Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Good Tidings of Great Joy

Happy day after Christmas everyone!  I hope and pray that each of you had a wonderful Christmas holiday season and that your days were filled with family, friends, and of course our Lord Jesus Christ!  Without Him there is no CHRISTmas.

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Snowy Days Give Way to Mystery Sewing

What a blustery, cold, snowy, week this has been.  With Christmas parties, gatherings, and events in full swing, I had taken a week of vacation this week from the hospital to prepare and rest.  Well...the snow changed those plans.

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Of Mysteries and Christmas Decorations

Hey there everyone.  It's been a blustery, cold day here in Cruso.  Perfect for Christmas decorations and some mystery quilt sewing. 

Saturday, March 24, 2018

Quiltfest 2018--Day 5

Good morning on this rainy Saturday morning. What a rollercoaster of as weather week this has been. Sunny and warm to thunderstorms to snow. Now back to rain. Tis spring in the South though.

Today I'm off to breakfast then to the show for the final day of Quiltfest 2018.  Right now I'm helping Jackie get set up for her last class. It's a mostly hand stitching class but does have a small machine component and I'm loaning my machine to her for the day.

Yesterday, Carmen, Amy, and I spent the day with Patti Carey of Northcott Fabrics in Bindings, Borders, and more. What a great class and some great techniques we learned for flange borders, stacked borders, miters, and machine bindings. I've got several quilts to apply these to!

Show and tell was a blast last night. Although I didn't win anything last night, we all had a great time. I want to specially thank all of the vendors and sponsors of A Mountain Quiltfest for coming, making this great show possible, and for the awesome prizes they donated.  Let me tell you, it's not often you have the chance to win as much as you do during show and tell at Quiltfest! A complete Martelli cutting table set, Husqvarna Viking machines, even a Juki sit down long arm. Not to mention $1,000 in gift certificates to Tennessee Quilts, $250 in Batiks from Northcott, and so many kits, patterns, fabrics, and more that I can't even remember.

I've picked up several great things this week, fabric, patterns, and a notion or two. I've got a few things I'm gonna look for today, or should I say look at again, lol.

Amy and Carmen always get a matching shirt each year. This year, we've all gotten matching shirts, and we're wearing them today. A good way to end Quiltfest.

With that, I've got to get My machine set up for Jackie and then I'm off to breakfast. It's Saturday, are you sewing? Take that machine out, if necessary dust it off, and get sewing, even if it's just a few minutes, a few seams!

Until next time, quilt on!

Friday, March 23, 2018

Quiltfest 2018--Day 4

Good morning.  I'm up and at it early this morning. Amy, Carmen, and I have a class today. We'll be learning more about borders and bindings today, hoping to get even better!

Yesterday was a great, fun day. I enjoyed the day seeing quilts and vendors with everyone, Lou Anne, Ernestine, Charlotte, Georganna, Carmen, Amy, Linda, and Mary. I picked up a few things on my list. I've got one or two more things to get.

Yesterday evening, Amy, Carmen Linda, Mary and I went to a dinner/lecture by Dawn Cavanaugh called "Judge for Yourself". First, the LeConte Center provided a wonderful dinner. Second, Dawn gave a great presentation with a lot of really good information and ideas on making those competition quilts better. I've got some work to do, lol.

Well, I had better get going, class begins soon!  Until next time, quilt on!

Thursday, March 22, 2018

Quiktfest 2018--Day 3

Good morning. I've resigned myself to the fact that my tablet and Blogger simply aren't going to agree with posting pictures. I'm taking lots of them, I just can't seem to get them to attach.  So, instead of continuing to try unsuccessfully, I'm just going to keep updating you this way and post a few pics on my Facebook page and then compile everything when I return home so that you can see everything then.  Bear with me, I'll share soon.

Yesterday was a ball of fun. Jackie wasn't able to go on the bus tour with me, but alas I had a lot of fun visiting 6 historic churches in Sevier County and being able to go inside each, hearing music in most, and even refreshments in the last. Great, great tour.

After returning to the LeConte Center, I made a bee line to see my basket quilt. It looks good hanging in the show, but alas no ribbon. My friend Linda however, got a second place ribbon on one of her entries!  Way to go Linda!

After a quick trip through the LeConte, our group made our way to the Old Mill for an amazing supper. This is a yearly tradition, and we are never disappointed! 

Today, I'm back at the convention center to see all I can see, then a dinner lecture with Dawn Cavanaugh on judging quilts and entering competition.  I'm having a blast here in Pigeon Forge. Are you able to sew any today?

Until next time, quilt on!

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Quiltfest 2018--Day 2

Hey y'all. My pictures wouldn't upload yesterday for some reason. I'll try again today. I hope you’re having a good week, I sure am!

I'm getting ready to board the bus for the tour of historic churches in Sevier County. Jackie and I were able to go on this tour last year and I'm excited to see the new, old churches on the tour this year. I'm sporting the lone look today, Jackie isn't feeling well, so I'll be on the bus by myself.

We had a great day yesterday.  Jackie had her Sashiko class yesterday then we spent the remainder of the day wondering through some quilt shops and Hobby Lobby. It was a very laid back day.

Lou Anne, Georganna, Ernestine, and Charlotte made it here yesterday evening. They are coming today but decided to come early in case the winter weather moved into the mountains. I'm having supper tonight with them, Jackie, Amy, her husband, and Linda. 

As soon as the tour is over I'm making a bee line to see my quilt!

Well, I hear the bus coming, I'm off!
Until next time, quilt on!

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Quiltfest 2018--Day 1

Hey y’all.  Is been quite a while since I’ve had time to update you on the progress of A Cruso Quilter. Things have been going really well for me just busy, busy, busy.  Right now I'm sitting at the LeConte  Center in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee as the time for A Mountain Quiltfest is here!  I just dropped my friend Jackie off for her first class this year.

I made it down here yesterday afternoon after some last minute work at the cburch.  I stopped at Holloway's Country Home on the way down yesterday. I got to meet Freida Haley, the new owner of Holloway's. Freida purchased Holloway's last December as Maria retired.

I'm off today to do some shopping and looking while Jackie is in class, then we're off to visit some area quilt shops.

You're probably wondering what I've been working on.  I have one quilt in the show this year. The theme category this year is baskets.  I wanted to venture from the traditional basket quilt blocks this year, so I created my own basket this year. I started with the Creative Grids Curvy Log Cabin tool by Jean Ann Wright to create my basket. I then used scraps to create a variety of tools, notions, and all the essentials that a quilter needs in their sewing basket. The furry quilt inspector got in the way and got tangled up in both a quilt block and the tape measure. We quilters also cannot get away without chocolate and coffee. I surrounded the center design with small, lemoyne stars using the Deb Tucker, Studio 180, Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star ruler.
The amazing Lisa Mann of Lisa's Quilting Shed did the awesome, custom quilting to complete the basket.

Along the way, I decided to name this quilt in memory of a dear quilting friend, Juanita Metcalf. Three of the four main fabrics were from her stash. So, I give you, “Juanita’s Sewing Basket”.

This year, I've got a fairly laid back schedule. Jackie and I will be touring some of the historic churches of Sevier County tomorrow. I have a dinner lecture on Thursday and a class on Friday. This year is even more about fun and enjoying the show!  Of course there will be lots of fun with the rest of the quilting friends. 

Ill be taking lots of pictures this week and sharing them with you. If you're down here this week, hopefully we’ll get to see each other.  Right now, I'm off to do some shopping.

Until next time, quilt on!