Full Circle

I have now come full circle! I have gone back to my roots if you will.
While I was away in London, an email popped into my box announcing space still available for a New York Beauties class at Lady Sew and Sew in Henley. As I had just landed and a little bleary eyed I skipped over the email until massive amounts of coffee and naps had occurred. Not my typical class - love the block but curves - I have plenty of my own and have a fear of them in blocks. However, Dawn Cameron-Dick was the teacher. I called, registered for the class and then promptly announced that I had no supplies having just gotten off a plane - come early - so they could fix me up! I did.
So why the interest? Why drop into a class on vacation without supplies? Simple - Dawn. She was my very first quilt teacher all those years ago in Brussels. She taught me to quilt when I really wanted to learn to knit and have been grateful ever since. Her words still swirl in my head as I sew, and as I teach. Totally thankful to be able to tell her in person all that she has meant to me and my craft.
It was a huge surprise for her and such a fun day. Tons of giggles and catching up. The other ladies in the class where very gracious about our catch up too - big thank you to them.
If you are ever in Henley - pop in - Lady Sew and Sew has an amazing collection of fabrics with way cool fabric lines from the Isles and Europe! Plus you never know who is teaching that day!!



Oh yea - and the curve piecing is awesome!! Fun even! Dawn has an amazing method that makes it easy! Bring on more blocks!! Who is with me?!

One year!!

So one year ago I moved from one side of the Atlantic to the other.
Home! After many, many, many years and countries later.

It has had many ups and downs as most have. But let's talk about the ups!

Since hitting the shore line I have been crazy busy with this awesome quilty world!
I have hit Houston, Hershey, New Jersey Quilt Festival, Flights and Fantasies shows! I have hit every shop I could find and was open between McLean and Cambridge. I have attended classes with both Victoria, Lizzie, Kate, Kaffe, Brandon and Liza.

I have worked with the amazing Jennifer Paganelli with her latest and greatest (yes each one is the greatest) fabric lines!

And of course my fantastic local quilt shop - Christie's Quilting Boutique. Where I get to play and share and play some more. (and fold and pet fabrics!)

Not to mention all the new friends along the way - Julie, Terrie, Toni, all the ladies at Southern Connecticut Quilt Guild and of course all my friends from the quilt shop!!
Reconnecting with old quilty friends - Trudi and Susan - nothing better!! I am very blessed!

The journey so far has been non-stop and more than I could have asked for!
So happy to have landed back on these shores - here - right here!!
Game on!!

Been Quilin' . . .

and bout to resurface.
What a ride and a crazy month - promise to catch you up soon!
Best couple of weeks - sharing soon!!

Today is the day!!

The latest name of one of my quilts!! Means sooooo many things but here are 2 of them!
One - I finally decided to make a quilt that I had hiding in my quilt papers from sometime in 2005/6/7! And two - it is a line from one of my favorite movies - The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel!

This quilt has been made through the kindness of the Southern Connecticut Modern Quilt Guild, Denyse Schmidt, Terrie and Jennifer (members of my guild). SCMQG and Denyse threw down the challenge of making a quilt based on her patterns using her new Hadley fabrics - now available! Didn't make the first round of the challenge - limited number of bundles but through Terrie and Jennifer sharing their extras - game on!!

I created it Denyse style - using bags to put the strips in and them pulling them out blind. I really tried not to edit tooooo much but I kept pulling out the same color/print strip as I went along.
Love this quilt!!!

I let the quilt do the talking in terms of the quilting - never again - it wanted soooooo much! But I kept going and going and tying strings. Very pleased with it now but wow it was a lot.

Now it is to hang in Christie's shop for a special preview night with Denyse on the 11th (next week!)
Then it is going to hang in my house! Woo hoo!

Huge thank you to SCMQG and Denyse and Terrie and Jennifer for letting me play!!
Loved every minute of it! Even when tying off all those strings!

Over the moon!!

OMG!
A very sweet lady traveling from Massachusetts popped into Christie's Quilting Boutique while I was there. She came in to grab a Row by Row pattern and kit.
Jennifer Paganelli happened to visiting as it is "I Love Fabric Day" (and yes this is a national holiday at least in every quilt shop!!) Not only did she purchase the last Miss Connecticut 2014 kits but she asked Jennifer to sign her pattern and then she asked me too!! I was asked for an autograph!!
Sitting her still tickled pink!!

Almost done -

Almost done if you count getting to the quilting stage almost.
Sadly you will have to wait to see it - it will go public soon but I promised to keep it a secret until later.
I have had all the fun to playing with Denyse Schmidt's new fabric line Hadley along side my fellow quilters from the Southern Connecticut Modern Quilt Guild. Through the generosity of players I got leftovers!! (my secret favorite kind) A little of this solid and a few of that and I have a quilt top! Now basted and heavy with pins.
And quilt . . .

Here is a teaser of how I put it together - I tried really, really hard not to edit but just pull. But I will fess up to a few edits - not many but a few. Had a habit of pulling the fabric I just used in a different size strip.

Ready to make another quilt this way - kept the bags just in case!

Guess what I got!!!!!

Any guesses? Those that would guess a handbag - might not be wrong except this time -  nope.
Not a sweater either - another favorite purchase and clearly it is not Lululemon.
Anyone?

I will give you a hint - a went to visit one of my favorite fabric designers!! Jennifer Paganelli if Sis Boom.

OK tooooo excited -

Good Company!! Time to play!! Wooo hooo!!!

Best Quilty Trip . . .

ever!!! Or at least in a long time! A whole quilty trip and just quilts!

I found myself childless on the weekend of a quilt show - two words - ROAD TRIP!!!
I headed off to Hershey, Pa. to Quilt Odyssey 2014. Never been to Hershey ever, not even as a child on a field trip with school. (I grew up outside of Philadelphia).
Off I went - nothing better than a quilty road trip! I enjoyed the show - lots of great older Americana quilts from the region. Gorgeous award winners - far too many photos to share I am afraid. Loved every inspiring minute. It was a bit crowded but then again it was Saturday and it was to be expected. No issues - I can wait my turn to see and photo a quilt.
Fantastic merchants mall too - loads of familiar shops and many new ones too. And yes a few new treasures and threads jumped in my bag!
Once numb and overwhelmed with ideas swirling, I headed back east on the slow road stopping at Bird-in-Hand and Intercourse. I have always wanted to stop here since I started quilting but it was either a husband thing or 2 small boy things. Either way - nope. That day - just me and I stopped at each and every shop I could find! And I certainly never get tired if having to slow down for the Amish horse and buggies! They just make my heart sing!
Side note here - having grown up relatively nearby and spending a few days a year with elder aunties driving through the Amish Country the one thing I noticed was color. When I was little the ladies were in dark colors always - even summer. Not this time - bright solids were everywhere on the ladies and the young boys. And the clothes lines - love!
I am going to share my favorite photo of the day - a couple of young girls and boys getting water ice from Rita's. Just love it!!

One challenge down, one to go!

Presenting Pixie Sticks!!
This was a challenge by the Modern Quilt Guild. The challenge was to use the fun Michael Miller prints any way, any how as long as it was incorporated into your design. It has now been uploaded to the Guild site. I used Karen Griska's design to make them! (BOM for the Empire Guild - lucky guild members!!) Thank you Karen!!
Loving it - just need to decided where to hang it . . .

Onto the next challenge - the Denyse Hadley challenge!

I am totally loving being a member of the Southern Connecticut Modern Guild!! Who have kindly let me play and challenge me too!

Sunday Funday!

Yesterday was the sew-a-long with Kate Spain feature her new line Solstice for Christmas. Christie hosted the day at her shop.
Kate brought quilts to see and explained her design process. Wow! Very exciting - there just might be another class to come out of that! The Christie let us loose on the fabric strips for our stocking project. A little designing, a little dewing, a little (or a lot) of quilting, cutting and voila! New stockings! We even got personalized/signed goodie bags - bet we can make another one! Best part - finished project!
Such a fun afternoon - cannot wait to play again!

 

It was inevitable that Kate realized we were meant to be BFF's! Thank you for playing along!

Sooooo Proud!!

And excited!! The original set of Miss Connecticut kits SOLD OUT!!!
Woo hoo!!!
And Christie, Karina and I have just cut, counted and packaged more!
So happy my quilt is loved! I had so much fun making it and now sharing it.
Thank you!!

Oh my what a week!

So . . . . this has been quite the week!
Starting with playing at Christie's Quilting Boutique last Saturday where both Jennifer Paganelli and Kate Spain were playing too.
Then after many miles and hours in a car I got to see Jinny Beyer at her Quilt Studio! (O.K. she did not see me but if she had we know we would be BFF's!) I chose not to bombard her with praise at that time - she was working, sadly not of the sewing kind.
And then today . . . as I popped in to see Christie - Denyse Schmidt popped in to see her!!
So feeling the celebrity mojo washing over me -
I am off to sew . . . .

Happy Anniversary!!

Christie's Quilting Boutique is 6 months old!!
Congratulations on an awesome star studded day!
My new BFF Kate Spain was there as was another of my BFF's Jennifer Paganelli and of course my best BFF Christie!
Saw lots of faces I knew - it was nice to be known (throwing in an expat reference here!)
Best day! I even got to help cut fabrics - what could be better than that? Oh maybe talking about quilty stuff with quilty friends all day!

Tiaras at 10!

Today was class #1 of 2 for Miss Connecticut.
3 lovely ladies arrived at Christie's Quilting Boutique with their kits in hand ready to go!
We played for 2 hours throwing squares up on a design wall and the design table top.
And of course you cannot be a Beauty Queen without a tiara  . . .

A little bit of homework and next class we sew!! Tiaras and all because isn't everything better with a pink tiara?!

Where are my manners . . .

I totally forgot to tell you who I am?
I am mama to 2 boys who have flown the nest - luckily not too far away. I am a pink slipped trailing spouse who has had the pleasure of quilting all the way around the world. Always in search of quilters, fabrics and everything in between.
I learned to quilt in Brussels of all places by the amazing Dawn Cameron Dick. And thus the addiction began. To find local fabrics, local quilt shops and of course quilters! I went through several countries without success. Have no fear though, home leave always supplied trips to the quilt shops up and down the east coast - yielding all kinds of treasures. Needless to say I always hit my weight allowance upon returning home - fabric is heavy!!
And then I hit Malaysia where it just exploded! Fabric and friends! Woo hoo! I joined the MANZA quilt group and never looked back. From there it was on to IWP quilters and then my last stop never quite got around to joining or even starting a group but hey ho - can't always do it all. But of course I still quilted.
And now I am home back in the US of A. It has been a 20+ something ride so far and I am always amazed at how far this quilty world has come - cannot wait to see what is next?! After all, as I learned way back in Brussels - all the world is a quilt block - just a matter of how you look at it. And it always looks better in fabric!

Thanks Judy!

Big props to Judy Irish again for her Machine Quilting Class! Of course I rushed home and quilted this little quilt 10 days later - was my plan to quilt it the next day - keeping up with that whole concept of practicing every day - oops!
But it is now just ready for binding which is already cut and waiting to get put on - it could be days till that get's done so thought I would throw it up now.
Now of course this was a UFO from my Portugal days - that would be 2 countries ago but who is keeping track? I paper pieced this little baby while I waited to pick up my babies from school (they were at least 12 and 9 then). Got it sandwiched and ready to quilt and then put it away - I had not gotten my Aurora baby yet and just was not sure how to finish it. And so it sat and got moved, twice. And then I met Judy . . . done!!

Oh and no BSR! So proud!

Good, not great but again not bad!

I am sure there are more tops around here to practice on!

Quilt Class!

Saturday saw me trudging into NYC to go to City Quilter for a Machine Quilting Class with Judy Irish!
What a fantastic class!
I got off on a great start being 90 minutes late to class (the train was way late - problems on the tracks - oh and I left early). Sorry again for that -
What an amazing quilter and teacher - the rest of the morning flew by followed just as quickly by the afternoon. Suddenly it was 5pm and time to pack up my toys. Not to mention settle up for my new toys.
We quilted our sandwiches all afternoon. We were all very talented by the end of class.
Here are my efforts for the day - kinda a When Judy Met Jenny combo of styles - but I was thrilled with my stitches - and for the record - no BSR. Yes I will practice more without that wonderful foot!

Love my carp!!

Miss Connecticut 2014

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you to Jennifer Paganelli of Sis Boom!
She let me play almost first with her Beauty Queen fabrics.
I created Miss CT - designed it, sewed it, quilted it, wrote it and now it is being sold as a kit!
My excitement level is off the charts!
It is being sold at Christie's Quilting Boutique in Norwalk, CT.
Christie, Karina and I had a long night cutting the bolts as they arrived to put the kits together - long but really fun!

Woo Hoo!

Let me repeat - Woo Hoo!
What a 24 hours!
Beauty Queen fabric line by Sis Boom's Jennifer Paganelli has just arrived in stores. Or more specifically my local quilt shop - Christie's Quilting Boutique!!


And of course there is more to this story -

Road Trip!

Friday saw a Field Trip to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston!
What could be better than that!

My partner in crime and I headed to see their Quilts and Color Exhibit. Fantastic! An amazing collection of older quilts from the Pilgrim / Roy Collection. We even got the privilege of hearing the curator Gerald Roy speak about the collection - a huge unexpected treat!

If you are in the Boston area, or up for a Road Trip - go, enjoy!

P.S. The quilt snippet in the photo was my favorite!