Cultivate beauty and wisdom in and around you

Friday was the first day of the show in Sandy. Lots of nice quilts and vendors. Here are a few pictures of my space and some of the quilts in the show. You have Sunday from 12-4 to come view them for yourself. I know you will enjoy them if you can come.  And from the show: Well, for some reason it won't upload my pictures that I took with my camera. Tomorrow I will take more with my phone and  see what that might do. I haven't had trouble with that application before. Still learning I guess.  Sorry for the inconvenience. It has been fun sitting and stitching and visiting with visitors and my neighbors from Quilters Corner. I will be sad when tomorrow is over and I bring it all home. Although, now I can rearrange all my quilts at home. Wisdom Words for today: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights. James 1v17

This has been a busy week. Our daughter, Jennifer went to France for several weeks. Our daughter, Carrie bought a travel trailer. We set me up for a quilt show, and Loren began serious work on our garage to turn it into a studio for me. Here is the cool old trailer that is now sitting beside our house. She is redoing the floors and other assorted things that need attention. This is the first of the three beginnings. Next we see Carrie in her space mask...needful for the sealer that went on the floor...still stinks! Here are the floors right before being sealed..pretty awesome, right!? First number two. The garage. An ordinary garage filled with 30 years accumulation. It once contained a bedroom for Jennifer, now it will be my domain. Here is a barn board, more coming to cover the walls, and then the tin that will cover the ceiling. Already I have placed two big tables and my music box and have done some sewing in the place where I dre...

At Pioneer Quilts we have a group that meets on the 4th Sat. of every month. Our group loves the patterns and style of Sue Spargo. You can see her website and all of her creations at http://www.suespargo.com/ . She is amazing. We get together and work on whatever project of hers that we are on at the moment. You are invited to join us for this on-going class. Our group this month was pretty small but some brought assorted pincushions and some "Sue" projects. Here are a few selections.  This is the Block of the Month from last year. Some of the blocks from this years Block of the Month. The stitches are beautiful. Ann is doing a masterful job. Thanks for sharing.  Pincushions by Judy!! A few more . On this same Saturday our wool dyer, Gina, came in with a huge mound of freshly dyed wool. It is so tempting that you can't keep from digging through to see what you want to take home. We folded it all up and put it on the shelves and here you will...

Yesterday my friends Nancy, Beverly, Tracy and I went on an adventure. We went to Independence to the quilt shop pictured below  It is a very nice quilt shop with great reproduction fabric and lots of patterns that beg to be made. We enjoyed visiting and picking out some Fat Quarters that we couldn't leave behind. We had lunch at the Ovenbird Bakery. Good sandwiches, soup, salad and DESSERT. We continued our day trip with a visit to a nice shop that carries a lot of Folk Art style things. Not so many antiques but fun things to look at anyway. Here are a few of the things we saw.  Lots of cute things to look at. Our last stop was in Aurora. It is always difficult to choose where to go in this little town that's full of great shops.  Look at all the chair legs! Doesn't it make you want to build something? There are so many things to look at. All kinds of bathtubs and faucets and sinks. Then there are all the doorknobs a...

When we arrived in Sherwood, Darren was mowing the grass. Their little dog was doing her usual routine of placing her ball in front of the lawnmower so that Darren has to stop and toss it for her. When he was finished, this is what she looked like. Meet Pippi Greenstockings! The grass was wet and after she ran all over catching her ball, she was grass-stained all up her dainty legs! We walked downtown with all five dogs...who were a parade by themselves to look at the vintage cars..here are a couple of the many. One of my favorite greens!  After walking a few more blocks we found an old house that was open for viewing. There were quilts, and beds, cribs and a spinning wheel. On the back porch was a wringer and tubs and they had done a wash and pegged the clothes on the line. Very cool. The quilts were very nice, keep on enjoying.  Right next door was a roped off room with old school furnishings inside. The old desks were s...

On most Saturdays we have breakfast at a cafe. The only day of the week that we indulge in Bacon and Eggs and Pancakes. The rest of the week it's cold cereal. Sat. is special. Today we will go to Sherwood Days. Our daughter and son-in-law live in Sherwood and we walk through town looking at lots of old cars and booths with all kinds of treasures. I'm sure I will find something interesting to photograph so I know you will not want to miss seeing them. Here is the picture of the Lemoyne Star little quilt that will be part of the fall Hand Piecing class. It is fun to sew something this small and have a finished project quickly.  The next picture is the sewing box that will be included in the class and it will be filled with hand-sewing needs. If you are able to come to the Sandy Quilt Show at the end of this month you can see them up close and personal. I enjoyed making them and we also will be making the sewing roll up that I previously talked about. W...

I'm not sure what setting I used on my camera, but it was still daylight when I took this and I love the color of the poppies. I have never been a good photographer and I have no idea where my product guide is for this camera so it is all by chance. When spring planting begins I always want some new architectural feature and so I ask my husband, "Do you have anything that might be about so high and so wide that would fit here?" And he usually does find something in his storage buildings! This great drinking fountain is a real score. Next to The Quilting B there was a old old house and when it was moved this sad old gate was left behind and Loren brought it home. It sat unused for a long time and last summer he found the perfect place for it. It corrals our lavender behind it and makes a great statement. Old and rusty....like the people who live here. I am working on a small hand pieced quilt for a class...