A little behind.....

IMPALA

SEA WAVE

I've fallen a little behind on blogging the past couple of weeks.
Family life has just been filled with lots of big activities...
The most precious event was my little grandson's graduation from Nursery School.

On our final day in Colorado our group went to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum. We shared the day with our hostess Dawn Ronningen, Shona Halberstadt and Terry Pryke (who traveled all the way from South Africa)

The exhibit was:

I don't want to spoil the exhibit for those planning to attend, so for now I will just share 2 of my many favorite quilts. The first one was by Kay Haerland of New South Wales titled: A Different View

The detail in this quilt was truly amazing! 3 dimensional layering of fabric and embellishments made this so lifelike and drew you in for a closer look.

There were several fabulous hexagon quilts!
This one was the simplest in design, yet I loved this interpretation of the traditional Mosaic Diamond pattern.

Especially how the large floral prints were showcased in the center of some of the hexagon diamonds.

It was such a wonderful exhibit with many more beautiful and inspiring quilts!

The entire trip to Colorado was Awesome! I've taken away SO many fond memories of wonderful places and special friends.

every quilt tells a story....

Farmer's Wife revisited....

ANN - her friends called her Little Irish Annie.

She wrote about being born ugly and growing up plain and homely.
Despite this she grew up happy and married well by being endowed with a good sense of humor and common sense.
I chose a conversation print with happy little frogs for this block. It's far from perfect, but I am happy with it just the same. (grin)

NAN - she lost her son at age 16.
"Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted".

I changed the cross a bit and chose a shirting fabric with blue stars to represent the heavens. I am dedicating this block to my younger brother Daniel who passed away suddenly a year ago. He was a kind, charitable, loving man and is greatly missed by all that were blessed to have known him.

It's been a while since I've worked on blocks for my Farmer's Wife 1930's quilt. Honestly, I didn't like the rushed feeling of making 8 blocks each month.
I'd rather savor the stories and stitch each block with more purposeful sentiment.
After all, it isn't a race - but a journey to enjoy.

every quilt tells a story....

A Good Start

SWAN

GREETING CARD

Above are the first 2 Dutch Treat blocks I've completed for June.

DAY TWO of my Colorado trip:
I traveled to CO from VA with a group of very special friends.
We had such a GREAT time together! Day 2 was all about site seeing.
(the girls are forming the letter M as seen on the mountain top behind them)

We took a trip to Garden of the Gods state park.

And we stopped at a quilt shop called the Golden Quilt Company.
I purchased a few half yards of shot cotton fabrics to make a Fall quilt.

So what do a bunch of creative quilting friends do after a long day of activities?
We kick off our shoes, gather together and stitch for the evening.

Such a happy way to end a good day!

every quilt tells a story....

Farewell to May and a few more Shares

I can't believe it's June 1st already!
The Sunflower was chosen as the June block for the Shenandoah Valley Botanical Sew Along... found HERE. Above is my Red & Taupe version.

Also completed in May were a few more of my Dutch Treat blocks.

AFTERNOON - Day One of Colorado trip at Dawn's House

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting one of my favorite BLOGGER Friends!
Kyle Redente of Timeless Reflections drove to Dawn's house to meet everyone.
She is as lovely in person as reflected in her blog posts! She was such a joy to meet and to be with! I hope we will meet again some day!

Kyle is also an extremely talented Quilter!

This is Kyle's version of the "Noah & Matilda", Baltimore Album quilt.
The quilt top is gorgeous and her applique' work is stunning!

Kyle also brought her completed Yellow & White version of the Big Leap quilt. (from the sew along I hosted a few months ago) What a treat to see this finished quilt. It looks even more beautiful in person!

Dawn provided us all with an amazing quilt study lecture with emphasis on Hexagon quilts that she shared from her personal collection. All of the quilts were stunning beauties and covered an age range that spanned more than 2 centuries.

Dawn also provided us all with hand inked signature squares to fill out and swap.

I even received one from Kyle. (grin)

How very thoughtful of Dawn to create these beautiful Signature square stampings for our group to exchange. What a fabulous souvenir and memento to take away from this very special day we all shared! I'm already contemplating ideas for making my Colorado Signature Quilt. Thank You Dawn!

wishing you all a Wonderfully Creative start to June!