More Fabric Bowls

Here is a photo of the bowls I made on Friday. I still need to embellish them with beads so that I can give them as Christmas gifts. Now that they are made I need to get back to piecing more of the Stashbusters String Quilt so I can use up my stash! That will be January's project!

Hot Apple Cider recipe

Had a great time at Hole in the Closet class all day Friday at Quilts and Calicos. For all of those who would like my secret recipe for hot apple cider, here it is. I also thought of after the fact, that if I put all the spices into cheesecloth and tied that up with cotton string that would be a great way to keep all the "debris" together and out of our mugs. (right Nancy?)

1 jug of PC apple cider

2-3 cinnamon sticks

2 nutmeg balls

a pinch of ground nutmeg

a pinch of cloves

Heat it up and serve.

Jim Shore quilting figurines

I love the Santa figurines that Jim Shore makes. He has many different figurines such as snowmen, cats and angels or different themes like Hallowe'en, Easter and Christmas and they all have some sort of quilt block design on them. I try to get a new Santa each year to decorate my house. I have found a cute little sewing machine that I think will be my next purchase!

Here is a link to all his products- Jim Shore

And here is a link to many cute desk top images for your computer, all of them for free to download- images. I think I will use the snowman for winter!

Underground Railroad Quilts

A while back I stopped by the Lucan Museum to have a look at their quilt display. Only a few were quite old and many were made over the past 50 years. Here are some photos of the ones they had as part of their Underground Railroad quilts.

Batik fabric from Mexico

I have been really busy catching up after getting back from Mexico on a family vacation. Haven't been away like that since our honeymoon. Yikes that makes me feel old! One of our day trips while on vacation was to a Mayan ruin. I was too chicken to climb up to the top- I only made it a few steps. Dan went all the way to the top and back down again. His legs were like jello he said. Moments after climbing the Coba ruin our tour bus was about to leave. I spotted a vendor selling hand dyed batik panels so Dan offered to RUN down the street and get me one. Poor guy, after climbing all those steps I then made him run. What a sweetie.

Make a Wish Fund Raiser

MAKE A WISH-Blue Night Reception and Golf Classic

4th Annual Blue Night Reception took place the evening of July 22nd at Sunningdale Golf and Country Club. They had an auction that evening to raise money for Make a Wish and Mary Anne P. pieced a quilt to donate and kindly asked me to do the machine quilting. She just heard back from the coordinator and the quilt raised $285 which is fantastic!

Elisabeth is teaching kids in Africa to quilt

Had another e mail today letting me know that Elisabeth from the Mzansi Zulu Quilt Centre is teaching children a learn to quilt class. Their ages range from 8-13. Here is one of the students and her name is Khetthwe Shezi. I love the photo of Khetthwe kneeling on a chair while long arm quilting!

Funny Machine Quilting Comic

Helen, a fellow longarm quilter sent me this cartoon today. Made me laugh!

FABRIC BOWLS

Today I took a fantastic class taught by Heather Stewart at Quilts and Calicos.

We all made fabric bowls of different sizes, colours and fabrics. They work up so quickly and are so much fun, not to mention beautiful. EVERYONE will be getting these as gifts for the next few years, or until I use up my stash. Here are some photos.

Heather even suggested we embellish them with trims and beads so I came right home after class to embellish my brown and green bowl. I just love it.

Vacation in NY State Parks and Vermont

Last week we had a family vacation camping in the Fingerlakes Region and Adirondack Region of New York State and then on to Lake Champlain in Vermont. Tried to find a quilt shop but did not see one.

In Vermont on Grand Isle we visited Hyde Log Cabin which is believed to be the oldest log cabin in the US- built in 1783. Inside we saw some amazing antiques and they had a quilt on one of the beds. Many of the antiques were donated so I can't say it belonged to the Hyde family but it sure was interesting to see the fabrics used.

Also while driving in NY we decided to stop at Almanzo Wilder's homestead. Alex is a HUGE Little House on the Prairie fan so this was the hi-light of her trip (and seeing Jimmie Johnson at the NASCAR race) They would not let me take photos in the house so no quilt pictures but we could take photos in the barn and this is a needlepoint sample made with some wool that they would have had from their sheep. I thought it looked like a quilt too.

Despite the rain and bugs we had a great time away!

More ribbons won at the Royal Show in South Africa

Once again the quilts entered by the Mzansi Zulu Quilt Centre won ribbons at the Royal Show. It is the biggest show in the State and it lasts 10 days.

In the Outreach class Lungile won 1st place. Rose Ndelela won 2nd place. and N Ncobese won 3rd place. Other winners include Lungile again for 2 more quilts, S Nene, B Skakhane, M Mbanjwa for 2 quilts and Rose Ndelela. In the Junior class, Lungile's daughter Nosipho won 1st place. Nosipho sold that winning quilt and has orders for a few more. Nosipho's 12 year old cousin (not sure of his name) also sold his first quilt. Elisabeth who runs the Mzansi Centre also won 1st place in the Traditional Class, 3rd place in traditional Small Class and 1st place in Innovative Class.

Here is a photo of their vendor booth at the Royal Show.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Update from Africa

Had a quick e mail today as our phone call yesterday was so short and hard to hear because of the poor connection. Here is what Elisabeth wrote:

"The Mzansi Centre is going well and we have two booths booked for the Provincial Garden show and the Hilton Art show next month. The finished quilts are coming in and we sell about one a day at the centre."

Frequently Elisabeth and the quilters rent a booth at local craft shows to sell their quilts. They do quite well at these venues! It's great to hear that they are selling about one quilt per day at the centre which is great income for the many quilters!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUNGILE !!

Just got off the phone with Lungile in Africa. Today is her birthday. I wished her well and to have a good day. She said she had a birthday party on Saturday last week and Elisabeth cooked her "good German food"

She said that they were still busy quilting at the centre. I also congratulated her for winning a quilting ribbon at the Winter Fair.

It was a quick phone call as the connection was terrible, but it was so nice to hear her voice.

Memories Manor Quilt Retreat Weekend

What a fantastic weekend. Rosemary, Cathryn, Nancy and I all relaxed in St. Clair, MI. We were pampered at Memories Manor which is a scrapbooking bed and breakfast. Rosemary has been there before scrapbooking and inquired if quilters were permitted and Jan and Deanna welcomed us with open arms. In my opinion the best service they offer is taking your luggage and quilting supplies in from your car upon arrival. I think we all know what kind of a klutz I was carrying my supplies last retreat!

We ate, relaxed, had massages, overlooked the river, laughed uncontrollably, ate some more and even got some quilting accomplished. We were even treated to a tour of the Manor complete with historical references. This home is amazing!

Everyone had a fantastic time! Thanks again to all the sisters at Memories Manor!

Church Fundraiser Quilt

WOW, it's been a while since I posted as I have been so busy quilting, quilting, quilting.

Just to update you on the scrap quilt I pieced on Earth Day. I finished it and donated it to our church for their annual Strawberry Supper auction. It raised $100 for St. George's and it even had a small strip of strawberry fabric.