Small Accomplishments

Since strawberries are in season, we experimented with berries, Devonshire Cream and angel food cake. We liked the cake better than the meringues I made - they were very sweet and took away from the berries. We also tried rhubarb; now that's tart!

John put a little 3" Wheel of Mystery pre-cut kit together and got it quilted and bound! It is 12" x 15". We have noticed that quilters really like the miniature pre-cut kits - they sell out first at shows. They are very cute - they take a long time for us to get boxed up but we love them too.

I have been riding my new bike. I am getting better but feel really intimidated when the packs of serious bikers with their yellow windbreakers all cruise by me with no effort, uphill. Well, someday I may get there.

Have a safe Memorial Day weekend.

Brooke

A Small Project - Big Cause

Kate designed this 4" x 8" project for the AQS Teachers' gift bags. The hope is that, when the teachers have time, they will piece the kit together and then send it to Ami Simms for her Alzheimer's fundraising efforts.

No, it's not paper pieced.

Here is the link for Ami's Alzheimer's fundraising site; there are some beautiful quilts there and you can help by choosing one. http://www.AlzQuilts.org

It's windy as all get out today, hang on to your hat.

Brooke

Serene

We needed a photo of the Multi-Frame and the Oak Frame Stand for some publicity that is coming up so we set up the camera and John got in to his rocking chair. It relaxes him so much to hand quilt and I wanted to share the picture with you. Don't we all wish we had time to just sit and quilt.

If you follow the blog much, you'll know I am crazy about wildlife and have a special interest in the deer who wander here and there around our house. There is a spot about a mile from us where the deer regularly cross the highway - thank goodness no one is going fast enough that close to town to hit them. This spot is also very close to one of the motels. We were driving by last summer and watched a woman with her camera (could have been me!) creeping up on a doe who was watching her from behind a low wire fence. Creeping up so carefully and completely unaware of the yearling that was creeping up right behind her to join it's mother. She never did see the deer right behind her.

Brooke

Weekend News

We had a relaxing weekend which felt like the Grand Prize after the busy, busy spring we have had.

John made two little class samples; one a Storm at Sea and this interesting colorway for the Royal Cross. He will be teaching the Royal Cross at Quilt Camp in the Pines soon.

We talked to the flooring people at the home and garden show about tile for our kitchen floor. I realized later that we should probably get new kitchen appliances at the same time so we don't put the old ones back in and then have to take them out again. Better start saving up!

The turkey was by herself and she could see me watching her from the house. John said "can you see how tiny her brain is?" and I thought to myself "can she see how tiny my brain is?" Kate can tell you that I make hotel reservations and/or airline reservations for inappropriate dates every so often. Just to make life more interesting. Take care.

Brooke

Seven Sisters

We have been playing catch up this week and getting ready for John's next classes.

First comes a symposium in North Carolina, then the NQA show in Columbus, OH - then John's annual trip to the beautiful South West at Flagstaff, AZ for Quilt Camp in the Pines. http://www.quiltcamp.com/ He will be teaching a new class, Seven Sisters. The block is an old time block and still very appealing. One of the class options will be a full size project like this picture, an option will be a table runner. I think I need a new table runner for my table.

We are off to Red Lodge this weekend. There will be a home and garden show and maybe we will get some good ideas. Kate and Kevin have the van loaded with old and broken electronics to take to the annual recycling event. Dusty and mysterious things which will not be ending up in the landfill.

Hope you are enjoying Spring!

Brooke

25 Years

Kate and I are back in the office after our annual trip to Paducah. This was the twenty fifth anniversary of the show and it gets better and better. I know I promised to take pictures of the winners, but right in the Show Guide it says not to put pictures from the show in your blog. So you will have to wait to see the winners in the next issue of the American Quilter. They will be better pictures anyway.

I will say that I can't help but be impressed and amazed by the quilts from Japan. Almost always, the handwork and the amount of work is just incredible. I have always loved the combination of piecing and applique and often the Japanese quilts have those in abundance. The miniatures were also a lot of fun to see, full of imagination and skill.

Last week I took an early morning picture of the Ohio River from our hotel in Paducah and this morning a picture of the view up the canyon from our home in Red Lodge. Beauty is everywhere.

John will be driving in soon and I think he stopped at an antique store on the way home. What treasure did he find?

Brooke

Finished!

A little of the history of the 2009 IQA Raffle Quilt - it's a bit of an epic. John and Sue Nickels, who are members of the IQA Board, stepped up to make an emergency replacement quilt for the 2009 raffle. There are some design guidelines to be met and John's design was accepted back in November 2008.

On November 23, he started piecing madly (cut the pieces out on the laser, of course!) and, if you look back in the blog, there are updates as the top grows. By January 5, 2009, it was ready to send to Sue Nickels for machine quilting. She fit the magnificent quilting in to her busy schedule and sent the quilted project back to us as she was leaving for New Zealand.

It is now bound, has a sleeve and is on its way to Chicago to be displayed for the first time at Spring Quilt Festival. We all think it really turned out great - the machine quilting is really, really beautiful and adds so much texture - I hope you get to see it either at Chicago, at Long Beach or in Houston where some lucky quilter will win it! Oh, it's name is "Red Hawk Rising".

Brooke