National Quilting Day

It was a gloriously warm and sunny day as I drove off to participate in the Milford Valley Quilter's National Quilting Day. It is the first time I've ever gone to a planned event for Quilt Day. (shoot, is it Quilt Day,

Quilting Day, Quilter's Day??? does it matter, really? NOPE.) I arrived about 15

minutes late due to 1) not being able to find my sewing kit and 2) it was farther away than I thought and Map Quest gave ridiculous directions!

We all were given a kit and then made these cute little muffin pin cushions. I was going to use some of my own ribbon to put on it.

Jackie was there with goodies from A Stitch in Time.

I decided I had to have a new book about something that was mentioned in the last post.... but I won't tell you here and give it away. And, I got a charm pack of a Moda fabric line I like. I'm hoping I can make some nice pillow cases to go with the quilt in one of the guest rooms out of some of it. That is unless I can find the left overs from the quilt which is somewhere in the studio but isn't jumping up and shouting -- here I am!

We had a lovely lunch and an assortment of home made goodies for dessert. During much of the day there were drawings for door prizes. And, yours truly won a nice prize. A panda fabric panel with two go-with fabrics. There were some instructions but I'm sure I'll do a little bit more involved quilt of some sort with it.

After lunch there was a wonderful show and tell. I will be posting some photos from that over the next few days. The drive home was beautiful as I followed my table mates out and it was much faster getting to the freeway. And, the temperatures were in the low 70's. Lovely. We still had about a foot of snow on the garden -- mostly because of the snow blower.

Here's what I've been working on:

Plaza del Sol -- is quilted and the first side of the binding is sewn on.

Knitting project is done and needs to be washed.

Heidi's backing and top has been ironed and is ready to be loaded on Ruthie.

Late this afternoon I pulled out an old 4th of July quilt project. It is ready to be machine buttonhole stitched. I thought if I got going on it again there would be a good chance it will be done by late June in order to hang it.

The last thing I've been working on is gathering up all the little left over pieces of batting I have hanging around. One of the gals in the Milford Valley Guild makes pillows for cats (I assume cats in a shelter.) So I will be giving her a huge bag of this. Ah, the feeling of throwing something away with NONE of the guilt.

The weather has changed -- mid 50's and lots of rain. But Pat found daffodil leaves poking out of the ground -- some through the snow even. Yeah. We should have a beautiful display of yellow in a few weeks. (Phew, that means the critters didn't eat the bulbs.)

Hope you have had a quilty day. Happy quilting.

A Day Out

Pat and I decided to go out today.  We drove to Wilkes Barrie (which is farther than our normal shopping area.) I was searching for a Bed, Bath and Beyond because I wanted to buy some more reed diffusers. Have you tried them yet?  I have one that is made by Yankee Candle.  Used it for more than 8 months and it still smells great.  I bought another brand to put in our walk in closet and after a month or two I can't even smell it.  Anyway I bought two more of the Yankee Candle variety.  I'm taking the lilac one to the studio and haven't decided where to put the other.  Maybe the closet.  

We also visited Staples to have a pattern printed at 200%.  I'll share more info about this possible quilt once I decide if I can make it or not.  Last thing I picked up was a cable to connect my mp3 to my mini speakers.  I used the one that came with the speakers in my car.  How cool is it to hook up my mp3 directly to the car?? Very cool.  With the new cable I can also hook it up to my speakers and listen to audio books from Net Library.  (hey, maybe I'll finish the book I started 2 months ago.) 

Then we had a great burrito somewhere... I can't remember the restaurant's name.  Did a bit more shopping before we went to a movie. If I haven't mentioned it I was a school librarian for 15 years or so.  And, I love kid's books.  Don't read them as much as I did but wanted to see The Tale of Despereaux, the movie adaption of Kate DeCamillo's Newbury award winning book.  It was a nice picture.  Come on, how exciting could it be with a G rating!  But we both enjoyed it and got a few laughs.  The book is great for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders, especially as a read aloud.  Pat's a trooper to go these shows with me.  

I've got a finish to share but no photos until tomorrow.  I completed the sweatshirt and it turned out great.  I was happy to use some buttons from my button collection.  I'm also stitching down the binding on a lap quilt.  

Today's photo is from the town of Milford, Pa.  We visited this summer and had to get a picture of the trash can with the quilt design.  Pretty cool.