I should be...

I know, I should be washing clothes, I should be doing dishes, I should be doing the floor, I should be..... but I'm not! I wanted to finish this small mini wall quilt to send off to Sandy who graciously sent me a generous supply of black and white fabric for another project that I want to work on. Barter is good, and it made me experiment and learn something new in the process.



I sewed several mini pieces with batting in them by hand and embellished before I started putting them together. I used inchie pieces to add interest and tie the pieces together. (Not TIE in the physical sense, but in the visual sense).



I love this multi layered embellishment!

It looks like a first prize ribbon hanging from the bottom:) Just hopefully she will think the piece first prize to her too, as I have difficulty parting with it when I got finished.

Well, off to packing it to send off and doing things that I should be.

The Art of Glass

I have a fascination for glass beads. I admire the wonderful pieces of work in miniature, their color, their reflection, and their sparkle have me in a trans. My husband informed me last night of a class this week, so I picked up the phone and made us both a reservation! This afternoon, I could hardly wait to attend a class by the master artist Marco Jerman of Jerman Art Glass.

As soon as I saw her work bench, I knew immediately I was going to have fun!





Marco is on the left showing me how to begin the first bead. I wore special glasses to protect my eyes from the flame.



Then my husband was instructed the same technique.


We each got to make 3 beads, the first was with dots, the second with stripes and the third with a combination of both. This is what Rog made. Aren't they gorgeous? I am so glad he decided to do it too as it meant more beads for me in the end! LOL



Here are the ones that I produced in the class. They are all far from being perfect, but I thought they turned out quite well for a first timer!





This lizard she had on her table, just tickled me! She also had many beautiful bugs, starfish and frogs and other things.



Love the textures on this one! Unfortunately it broke in half, but since it is so precise, I am thinking that I will make something with my fiber art and glue the flat surface down and built other beads around it.



This awesome piece Marco made reminds me of an Easter Egg! Since we didn't dye Easter eggs this year, I found it appropriate to purchase as a momento of the class along with a few others from the first photo.



If anyone plans to visit SE Ohio, I highly recommend Marco's class. She is just an awesome teacher! Class was only $25.00 and lasted an hour, although we were there for most of the afternoon. I could have stayed longer, but I know I will be back!

Last week I was also in a beaded frenzy, as we stopped at Penny Antique Mall in Cambridge. One of the vendors also had beads and I had a blast picking out all sorts to add to my stash. They are nothing like the Flame worked glass beads, but still some nice additions for my collection of growing beads!



Another tickled find at the antique mall was a print set from the early 30's! I was quite impressed to find that most of it was still intact! I am missing 3 lower case letters and the number 4 though.

I love anything to do with lettering and this was my favorite find of the day!


This week I also finished quilting the Raspberry Lemonade quilt.




I must now go back to working in my studio soon as I just got my flooring FINALLY! I will be looking forward to it getting it down and all of my things back in order. Just hopefully soon!!!

South West By South East

I finished machine quilting Pam's quilt and mailed it off to her today. She lives in Arizona, so the quilt took on the design of the SW. It's all done in Fossil Fern fabrics! Such awesome colors.



As you can see by the photo that the water receded and I was able to hang it on the clothes line to photograph.


I live in SE Ohio and our yard is covered with all of these sweet little wild flowers. I have no idea what they are called. Does anyone know? They look a bit like Verbena but these have 5 petals instead of 6.



Signs of spring are arriving, not only because of the flowers, but the ticks too! The cats have already brought in a couple.
This week I have also been dog sitting for my SIL's dog, Tiny. She is a beagle/jack rustle mix. I was able to get her in to a low cost spay and neuter clinic, so have had her for about a week. Doesn't she look like she has quite the dog life? Or does she look a little devious?



Today I heard a knock at the door and here was Tiny on the sofa with head cocked looking at me. I went to the door and no one was there. I went back to my work and heard it again and went to the door, still no one there. I had at first thought that who ever it was, was going to the back door only this time I heard the knock again and here it was Tiny beating her tail against one of the sofa pillows and smiling at me! A little late for April fool's, but you can't help but laugh at such a funny trick she pulled on me whether she knows it or not!

April Showers bring....

flooding before the May flowers!

This is what it looked like this morning from the front window. Even Fritzie couldn't believe it!



from the back yard it looked like this! Boa and Zack wonder what happened to their play yard.



We live on a corner where two creeks meet. We have a pond in the front yard, but now we live on the lake!


The only good thing about a day like to day is that it keeps me in to quilt. I shall be showing you some soon!

A Foolish Retreat

Our retreat this spring was another grand time for our group. It happened to fall on the weekend of April Fool's Day, so couldn't help but have fun in a crazy sort of way. Some found themselves sleeping in beds with Easter grass under the covers at the end of their feet. hee hee

We played a game and everyone got a gift. They could either keep their gift or trade it away for someone else's. They would either find an april fool's note in it or something really nice. Sheryl ended up with a quilter's "stash"!



While Kris got patchwork with a "Y" seam (a thong!). LOL Here she proudly displays it as a beard!



Other foolery gifts included a sucker born every minute with a sucker as the gift, One note said Holy Mackeral, I've been April fooled, with a can of Mackerl of course while another note said Holy Cow, I've been April fooled. The gift was a miniature cow on a key chain that moos and lights up, also a package of powdered milk saying, "got milk?" Many got wonderful gifts of fabric and notions and the second day the ones that got April fooled, did get a nice gift after the fact.

We had a few more new faces at the retreat this time. We would get together in the enclosed glass eating area on the deck.
from bottom left with the green shirt back facing towards me is Bonnie and going around clockwise is Irene wiping her face, then Kris, Kathie, Sherry, Lee, Lucille, Sandy and Lesa.


The retreat house is run by two nuns. Sister Muriam on the left and Sister Henrita on the right.



In between all of the Tom foolery, we did manage to get some work done.

This is Bonnie working on her bargello while Sheryl looks on.



Sheryl was working on a gorgeous 9 patch quilt in an awesome setting!


Kris was working with Civil War type fabrics in a gorgeous design.


Lee and Lucille were both working with hand work.
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Kathie was working on a green turning twenty quilt.


Irene was working with 30's fabrics while Lesa worked with fabrics more bold with a Karen Stone pattern.



I even managed to get some things finished! Lots of half square triangles made up in lemon and berry colors, yummy! The blocks were all trimmed making all of these wonderful piles of strips.


The quilt top I finished was one that was made for the Stephanie Spielman breast cancer auction in Columbus. It reminds me of Raspberry Lemonade! SO if life gives you lemons.....


I also was able to finish the binding on this quilt during the retreat too!




We are looking forward already, to the retreat at the end of Sept. A couple of days just isn't enough so we are going to add one extra day to arrive on a Thursday. Looking forward to another awesome retreat!

With the busy weekend, it is now time to rest and relax to take a vacation from our vacation! Seems Boa needs to do the same.