Well I figured now was a good time to caught up. The last time you heard from me was April 2009. This is what has been going on. A friend and I supervised a trip to Florida for 20 Seniors during Spring Break. We had a wonderful time. Destin has beaches that are white and the grains of sand reminded me of baking soda. Just lovely. We got to share a great vacation with our daughters and their friends. So glad we went. Every one of those kids will always remember Florida when the hear the song Mercy by the artist Duffy.

Then before I knew it graduation was here. Our third and youngest child was done with high school. The summer flew by and we became empty nesters, with 3 kids in college. I am always busy and they kids are doing what they need to do. Doesn't mean I don't miss them but it is how it is suppose to be. Our oldest will be graduating from college this May.

Sooo the keeping busy part. June was NQA and QSDS. I shopped at NQA and took Deborah Fell's class The Business of Art at QSDS. My Sewforever Quilt Storage Product was featured in Quilter's Newsletter the August/Sept 2009 issue. More tomorrow with pictures to follow.

Thought I better update. Last time I said I would be back hopefully in a couple of hours. Guess that didn't happen. Try a month. I really am going to try to be more current. It would help if I knew someone was going to read this. I will pretend this is a weekly diary and not worry if anyone is reading. It can be like my own personal account of what I am doing and more importantly what I am learning. Tuesday night, April 7, 2009, I took a class at The GlassThimblefrom Kathy Kaiser, Free Form Design and Piecing. Kathy helped me get over a road block I have had for a long time. When given a blank piece of paper and told to just draw something nothing comes to mind other than panic. Kathy gave us a piece of paper with 12 blank blocks, in each block we were to draw 3 lines in different arrangements. That was pretty easy, 2nd sheet, 12 blocks, draw 3 curved lines in different arrangements. Ok, 3rd sheet draw a combination of straight and curved lines. The combinations are endless. You can even use tracing paper to combine and manipulate the shapes. Before I knew it I had some interesting drawings. Here is a picture of the quilt Kathy created and the description of the class.

FREE FORM PIECING
Isn’t this quilt awesome! Join Kathy to
learn how to draw and piece your own
designs. Once you learn the technique,
the possibilities are endless!
Instructor: Kathy Kaiser
Skill Level: Advanced Beginner
Fee: $30.00
Dates: Tuesdays, 4/7 & 4/14, 6-9 pm

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Well Beth Wheeler's name at the top of my last post is there because I posted the Christmas tree quilt pictures and was going to talk about how Beth suggested to work in a series. I could not figure out how to go back and finish the entry that I started and accidentally posted instead This blogging is hard work. Is anyone even reading this. It is time away from quilting and it feels like floating out in space wondering if someone will notice. Anyway back to Beth. I made one Christmas tree at a class on decorative stitches, came home and remember a tree Sue have made at Quilt Trends, a quilt shop I use to work at. So I was in the mood, had great snowman fabric for the background, which you can't see in the picture, and had to fuse fabric to make one like Sue's. Well I had left over fuse fabric so I just kept making more. This isn't really what Beth meant when she suggested a series. I think you are suppose to branch out more. Get the Christmas tree reference. Beth's blog is always interesting www.threadsociety.com. I am going to post this and hopefully come back later to show you how far along I have gotten on the Ruth McDowell project I have been working on.

Beth Wheeler

Well, this feels weird. What to say. I can think of things all day in my head, then when I sit down it is like, what will be interesting. Somehow I need to figure out how to combine my newsletter and blog. So much tech stuff. Anyway I will tell you about the Ruth McDowell workshop held 2 weeks ago in Columbus, Ohio. Quintessential Quilters was lucky enough to schedule Ruth before she reduced her traveling teaching schedule to a minimum. I had my doubts about signing up, a 4 day workshop, another project barely finished. The fact that this was her last tour through Columbus and the recommendation of students who had taken her class, some who were taking it again because they enjoyed it so much the first time. Well I am so glad I did take the class. Ruth is as enjoyable as everyone said. She has written 10 books, taught for years and created amazing works of art. www.ruthmcdowell.com Ruth has a unique way to create pieced works. Do you know how you have things in your head but no idea how to get them to fabric? Well Ruth opens doors that will enable you to create a pieced work you didn't think was possible. Check out her Piece Workshop and Design Workshop books for the methods. Most people worked on a landscape, plant or pet. I want to recreate a house into a piece quilt. Between Ruth's methods and some of my own methods I am well on the way. See pictures above. I would prefer the pictures at the end but I don't know how to make that happen.

Remember today is a great day to organize and store your quilts safely. Go to www.sewforever.com for your best storage solutions.

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