i'm outta here!

I'm packing my bags and leaving the family behind! woo hoo! A good friend of mine (Katie) and I are going out of town for a little retreat. relaxing, napping, watching girl movies, playing scrabble and cribbage, and going to the springs. ahh. oh, and we're going to hit the quilt shop. It's not the best quilt shop, but it's not the worst either.

Katie and I have been friends since our first born children were three or so. That's almost 8 years. She's very crafty and extremely generous. She invites me to dinner almost every monday night, and after dinner we usually make a few cards, play scrabble or go shopping at Michael's and Joann's. And.....she's starting to quilt. yay! a real life, in the flesh, quilting friend. The only other real life quilting friend is my mom. Which is great, don't get me wrong. But it's good to have a girlfriend that quilts. I also have another friend here in town who sews, and i'm trying to get her quilting too.

Let me just say here that I am so grateful for my online quilting friends. Friends that I have met on flickr. Friends that encourage and inspire me. Thank you!!!

Now back to Katie. It was her birthday earlier in the month. And I finally finished working on the gnome for her. I've been working on it here and there for a couple of weeks now. And since we are going out of town, I thought today would be the perfect time to give it to her. For Katie, my friend:



And a big wave for Stephanie, another good friend who can appreciate a good quilt!

Hi Stephanie!

I'm enjoying this summer! I'm getting some sewing done and lots of tidying that never seems to get done. Now I just need to get to the cleaning that never gets done ; )

I'm trying to finish this:




and in my best Arnold Schwarzenegger voice "it's not a santa". It's a gnome! and here is what I made to go with it:




And for 8two8 group, I made these baskets for lynn. I really enjoyed making these baskets based on the baskets in Freddy and Gwen's book Collaborative Quilting.






Well, back to work people!

and a big wave to my friend Stephanie who doesn't leave a comment (and that's ok!)

summertime

I've been busy lately with the end of our homeschool year, preparing for evaluations, making lists in preparation for the new school year, taking the kids to running camp, finally getting around to some tidying that never seems to get done, and basically enjoying our first two weeks of summer. ahhhh.

Here are a few things I've been working on. Nothing with deadlines. All for fun.

something for a friend (quit looking you know who!)



working on these again



and a few coasters for us



and you?

placemat quilt swaps sent

these have been sent to isaacsmama and katie did it.

i have recieved a placemat from isaacsmama, and when i receive katie did it's, i will show them.

look! i wasn't wordless!

finished!

Just in time for the fourth of July fireworks! Whew!




This quilt was made to be our picnic quilt. And it was inspired by this quilt. I find swim notes quilts so inspiring. She used to have a blog. I wish she still did. (hint hint if you are reading this!)


6' x 6'
machine pieced, quilted and bound


I loved using some of my favorite larger prints for this quilt. This whole quilt is filled with favorite colors and fabrics. I did a simple loopy quilting across the quilt. And between you and me, I hid four hearts in the quilting. One for each of us. I'm not telling my family. Let's see if they find them.



Now if it only wasn't blazing hot out, we would go for a picnic. Oh well, it's ready and waiting for the cooler temperatures of fall. I'm already making a mental list of all the places I want to have a picnic.

wordless wednesday