Minis anyone??

I met Lori for lunch today, at long last!! We had a great time catching up!

She's gorgeous and always looks great in a picture!! Me?? I wish!!

Before I met her, I stopped in at Quiltworks to see their latest little quilt show for the month of August. They had a very wonderful collection of mini quilts that are almost inspiring!

Maybe the blocks are an inch!

You have to read the size to appreciate how tiny these pieces are. Oh, and very perfect!

Can you see the border of 1/4" half square triangles??

I love this sampler!!

Tiny bear paws!!

Finally I borrowed a ruler to see how small these pieces are!

One inch churn dash!!

1-3/4" bears paw

Now I need to get inspired to finish my challenge quilt!

Are you going to make a pin cushion with us?? I have more ideas to share!!

Circa 2016 and other things

I did two weeks' worth of Circa 2016 blocks recently. I love that these blocks are so simple and small!

And I've been working on a little challenge using my leftover French General fabrics. I'm trying to do a little mini (I know that's redundant!!) so I'm being personally challenged!!

The big reveal is still a week away!

Then today I went with a friend to a lake I'd never been to before. This area of Central Oregon was formed by former volcanoes and lava flow. We went to an area called Obsidian which is a type of lava rock that's shiny and sharp. The scenery was awesome and I thought you'd enjoy a little travelogue!

Tomorrow I am putting on bindings and meeting my friend Lori for lunch!  Yeah!!

Swap anyone??!!

I've been wanting to host a swap for some time and have had many people ask me if I would. 

So I've got a great idea!

Hint #1:

And I don't own any reptiles!!

Hint #2:

Answer:

A pin cushion swap!!

I joined the Temecula pin cushion program and have gotten inspired!  Here is the one I made yesterday. Just need to sew on the button.  Cute??!!

So this is my plan. If you are interested in participating you would need to send me an email and tell me that you want to do it. You would have to make some kind of a pin cushion from scratch and fill it with sand or crushed walnuts. I will have sent you a name to whom you'll send your pin cushion. 

I'll figure out some guidelines before we start. And I'll give everyone plenty of time to make one. 

I love pin cushions and don't think you can ever have too many!

I made that years ago but still love it!

These are just some ideas. 

If you're interested, send me a comment with your email address. If there are just two of us, that's enough!  I'm thinking of sign ups until Labor Day. Pin cushions should be done by mid October. Does this sound like fun or what??!!!

Let me know your thoughts!!

Glued to the phone!!

I'm in a real state today.  My iPhone fell out of my jacket pocket last night on a city bus in San Francisco!~

I realized it shortly after we got off the bus and used the "Find my Phone" function on my husband's phone to locate it.  

We watched it zip across San Francisco until it finally came to rest AT SOMEONE'S HOME!!! 

I locked it, although I wasn't able to erase it.  Hopefully having it locked will prevent anybody from getting my info off the phone.  For instance, I have access to bank information;  I have the ability to buy things on Amazon etc etc.

I also learned that the Apple Care insurance plan I have purchased only covers damaged phones, NOT lost or stolen ones.

UGH!!

Anyway, I'm trying to manage today sans phone but will head over to the Apple store later today and buy a new one.  This time, I am going to get the LARGEST one possible so I can't keep it in my pocket.  I need to protect myself from myself!!

Anybody else ever lost a phone??  I feel like a complete idiot.  And to top it all, I'm completely disoriented. We are so attached to our phones.  Well, at least I am!

Hopefully everything will be transferred because of iCloud, because I naturally haven't backed up the phone in AGES...I quickly attached my backup hard drive to my laptop to back IT up!!  My pictures??  I hope they're in the iCloud, too.  I picked up darling Ryan yesterday from his first day of First Grade and took an adorable picture.  GRRRR


Lessons learned today!!!
Watch your phone
Back up Back up, Back up!!
Don't be so dependent on your phone!

More to follow...

Some very talented quilters

I'm going to share some quilts not done by me but by several Wisconsin women who really do beautiful work!!

This was paper pieced by Gloria. Love the pattern!

Debbie made this adorable top. 

Cathy sewed this quilt which is a pattern by her sister, Pat. 

This darling block is part of a quilt that Terri and Debbie are sewing. Great little block!

This is a Lori Smith pattern sewn by Debbie, who does amazing work!

This is another Debbie masterpiece. Those 9-patches are tiny!!  

My favorite!  

This appliqué is just gorgeous!  Debbie Dodge really is an amazing quilter!!

Now I'm back in California and hope to finish the Olympics quilt in the next day or so. Back to the real world?

Lots of progress!

I came to Wisconsin determined to finish two ufos and I'm proud to say that they are done!! And I'm not going home until Sunday!! Vbg

The fabric I brought for the border doesn't work (it'll go on the back!) so we are heading to a local quilt shop. Oh so sad, hunh??!!

This quilt was made via a swap. We all made half square triangles as well as swapped strips do I didn't have to make all the components. It did take forever to cut them apart, press and then sew but I'm very happy with the finished product!! We are calling that Under the Big Top. My friend Lori posted instructions a couple of years ago. So this top was two years in the making!!  Not so bad. 

My other completed ufo has been in the works for more than 10 years!!  I saw this quilt in Houston in 2002. The only reason I know that is because I took a picture of the quilt and had the picture printed and the date is in the corner!  Remember when we printed pictures and the date was in the corner!!

  It is a Sue Garman design although I never got the pattern. I figured it out myself. 

Truth be told there's supposed to be several more borders including a round of pinwheels but I decided it was done enough so I am calling it finished!!  Ten years???  Glad it's done!!

I'm going to show you what others have been sewing later today!  We are off to get fabric and sweet corn to bring back to my hubby!!  Gotta love Wisconsin sweet corn this time of year!  My dear friend Debbie had corn and a Spotted Cow for me (not literally) my first night!  What a great friend!