Will Quilt for Musical Instruments

Or so it seems !

I recently received a mystery package in the mail . . . . quite an oddly shaped package, lots of brown wrapping paper, lots and lots of tape. . .lots of work to UNwrap it. . . . . . . .

It came from my friend Jenny in Arizona. Pretty creative use of boxes there Jenny, how many boxes and rolls of tape did it take to wrap this up ?

Underneath all the paper and boxes were a bolt of fabric and a canvas case . . . . . ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

And inside the case was a beautiful log cabin quilt top and wrapped inside the quilt top, was a beautiful Mountain Dulcimer !

What a fun package to receive in the mail and open !

I am excited to quilt up your quilt for you Jenny, and hope you will be as happy with the results as I am with the dulcimer ! and. . . Jenny said to use the BOLT of fabric for the back, and donate the REMAINDER to Quilts of Valor ! Thank You Jenny ! That fabric should make several backs for Quilts of Valor quilts ! What a generous donation !

By the way, did you all know that MAY is BLUEGRASS MONTH ?

Still here !

Hello !



Yes I am still here. . .been busy quilting graduation and wedding quilts ( 'tis the season, you know ! ) Went to my first ( and hopefully not last ) quilt retreat . . . great fun, new friends. . . finished BIRTHDAY WEEK (always fun, but exhausting ). . . Happy Birthday to Everyone, I have 6 relatives and 5 friends who's birthdays are all in a span of less than 2 weeks, and to top it off we have been in a flood area for almost 2 months here. The rivers in town are all diked up, we are on water rationing to decrease the water flowing through our sewer systems which are overloaded, we are an odd numbered house, so we can only only wash clothes on odd numbered days, and am even thankful for that, the town next to us lost their sewer system, and most evacuated, and ended up not being able to use their sewer system at all, and having porta potties set up outside all over town. I hear we are dangerously close to that. . . so we are careful how much water we are using. Very Careful. We have National Guardsmen in town patroling the dikes, and helicoptors flying over head all monitoring the dikes and dams. Needless to say, it has been very "interesting" around here. THANK YOU, NATIONAL GUARD !

It's Virtual QUILT FESTIVAL Time !

TURN UP THE MUSIC !


Here is my entry into the QUILT FESTIVAL. The name of the quilt is Bluegrass Stars. It was designed and pieced by Barb in Bismarck, and quilted by me. This quilt will be raffled off to raise funds for the B.A.N.D. (Bluegrass Association of North Dakota) . The funds will be used to help promote Bluegrass music in the state with jams, festivals, concerts and classes.























Next is a close -up of the quilt and the last picture is of the quilt back. Bluegrass instruments featured on the quilt are guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin, dobro and bass. My apologies to any bluegrass instruments not represented on the quilt. . . we love you too ! For more information on North Dakota Bluegrass check out the North Dakota Bluegrass Forum . For information on tickets for the Bluegrass Stars quilt, contact me.

To see more quilts in the QUILT FESTIVAL, click on the link to the left. . . enjoy !

Lots of catchin' up to do !

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter ! We took a short trip to Minnesota, played with the rellies and had a great time. It even felt a bit like spring there. . . When we left, there was a pile of snow as high as my shoulder next to the driveway. . by the time I got back it was only knee high. Today it's only ankle high, so we are making progress. Unfortunately, as the snow melts, the rivers rise and there has been alot of sandbagging going on here in town and in surrounding towns and farms. Here in town we are waiting to see how high the river will crest. . .

Time for some quilting pictures. . . here is a quilt I made because I liked the quilting stitch. . .I named the quilt "Candy Kisses". Before I bought my longarm machine, I was usually inspired either by the fabric or the pattern, now I get inspired by the quilting stitch which then leads me to the fabric and pattern. A little backwards, but. . . . it works for me. "Candy Kisses" is for my daughter and was mostly pieced last spring, and I finally finished the border, quilted and bound it in February of this year. It turned out to be a pretty appropriate time to finish it what with all the valentines candy in the fabric. Not, however, probably the best time to post this. . Valentines would have been better, but, well, there isn't an Easter quilt to post about right now so I need to take what I can get.

Anyway, about the title of the post. . .First I was working like crazy to get enough done so I could take a few days off without guilt. . . now, I am working like crazy to catch up after being gone. I did end up feeling some guilt, but it was so nice to get away too. Even had my own little shop hop ! I got to go to 4 Minnesota quilt shops thanks to my SIL for 2 stops and DH for 2 stops on the way home! It is always SO interesting checking out different shops. Thankfully, Mr. Willow Lake Stitches doesn't mind stopping, and even comes in sometimes and checks out the fabric - wait - maybe he is checking on me !

Check out these new patterns !

Here's a pretty blog for you to check out. She is starting a pattern line and is having a giveaway. So. . . take a quick trip to Sweden and visit Helena !