design wall . . . dream?

I don't have anything up on my literal design wall (ironing board, sewing table, or anywhere else) this morning. But does that stop me? Absolutely NOT! I had committed that I would start nothing else until the nursery project was completely finished, and since it's close but not quite there, I refused to put anything new on the ol' design wall.

But my mind has no such limitations, and when I went to sleep the other night, it went right to work!

I shared about our guild's mystery quilt project last week, knowing that as much as I want to play -- I've never done a mystery quilt before -- the nursery project comes first! The only thing with the mystery quilt is, I had no idea what fabrics to use as my six colors and my zinger. It's really bothered me. Enough so that I not only dreamed about it, but I got it all figured out in my dream!

In my dream I went to one of our local quilt shops and was delighted to find they'd expanded and added more space, more fabric, and (here's how you can tell it was *my* dream) shelves of CHOCOLATE! Fabric and chocolate??! Yep, that's my kind of store! It was packed, too. I'm thinking this should start a new trend.

The fabric I have decided to use, I picked out in my dream. Weird, huh? I woke up so excited, because my dilemma was solved! I think I may have some in my stash -- I'll have to check later. Now that I know what my six color fabrics will be, it'll be a simple task to find a 'zinger' fabric. I'm so relieved that's over. Talk about process!!

Check out what quilters all over the world have on their real design walls over at Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times!

Here's what I finished on Saturday. The curtains are fully lined and I must say, they look great! The crib skirt was a little different. We'll velcro it onto the mattress support -- just the front, because the rest of it is enclosed. The skirt is fully lined too, and I had fun doing the ruffle! Notice that my demo here is set up on a broom handle and the ironing board. Necessity is the mother of invention!

Here's a close up of the ribbons on the curtains. Isn't it darling? The bumper pads are just a couple of stitches away from being finished. We're putting it all together on Saturday morning, and I'll be sure to share finished nursery photos! I can hardly believe that Everett's due to be here in just over two weeks!

Today I'll spend with my darling Sawyer. We had glorious weather here this weekend -- in the 70's on Saturday! My son caught this one of my darling boy enjoying the glorious outdoors . . .

He fills my heart with smiles - I'm such a blessed woman!

:)

it's a mystery . . .

No, really, it IS a mystery. A quilt mystery! My guild, Heritage Quilters of Huntsville, is holding a mystery quilt-a-long and it's open to anyone who would like to participate! It's just started -- they posted the first clue just this month.

The foundation for the quilt is a range of black-to-white fabrics -- six to be exact.

And then you'll need six more fabrics in color, and a 'zinger' fabric. They've got fabric requirements listed for four different sized quilts, which I thought was really nice!

If you're interested in joining, or just want to follow along with the clues (which I'm dying to share, but I wouldn't want to spoil anyone's fun), all you've got to do is click HERE! All the material requirements are listed, and about mid-way down the page is the FIRST CLUE!!

The organizers announced at our last meeting that instead of a magnifying glass, we'd find this particular tool much handier as we worked on the case . . .

Gosh, another gadget? Do I have to? LOL! They know how to reel me in, don't they?!

Of course, I absolutely cannot, in good conscience, put on my detective hat until I've finished with the nursery project. So you *may* get a head start on me . . . but don't you worry, I'm a smart sleuther! I'll catch up quickly!!

Come, Quilters, come! The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!

:)

fun, fun evening . . .

Last night was our regular guild meeting and I had such a good time! I first had dinner with some of the gals from our Stitcher's Group - we ate at McAlister's Deli. We hadn't been there for a long time. It was yummy!

The weather was not the best -- when we left the restaurant it was already raining/misting, and we knew the temps were supposed to drop quickly and that sleet and then snow were on the way. It's really a shame, because I think it caused a lot of ladies to stay home last night, and they missed a *wonderful* program!

Before the program started, I met up with one of the members, Anne T. Anne had brought in her crazy quilt for Show & Tell several months ago (the July meeting), and I'd wanted to get a better look at it. We worked together as hostesses at the Lost Heroes Quilt exhibit last month, and had talked a little more about her crazy quilting and the process. She'd agreed to bring in her finished crazy quilt last night. She did better than that!

First she showed me this book on embellishments. Doesn't this look like fun?!? Doesn't it look like something *I* need???? I think so. I mean really.

Amazon.com has it listed and you can even look inside! Click on the photo to check it out yourself. There may be one on the way to my house as you read this.

She also brought the crazy quilt project she's currently working on:

Isn't this fun?!? I love the profusion of COLORS!! She's paper piecing this one, and has about 38 different patterns she's following. She said she likes it because it's hand work that she can pull out in small spaces and work on whenever she wants to. I wish I'd caught some of the fun stitching she's got on these blocks. It's wonderful.

And then she pulled out this beauty . . .

Isn't it gorgeous? I just love this wall hanging! My favorite embellishment? Her Girl Scout patches! What FUN!!! I know without a doubt that I simple must do one of these quilts. Someday!

Then, after an abbreviated business meeting (due to the impending weather), our program started. What a terrific national speaker we had!

If you're not familiar with Melinda Bula, you can check out her website HERE and/or her blog HERE.

I found right off the bat that Melinda and I were sanitarium sisters. Yes, that's right, both of us were born in sanitariums! She on the west coast, and me in the Washington Sanitarium, Takoma Park, Maryland. Who knew?

She had with her two *gorgeous* quilts -- the one on the left is a sunset in Monterrey and the one on the right is titled Romance. I love both of them, but especially the flowers. I wanted to run up there and inhale their fragrance -- that's how real and beautiful they were!

My photos from last night do no justice to the objects I was trying to capture. Probably because I was sitting in the very back row.

It also didn't help that most of my captures are off the projector screen!

Both of these wearable arts caught my attention. Beautiful work!

But I especially loved this green. Sweet!

I did get one of her books. I cannot resist Christmas!

And yay! It's an autographed copy. Whoohoo!

My two favorite sound bites from the night?

She told how she had grown up sitting at the feet of her mom, watching her sew, and that she and her sister would take scraps of fabric and sew outfits for their dolls . . . "We thought were sewing, but mostly we were wrapping!"

and . . .

"You're only a quilter if you have a minimum of ten unfinished quilts!"

I think I qualify.

She was as engaging a storyteller as she is a quilter. If ever you have the chance to see her or her work, just DO IT!

I did drive home (very carefully) in the snow and this is we woke up to this morning . . .

Not so much to shut anything down, but enough to leave a beautiful light blanket over everything. And it did delay school openings this morning which was GREAT because it meant I didn't have to deal with the stinking school zone traffic!

Happy FRIDAY!!!

:)