Summer Vacation

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

 

We’ll see how this month’s blog goes, but I don’t feel like it will be very lengthy.  Want to know why?!  My family, my sister’s family, and some neighbors all went an Alaskan cruise at the beginning of the month.  It was fabulous!  Seriously, a vacation of a lifetime.  We saw so many beautiful sights and so much wildlife, and learned so much about the history of Alaska, the glaciers, the flora and fauna… best trip EVER!  I even got to visit a quilt shop in Skagway.  LOL!  Pardon me for sharing a few of my favorite photos from the trip…

 



Dawes Glacier at the end of Endicott Arm Fjord.

 

Just walking around taking a few photos on Meade Glacier.

Watching whales in Juneau.



A mama bear and three yearlings in Tongass National Forest in Juneau.

Rainforest in Ketchikan.

Don’t forget that the Texas Quilt Museum is hosting an exhibit of Mom’s quilts this summer.  It opened last week, and runs all the way until September 30.  If you’re in Texas, or can make your way down, make sure to stop by.  I know Mary and I will be planning at least one road trip this summer, if not more!



 



Texas Quilt Museum in LaGrange, Texas.

Remember my friend, Sheila, who I started teaching to quilt last month?  She’s finished not just one, but TWO quilt tops since then!  And, we made a trip out to Painted Pony 'n Quilts this last weekend to pick out fabrics for her next two.  They’ll both be from Joyce Lundrigan’s All-in-One Club, which I’m a part of.  I want the practice using her patterns, but haven’t had time to make the tops yet.  So, Sheila has agreed to make a couple of the tops in exchange for my quilting.  It’s a win-win!

Myrtle's Broken Dishes from Connecting Threads

Toile de Jouy quilt from Connecting Threads

And finally, yes, I did actually get a couple of quilty things done this month.  First, remember that baby stars from last month?  I got almost all of the colored pieces cut out.  Whew!  If you know me, you know I hate cutting, and that was a lot of cutting.  Are you wondering why I said “almost” got the pieces all cut?  It’s because we haven’t picked the colors for the last few months of our exchange.  Again, if you know me, I have some pretty OCD tendencies with things like this, and it’s driving me absolutely nuts to not know.  I mean, how am I supposed to mix and match centers and points evenly when I don’t know the last few colors???  LOL!  I’m still working on getting this month’s set of stars sewn together, but I’ve at least got most of the parts sewn together, and it’s only the first week of July.

All my little pieces cut out, minus the last three months!

My July set of stars, close to being complete!

Last but not least, I finished quilting that Christmas Halo quilt that will be up for sale at the Lakeview Quilters Guild’s auction next month.  Wow!  I used Joyce Lundrigan quilting patterns for almost the entire thing (the exception being the cornerstones), and I think it turned out absolutely gorgeous!  I was so worried about my thread color choices and pattern selection, but in the end, I’m totally happy with the final product.  And it is all for a good cause… support of my guild.

 

 

I do have another quilt top that I’ll be loading up to quilt tonight.  It’s a really cute red, black, and white top, again for the guild’s auction.  I think this one will be a pretty edge-to-edge design, and I’ll play around with black and white variegated thread.  Pictures of the finished product to be posted next month!

Another quilt that I'll be quilting for the guild's auction next month.

 

That’s all I’ve got for now.

See y’all next month.  Keep on quilting!

Jenny