January is busy!

The Holidays seemed to end quickly and everyone got back into the old grind. I finally got the other two pictures on this post so you can see Mary and Isaiah at the Festival just prior to their leaving for Mexico. The little girl in the picture is a friend who danced with Isaiah. The next picture is of my Salsa quilt. I also posted a picture of my table-runner for a swap I am doing online. Tonight the gals are working on their fusible applique of "Little Girl Dresses"quilt which I posted a while back that I made. I have adapted the pattern so that the gals who have sons can make the pattern with shirts and pants or shorts for their boys. They are finding that zig zig is quite hard to do. I have been having them practice, practice until they are happy with their results. Then they can make the pattern. We will see how it goes tonight.

Best New Year Wishes!

Our New Year is starting with a real cold spell. Many parts of the country are having very severe cold weather. Here in SC it is cold too. I wear my fuzzy jammies at night and my woolly sweaters during the day. Some winters here are so warm that I rarely wear any of my old, warm clothes from Ohio. My old cashmere sweater feels mighty good today. I think it is suppose to warm up soon. This is wonderful quilting weather, especially if you have bindings to sew on. You can sew them on while the quilt keeps you warm over your lap.
Since Christmas break, our group of quilters from St. Cyprian's have met once again to finish their rag quilts. They are coming nicely and will be welcome by their families during this cold weather, so they better get them done this week! We are moving on then to a fusible applique project. During the month of Dec., a festival for Our Lady of Guadalupe was held for the members of the parish. My friend Elva (who speaks Spanish and is my interpreter) invited me to go and be part of the celebration. It was truly wonderful and so enlightening to see these families come together and put on a play, singing, dancing and eating! They transformed the plain, well used hall into a fairyland of beauty! I included some pictures of little Isiah and his dancing partner doing the Mexican hat dance. It brought the house down! There is another picture of Isaiah and his mom, Mary, who left for Mexico a couple of weeks later. Mary was a super student of ours and I hated to say good-bye to her. The very bright quilt that I call "Salsa" I made in Nov. and Dec. Those aren't the colors I usually go for, but this bright quilt I really love. I am now working on one of my UFOs (unfinished objects) that I started at least 10 years ago. It is "Oak leaves and Reel", which is a favorite traditional pattern. I am making it in all contemporary colors. It is very scrappy and will require over 500 half square triangles in the borders. Yuck! Maybe I don't want to finish this after all.

Moving right along

Getting ready to go again

It seems I just got back from visiting family in Ohio. Here is it time to leave again for the American Quilt Study Group seminar being held in San Jose, CA. starting the end of this week. I am really looking forward to it. I always learn so many new things about quilts and their makers. It is a great time to renew acquaintances of other like-minded folks. This year the endowment fund committee for AQSG asked if anyone would make some little 4" blocks for little quilts. I made three which you can see in the picture. I am dying to see how they use all the little blocks in the miniature quilts. After the AQSG seminar, I will be staying with my sister, Carol and DBIL, Barrie, and purse-puppy, Pepper. She and I will get lots of sister talk in, besides lots of laughter and maybe quilt fabric shopping! I know, I know, I don't need to do that! But you see, I have an excuse that I might find something cute for my Mexican sewing class!

While in Ohio, I stayed for a bit with my DD and her family. Casey, the 14 yo was confirmed in their church on Sept. 13. You see her in the dress which she picked out with her little heels. Her hair isn't fixed or anything, but you get the general idea. She wore a white robe over her black. There was a lovely buffet luncheon which her mother and I prepared for the host of family members, who came to the event. It was perfect weather so we could eat outside too. Her dress is getting double duty, as she was just asked for a date to Homecoming at Central High where she attends. She is so grown up! Where have the years gone? Sorry, I forgot to turn her image so you would see her properly! Duh!

My other grand-daughter Lauren 12, and I worked on a cute craft which is a Styrofoam ball covered in felt and then covered with flowers which were stick pinned all over the balls. They were hung from the ceiling with ribbon. The idea was an original from P0ttery Barn Kids. They really did turn out so cute.

My Mexican girls are turning out some wonderful string quilts! I am so proud of them. They will finish them while I am gone. The next quilts we are going to try are rag quilts since they are kind of fun to make. I am sure they will come up with some wonderful color combinations with just the leftover fabrics others have given us. Eloise and Elva, my wonderful helpers and I have donated lots from our stashes as well. They don't have the stash that I do, but not many people do! That is why I am so delighted to be able to share it with these enthusiastic quilters. They are so fun! Slowly I am learning Spanish too. I hope to get Rosetta Stone for Christmas so I can really learn. Elva is my wonderful translator now. This picture is one of the colorful tops a gal has made. Borders are on, the quilts are quilted so they can do the binding and sew on labels.

Almost Fall

Time has just flown by this summer. What with a little company, teaching the Mexican gals to quilt, keeping up with house and cooking, and squeezing in a little quilting for myself, the months has passed very quickly. In my first picture you will see the Christmas quilt that my friend and I each made recently. Mine is ready for the quilters. My friend, Karen and I have often made exact or almost exact quilts together. We have similar tastes obviously.
I can't believe I don't have a picture of the 5 and dime quilts that the girls made for their second quilts. I have one I will get a picture of as the gal isn't here to finish it. I am sure she would love to have it pictured.
The girls are on their third quilt now, which is a string quilt. Cathy, another friend gave us a bag of strings leftover from binding she had put on quilts for others. She is a long-armer and often applies the binding as part of her business. As you can see the string quilts are striking! The gals are going to finish them up soon and then learn to do their own quilting. They can either do ditch quilting or 1/4" straight line quilting. As clever as they are, I wouldn't be surprised that there is a good free motion quilter in the group. That will come in time. In the one picture Maria is deciding on placement of her blocks. Lupe is holding her quilt up as she was the first to get her borders on. Sister Saundra looks happy as she makes her blocks. Isn't Isiah the cutest? He is doing his homework from first day of first grade. He works quietly while his mom sews! I will post more pictures soon.

New Adventures

Looked at the date of my previous blog and couldn't believe how the time flys. Especially, when you are having fun, right? I just sort of fell into a wonderful adventure thanks to my friend Elva. She is bilingual and speaks fluent Spanish. She teaches English to Mexican folks who work and live in this area. She was telling me that she saw the Mexican nun, Sister Saundra, sewing costumes with some of the ladies of the church for a Passion Play that was presented at Easter. I asked if she felt there would be ladies who would want to learn to quilt. You guessed it, there were! So about 4 or 5 Mondays ago I met with Sister Saundra and the ladies from St. Cyprian's parish. With Elva's patience, we got the gals started on a simple 6 1/2" square comforter. They were 6x8 , so they weren't real big, but they understood how they could make larger sizes. I took pictures of the comforters and everyone was so proud! I am so delighted with the gals. They are all so dear. Many know English words. I am learning (slowly) a few Spanish words! What fun! Elva and Eloise another friend of ours, helped me to make kits for the gals second project. We are using an easy pattern and the quilts will end up being about 43"x60". Just to show you how wonderful the Internet is, I called upon my friends in Cyberspace to help me find a quilting book in Spanish. I thought no one would answer my request. But low and behold, a friend from North Dakota, posted an address almost immediately! Wow! The books were on sale for $1.99 each! What a bargain! So I got a bunch! The girls love them. They are by Alex Anderson and are soft back, with lots of how-to pictures and several easy projects in color. Their homework is to read that book and use it for reference. There is so much information that I am unable to give them in detail, so this book is a Godsend. In these pictures below, Elva is in the far left, then Betty, Maria, Lucy, then Sister Saundra. In the picture above right is Eloise, Angelica, Laura, Lucia, me, Luciero and Elva again.

Catching up

Spring is such a busy time! Trying to get plants in, getting the pool ready, a few short-term guests, and keeping up with everyday business, leaves little time to do lots of quilting. In early June, I am having the board of our ladies singing group here for an all day work session, which means I will provide lunch. Oh, what to serve? Well, I have a little time to worry about that.
I had to show you a picture of our funny dog, Duffy. He is a toffee colored Yellow Lab. He got so hot funny running after his tennis ball, he got overheated so he went to the pool and sat his body on the first step in order to cool down. He stayed there about 15 minutes until he was sufficiently cooled. I had to snap a picture of his pose in the pool. I also included a picture of my upside down tomato plant which my DH's cousin, Jay gave me for my birthday! I am so proud I have 3 tomatoes formed and more blossoms. I haven't grown tomatoes in years! My organic gardening mother is looking down and smiling upon me! Also my hydrangeas are starting to bloom in the yard. I love blue flowers so am so in love with these. During a rainstorm last evening, my DH, Brian, and I planted some plants around the pool area. We got drenched but the plants got watered in without being exposed to our usual scorching sun. Rained all night too.
I posted two pictures of a quilt called "Lady Fingers" by Cozy Quilt Designs. My friend, Vickie made one, so I thought I would try it. It called for a package of layer cake sqs. I had never bought one so I bought one online of the Kashmir group. I used some pale aqua and pale pink batiks for my two borders. I like it pretty well. I have to admit that it is a departure from all the brights I usually work with. Off to the quilters it goes!