways? Well it helps to do the math right first. For some reason I don't have the patterns for installment 4. No biggy .. most are easy to figure out. Usually - as in unless you forget to add seem allowances. But once cut, it sewed up quick too so I could add TWO blocks to the pile for this quilt. And show you a pic of my progress.

Then I went back to see when I had last blogged about this project ... February 1st. 

I thought so ... oi vey. A rush of emotions. 

WOW!

We had just passed week 19. 

I was pregnant and loving it. Things were going great.

Two days after blogging about this project we found out that baby number two was a boy. 

It was Arne. 

This was his quilt.

Right now it still is. 

Maybe someday it will be somebody else's.

~

We saw the doctor on Tuesday.

I went in feeling sick and frustrated.

I left that appointment feeling more confident than I have in months.

We are not giving up.

'nuf said.

~

I'm glad I sewed today.

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BLOCK TWO of Morning Star, Morning Bright

Finally ... block two! I am so sorry it has taken me months to post this. First I had to find the blocks I had already finished. I couldn't find them anywhere. How does someone lose five huge 12-1/2" blocks? I finally had to enlist my {tall} husband to help ... we spent an hour searching through my studio. When he took a break to play with the dog I grabbed a stepladder and looked on a shelf I hadn't searched yet. Yep - there they were. Pretty much his eye level but under something. Whah - I could have been sewing!


So ... to make things quick and simple I stuck with the Quick 45° Angle Method for making this block. I promise to show you another method soon but I thought this was best to get us back in the groove. A little refresher. Don't forget you'll be able to use a bunch of those leftover triangles later - I promise!

Yep, no pic of the finished block yet ... sorry. I'd thought I'd give everyone a little more time to win that chocolate. As soon as the drawing is closed, I'll replace this pic with the real one! The winner was announced here.  But never fear I'll do it again, Belgium will not run out of chocolate any time soon ... and next time I'll give you more warning and put a deadline for leaving a comment.

These cutting instructions make a 12" Double Morning Star block.

You'll Need:

Big Star Background:
   A  FOUR 3-1/2" squares
   B  FOUR 3-1/2" x 6-1/2" rectangles

Big Star Points:
   C  EIGHT 3-1/2" squares

Little Star Background:
   D  FOUR 2" squares
   E  FOUR 2" x 3-1/2" rectangles

Little Star Points:
   F  EIGHT 2" squares

Little Star Center:
   G  ONE 3-1/2" square - you might want to play around and try different options.

Use pieces B & C and pieces E & F to make FOUR flying geese units using the Quick 45° Angle Method.  Then you're ready to assemble your block - after you decide what to put in the middle of that little square.

If you need a refresher for the Quick 45° Angle Method just pop back to BLOCK ONE and grab the handout. Mark a diagonal line from corner to corner on the back of each "background" square. I lay a piece of fine sandpaper on my table to keep the fabric from sliding and use a standard mechanical pencil.



For the small flying geese (2" x 3-1/2") I trimmed my seams to 3/8" (it's marked on a standard 1x12" omnigrid ruler). A tad less bulk but ample seam allowance for these smaller units.



I have pics of the block - including how I pressed the back. I'll post them as soon as the chocolate drawing is over.

In the meantime you can piece at least the little star ... I pressed it just like Block One.

So ... Teri Leigh won the chocolate - congratulations!

I thought I'd pop back to reveal my finished block  and show you how I pressed this it ... yes, it got a little weird ... but only a tad ... you know how I don't like pressing seams open.

So I did my little twisty thing again like I did with block one. Worked like a charm. Everything is flat and smooth.

First I made the little star and pressed it just like Block One. Then I added the geese to the left and right (see below). I pressed away from the little star in at the edges but the point of the goose toward the star in the middle.

Then to add the geese I did this ... it seems weird at first but it did work. And it meant that my seams match and the points of the geese don't go all weird.

Here's a bit of an angled close up so you can see how it all worked out.

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Easter by a Hare

Phew, somehow we did manage to squeeze a bit of Easter in .. or out .. which one is it?

Blessed with a 3 day weekend as Belgium takes Easter Monday as a holiday we knew we could completely chill and take some time to reflect on Sunday but still get a few things done (in preparation) on Saturday and a job or two around the house on Monday.

First a quick down of what we needed ... dinners, sugar cookies!, carrot cake (of course) and hmmm, maybe some chocolate.

I wasn't really in the mood but Saturday morning after a reasonable lie-in I headed into the kitchen ... via my computer to skype my neighbour and tell her there would be sugar cookies .. come decorate and take some home. Leah is from Lynden, just a couple hours from where I grew up so whenever I make anything typical "home" I try to remember her. I don't have enough words to explain how much I appreciate Leah and her husband .. they have been so much to us over the last few months and we are extremely grateful for their help and understanding.

Too bad I grabbed the wrong Sugar Cookies recipe but I went ahead, substituted half the flour for whole wheat and threw the dough in the fridge to chill. At first we thought they just turned out "ok" ... but once the icing was set we were happy campers. Especially the ones with sprinkles. Oh animal cookies - I miss you.

Carrot Cake was another almost no-brainer. Except I thought I'd be "smart" and follow my recipe to the letter. I measured the grated carrots and stopped at 3 cups. In the past I just fill my food processor so there's more. Hmmm, definitely like the more a lot better.

With all this baking going on and the oven already being hot and all .. I tossed an easy peasy dinner in the oven - my own recipe for a simple Roast Chicken with Lovage and Lemon. You can find the recipe here in the little grey cookbook!

Thank goodness I had the presence of mind to nip into the butchers on my run to the pharmacy the other day. Easter Dinner was lamb chops rubbed with fresh rosemary and served with a pile steamed carrots and broccoli left us too very very happy.

As for chocolate we were both happy each with a mini Chocolate bunny from a friend. 

So Easter was here. It was quiet but busy with prep. Cooking and baking was somewhat enjoyed. And we packed it all in just under the wire. Monday night I came down with something ... and spent the rest of the week feeling generally under the weather ... hence the explanation for this very very late post.

We've spent nearly this entire weekend painting the kitchen ceiling - no mean feat and much too boring for photos. Taxes are on the cards for this week. All work and no play ... although maybe a few evenings to play with scraps of fabric if my eyes are still open and my fingers aren't numb.

Back soon with more exciting things ...

p.s. The applique block you saw above is part of Bunnyhill Designs A Tisket a Tasket BOM. I started two quilts and they're both still in the works but it was the best eastery thing to show you! You can see more of my blocks here.

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The Lost Month .. in between Stolen Hours

Chatting with a friend (a week or so ago) about a project we want to start in June
it became apparent that an entire month has gone missing. 

I started counting on my fingers, then she pointed out that April was
just two weeks away .. two weeks?!

In the meantime it has arrived. 

No! Um, yep. 

Geez, an entire month has gone by ... it's hard to explain how or where.

But there has been some of this going on ... in between ...

Oma Lena's Flower Garden is an English Paper Piecing BOM I designed years ago is beginning to see the light of day.

In the stolen hours of March I've been working on the pattern - available with it's paper pieces. If you'd like more information just let me know ... I'm working on all the Q & As now. 

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When your JOB is what you LOVE to do ...

... it's hard to take a break.

I love quilting, quilting is my job. So I often find it hard to take time out and not think about a project that needs more work or a design for a new quilt. Wonderful color combos? I see them everywhere? New ideas are endless. Controlling the urge to start a new project - almost pointless. And don't even get me started with Pinterest ... just what an over active mind needs (not!) ... a place to see what everyone else things is wonderful.

Add to this wonderful mix the fact that I am pregnant ... don't get me wrong - I am completely over the moon. Today I am celebrating the beginning of week 19! After years of disappointments I am still waiting for someone to pinch me and tell me it's all a dream.

So this pregnant thing is adding a dimension to my quilting that I hadn't expected ... more excuses! Why I need to do this or shouldn't do that or can't (won't) have do another and even worse I don't have time. Being tired and having to alter clothes are one of those excuses.

Which explains the need to "relax" ... just take it easy ... when a couple of weeks ago I needed to reward myself for finishing two quarters of tax filings for our two businesses. Nevermind that the house needed cleaning and there was plenty of "work" to do ... it was the weekend. And I was too tired to knit - my new "hobby."

I needed instant gratification. NO math, limited color choices and basic skills required. I had been fighting the urge to start yet another project ... but I caved. And I'm glad I did. This is MY project. I don't have to think, I don't have to plan I can just grab the pattern and go ... well almost.

Enter the "Just Takes 2" block of the month quilt along hosted by Gay Bomers and Brenda Papadakis.

You can read more about it here, but the premise is two make a two color quilt using traditional patterns as seen in the Infinite Variety exhibition shown last summer at the American Folk Art Museum in New York. If you missed it (like I did) there is a very interesting (and free) iPad app ... I am still oogling these quilts!

But I have other plans for a red and white quilt so went down a different route when I began considering doing this BOM. Tangerine and Snow! Wow, huh? It's a real zinger. Then I remembered an amazing stripe I have from years ago - nearly an entire bolt. I had always pictured it in a young boys room but hadn't found THE quilt. So there you go ... I'll plug away at a quilt hoping that one day it will go in a little boys room with curtains of the same stripe.

But true to style I am making changes again ... reversing the values, leaving out blocks I don't like, substituting blocks I think make more sense because I'm not going to do the optional "redwork" embroidery, etc. These are the blocks I've made so far ...

1. JT2-A, 2. JT2-3, 3. JT2-4, 4. JT2-5, 5. JT2-2, 6. JT2-8, 7. JT2-7, 8. JT2-9, 9. JT2-11

And the next installment was just released. Luckily although slightly disappointing it's only two blocks. But I'm off to print and plan until hubby comes home. 

Unfortunately stitching will have to wait as we have a *house job* tonight. 

Our very mild winter finally succumbed to those Siberian winds and our temps plummeted ... 

to -7C / 19F last night ... leaving our bath tub and sink drain frozen solid. 

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BLOCK ONE of Morning Star, Morning Bright

We're going to start off basic ... it's a simple 12" Morning Star block.

Every block we make in this quilt is based on this basic Morning Star which includes Flying Geese units. For this block I'm going to suggest the Quick 45° Angle Method (a handout is below) because you'll be able to use the leftover triangles later ... think of it as being one step ahead of the game.

You'll Need:

Background:
   A  FOUR 3-1/2" squares
   B  FOUR 3-1/2" x 6-1/2" rectangles

Star:
   C  EIGHT 3-1/2" squares

Center:
   D  ONE 6-1/2" square

Use pieces B and C and the Quick 45° Angle Method hand-out below to make FOUR flying geese units.  Then you're ready to assemble your block.

I know some of you are very proficient in your quilting and others need a bit of help. I'm running out of time today but absolutely wanted to post this ... so on Monday I'll post a tutorial of the block ... with a picture of the back of my block so you can see how I press my seams.

You can see a step-by-step tutorial of this block here.

Tomorrow we're off to the Netherlands to the Quiltgebeuren to share my GOT DOTS quilt! I am so excited ... the owner asked for my permission to have a group of ladies meet up in her shop to work on my quilt together and a bunch of them are coming too. I am sure it will be a day full of chatter, show and tell and lots inspiration. I promise to take pics and will tell you all about it on Monday! Pin It Now!

NEW QUILT BLOCK of the MONTHMorning Star, Morning Bright

I haven't been sleeping well lately ... one of those crazy prego things that I'm just learning to deal with ... I crash and then am suddenly awake in the wee hours ... hence the name of a new Quilt Along!

So ... does this intrigue?

The block on the right is Block 1 from the Fat Quarter Star Quilt Along by Moose on the Porch Quilts.  The other two are just two of many many many for the Morning Star, Morning Bright Quilt Along.

This all started because right around the time I  signed up to design a block for Konda's Fat Quart Quilt Along we found out I was pregnant ... and boy, oh boy, the combination of the two. New ideas, hormones, stars, new ideas, more hormones - you get the picture right ? ... I couldn't sleep! So I got up and sketched about 20 different stars.  But she only needed one ... eleven other designers were taking care of the rest. 

But now my brain was abuzz and I couldn't stop so I thought why not? Let's do a Quilt Along here ... no major rules, a bit of unknown but fun fun fun ... are you in?

Here's what I know so far ...

• ALL the blocks will finish 12" square (many of you know that's HUGE for me but trust me .. it's going to work AND be gorgeous!)
• All the stars represented are variations of the "Morning Star" - that block you see in the middle
• It takes 54 blocks to make a twin quilt with no sashing or borders, 72 for a queen and 90 for a king.
• I will be posting at least one block or variation every single month. I promise. Sometimes there will be more! 
• It will be fun

What I don't know ...

• Exactly how much fabric we will need ... I started with a pile of reds and whites then threw in a few blacks and I'll see how far it takes me.  I'm guessing though that if you had 3 yards of one color group and 3 of another you'd get pretty darn far.
• If you want a button to go on your blog? Yes? No? ... let me know!

So ... tomorrow I'll share the cutting directions for that great big gorgeous block in the middle and you should mark your calendar for January 17th to check out Konda's Fat Quarter Star Quilt Along at Moose on the Porch Quilts because the block I designed for her works perfectly here too!

And then start throwing questions at me ... what else do you need to know?

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Plugging Away ...

So it's still a bit of a construction / re-organization zone around here.  The furniture "lift" came Friday night to move our two sofas upstairs via outside and through the french doors (there's no way they'd go up the staircase.   But we still need to drill holes and pull the cable wire upstairs so for now we're watching TV evenings in my studio - courtesy our garden chairs.  It doesn't feel very elegant, but by the end of the day of sorting, shifting and piling up (see those tables that still need to get sorted out!!) we're quite happy to plunk down, put feet up and just watch a bit of something funny.  

The shop and classroom area are coming along nicely and I can hardly wait to re-open on Wednesday just to see everyone's reaction.  By the time we're finished with this re-fit we will have doubled our shelving space for bolts and added a comfortable classroom table for six with a view into our little courtyard where weather permitting we can gather to stitch on a regular basis.

Thankfully I'm still able to carry on with hand projects in spite of this disaster zone.  My Courtyard Quilt is coming along nicely - I ended up adding 3 more fabrics to give it a bit of a lift and have pretty much decided on the layout ... it would be nice to have it done before our open house starting on the 1st of September.  

Block three of Frosty Flakes was posted last Wednesday.  I was glad to have already prepped and appliqued the "flowers" so it was just a matter of  adding the embroidery and beads.  Voilà!  Here she is ...  Plus I've posted a pic of the first five flowers so you can see the color pallette I'm working with.  plus Dawn started a Flickr group where you can see what everyone else is doing.

Happy Sewing!!   xox  Jovita Pin It Now!

Snowflakes

Two posts in two days is probably not the goal I want to set for myself, but I was too excited to not share with you this sweet little project I'm working on.

As many of you know, I have a million projects and I should *really* think hard about starting another. But ... first they were snowflakes and there are only nine (9!) of them.  Then I started thinking about using silk for shimmer and well I think reason left me there.

But it's true, they're quick and easy and a delight to make.  And something I might will definitely finish - by this Christmas.  There I posted it here, so you can hold me too it.

The 10-week project is posted one block per week on Wednesdays by Dawn Hays of "As Sweet As Cinnamon".  It's a lovely project and easy to take anywhere or to work on while enjoying a movie/sofa night - last night I began block one and today finished two.   Think about joining us - just click on Dawn's button to the right.
Project details:  silk dupioni (in 5 shades of blue/aqua), white and blue hand-dyed variegated threads from Weeks Dye Works, pre-cut 1/2" hexagons and seed beads in opalescent white and turquoise.  the background is a fabulous white-on-white snowflake print.  All product (except beads) are available at Jovita's Patchwork Atelier.

Greetings from a summery Belgium!  

xox Jovita

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Busy – Sewing Samples for you!

 

Color me Guilty!  I haven’t been updating my blog or pics of my design wall.   

I’ve been sewing and prepping non-stop for my next trip to the States.  Here are a few pics to wet your appetite.

Both simple patterns, but very red – these two quilts really caught my eye!  Hmmmm, maybe ideas for quick but eye-catching quilts to use up some of my stash . . . ?

These blocks are from our new block of the month.  It’s just $60 for the whole kit using solid cottons.  

There’s more and my suitcase is getting full – I can hardly wait to see you all!  See you in September!

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Back in the Swing

Wow, I’m really sorry it’s taken me so long to post again.  I returned to the states nearly five weeks ago – on Valentine’s Day and I can’t believe that St. Patrick’s day has already gone by and we’re flying toward Easter.

I got sick the very first weekend I came home and it hung on . . . from that into more work on the website, another hip surgery for my mom and prep for our expanded booth at the Quilters Anonymous Show last weekend at the Monroe Fairgrounds kept Patti and I both very busy.  Through the rain, more illness and truck break-downs we packed, repacked, unpacked, set up and celebrated the weekend with many many quilters who visited the show. 

It was a fantastic weekend and I can’t describe what a great time I had.  Setting up our booth was bittersweet as I’ve missed the shop so very much, but how lovely to hug and be hugged by so many customers and friends that we’ve missed seeing

I managed to finish a new sample for the show – a pillow that will go in my living room here . . . using some of our Jacquard ribbons and Westfalenstoffe imported from Germany.  Read my next post for more info about making your own!

My mom also whipped out two samples for us using the “Flower of the Month” collection from Northcott.  Here – January Carnations & February Violets which we’ve already kitted up. She’s anxious to get started on  March Daffodils and April Daisies.  I’ll post pictures and kit info as soon as they’re ready. 

This coming weekend, I’ll be in Renton at the Evergreen Piecemakers Spring Break.  Their guild puts on three days of classes and luncheons, including speakers Gwen Marston and Maggie Ball – during breaks and evenings they shop us vendors right in our hotel rooms, so while they’re in their classes I’m planning on sewing up more samples to show soon.

And get back in the swing of things, writing you a weekly update on all of our comings, goings and doings.  Watch this space for more about upcoming gatherings, our annual rubber duck hunt, visitors from Germany, shows and get-togethers.

                                                             Jovita

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