Sunday, July 30, 2017

Sew'n Wild Oaks Class Was In Session

Hello Everyone,
 
Here it is Sunday and class was last Tuesday......do you think I'm a bit behind?  I spent the day with "my girls".  Each and everyone of them are so special to me.
 
First up is Bonnie's first Spoken For block.  She has a beautiful selection of fabrics and the block turned out beautifully. 
 


There were a lot of Lil' Orphan Scrappy blocks in the making during class.


Patty is working on a kit I put together for Christmas awhile back.  The basket is from Buttonwood.
 

Kim Diehl was well represented in the class with many houses forming neighborhoods in Journey's End.



Gail finished more blocks for Walk In The Park.


Rose is moving right along on Heartfire.


Laurie finished block #3 for Huckleberry Hill.  I still have to design block #4.  She caught up with me!


Meeke is making lots and lots of flying geese for Zinnie's Choice.

 
 
Kathy designed this incredible center block for a quilt she is making.  You have to see this in person to appreciate each and every stitch.  The fabric she used in the sky was beyond perfect.  This house looked truly haunted.
 


On Wednesday, we packed up all of the grand kids and took them to the Oakland Museum to see the Dorothea Lange exhibit called The Politics of Seeing.  Emily, Harleigh and Jess are all interested in photography, so off we went. The exhibit was very busy and at times I felt like I was herding cats.



Dorothea Lange is best known for her haunting images of the Great Depression.  She was certain that seeing the effects of injustice could change the world.


The exhibit ends on August 27th.  I highly recommend it.  Her photographs will stick with you for a long, long time.


In keeping with the black and white theme......here are my grand kiddos.


Enjoy your Sunday!

Soon,
Lynn

Monday, July 24, 2017

Lil' Orphan Scrappy Class Was In Session

Hello Everyone,
 
Last week was a busy week for me.  Saturday I met with thirteen quilters from the Moonlight Quilter's Guild of Sonoma County at Village Sewing for our Lil' Orphan Scrappy class.  Many beautiful blocks were born that day.
 
 
Here's my version of Lil' Orphan Scrappy so you can get an idea of what I was teaching.  I used a huge variety of Marcus Fabrics and in my version.  This is an excellent scrap busting quilt.  The largest piece of fabric you use in 5-1/4" x 5-1/4".
 

 
The classroom was nice and large for the girls to gather. What a nice group of women!  Gail and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know all of you.  You were all so pleasant and fun!
 
 
Here's a small sampling of their very productive day.
 

Gina came to the class totally organized with most if not all of her quilt cut out.




 
Here is what some of her blocks looked like during the sewing process.

 

 
There was so much creativity in the room.  We had ladybugs, monkeys and horses in some of the centers.




We also had a Mother/Daughter team sewing and laughing together. 

 
We almost have enough blocks to make a small quilt.  This is just part of what they accomplished.


Wednesday evening I spoke to the guild at the Veteran's Building in Santa Rosa.  They were a delightful group who laughed in all the right places.



If you are interested in making your own Lil' Orphan Scrappy, click the link HERE.


I'm off to the shop to work this morning.  My Sew'n Wild Oaks girls will be gathering at the shop tomorrow.  Another busy week in the making. 
 
Soon,
Lynn
 


Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Coming to a Mailbox Near You

Hello Everyone,
 
Now I can let the cat out of the bag and share the news about the 365 pounds of patterns that we shipped off last week to.........drum roll.......Keepsake Quilting!  Their next catalog has two of my patterns, Country Charmer and Prairie Flower.  Both are offered as kits too.

 
Several months ago I was approached by Robert Kaufman fabrics to inquire about them remaking County Charmer in their Holiday Flourish Christmas fabric line.  I couldn't say "YES" fast enough!  To put the icing on the cake, I didn't have to make the quilt.....or quilt the quilt.  I don't know who made it, but I do know that it was beautifully machine quilted by Darla Padilla who just happens to live in the same town as me.  Small world.

Keepsake is offering Country Charmer as a kit and also only the pattern.  I have a bone of contention with Keepsake that no attribution was given to me as the designer of the quilt. I sent off an email to see if the online catalog could be fixed.  I'm sure the paper catalogs have been printed and mailed out by now.

I have an extensive tutorial HERE on my blog which shows you how to make this block step by step.

 
Next up is Prairie Flower.  I was driving down to Turlock to teach a class when I saw this street sign.  U-turn!  I went back and snapped a picture.
 


 
Prairie Flower is also offered as a kit or an individual pattern.  This quilt is made with Conestoga Crossing fabric by Pam Buda for Marcus Fabrics.
 


This quilt is going on the bed in Autumn and will stay on through the Holidays.  That is when it's not out traveling around the countryside.


It is my understanding that Keepsake rents a house for each photo shoot.  I love the way they displayed both of my quilts.

 
Now I have to get my head out of the clouds, and my feet back on solid ground, and start packing and drive up to Santa Rosa for a guild lecture tonight to the Moonlight Quilters of Sonoma County.  It should be a fun evening!  Prairie Flower is going to be there with me, along with a different version of Country Charmer.
 
Soon,
Lynn
 


Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Country Sunshine

Hello Everyone,
 
Between teaching, and doing trunk shows, I found a bit of time to get Country Sunshine together. 

 

No borders just yet.  I had the lion's share of this quilt together when I decided to move one of the blocks.  That boo-boo took hours to fix and change.


The fabrics are from Betsy Chutchian's line called Rachel Remembered for Moda.  I love this line.  In the picture below, I'm planning and visualizing how I'm going to quilt this one.


This is one of my favorite blocks.  I would like to work on this quilt more today.....but it's not on my to-do list.  I'm doing a trunk show tomorrow night at the Moonlight Quilters of Sonoma Country Guild.  I've had the honor of being a vendor at their quilt show for the last two years, and I thoroughly enjoy this group of women.  It is going to be a fun evening if any of you local to Sonoma County want to join us.

 
Oh the little boys of summer.  How we love to be out on a nice summer evening watching our grandson play ball.  His first pitch of the game, he hit a triple and drove in a run.  The boys played well but came up short in the end by one run. 
 
This team's summer season has come to and end.  A few of the boys were invited to join the 10-year-olds team, and play resumes for them next week.  Jess was invited to "move up" and play with the big boys. Just when we thought America's Pastime was over for us......we get to enjoy more summer evenings in the ball park. 
  

Play ball!

Lynn

Friday, July 14, 2017

Zinnie's Choice Class Was In Session

Hello Everyone,
 
It's been  a fun, and busy teaching week for me.  Wednesday, Zinnie's Choice class took place in the classroom of In Between Stitches.  Here are just some of the results from the class.
 

The girls learned how to make the four components that make up this block.


They were like sponges, soaking in the information and learning precision quilting.


Some beautiful quilts were being born during class.



 
Tomorrow, July 15th, I'll be at Ladybug's Quilt Shop in Manteca for their 12 Days of Christmas. You are welcome to join me anytime between 10am and 1pm for a mini trunk show and an abbreviated Patchwork Math presentation.  I'll be presenting a new component continuously throughout our time together.  Come on by and check out Ladybug's wonderful selection of fabrics, patterns, wool and projects.  Ladybug's is a "gem" of a quilt shop.  Just my style!
 
In addition, I will show you how to make this intricate, little block in Checkerberry's tummy.
 
The day I finished this pillow, it started to snow.  It snowed, and snowed.  I took it out for a photo shoot and you can see the flakes falling in the picture.  It even looks like he's throwing a snowball! 
 
Hope you all have a great weekend.
 
Soon,
Lynn