Bee Time...... My Favorite Time!

The bee girls came over tonight for some fun and quilting. It is amazing how getting together to sew with special friends can turn a stressful day into a wonderful evening. Laughter is so good for the soul. I am so blessed to have this great group of ladies.

Another benefit of having your bee group is the mass of creative talent in one spot. If you are ever having a creative block you can have the bee girls look at your project with a new set of objective eyes. A good example of this was my wall hanging that I wanted to throw away. The bee girls told me to finish it and it won my first blue ribbon....go figure. They saw how impressive the quilt could be, while I was concentrating on the frustration of putting the project together into a cohesive quilt. Their objective eyes kept me working on the project. I am so glad that I listened to these creative ladies.

Here's Suzanne working on a Christmas quilt top. She won 32 blocks at the quilt guild Monday night. She is piecing additional blocks to make a full size quilt. We had the blocks on the design board earlier and it is going to be beautiful.


My cat sissy decided that the quilt I have in the longarm was a great place to hideout.


Suzanne making more blocks.....or maybe making a point.


Susan was working on her Carolina Chain blocks and was frustrated trying to find a good setting for the blocks. She needed a fresh set of eyes to help her figure out the placement to get the best flow of the design. It will be a striking quilt! All of this came from a bag of scrap fabrics Debbie brought one night for us to pick though. One woman's trash is another woman's treasure. Good dumpster diving Susan.


Mom was working on some scrappy trips around the world blocks for a quilt for her younger sister who is sick. She is using all shades of purple. It is going to be beautiful.


Debbie was working on a sample she needed to make for the Houston Quilt Show and a vendor's booth. Sue is working on a quilt-as-you go project. She was getting pieces ready to work on for an upcoming trip.


Here I was working on piecing the red, white and blue quilt for my uncle. I am making it a scrappy bargello quilt. I hope to get it pieced this weekend so it will be ready for the quilt frame next.


Thought for the day: Make time to spend with the creative people in your life, life should be the vehicle for releasing all of the special gifts that God has given to each of us. We are all full of talent that should be shared. Share your talents!

Happy Quilting,
Shelia

Preparing For Fall

I've started getting my fall decorations out. I put my fall quilt out on the sun porch. The picture is a little dark because it was taken before sun up this morning. I think it looks good with the wicker furniture.


This halloween wall hanging in the guest bathroom.


I also got my mantle cover put out in the dinning room. yes the sun was coming up now so there is some glare on the picture, sorry, but it does look great on the mantle.


I will get the pumpkin place mats and the quilt for our bed out tomorrow along with a fall arrangement on the table.

My trainer sure worked me over this morning, I think she was trying to make up for me missing last week while on vacation. But that is o.k.....I think I will be able to walk tomorrow.

Happy Quilting,
Shelia

Contemplations

Everyday we are reminded how precious life really is.  All too often we take for granted the time we have with our friends and family.  As a nurse I frequently am with patients when they receive troubling news.  My prayers are often for them to have strength and courage to face the challenges ahead of them.  My friend Kim has received more troubling new this week and has huge hurdles ahead of her.  Yesterday was a difficult day as the anger phase of her news is here.  Her breast cancer has now invaded more bone and today she goes to the radiation oncologist to see what treatment is available for her.  Please keep her in your prayers that she can have the strength and courage needed to traverse the road ahead.

Now onward and upward we go........our guild challenge chairman announced our next challenge last night at our meeting.  the 2012 Triangle Quilt Challenge.  Our quilt can be any size we choose using half square and/or quarter square triangles in any design we want.  At least half of the quilt must be made of half or quarter square triangles.  We can have pieced or applique for the rest of the quilt.  The quilt must be started after October 10, 2011 and completed by our Septemer 2012 guild meeting.  This should be a good way to use up some stash fabrics or maybe scraps.......hummmmmmm, I have a lot of thinking to do on this one.

With my vacation over it is time to get back to the gym.  I meet with my trainer this morning before I head to work.  I should be good and tired by the time I do my hour and 20 minute workout and then go to work for 8 hours.  I should sleep good tonight.

I'm feeling a little old today, below is a picture from 2001 when my two oldest grand children and I did gingerbread houses.  I feel old today because Roger III will be 18 next week!  Haley will be 17 in January.  Just where does the time go?  We have done gingerbread houses every year since they were 2 & 3 years old.  How precious those times are, and how proud I am that at their age they still want to do them with me.  You can't buy that!

Life is good!  Hope you are able to get some quilting into your day today.

Shelia

Quilt Guild Meeting

Tonight I was my quilt guild meeting. I just love my guild!
Our guest speaker tonight was Lynn Parker. she is a local teacher and I have taken one of her classes before, I took her watercolor log cabin class. Such a sweet and talented lady and always a joy to see.

Tonight Lynn brought a huge trunk show to share with us. She has been quilting for over 30 years.


This quilt was an example of an album quilt which her friends had each made a block.


This was a quilt from her watercolor phase. We all go through phases where we like certain kinds of quilts and seem to make several of those with that technique. This is gorgeous.


Tesselations is also a phase she has done. I don't think I will wonder into that phase.


Miniatures! Oh my goodness is this tiny and beautiful. Maybe again some day I will make one this small.


A miniature that she uses to display her quilting pin collection. Really a cute idea, since you can only hang so many pins on your badge.


This quilt was one of those wonky patterns.


Another tessalation quilt.


Lynn has also taught many classes on making sweatshirt jackets. These were beautiful.


A bow tie quilt which was done in a quilt as you go pattern. I love the red and blacks in this quilt.


This is another album quilt pattern.


This was from a friendship exchange she did with ladies in her quilt bee.


Lynn brought alot more quilts but no way to watch, listen and take pictures of them all, hope you enjoyed the few I captured.

Another great speaker arranged by our vice president Susan Perham. Great job Susan!

Happy Quilting,
Shelia

Back Home Safe & Sound

Well we arrived back home last night.  We drove straight through to home.......not a good idea.  Ten hours in the car in what was ridiculious traffic left us both exhausted.  We could not believe how much traffic was on the road, and people driving like IDIOTS!

Now to get everything unpacked and dirty clothes washed.  We both return to work tomorrow.  Unpacking all of the goodies that we each bought on the trip.  Yummy fabrics to pour over and decide what I want to make with them.  But first and foremost I must get my Uncle Virgil's quilt made.  I purchased some more red, white and blue fabrics to use in his quilt.  He is retired from the Navy and is fighting cancer right now so I want to get it done asap.

I don't want to forget all of my nursing buddies.  This week is Emergency Nurses Week, so my hats off to each of the harding working nurses that I serve beside each and everyday.  You are a great bunch of men and women who do their best everyday to make sure our patient's are taken care of.  HAPPY EMERGENCY NURSES WEEK!!

Now off to my quilt guild meeting tonight,
Happy Quilting,
Shelia

Travel Day Seven

Today we are headed back home. We haven't decided if we are driving straight through or if we'll be stoping overnight. We are just playing it by ear today. Beautiful mountain views in West Virginia and Virginia this morning.

I've bee working on my cathedral window quilt in the car while we travel.


It is going to be a beautiful quilt when completed. This has been my travel project for over 12 years now. Now I am moving it up to the "Get It Done" pile. I need something different to work on. I have collected fabrics for this quilt as we have traveled over the years. I've bought fabrics all over the United States, Canada, Hawaii and the Carribean. Amazing how many fabrics are in this quilt.


I love this IPad2. It's hard to believe that I am riding down the interstate and can surf the web and post to my blog. Technology sure has its good points.
Have a great day quilting.
Shelia

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