new wallhanging

I just finished this wallhanging for my hubby.  He is quite involved in community theater so I made this to hang above his dresser. Shhhh...it is a surprise but he doesn't read this blog anyway! It is hand appliqued and hand quilted. The fabric in the border was quite interesting to work with...the pattern was actually dizzying when I was sewing it. It still needs to be pressed and wrapped but figured I'd show it now.

recommendations

I am looking for a new iron...it can't be heavy because of my arthritis....
What kind do you have? Would you recommend it? Were there irons that you definitely would not recommend?

friends, food, and fabric

I'm back from our quilting adventure...I need to get the Weight Watchers books out again..

We stayed in a cute house in Bird-in-Hand, PA right down the road from an Amish school. We watched the children play in the playground and later walk home from school. Other towns around us were Intercourse and Paradise.

We went to Sturgis Pretzel Factory...the first pretzel factory in the new world and to the Wilbur Chocolate Company. We also ate in a 50s style restaurant where we had "real" milkshakes and root beer floats.

We visited many quilt shops and a quilt museum.

We had a show and tell each evening. The first evening we showed something we had been working on at home. The other evenings we showed our wonderful finds.

We did a project together.. we each made a wonderful little fabric bag from fabric we bought at a shop.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was talking to the Amish and Mennonite women in the shops. We went to several of the little shops where the women showed us their quilts, talked about their designs and how they made the quilts.



Packing the cars to come home was a challenge...being good at jigsaw puzzles would have helped! Here is a picture of my haul...I bought 24 different fabrics! The basket was made and signed by a 16 year old Amish girl. The tote bag was made by the daughter of a shop owner. The book came from the quilt museum shop.

You might want to check out the blogs of two of my friends who went on the trip. PAT and KAYE.

We're already planning a trip for next year....

Off to Lancaster!

My quilting buddies and I are off to Lancaster PA for a few days of shopping, quilting, and sharing so I won't be on line until at least Saturday....it will take me a while to get caught up on on the blogs I follow so be patient!

feeling good

I feel good that I got everything on my list for yesterday done except the grocery shopping and I'm off to do that this morning.

The first photo is the top that I was doing. It is a practice applique project. Each little lassie is different...I was trying out different techniques to see what worked for me. The top is made entirely from scraps except for the blue border which was a piece of fabric from my stash! I learned a lot from the project and now feel I am ready to tackle another project.

The next photo shows the quilt I finished...even to the label on the back! The focus fabrics are from scraps bought at our guild auction about a year ago. The white and black are from my stash. I only bought the batik for the settings and border and the backing. My challenge was to make a sampler quilt using only squares and half sqaure triangles for the blocks.

a blogger's anniversary

Averett Lady Nana just sent me over to Blue Waters who is celebrating her first year anniversary as a blogger....certainly worth visiting...it's a nice site

off to the Y then my goals are 1to finish my Lovely Little Lassies top (just needs the border)
2 put a binding on a quilt that I picked up at the quilter's last Friday
3 wrap my secret sister gift for Monday
4 pack for Tuesday's trip to Lancaster
5 clean up my quilting room (It's a mess)
6 pay bills....UGHHH
7 grocery shop

maybe I'm overly ambitious today.

not doin much quilting....

but I've been very busy. Last week I worked four days...I usually only work 2 or 3...oh, my aching feet and legs....

Over the weekend my hubby was in a children's theater play and of course I go to the performances. The theater company has several of these dessert theaters for children a year. After the performance, the children get treats then get to meet the actors and get autographs...the kids really like it.

After the Sunday performance, we drove to my son's and then got up early Monday morning and took the train for a day trip into Washington, DC where we visited the Smithsonian. - Air and Space Museum and American History Museum. After we got home, hubby pointed out that the American History Museum has a quilt display...if we had only known when we were there...that will definitely be on our list for the next trip. We hadn't been to DC since our children were little...some things have definitely changed. Now that we are closer, we will certainly go again.

(On my way to my son's we did stop at JoAnne Fabric where I bought some fabric...couldn't go by without buying)

Back home Tuesday morning then work Tuesday evening.

This morning was my arthritis water therapy class at the Y.. I came home, sewed a little, then fell asleep across the bed.

I am looking forward to next week which will be devoted to quilting. Friends and I are going for a quilt retreat that we organized to Lancaster, PA. I've already started packing!!!