Naia’s Quilt

Naia loved her quilt.

I finished “Blue Dolphins” several weeks ago

 Looks like it fits Naia’s bed perfectly 

but between our being sick 

 Back detail

and her school schedule

 Quilted with flip flops and seashells 

we couldn’t find a time to get together until last night.

I’m thrilled Naia likes it. 

When we left, Leia was trying to talk her sister into leaving the quilt behind when Naia heads off to college in August. Naia gave that a resounding “no”!

Early Mom’s Day

We had an early dinner tonight to celebrate Mother’s Day with the California branch. Leia took almost all of these pics and did an excellent job getting everyone with their eyes open and smiling. 

 A little blurry but I love this picture 

 Jackie perusing her (drinks) menu. 



 Donovan loves his broccoli 

 Jackie didn’t want her picture taken 

 Sneaky grandma gets a picture of Jac anyway

Fabric Folding Workshop

Spent the day in a fabric folding workshop with Rami Kim, a DNA-scientist turned internationally known fabric artist and quilter. 

I’ve been curious about fabric folding for a long time (it’s Vickie’s fault).

Turns out it’s fun and relatively easy, but also very precise (to get good results) and not something I’ll probably do very often (the hexagons anyway. The kimonos interest me more ...)

Each hexagon starts as a circle and is folded, then sewn to its neighbors, to form anything from simple flowers 

Rami Kim’s patterns

to wallhangings, quilts, purses, clothing and more. 

 A friend’s first kimono

I bought one of Rami’s purse patterns - her wreath folding technique is beautiful - and she has an online class that I’m seriously considering signing up for. Hmmmm, I may be more interested in this than I thought I was . . .

Surprise Visit

Donovan stopped by for a visit today while his mama had an unplanned dental visit. (Tomorrow she gets a root canal. Ouch!!)

Jackie was thrilled to see him, 

until he tried to touch “her” toys - and by “her toys” I mean anything in our house.

 Giving him “the look”

Jac is a sweetheart but she isn’t big on the whole sharing thing. 

And being the youngest at home, and most of the time at Grandma’s, she usually gets her way. 

She eventually agreed to pretend she was the mama

and she “taught” Donovan to play ball. 

Donovan, bless him, was just happy to hang out with his new friend. 

Stepping Up Quilt

I was waiting until this reached its new home before posting finished pics,

but that was back mid-April . . .  Better late than totally forgotten??

The free pattern is “Stepping Up” by Donna Robertson. It’s fast, easy and (I think) shows off the batik fabrics beautifully.

The musical backing fabric is from my stash, and not only was it the exact right size,

it was the perfect color. The notes I thought were brown turned out to be purple and match wonderfully with the border fabric. 

Add musical quilting in orange thread and we’re done. 

This quilt now lives in Oklahoma with my best buddy from high school. We were in band and orchestra together, and she still plays in her local community orchestra, thus the musical theme. Plus, she loves orange as much as I do. Bonus! Hope she enjoys this, and it brings her happy memories, for years to come.  

Tula Pink Workshops

Saturday’s workshop was machine piecing Tula’s Shoreline quilt.

It was a fun project 

and the venue, Bell Arts Factory in Ventura, was wonderful 

with lots of natural light 

and plenty of room for 25 quilters and all their supplies. 

I was not happy with my project - Too much color! Too many patterns! Throw it in the trash! Arrghhhhhh!! - 

until Tula put it in a kinda rainbow order that made sense.

Two panels are done, with four to go, and I’m lovin’ this more all the time. 

Saturday was fun but Sunday’s workshop was amazing!! 

 One of Tula’s quilts

English paper-piecing is Tula’s self-admitted passion; she works on EPP projects every day for relaxation.  

I’m still amazed at how much I learned and how many techniques I put into practice during the 6-hour day. 

 Hidden creatures in Tula’s Zuma fabric

Going into the workshop, I wasn’t planning to finish this except as a tiny sample. But now I can’t stop.

Sooo, maybe a wallhanging? We’ll see what happens when I run out of fabric . . .

Tula Quilt Parade

Tonight’s talk and quilt parade did not disappoint. Tula is hilarious and amazingly talented. 

In 15-ish years in the fabric business, she has created over 26 fabric lines, all of them starting with incredibly intricate hand-drawn art. 

 My favorite quilt of the night. 

She also sews/pieces her own quilt samples for each fabric line. I love that she’s a quilter and understands what quilters are looking for/need.

Tula said she works on English paper-piecing every night, as a form of meditation and to get her brain to turn off so she can sleep. Love that. 

 “The United States of Tula Pink”

After tonight, I’m even more excited for this weekend‘s workshops!

A few of Tula’s EPP quilts:

 This is Sunday’s workshop - Tula Nova

Regular piecing:
 I love this but don’t know if I’d have the patience to make all those sunbursts

 Saturday’s workshop - Shoreline