In The Good Ole Summertime Quilt Swap

It's done and went in the mail on Monday. The flip flops are hand appliqued, with little duck buttons holding the ribbons down that make up the straps. I hand quilted the blue border.

I have a larger version of this pattern, with 4 sets of flip flops done in a wall hanging. One of the bathrooms in my house is done in a beach theme and has the big flip flop quilt hanging in there.

Ironically - they are just my size!!

The label on the back is a footprint. And the fabric on the back was such fun. I thought about adding a second border on the quilt with this sandpail fabric . . .

2009 Quilts & Vines

The 2009 Quilts & Vines quiltshow was a wonderful experience - just as good as the 2008 one, but with a bit more heat and humidity!

Two carloads of us drove the hour from Mitchell to the Strawbale Winery near Renner on Saturday morning. A wonderful quilter from Winner, SD gave a trunk show during the day. The Poker Alice Band played music. Food, wine tasting, music, and quilts!! We took our lawn chairs to sit in the shade. And we brought our cameras.

Over 400 quilts were on display at the winery. Most of them are hung right in the vineyard among the grapes. But some are also hung around the farmsite - on the sides of the barn, draped over an antique truck, etc. Talk about EYE CANDY!!

It was lovely strolling between the rows of grapes and looking at the lovely quilts. What a stunning setting! The quilts are clipped (with a protective backing) directly onto the wires holding up the grapes. This particular section of grapes was right along the driveway as you entered the winery and had 3 long rows of quilts displayed. Another - even larger - section was on the other side of the buildings. And in between was the barn, the winery building, a food tent, the stage, and a huge tent set up to sit in while watching the trunk show.

This was one of my favorite quilts in the show this year. I loved the colors and the fabulous applique on this one.

Every quilt had a tag on it telling who made it, and I must apologize to all of the artists who's quilts I photographed. I didn't write down any names.

I'll share more photos later in the week.

Christmas Block Exchange

This whole idea was hatched by 5 of us over coffee on a Saturday morning last winter . . . getting 12 people together to make blocks for an exchange and use a "focus" fabric to tie them all together. So we went shopping and bought 12 yards of a beautiful Christmas fabric with holly leaves on it. And we put together a list of people to invite to participate. We ended up with 10 local ladies from Mitchell, 1 from Minnesota, and 1 from North Carolina.

Each of us got 1 yard of the focus fabric and the instructions to choose a 12 1/2 inch block pattern. Using the focus fabric, we had to each make 13 of that block. Then we planned to get together in late summer - have a party - and exchange our blocks so that everyone ended up with 1 block from each person.

What about the 13th block, you ask???? We are going to put that set together and donate the quilt to some charity to raffle or auction as a fundraiser. Well . . . last night most of us got together at Deb's beautiful home and had our exchange party. Mary in North Carolina even joined us via cell phone. Marilyn would describe each block as we traded and tell Mary who had made it. (Mary's set had already been given to her.) The blocks are all gorgeous, by the way!!Kelly brought cheesecake - YUM!!! And Yvonne had a wonderful idea for our charity quilt layout.

What is better than quilting friends?

Fat Quarter Bingo

Tonya (http://tonyassewingroom.blogspot.com) is hosting a Fat Quarter Bingo game. I've mailed her 2 fat quarters, so I'll receive 2 bingo cards from her via email. She'll determine the bingo pattern needed, and draw numbers at random and all of those playing will be able to keep track. The person getting BINGO first will receive the fat quarters.

The deadline to let her know you want to play is August 10. She is hoping to start playing on August 15.

One week until Quilts & Vines

One of the highlights of last summer was attending Quilts and Vines with my friend Sylvia. This is an annual outdoor quilt show held at the Strawbale Winery, near Renner, SD. There were hundreds of quilts hung outdoors IN THE VINYARD and on the winery buildings. It was such fun! There was music, food vendors, wine sampling, and quilts, quilts, quilts. We took lawnchairs and set them up in the shade of the big trees so we could relax and could come and go as we pleased. So the afternoon was spent listening to music, sampling wine made by the Strawbale Winery, and looking at all of the beautiful quilts.

This year I think several of us plan to attend on August 8. I'll let you know how much fun we had. In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures from last year.

"Good Ole Summertime" mini quilt top

Here is the mini quilt top - ready for quilting. Thought I had the perfect stencil for handquilting "ocean waves" around the blue border. However, it was too narrow, so I'm searching through my stencils for a better choice.

Then it will mailed to _______ .

Supper guest

We are very fortunate to have a beautiful back yard, full of trees and lush grass - and it ends at a shallow ravine. That all adds up to a bounty of wildlife coming through our yard. Wild turkeys, hawks (see my post a couple of weeks ago), and deer. Every day we have deer come through - in the morning and in the late afternoon or evening. And they usually stop to nibble at my bird feeders. Tonight we had a beautiful big doe spend about a half hour in our yard. I sat next to the window and shot several photos of her. Another smaller doe and a fawn came through just a little while later, but they didn't stop to eat. I never tire of watching these lovely creatures - even when they are cleaning out my bird feeders!