Poudre Canyon Quilt Show

This years quilt show was done a little differently. Normally we have a big craft fair along with the quilt show, but since the new mill levy passed and we are getting a new fire station/community center, our old community center is in the process of being torn down. Therefore, it was decided to do a community garage sale, and a smaller quilt show with just the quilters from the canyon.

With fewer participants, the show was a little smaller this year, but not by much! Look at all these lovely quilts!

i was able to enter a few doll quilts from the ALQS swap, along with Berdena's 90th birthday quilt (you can see them up at the front of the chapel). I always give my quilts away and therefore, dont normally have any to show, so it was nice to have a few to share this year! I included a few detailed shots of some quilts that stood out to me...enjoy the pics......




and here is a shot of jordyn being silly with her cousins after a day fishing with grandpa...pardon the grain of the photo, but i didnt realize my ISO was set so high when i ran out to take it :(

Hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend!

Over the River and Thru the Woods....

To the post office i went...to mail off my ALQS miniature to ___?_____! Of course, its a secret, so i wont let the cat out of the bag till my receivers package arrives :)
Anyways, im sure by the sneak peeks i gave over the last few weeks, that it was pretty obvious what the quilt looked like, but here it is again..."Wonky Pineapple Blues", being modeled on our glorious woodpile! Its 20 X 20, and was paper pieced with a washable leave in paper (that makes the quilt a little stiffer, and nice for hanging). I also finished and mailed out the Halloween table runners to my sisters in California, so that should be a nice surprise for them (i can mention them here, because they never read my blog :)
And lastly, i sent out a little "thank you" to Anne, for her generous gift of I-spy fabrics a while back. Sorry it took me soooo long to get it out to you Anne, what can i say...im lame. Anyways, now that all my latest deadlines are met, i can relax this weekend...which is great because we have a full weekend of Halloween fun planned, including a kids party at the VFW, and Boo at the Zoo, which i am quite excited about!

So stay tuned...

New Quilt for Jordyn

Well, i did quite a bit of quilting, binding, and pinning on several projects this weekend. My cousin Christy, aka Jordyn's Godmom, was up for a visit, so we took turns entertaining her while we worked. I captured this very sweet moment of them coloring together, both almost falling asleep in the process.
Christy finished this fun flannel quilt for Jordyn, and as you can see, she loves it!(as does daddy). And what perfect timing...its been in the 20's every morning...brrrrrrr!

I finished quilting my ALQS quilt, but i dont have any photos...perhaps later today? I was planning on hand quilting it, but decided to try out my cousins Pfaff machine while she was here, and WOW...does that thing sew like a dream. So smooth and quiet...very fun indeed. I should have tried out some fancy stitches, but since the design is rather busy, i decided a simple stitch in the ditch was what it needed.

And finally, here are some I-spy fabrics i received in a swap on about.com. There are roughly 150 squares here...and with the ones Anne sent me, and the blocks from my neighbor, i should have enough to make a few I-spy quilts. Thanks again ladies!
Now im off to do some more crafting, as its my free day (Jordyn is at Grandma and Grandpas)...so perhaps ill have more goodies to post soon!
cheers~

ALQS (round 2) teaser #3

If you havent guessed by now, Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday! Christmas is wonderful, but Fall being my favorite time of year, and October 31st also being my fathers birthday...it brings back fond memories of my childhood and the silliness that is Halloween! Not to mention I love any excuse to wear crazy clothes and costumes!
This is our newest addition to the festive decor, and for those of you that commented about the bear, we are hoping the little bells on witchy-poo will spook him off. (fat chance) She looks spectacular blowing in the breeze, and at night she is quite scary. Jordyn loves to peek out the window at her and see what shes up to.
Speaking of Jordyn, she is enjoying her visit at grandma's right now, so i am sewing away and enjoying the peace and quiet. This is what i worked on today...

Not much of a teaser i suppose...but a peek nonetheless. I am undecided on the binding...the dark blue, or the light color? I kind of like the openness of the light color, but i know some folks would probably hate to have a light edge due to dirt, etc. Any of you out there have a preference? I am pleased with the way this turned out, and may try it in some holiday colors for Christmas, however, im not a huge fan of paper-piecing, so i would probably stick with the washable stuff i used in this one. I cant imagine doing an entire bed quilt like this....yikes!

and finally, here is Jordyn having a very serious discussion with my garden gnome the other day. He's probably reprimanding her for stepping on all of his flowers!
Cheers~

Free Day!

Today was my free day! Jordyn went to Grandma and Grandpas, Justin was in town at work, and i had the house to myself! :) I spent most of the day quilting...woohoo!
I havent blogged anything quilty in a while, so i thought i would share a teaser of my miniature for the ALQS swap (round 2). I have the center finished, now it just needs a border or two, backing, quilted, etc...but that should go pretty quickly :)

Here is a fun shot from yesterday...Jordyn decided to inspect Grandpas catch of the day!

and finally, a little fun in Photoshop! My little pumpkin :)
Have a creative weekend!

Lots O' Fabric and another Black Bear ~

A hairy local came around this evening...taunting our cat, and looking for snacks. He looks a little frightening standing so close to our daughters playhouse...a gentle reminder to always keep our eye on her when she is outside playing! Thankfully they are easily intimidated, though this particular bear had a bit of an attitude. We were also all safely inside when he dropped by.

I had the day off today...Jordyn went to Grandma and Grandpas house...so i was able to work on some projects. I cut out the rest of my novelty fabrics for the I-Spy swap on about.com. 15 sets total...which should get me 150 different fun fabrics :) The best way to come up with such a variety without having to buy so many at once...

That is, unless you have wonderful friends in blogland like i have! Anne read about my swap and offered to send me a stack of novelty scraps she had laying around, and they arrived today! Wasnt that generous of her...as ive said before, quilters are some of the most giving people i know. I now have an additional 30 squares to add to my daughters I-Spy quilt thanks to her. Thank you Anne! Im working on a little care package for you in return :)

and for the final photo, ill leave you with a little teaser for the ALQS round 2! Not much of a clue...just some pretty fabrics :)

Happy Feet

A happy face is a sure thing to cheer someone up...not that we needed any cheering...but Jordyn and i made ourselves some happy feet just the same! The weather has been perfect up here all week, and we have spent our last days of summer swimming in the river, playing in the garden, and enjoying the playhouse. Ive also been doing a lot of reading lately...

My summer reading list(well, at least the last half of summer)...

The Courtship of Princess Lea by Dave Wolverton

Home to Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani

Alice's Tulips by Sandra Dallas

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz (still reading)

Okay, so its not a long list, but i tend to fall asleep once i finally get the chance to sit down with my book. 2 year olds will do that to ya :)
Im also a magazine junkie...so if you count all of those...Artists Magazine, Watercolor Magazine, Corel Painter, and Taste of Home...then my reading list is really full!
On the craft side, i was just given a stack of quilting magazines from a very generous neighbor...those should keep me busy for a while! There were soooo many, in fact, that i decided to share in the wealth, and passed a few along to a friend. Ive also picked out my pattern for the ALQS swap, a paper-pieced design, so hopefull i wont go nuts ripping off the paper before its time to mail it out :) Im excited to try this pattern, so i may just have to make a second one for me. I cut out all the pieces to do one for myself last time, but havent pieced them together yet. I tend to let projects for me sit forever...thats why i like to participate in these swaps...a deadline and a trade allows me to create for others, as well as enjoy receiving too.
Happy Quilting!

ALQS has safely arrived!

Hurrah!!! My quilt for Anne has finally arrived so i can post a picture of the label now :) She sent me a lovely email thanking me for the miniature quilt, and i am sooooo thrilled she liked it! (and that it arrived safely) You are welcome Anne...i enjoyed making it for you.

Well, as most of you know, we went camping over the 4th of July weekend with our SCA group. The event was a blast...the weather was perfect, the company was awesome, and we had a hafla in camp every night! A perfect weekend indeed! In fact, i was so relaxed, that i didnt even take many photos! Hard to believe, i know...but here are a couple just to give you a taste of our weekend. Hope yours was wonderful too!

ALQS teaser #2

Okay, okay...so this looks a lot like the first teaser. But now you are looking at 160 HST's :)
hmmmmm....whatever will it be....and who is it for? Now that the crazy quilt swap is over, i can dive right into this project...so stay tuned for more updates soon! Im hoping to have most of the top done today...though it looks to be a gorgeous day out, so i may have to take a break and let Jordyn soak up the sun!
Happy Quilting Folks!

Its Here...My ALQS quilt!

Hurrah!!! While i was camping, a package arrived for me from the Isle of Man! Loulee, a friend i met in blogland, rcvd my name in the ALQS, and this is the lovely quilt she created for me. Isnt it wonderful...sooo very bright and cheery! And look, she even hand embroidered a label for it on the back, conveniently titled, "friendship"!

A quilt from anyone participating in the swap would have been great, but the fact that its from someone i blog with already, makes it extra special! Other goodies were also included in the package...some lovely batik fabrics, a fun souvenir wall hanging of the Isle of Man, and of course some candy buttons...which you can see, have already been torn open to sample :) Jordyn has already gobbled up one bag!
This is the first quilt i have ever received as a gift, so it is quite a treasure to me! Thank you VERY much Loulee! I love it! And thank you Kate, for putting together such a wonderful swap. Now...looks like i better get back to work on mine :)
Cheers~
lisajo

ALQS teaser

Since the ALQS (Another Little Quilt Swap)is supposed to be a surprise, i will post little teasers as my quilt progresses, but dont want to give away too much just in case my rcvr is lurking :)
The photo looks a little blue...but the colors are actually purples and lavenders.
I havent finished cutting out all the fabric, but hope to get to that today (when the little one is napping). Two folks have already finished their quilts and mailed them out...wow! Talk about being WAYYYY ahead of the eight ball! The mailing deadline is July 1st, so i still have plenty of time...but it would be nice to get it done fairly early, so i can mail it out and dont have to worry about it :)

Meanwhile...more typical Colorado weather...



This is a photo from yesterday...a beautiful Spring day! It was our first sighting of a hummingbird at our feeder (a ruby throat)...i had heard them buzzing around the day before, so i made some juice to have ready for them, and sure enough...if you build it they will come :)
Jordyn enjoyed playing outside in the ditch (which is running...another sure sign of Spring)...and then we had a visit from the deer...ah yes, Spring is definitely in the air! Or is it?.......



This is what it looks like today! :) Hmmm........guess i better get the snowsuits back out!