May Flowers and my UFO Progress

Our crazy, haphazard garden is all a-bloom.  Erik planted seeds and a few bulbs wherever he felt like it and sure enough, they all came up!

Even the bluebonnets he planted in March?!?  It's nice to have a few bluebonnets in May!

I went to my first Saturday Sew with the Dallas Modern Quilt Guild today!  I'm so sad I've missed everything that's happened so far, because I'm playing catch up meeting people and I'm slow enough at that as it is : )  But it was a good time, and I was surprised at how productive I was.  I'll definitely go to the next one if at all possible!

I got there still in the planning stages with this quilt, but here's what I accomplished today:

This is on my UFO list as the "stars quilt". See the star in the middle?  That's what I'm going for!  There was no way I was going to piece that critter, so I opted to take the easy way out and piece around it : ) Believe it or not, I hate piecing and was actually going to applique this before I convinced myself to suck it up and learn how to match up seams and make decent points. 3 more groups of 4 and I should be done.  I used the center portion of the Quatrefoil pattern on Modify Tradition to create this cross pattern, and the line of fabric is Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow.

This is also on the list as the "undecided quilt".  Once I realized it had to be a t-shirt quilt, I jumped on eBay and bought up all the Valpo shirts I could find, and even got a few new ones at Walmart.com.  This one's a secret retirement gift for my father-in-law, so Evelyn, if you're reading this, Shhh!

I just lack a few sashings and then I'll piece it all together (the first row is done!).

I still have some good weekend time ahead of me, so I hope to get a lot more done!

Lazy, Hazy, and Crazy

Went to guild last night and it was so fun! Nice people, fun new friends, and lots of good info on quilting! Our speaker talked about applique and her quilts were amazing. Stunning. Fantabulous. Ellen and Beth came, we worked on some embroidery while everyone talked, and Ellen even won a door prize! A $10 gift certificate to a quilt shop that is a bit out of the way, so we might need a little road trip! It was lots of fun and I hope to get together with them soon so we can actually have more time to talk and get to know each other!

I worked on these during the meeting and finished them up this morning:



Now I've got to get them on and send them on their way! I was too chicken to show their quilt I took to the meeting during show and tell. Maybe next month...

I'm also a little ashamed that Mary Kate's is so much neater and lined up than Emory's. What's done is done.







And in other "new friend" news, I met this little guy at Tuesday Morning and just had to bring him home with me. Especially since I'll be doing some "away from home" quilting for Project Linus on occasion.


I figured that since I woke up early to buy a front door knob on sale for my husband, I deserved a little treat, too!

Just in case I've tempted you, this is the name of the iron. Steam Fast. It seems to live up to its name. Just gotta drain out the water before toting it around with you. It even comes with a travel bag and filling cup. Beautiful. Just beautiful.

We got our new business pages yesterday. Really? Are we not over this yet? Because it seems like the rest of America is...

Sorry. Had to vent. I'm just waiting for the cable guy to finish up here and I will continue working on quilting my bandana quilt. Finally. Yeesh, it's hard to finish a project when it's for you and not someone who has a birthday/wedding/due date approaching!

A Little Community Never Hurt Anyone

So, some big news from my neck of the quilting woods...



1) My local quilt shop encounter with Jennifer (a young quilter nonetheless) has brought forth a new group of quilters that will be meeting once a month at the shop to work on quilts for Project Linus. Can I tell you how excited I am? August 23 from 1-5 at Texas Quiltworks in Rockwall for anyone in my area that would like to join us. There is a Dallas group but they meet oh so far away from me. This is way better.


2) A recent blog encounter with another young quilter, Ellen (an Aggie nonetheless), has led to a meet-up TOMORROW! at the Garland Quilt Guild's monthly meeting. I didn't think I could make it, but I can now, and I'm sooo excited! She had a blast last month when she went for her first time, so I have to check it out. There are also talks of shop hopping in the near future.





I'm sure I'll have lots to report. Until then...