Orange Scrappiness

Bonnie K. Hunter did this mystery quilt last spring. I wanted to make a scrap quilt and I love the color orange, it was a no brainer! I had to join the fun! My husband had major surgery during that time so I would cut fabric while we talked or watched movies and while he would sleep I would head to my sewing room to stitch!
Bless Marita Wallace for quilting so beautifully! She did an all over leaves and feathers pattern.

May Day!

Happy May Day!
This is a special day for my Mom and I. When I was very little, five or six, my teacher showed us how to make a May Day basket. She told us to fill it with flowers, leave it on the doorstep, ring the doorbell and hide. When the person answered the door, you jumped out and yelled,"Happy May Day!" So I did. I guess my Mom didn't understand the whole May Day thing, because she was not happy that I was hiding after ringing the doorbell. Something about doorbell ditch? I came out of hiding crying and sniffling, pointing to the flowers and doing my best to explain. Once she understood we tried it again and it was nice. Now each May Day we honor eat other with some kind of floral gift. This year I made a small quilt with paper pieced flowers. It was awesome! She (and my Dad) never saw it coming, BIG surprise, early in the morning. Yeah, it made my whole day to see her smile.

walks and dogs

I have three dogs that make my world a better place. All three are quite companionable and we are mostly always together. My husband calls them the "puppy parade." We live in an area that still has wide open spaces, so the pups and I often go for walks. The dog in the upper right is Olive, the white dog is Evy, and the black dog is Sister. They behave well enough to be off leash, so they explore and meander sometimes together, sometimes alone. I love watching them. I often wonder what kind of picture we present on our walks... a woman in work boots and denim following (or leading, depending if we are heading out or coming in) three dogs. Are we a friendly sight or do other hikers hesitate when seeing us? Whenever we see another soul I call them back and leash up, we are considerate of others, but I still wonder what kind of picture we present.

First Day Back ...

As an educator, with a veerrry interesting job, it is often difficult to predict the first day back from vacation. Sometimes it's good to just jump right in and go full steam ahead. Other times a more laid back approach is in order. I made plans for both, but with the heat and spring ... I should have made a bet that the later plan would be the only one needed. We, er ,they wrote in their journals and then we made this stained glass quilt. This activity was a twofer, it gave the students something to do while talking and catching up and created a visual barrier. (It's spring, remember?) You can see that it isn't completed yet, but we should have it done by tomorrow. In the meantime, I can look at a beautiful stained glass quilt and smile :o)

Blogger's Quilt Show

First, a confession .... I opened this account so I could participate in the Blogger's Spring Quilt Show! Whew! With that off my chest I can tell my quilt's story.

I love the movement of the "Storm at Sea" pattern and have wanted to make one for several years. I was able to take a class at Quilter's Paradise from Wendy Mathson, author of A New Light on Storm at Sea. To my astonishment I was able to create my quilt Chicken of the Sea. I was able to connect two things I enjoy, quilting and chickens. I love this little quilt and it brings me great joy! I have since made several others and enjoyed each moment in their creation.