Let Me Share

I have been visiting my sister in Memphis and my son and his family in Arkansas. I haven't had a chance to blog or do much fiber work while I've been gone. (I did get to work a LITTLE bit on my newest piece while I was at my sister's, but I don't have pictures yet.)

I do have something else I'd like to share with you. My friend Daren Redman was recently interviewed about her fiber art. Check out her interview here. I had a chance to see her beautiful fabric in person; it is fabulous. She was kind enough to allow me to use a lot of her hand dyes for my current piece. I am SO pleased with how it is looking. Daren's interview is very well done and doesn't take too long to watch. I think you will really enjoy it.

My daughter took some good pictures while we were at June Beth's for her 3rd birthday party. Here is a little collage of pictures from JB's birthday. My son, Ryan, rents a big water slide for the kids. That was REALLY a good thing this year since the temperature was 100 degrees that day! Emily (my daughter) and Cade (my 9 year old grandson) went down with us for the big birthday party. June Beth (my 3 year old granddaughter) and Cade are big buddies. I'm glad they had a chance to play together.

(That's Bianca (my 11 year old granddaughter) in the lower left corner.)

There is never enough time with family. I remember (back in the day) my great-grandmother crying when we arrived at her house (she lived in another state) and crying when we left her house. I never understood that when I was little. Now I do.

I have Stitch & Bitch tonight. Hopefully, I'll have some pictures of their UFO Challenge to share with you.

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Speaking Engagement

I had the opportunity to speak to the Olney (Illinois) Quilt Guild this week. I'm ALWAYS really nervous (and excited) before I speak, but once I get started I usually calm down. These quilters were VERY nice to me; they were warm and welcoming. They listened attentively, asked questions, and made me feel right at home. Several people came up to me after my talk to get a closer look at some of the pieces and to tell me how much they enjoyed the lecture and trunk show. I even received a couple of really nice emails afterwards. Cynthia was nice enough to send me these pictures. (Thanks Cynthia!)

I spoke about my journey as a quilter which began with VERY traditional work.

(This spring quilt is from a pattern by Country Threads.)

These are some Lori Smith quilts that I made awhile back. I brought ten of those along to share with the ladies. They really seemed to like them. I explained how much I learned about piecing and cutting as I worked on these small quilts. I also told them how I improved my machine quilting skills with each one--practice, practice, practice.

I showed string quilts, mystery quilts, baby quilts, seasonal quilts, animal quilts, modern quilts, Christmas quilts, table runners, miniature quilts, and more. I discussed following the "rules" and breaking the "rules." (Breaking the "rules" is a lot more fun!)

I showed an English paper pieced hexagon quilt of my own design. It isn't finished (and it might never be)!

I showed one of my most recent hand quilted pieces. (It is a bit blurry, but you get the idea.)

I showed a framed "extreme embroidery" piece and told its story. (I think some of them thought I was crazy to do so much hand embroidery on one piece. They wanted to know how long it took me.)

I really enjoyed my time with these ladies. I'm always scared to do these talks, but I'm a firm believer that doing things that scare me helps me to learn and grow. I just saw a quote (don't know the author) that really hit home--Give every opportunity a chance; leave NO room for regrets. Have you done anything that scared you a bit lately?

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Tub Party at My House

You've never heard of a "tub party" you say. Well, I was with some of my friends and mentioned the fact that I had TUBS of scrap fabric that needed to be sorted and cut up and that I just never get it done. I asked if anyone else had the same problem, and (of course) they all did. I suggested we have a "Tub Party" at my house where everyone would bring their tubs of fabric to "tame."

We started at 10 am and didn't stop working till around 7 pm. At one point, I looked around my house and couldn't believe all the fabric we had in a small space. (We could have started a fabric store!) Here is what it looked like at my house before the tub party.

Here are pictures during the party.

Everyone got lots done, we had a great time, and we definitely will do it again. What does your stash look like? Do you need to have a "Tub Party?"

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