Caught up

I did have a little time to make last week's Circa 2016 blocks. These are some tiny half square triangles!! More like the types of pieces Janet O sews!  Vbg

I also pulled out a kit I bought from the Country Sampler. I made one block and enjoyed it!! 

We are driving back to California today but last night we got to enjoy the  beautiful sunset. 

Here is Mt Bachelor  the same time. I never get tired of this view!

And we actually got a picture of everyone, including the 3 grands. They had a great time with us! We are blessed!

I'm alive, really

It's been waaaay too long since I've posted on my blog - life has gotten in the way, and lots of babysitting!!

My family (except for our middle daughter) has all come to our cabin for the Memorial Day weekend so we are loving every chaotic minute!!  Have you seen these plasma cars??  Our kids race all over the driveway and have a great time!!

I just had to show you this. 

I tried to do a little sewing during nap times and got 12 little trees done for a swap with my Wisconsin friends. They were fun!

I am sorry it's sideways. I also put a star on top!  Adorable!!

But in working on them, I found that my trusty little iron conked out yet again!! Ugh!!

I think this is my third one!

I was incredibly lucky because I had been shopping at Bed Bath and Beyond the day before (during nap times when my dh watched them!) and couldn't resist this bargain on the Rowenta!!

I think it was a return so it was heavily discounted. I was delighted to have it when the little one didn't heat up. So far I'm liking the pointy tip although it's a bit heavier than I like. 

To try it out I made this week's Circa 2016 blocks. 

I still need to do last week's blocks with the tiny half square triangles. 

My Hawaiian quilt earned a fat $650 in the auction two weeks ago so I felt good about that. There was a little bidding war going on which was great. The money raised goes to a school in the area we visit in Kauai. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Circa 2016

We had a family-filled Mother's Day as well as the grands all weekend so I did no sewing. But it was great, right??

I just finished a book called "Being Mortal" by a doctor from Boston and I highly recommend it. It gives a great perspective on life and it certainly made me more appreciative of how lucky I am. Let me know if you've read it!

I did sew two little 3" blocks for the Citrca 2016. I love that it's so easy to keep up!!

Please forgive that I didn't plug in my iron even!!

I have to share this photo. My dh has been working part time in San Francisco and that has enabled me to pick up my grandson and help out in his class. Our routine has included a quick stop at Starbucks on the way to school. Today I took a selfie, which I usually hate!!'

Enough gushing for today!! ❤️❤️❤️

Circa 2016 and trouble with pens

Last night I sewed the two latest blocks for the Circa 2016 project from Temecula Quilts. Love these little blocks!

I'm still trying to decide what to do with the Cheri quilt too:

I am struggling with writing labels these days. The ink seems to fade or bleed. Which pens have you used and found to really be permanent??? I need advice!!

Kindergarten quilt was a huge success

I presented the kindergarten quilt to the teacher yesterday and it was a huge success. She was in tears!! Very sweet to see the kids' reaction to seeing their art work put into a quilt. They all crowded around wanting to see where their signatures were or the picture!

I will tell you, though, that I was hugely disappointed to see that many of the signatures bled after being washed. I used permanent markers too!!  Ugh!!

I suppose I should have tested them before I had the kids sign them. Lesson learned!!

Now I have a couple of days at home to catch up!! 

Flying geese galore

Tucked in the back of the quilts in Nantes was an exhibit of quilts which used the block "flying geese" in some fashion. Let me tell you that I was completely blown Away by the creativity in the quilts submitted. 

Is this not adorable??!!

One corner

These are some TINY blocks!! Sorry it's a little blurry. 

Here are my two favorites:

This took some careful studying! This quilter used piecing and thread play to make her design. In the first image, the flower was missing only one petal;  each successive flower pot had the petals falling to the ground but their images were sewn with colored threads:

There were many who were studying this quilt and fortunately my French is good enough that I was able to get what they were describing!

Now this one was off the charts:

I'm going to show you close ups because it's the only way to see the beauty!!

That's the end of the Nantes quilts. It was truly a great experience!!

Now let me show you my very simple quilting skills!! Nothing like what was in Nantes, but that's okay!!  I made a quilt for the doll quilt swap that my friend Lori hosted. 

Pretty basic!!

I used heavy thread and did some very Primitive hand quilting:

This was truly an international quilt!  I pieced it in Wisconsin and took it with me to France to do the quilting. The binding was done in California!!

I'm feverishly trying to get the binding sewn down on the kindergarten teacher's quilt, which in going to present to her tomorrow!  I'll post a picture in the next day or two. M