Catching Up - Friends & Family

The past few weeks has been a wonderful whirlwind! I haven't truly had time to post.

Just needed to share (grin) and thought ya'll like to see a quilt sale, a quilt class and my momma -- so read on!

These lovely ladies were the morning shift for one of the largest sales I can remember -- or at least it's been a long time since I worked one!

In the center with the bright turquoise blouse is Patricia Stephenson of Quilt By The Bay, the quilt shop where I had my "beginnings" - as a worker, a teacher, and later one of the longarm quilters for the shop samples. Her shop was damaged by Hurricane Ike last September and she's been operating primarily through the internet....well, Thurs 7/30/09 was THE SALE as she relocated her warehouse to one of the ballrooms at Moody Gardens Hotel and I didn't want to miss out so I went to help!

This was our pre-sale prep talk, discussing prices and assigning work stations.

These photos are the calm before the storm of shoppers invaded - the view was beautiful but wrecked havoc on the lighting for the photo.



Patricia had dubbed this a reunion - many of her customers had not seen her since the storm, so she stood at the door and welcomed each one.


Within moments the ballroom was filled with the frenzy of quiltaholics shopping for the deal of the century!


The lines soon formed at the cutting tables, and folks learned how much fun it was to 'shop the line' -- in other words if the gal in front of you didn't take the full bolt and it was fabric you liked then you asked for the bolt to be passed back... fabulous way to shop if you ask me!

Some of the ladies really had a "plan" for their shopping spree.

Waiting in line can be whatever you make of it, you can be impatient and complain or you can turn it into a reunion - which most folks did. When quilters gather you are always bound to run into friends you haven't seen in a while!

I initially was the official photographer of our gala event, then was asked if I would mind tearing fabric.....the cutting stations were all manned and the lines were long, so off to a little corner I go with just a rotary blade, no cutting mat, no ruler, the only measuring devise were little marks on the table showing zero, half yard, and yard...so away we went, doing my best to measure and tear while trying to entertain the folks in line as they waited for their turn.

The sale began at 10 and before noon this was the pile of empty bolts behind my station. I have found that by working I am less tempted to shop -- but I have to confess, I did "shop the line" and brought home a yard of beach umbrella print, 4 yards of flip flop fabric and 4 yards of bright yellow tone on tone tropical print. I was a tired but happy quilter at the end of the afternoon!


That was last Thursday. On Friday I had to get back to quilting and finished up a customer quilt that had been on the frame for a day or so -- my push -- had to teach a Square in a Square class at Cactus Quilts on Sat 8/1/09


I love teaching. Especially with the Square in a Square process, it's so much fun and the results are amazing.


I do a lot of demos and then graze around the room to make sure everyone is understanding the process. Since there is usually a smokin' needle in the room and a slow but steady Betty I find that it's best to demo to the whole class and then work one on one with my students at whatever step they are on. No pressure in my class. And you aren't allowed to 'unsew' -- I consider myself an expert frogger (rip it rip it) and it's my job to operate the seam ripper for the day if anyone finds that need - my students are there to sew, not unsew!


By the end of the day everyone had several blocks done from our Waterwheel pattern, and all had high hopes of going home to make more!

That evening I had a mission of my own....needed to make another fabric bowl using my new found skills from "Mrs. King's Gallery Baskets" DVD. This one was for my grandmother. She's 96 and recently broke her leg. I had plans to head north about 250 miles on Sunday after church to go visit her....


So last Sunday through this Tuesday I was visiting with my mom and my grandmother....mom and I decided to be goofy and take photos of ourselves -- kinda like we were in a photo booth -- it's not easy taking photos of yourself holding the camera away from you. Some are really funny, but thought I'd just share one...


The remainder of my week has been trying to play catch up. It's a fun game, but I don't think I win it very often. Catch up on laundry. Catch up on email. Catch up on bills. Catch up on housework. Catch up on customer quilts. Catch up on guild meetings. Catch up on my favorite TV show (Burn Notice) that hubby and I tape to watch at a more convenient time. And now, Catch up on my blog. So that's what I've been up to -- that and I discovered a new addiction called Facebook....oh my....and now that I'm caught up on the blog, have eaten my lunch, it's time to punch back in and finished a darling quilt on my frame.

More later! Afterall, a self-professed rambler has to ramble ya'know!