Winter Quiltfest 2015

Winter Quiltfest was just a bundle of fun!  I just love the ladies I get to meet at events like this.  I was able to take one class ... Kaleidoscope with Maria Miller.  She is such a gifted quilter.  I loved everything about her class!  I felt like I had met an old friend.   It makes my heart happy to rub shoulders with some of these young quilters!!  They are so creative and enthused about quilting you can't help but jump on the wagon with them.

These photos are not the greatest quality - I didn't even remember to bring 

my camera along, and was really too busy to be taking pics.  

But yay for phone cameras.  They will always do in a pinch!

I brought a vintage tablecloth (with beautiful cross stitch) that has been sitting 

in my drawer with many other little vintage pieces I have been collecting 

over the years ... and decided to incorporate some of it into this playful quilt.  

It is going to be really neat in it! I am so anxious to have a day to sew 

the blocks up.  Everything is cut and ready to go.

A few photos from one of the classes I taught.  

Along with working on the Cosmos Pillow project, we discussed creativity!  

It was a lot of fun.  I challenged those who wanted to participate to 

create their own grid project of 25 Things that make them happy!  

This is mine, a work in progress.  

It sure is a blast to work on the little squares.  

They are just 3" square.

It is stitched on Sahara Cloth - a rustic cotton that has a similar grid to aida cloth so it makes the rows quite easy to follow.  I thought this would be a great little project to work on new embroidery stitches and all things tiny! Anything goes with this.  I got some of my inspiration from this blog that did a 39 squares stitch along a few years ago.  I had been pinning different inspiration photos from that idea and decided it was time to get going on one of my own!  I hope I will get to see some of the progress my students make on theirs :)

 This is the Cosmos Pillow I taught.  Such a happy project to stitch on in January!

Love it when students do their own thing!

My sweet mother in law fell and broke her hip last week and dad has some dementia.  It has definitely put us on a new road with aging parents.   Life is hard for all of us but so much to learn from each other.   I find the little pieces of time I get to work on something creative are really treasured. And it seems there are just a few minutes here and there to do that.  I know without a doubt that it is a privilege to spend any time I can with family.  Life is just too short and the people I love is where I like to keep my focus.  Family is right at the top of the list.  

A little bit of news on the horizon is that we will be launching a much needed website in the very near future!  I get so many requests for online sales and classes in the studio. I think it's time to get things lined up!  This little business of mine is only possible through the love and support I get by so many friends and family.  A big hug of gratitude to each and every one of you who encourage me to do what I love!  XO  I really feel that the time we spend with each other sharing ideas and learning new things is such a gift.  We all need each other on this journey.

One more thing before I close ...  Our Spring Open House will be March 5th from 10 - 8.  We are trying a week day this time to see how that goes.  Now if I could just figure out how to slow down time a little bit to squeeze it all in!  Deep breath...