Deana's Spring Quilt

Well, I just finished another stunning quilt made by Deana.  She designed the quilt using pieced blocks that she won 2 years ago at our last local guild show.  By designing the entire quilt setting and adding additional applique and dimensional flowers to these blocks she has outdone herself!  I just finished quilting it last night with custom designs in the blocks and background.  Deana will be adding a few more surprises to the quilt over the next few weeks too.  If you are in our area April 2nd & 3rd come to our guild quilt show "The Desert Blooms" and see this beauty in person. 

Spring is just around the corner!

Well, at least I think it is.  Here in our corner of the world everything is still pretty brown and dead.  Hardly a sign of new life outside, although I did hear a robin singing this morning!  I thought I would share some of my own signs of spring.  With spring quilt shows popping up all over I am busily working on show quilts.  Here's a sneak-peak of Deana's upcoming show quilt.  A stunning beauty with dimensional flowers!

Other signs of spring at our house are the arrival of new baby bunnies.  My daughter's Chocolate-Otter Broken Rex "Hershey" had 10 babies!  Their eyes are just opening up today.... here they are napping in a bunny nest:

Yesterday was a pretty mild day weather-wise so my daughter had all her does out for some exercise and sunshine.  My backyard was full of rabbits tearing around enjoying their time socializing and nibbling.....

Retreat Group

I promised a group photo of our quilters retreat as my picture did not turn out.  Thanks to DeEre we have a great one to share...  left to right (1st row) Janele, Sylvia, Margaret, MaryAnn, Margie, Bea, Debi, karen. (2nd row) Judy, Carmen, Jen, Sue, Tara, Sherrie, Kathy, Alta. (3rd row) Diane, Sandy, Marla, Joyce, DeEre, Barb.  I think the only person that was missing was Kathleen, who was out excercising for the rest of us!

A Colorful Day

This last weekend we finally got some snow (last time was in November). While most of the country has been buried under snow our little corner of Idaho seems to have been in a weather bubble most of the winter. I should have been cleaning house and getting caught up with life after the quilters retreat but I took the weekend to dye fabric instead! (I have such an understanding and loving family.....)

Here are the results..... 2 days and 24 yards later. By the way, this post is dedicated to a blogger-buddie Sherrie who lives in Washington State and is missing the bright colors of her previous life.

Retreat Success!

Well, this week ended our 3rd Annual "Sew Much Fun" Quilter's Retreat in Jerome. We had 4 days of quilty fellowship, too much good food, lot's of laughter, late nights, too little sleep, too much food, early mornings, learning new techniques, playing with new fabric, too much food, new friendships and too much food. Did I mention that we ate too much? The monks at the monastery where the retreat was held took very good care of us!

Carmen Geddes was our instructor for two classes: "Lone Star" the Quiltsmart way and "Over the Edge Borders & Bindings". I also taught a class of the use of our new GO! Cutter. The "Lone Star" class was the star of the retreat in my opinion. Most of us were able to finish our quilt top during the retreat. The borders and binding class was very comprehensive and covered how to insert piping into your seams and bindings. The GO! Cutter class seemed to be well received by all, and the Cutter was in use during the whole retreat.

Deana's "Colors In Fall"

I  just wanted to share this beautiful applique artquilt that my friend Deana pieced.  She was inspired by a photo of the quilt "Windswept", originally made by designer Nancy B. Dickey. I quilted it with Superior Metallic and Variegated Rainbows threads to simulate the veins in the leaves.  The background and borders are quilted with SoFine thread.  I also extended the leaves out into the outer border to draw the eye out to edges.  Interesting enough, I did not see Nancy's original quilt prior to quilting Deana's quilt.   Hope you enjoy.....