Hippo Bird Dogs Two….Me!

One of my all- time favorite birthday cards was one from Sandra Boynton that uses hippo bird dogs two ewe as the refrain for happy birthday. (You can see it here. https://www.sandraboynton.com/sboynton/hippobirdiecards.html

Anyway, yesterday was the most lovely birthday! It was our big welcome back event for our ESD so I was able to see many of the coworkers I only talk to by phone most of the school year.

My “partner in crime” and long-time friend brought me fabric for my birthday (in a crazy cat lady bag… she knows me well) and my sweet daughter surprised me with flowers and balloons in a Google training class.

We couldn’t all go to dinner last night so we’re going tonight instead so my darling husband made us chicken wings and we started catching up on our Marvel movies. We’ve watched a few here and there but missed many of them. Last night, we watched Thor which was good fun!

Today, my oldest is coming over to quilt so this is all adding up to a lovely birthday week!

On the quilting front, we’ve had another quilt finish the quilting stage and it’s ready to bind.

Isn’t it wonderful? I really need to make one of these myself!

We’ve also started on the wonky stats.

Look at these beautiful things…

Sew much fun! In addition, Sarah started machine quilting her sample from when she was 11. There’s hope for every UFO!

Happy quilting!

Beth

More finishes!

We had two finishes at class tonight! Michelle finished her quilt…. isn’t it great?

And Jennifer finished hers! I just love these!

Turns out, wavy lines weren’t as easy as squiggles (lesson learned… thanks for testing my theory and being a good sport, Jennifer!)

The news from the unquilty part of my life is that my mom is in town and we met up with Sarah for a Paris exhibit this morning.

I’m pretty sure we found a missing ancestor (or relative) in a painting…

Just a tad similar… don’t you think?

I also took this cute picture of my mom

I’m having such a nice time with mom. She’s having a bit more headache trouble again but we’re heading out to see Oregon’s only Frank Loyd Wright house tomorrow. One of the great benefits of having company is making time to see the sights in your own back yard.

I’m planning to write up a class outline and share it if anyone is interested in doing their own class. I’m loving this #makeaquilter class. It’s sew much fun!

Happy quilting!

Beth

Another Classy Finish!

My friend Kathie really loves Halloween fabric and decided to do her quilt with a whole bunch of strips she had already cut. Isn’t this great? (Now I want to make one in Christmas prints!)

Michelle finished the quilting on hers and now it just needs a binding!

Isn’t that wonderful? I can’t believe how fast everyone is progressing. I really thought the machine quilting would take longer. (These were quilted on my standard domestic machines, by the way. ) Our class is going to tackle wonky stars next although I also thought it might be fun to do the Fat Quarter Shop’s Beginner Sew Along with my group. Since I have about 4,976 fat quarters, I could certainly share a few, right? If you know someone who wants to learn and you’re feeling shy about “teaching” someone, why not offer to mentor them through this course? Even with the video tutorials, some people would love the company and the extra support from a more experienced quilter friend. It’s just sew much more fun with friends!

My mom is visiting so I’ve got lots of fun things coming up. Oregon decided to turn up the heat this week and already I’m done with that nonsense! I took this picture at work yesterday… to remind myself that fall is just around the corner!

Happy quilting!

Beth

Classy News

I’m so excited to see how my little class is progressing. We had our first finish this week!

Not only is Jodi’s quilt lovely but look at that smile! We’re already discussing the next project!

Jennifer finished her wavy line quilting and is ready to bind. I did actually find that it was easier and faster for my beginners to do free motion stippling-type quilting than lines ( they always say you learn when teaching.)

Kathie finished all the quilting on her Halloween strip quilt with a lovely orange aurifil thread.

Michelle had some help from Milo but despite that managed to quilt half of her project.

And, I had a finish this week, too!

This quilt is for my youngest daughter. It’s the one with the fuzzy back and I’m not exactly pining to do that on another one! I do love that she loves it, though and I’m excited to finish it! (One UFO down, triple- digits to go.)

More fun and finishes to come!

Beth

Summer Fun….

It’s been a lovely little break from school. I have had several days when I was off from BOTH JOBS! Can you imagine the happy dance? All the way to the sewing machine!It hasn’t all been sewing, however, but some of the most fun parts were!We took our annual trip to Sister’s for the quilt show and camping. I surprised even my extroverted self when I suggested to Rob Appell that we do a quick Facebook live for the just wanna quilt group! The quilts were, as always, lovely to see. The teacher tent is my special favorite and we were lucky to catch Tula Pink and Sarah Fielke there. I may have gone totally off my diet (both fabric and other goodies) but we had such fun! I brought back a fat quarter for each student in my class. And, maybe a few more things..lol. I’m going to break my original post into two parts so I can do justice to the progress my class is making.

More to come!

Beth

Quilting with Cats

My husband and I say we’re the crazy cat couple. Until we lost Zoe recently, we were a six cat household. I must say I adore the whole kitten kaboodle of them but they don’t really help my productivity.

After all, how can you fight this much cuteness?

And recently, they’ve taken to “helping me” as I work on quilting a quilt for my youngest.

However, despite their best efforts, I’m halfway through.

It’s got the dreaded fuzzy stuff on the back which I planned to only use once but this reaction from my older one makes me think I may have to use it once more!

Ah, the allure of the fuzzy!

Linking up to The Peacock Party.

Classy things…

I’m having such fun with my little quilting class! Everyone’s moving along and making great progress. Take a look…

Everyone has finished their blocks, we have a range of sizes of quilts being made from large throw to baby.  Gizmo has faithfully worked along side us, inspecting blocks and generally making sure that we are not lacking in feline supervision.  Jennifer started machine quilting her quilt last night (organic wavy lines which are great for a beginner because, well, wavy….that’s how my straight lines come out!)  I’m so excited to see my friends getting excited about how their projects are progressing.  I’m also excited to report that two of my students have wandered into quilt shops on their own.  And one brought me a souvenir from my favorite shop in Sisters…The Stitchin’ Post!

The other’s experience was, well, not positive but I’ll tell you more about that another time.  In the meantime,  if you want to know why I’m taking time out of my super-busy, two-job, hectic, hectic, end-of-the-school-year life to teach a beginning class…well, here it is…

Just look at that smile as Jodi wraps her newly completed quilt top around her!  I love quilting and I’m loving the chance to see other people fall in love with quilting!  So, again, if you have that friend, or friends who’ve been saying, “Gee, I’d love to make a quilt…”  Take the hint and help someone get started!  You’ll have fun, your friend will have fun and your quilting industry will thank you some day.

Happy quilting!

Beth

 

 

Quilting 101 – Catching Up

These little Tuesday classes I’ve been teaching have been sew much fun!  And my friends are catching on so quickly!  Nearly everyone has the center of their quilt done.  Jennifer has borders and already pieced piano keys!

 

Kathie opted not to use random scraps but cut a whole bunch of her favorite Halloween fabrics to make her adorable quilt!  Quilts are going to be any size from baby to large throw by the time we’re done.  There’s plenty of “cat scanning” going on and supervision by furry friends just makes it more fun, right?

There something so fun about watching these quilts grow!

On the other side of life, we suffered a loss in our furbaby family.  Last Friday, our Zoe made it clear that she was in pain and, on Saturday morning, we escorted her to the base of the rainbow bridge.  She crossed over to our voices telling her how much she was loved, our hands petting her fur and our tears blurring our vision.  She was a one-of-a-kind girl who ruled the house here and I am somewhat adrift without her.  Her littermate, Griff, seems to miss her, too, although they could be a bit snippy with one another.   The pair of them are 16 this year and I’ve been saying that they’ve been bugging me about getting their driver’s licenses!  I miss our sweet girl but I’m grateful she had a peaceful goodbye.

Zoe

Zoe

We’ve also gotten a new roof this week (now that puts a hole in the budget!)  No more toys for this girl for a while!  In addition, we found out that there was frame damage to Hank (my husband’s truck) when he was rear-ended and Hank is going to be totaled.  Which means we also need to find a new truck.  Thankfully, we have enough cars to be able to wait a bit for the right one to come along.  On the plus side of all these unexpected expenses…I have enough fabric to see me through!

And, speaking of fabric, I made a quick run to quilt guild to drop off my membership (and peruse the free table) and was able to put a face to the wonderful Sally over at The Objects of Design.  If you aren’t reading her blog…you should.  She’s quite talented and has a terrific way with words.  (She’s a cat person which is always a win in my book.)

Well, it’s off to bed with me.  We are in the final week of school with students’ last day being tomorrow.  It’s all a bit frantic and there is  so much to do that I entitled my to-do list “D Day.”  It may not be as complex as planning the invasion of Normandy…but it feels like it!

Happy quilting!

Beth

 

 

Quilting 101, Part 1

Do you remember the old song, “I’d like to teach the world to quilt…”?  Well, maybe it was sing but the sentiment remains the same! As I mentioned a while back, I’m teaching a small group of friends to quilt on Tuesdays after work.  We just had our third session last night and I thought it was high time I caught you up on our progress.

Our project is a quick and easy scrappy rail fence variation with strips from my 2.5″ strip drawer.  Now, I decided I wanted to make it as easy as possible for a few friends to try out quilting and that, for me, included sharing from what I have so that they don’t have to run out and buy a bunch of stuff.  My 2.5″ strip drawer was full so that was an easy choice.  Also, 2.5″ is a nice size to work with when you are starting out.

Our first class, I gave everyone a Bonnie Hunter seam guide and one of her cute pencils and walked them through the “seam allowance test” where you sew three 1.5″ strips together and if your center strip measures an inch…presto, you’re ready to sew!  All of my people did amazing and we were able to get first blocks done that very night!

 

We are cutting our strip sets at 8.5″ inches so the second session I worked a little with each person on the basics of rotary cutting.  Lots and lots of cute blocks were emerging!

 

My friend Jodi is looking like quite the natural behind that Bernina!  I also have two of my featherweights set up on tables.  I just realized that I don’t have the photos for last night uploaded yet so I’ll get those in the next post.  I’m having so much fun with this group!  I can’t wait for you to see their finished quilts!  If there is someone in your life who has been eager to learn to quilt, why not consider a little class of your own?  You don’t have to be a teacher or an expert, just a quilter willing to share a little time, knowledge and maybe some fabric?

Till next time…happy quilting!

Beth

 

 

 

 

 

Sew Much Better!

I shared recently that I was on a mission to spruce up the sewing room. Well, I can tell you that after much paper tossing, a lot of throwing away, a near- fatal amount of dust (OK, I am exaggerating the dust but only slightly) the sewing room looks worlds better! Now, if you’re an ultra- tidy minimalist then we’re going to need to sew elsewhere but if you’re not…. well, come on in!

It’s sew much better! Tuesday, I’m kicking off a free quilting class for a few friends and can’t wait to share my space! I can also hardly wait to recover the rest of the chairs! And get the new shelves…. well, you understand, right? For now, I’m just basking in the improvement!

Happy quilting!

Beth