My First Virtual Quilt Bee Block

Yeah!  I finished my first block for the NKOTB virtual quilt bee.  All of the members are new to the virtual quilt bee world (quilt bee "virgins"?)  So, it will be off in the mail tomorrow to Amy of Did I Say That Out Loud?

When I first saw the design of this block, I thought it would be so easy, peasy!  Nope!  It was pretty challenging to try and calculate the sizes of the blocks adding in the charcoal border and getting the whole thing to come out to 15".  It took me a lot longer than I thought it would.  I spent a good portion of the Saturday Sew (the Dallas Modern Quilt Guild event) that I went to yesterday.  I had a blast though, I love a good challenge, don't you?  And speaking of a blast, we had so much fun at the Saturday Sew.  There were 10 of us this month and I would say we all got quite a bit accomplished.  I hope if you are a member of the Dallas Modern Quilt Guild, you'll come join us at the next one.  We don't have it scheduled yet, but discussed some possible dates in May.  I'll post a date here and on the guild blog as soon as we have it firmed up.

I never told you all about finishing the Black and White quilt.  It's done and off to it's new owner.  She seemed to be really pleased with it.  It was going to be a gift for her daughter.

I had a lot of fun making it and I got to use the new machine to do the quilting and it did a fabulous job!  I love that new sewing machine.  We are already getting to be quite good friends.

A Break in Sunny Florida

I have been in Lady Lake, Florida since Thursday and having a blast.  It was a much needed break before I hit a very busy season at work.  I am feeling very rested and relaxed and so, so grateful for my husband's family.  We came down here to celebrate my father-in-laws birthday.  The siblings all got together and signed him up for a flight in a TX-6 WWII plane.  We held the surprise in tact until we arrived at the hanger!  The "surprise" gods were with us, there was an ad for an air show in the paper the night before the flight for that very day!  So, we had rented a big 10 passenger van and off we headed.  He was so surprised when we arrived and told him that he was the star of this air show.  I'll be posting more photos of this great day on my Flickr Account.  We did go on to the air show mentioned in the paper and the Thunderbirds were flying.  It was quite exciting to see that as well.  All in all, one of those days you will never forget.  The weather was just gorgeous!

I believe GK's dad had the time of his life.  As we were pulling up at the hanger, he commented "oh, flying in one of those is on my bucket list"  Little did he know he was about to cross it off the list!

GK's family is so fun and they have welcomed me into the fold like I was always here.  I love each and every one of them.  In the midst of all the celebration of the flight, they had planned a cake and special dinner to celebrate my birthday!  Check out my cake!

What a great trip it has been.  We laughed, we cried, we bonded......we played bocce ball, did a little archery, watched a polo match, and ate tons of great food.  This afternoon, it is back to the airport and back to real life.  I'm ready, it's been a wonderful break but I am so blessed to have such a dream life that I'm ready to get back home.  I am teaching a beginning quilt class on Sunday at City Craft and I'm so excited about it.  And the Dallas Modern Quilt Guild is having a Saturday Sew this Saturday.  You can read about it on their webpage.  I'm such a lucky girl.....

So much to tell you

I cannot believe it has been so long since I posted.  I have TONS to tell you.  But, I will not cram it all into this one post.  So first off, the Babylock found a new home.  I posted her up on Craigslist on Sunday night and she was off on new adventures on Tuesday morning!  I wonder how she's doing?  I hope she's happy. Here's the weird thing.....the girl that bought her had the same name as a dear friend of mine.  When she responded to the ad, I thought "now why is Lizzie being so formal, and I didn't even know she sewed!"  And then when she showed up at my house to take her on a test drive, she had a friend with her named......MICHELLE!  Parallel Universe and all that crazy stuff!

So, last week I took this class from Karen K Stone.  I love her work and have been dying to take a class from her for a long time.  She does New York Beauties, and some really cool paper piecing techniques.  Here is what I learned while I was there.  It's not the whole thing, it's about half of a spiral (I have more to sew)

More will follow after I finish it.  I don't think I'm going to make a whole quilt out this one, but I do think it will make an awesome pillow for my sofa.  Here is another students work.  And I really want those scissors!  I have this "thing" for scissors.  I just love them and have quite a collection.  But I always want more.....

So, enough for now.  But I have to tell you it feels SO good to be back in blogland!  I have missed you all so much.  I have been keeping up with you on your blogs, though.