A peak at Paris shots

We are in France for a short trip and I couldn't pass up the chance to meet up with my dear friend, Will. We met at the metro near her home and proceeded there to have a lovely lunch and some serious quilt envy. 

This woman does the most amazing quilts and this year, I was speechless, which is unheard of for me!!

First a view:

Isn't that just gorgeous?? We were on our way to visit a friend of hers who had his annual quilt show/sale in his spectacular apartment on the Seine. But that is for another post. 

This is about Will!!

This is a version of snail's trail by Edyta Sitar. There's no way I could even find her rows let alone imagine doing all those set-in seams!

Not paper pieced!!

She saw this quilt and decided to copy it. Can you see how she fussy cut the hexies?

She saw this quilt in a book of English quilts and is still working on the borders. Just beautiful. But the best is this mystery from Quiltmania which is mostly done, except for the quilting, which she is in a rush to finish so she can loan it to Quiltmania for their show in April. 

Will uses every little scrap she finds in every resource: fabric, clothing, table wear.  I brought her some scraps last year and she showed me where she'd used a tiny 1" fussy cut group of cherries in one hexie center!  I love looking at her work. 

Tomorrow I'll show you some quilts from the exhibit/sale we attended.  

Beware of scam

This is a new one. I got a Facebook message ostensibly from an old friend yesterday. She was chatty and then told me about having won $40,000. So far it seemed somewhat legit although she didn't answer my questions about her life. 

Then she told me that my name was included on a list she saw and I needed to click on a link she sent to contact a woman. Starting to be pretty suspicious!! Bring the lawyer I am, I proceeded to ask questions!! She kept pressing me to click on the link. 

By this time (maybe 2-3 minutes into it), I just ignored the whole thing. Last night it dawned on me that she must've been hacked. Hey, I don't miss much!!  Vbg 

I went to show it to my husband today and Facebook had removed the entire conversation saying it was suspicious or spam. 

So the lesson is that even though the contact seemed to come from someone I knew, it was a scam through Facebook messenger.  Pretty weird!! I'm relieved I didn't fall for it but the scammers are getting pretty devious!

Have any scam stories to share?? I'll send a gift next week to the best story 

My attempt at a long arm

My friend Claire just got a new APQS long arm named Lucey that she wanted to show me. So I went over there today with an old top to put on her machine!

It's huge!!  You need lots of room for this machine. 

Claire is very good at this since she's had a long arm for nearly 20 yrs. I am not so good at it. The thread is constantly breaking!! Her new machine has a stitch regulator which I really need!! My stitches are generally very irregular. 

I can't even remember when I made this top, which is really sad!! I do recognize the fabrics so that's good!!

Rudimentary quilting!!

I pieced the back and used orphan blocks. 

It's great to have this one done but you know what this means??  Another binding to get done!! Vbg

All the swap blocks went into the mail today so you should have them by Monday for sure. Thanks to all who joined in!!

Stars stars and more stars.

Today is the day I'm dividing up all the stars sent to me as part of this little swap. It's awesome. I want to keep them all!!

Look at these:

I'm just so excited that there were so many who wanted to join in, even at this busy time of year!!

I'm going to post a couple of ideas for setting these blocks, along with the Stars in a Time Warp. Stay tuned. 

This is one of my favorite trees that I came home to yesterday. These colors are just so beautiful!!

This is the view from our cabin in Oregon, with Mt Bachelor in the background!

Lots of snow!

Hope to get some sewing done!!

Bindings done

Okay so I didn't get lots of tops completed during my time in Oregon. What I did get done, though, are things I've been avoiding. Don't ask me why I am loathe to do bindings.

Anyway, I'm feeling great that these are done. 

These are very tiny blocks which I made via a swap with my Wisconsin friends. We called this "X's and O's". This was a pattern we found in a Quiltmania issue. I love it and am probably the last to get it done. Oh well. I love it!

This other one is from this past spring. Not too old!!

M

Of course I love the colors!

But I'll bet you can't tell the secret of this quilt!!

It's a cheater top!!  I couldn't believe it when I saw this on the bolt. 

I think it's really hard to tell. I loved the fabrics so I figured it'd be great as a sofa quilt!!  How comfy does this look on my navy love seat, for my sewing room!!

I head home tomorrow so maybe I'll get something done this week. The swap is happening this week. I can't wait to see all the blocks!

Stars for a swap

I'm not sure how many blocks are going to be exchanged in the upcoming swap, so I made a bunch. They are so easy and fun!!

Then I started working in putting together blocks that a friend gifted me in Wisconsin. It needs a few more but she did most of the work! 

I'm Hoping to get it done before I head home on Monday. I'm also hoping to get my bindings sewn down too. Optimistic. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!!!

Time out for some snow play

Central Oregon got hammered yesterday with a huge snow storm. It was beautiful to watch from inside and I got lots of sewing done. 

Today, though, I went out to play in the snow. We have snow shoes and I took Max for a romp through the woods. I thought you'd enjoy a little winter in a blog. Blocks tomorrow!!

I was stumped when I went to mail a letter!!

Our trusty snow blower wasn't so reliable today and wouldn't start so my dh and I started trying to clear a path to get my car out. He's from Minnesota and truly loves shoveling!  Me? Not so much. Luckily, a friend came by with his snow blower that was working. Ours is at the shop having its carburetor soaked!! Who knew??!!

I took Max out and he was loving it. Sadly I wound up on my butt more times than I'd like to admit. Fortunately I was able to get up!!  But not without a fair amount of effort!

See how deep the snow is? Max is a big boy, too!!

Have a glorious Thanksgiving everyone. I'm so grateful for every day, every opportunity to be with friends, my darling grands and my kids, and of course my sweetest husband Mark.