I must be doing something right!

 

Actually, there were three teas in two weeks, but one I hosted.  At these two I was a guest!

Kathy invited both my mom and me to the Girlfriends Tea at her church.

Kathy’s table was lovely, done up in black and white polka dots and lime green.  My sister is surely jealous!  

The food was wonderful.

And the Girlfriend theme decorations were adorable!

And then I was invited to speak at the Research Club’s annual tea in Willapa.  I was thrilled.  Willapa is where Anna Lena lived, where my grandma was born and where my mom was born.  Amazingly, the Research Club was formed in 1919 and is still going strong.  One of the special things I saw that day was the gavel that was presented by a man in memory of his mother, who had been a charter member.  The gavel is made of Alaskan ivory, and has been in the club since the 1920′s!  

I talked about Anna Lena’s life and the quilt I made about her called Dearest Brother.  Each block in the quilt is based on a letter she wrote to her brother in Sweden.  

After my talk, we were treated to a wonderful tea.  I love it when we have an opportunity to use our “pretty” things.

 

The food was delicious!

And Lonna did an amazing job with the flower arrangement.  I thought it was just beautiful, but when I heard the story of it, I loved it even more.  It seems a member who has now passed away used to provide the lilacs and rhododendrons for the tea each year.  Now her husband invites the club to come and cut the flowers in his yard so the tradition and memories of a beloved member live on.  

Does it get any cuter than this!

 

This is the panel from my new Sweet Pea line.  I made the Lollipop quilt for the booth at Market, but I wanted to show off the dress panel as well.  I didn’t have much time, and I knew there wouldn’t be a lot of room in the booth (with the Lollipop quilt and the jumper already there) so I went simple–real simple.  I cut one row off the panel, added a one inch wide white border and prairie points!  

I think prairie points are such a great finish for a quilt, and they’re really very easy.  What!?!  You haven’t tried them?  Here’s a simple lesson.

Cut some 4″ squares from a variety of fabrics.  Fold each square in half diagonally once, then once again.  (That would be twice for those of you who are counting!)  Press.

Now lay your prairie points along one edge of the quilt.  Start at one corner, pin a pp in place.  Tuck the next pp inside the last one a little ways, and pin again.  Continue along one side of your quilt until you reach the other end.  You may have to adjust a bit as you get to the end so they are all tucked in about the same.  Don’t sweat over this, just eyeball it.   I used 14 on the long sides and 11 on the short sides.  

Sew them down.  I used a little more than a 1/4″ for this.  Do all four sides.  

Now go ahead and quilt the top.  I know the little points are laying on the top, just be careful and don’t quilt over them.  In fact, you want to stop your quilting about an inch from the edges.  When the quilting is done, trim the batting and backing even with the top of the quilt.

Now, since you didn’t quilt that outer inch, you should be able to separate the three layers of your quilt like this.

Carefully fold the backing under the quilt, and fold the quilt top back, leaving just the inch of batting on the cutting board.  Very carefully trim away about a 1/4″ of the batting.  If you’re too nervous to do this with your rotary cutter, you could do it with a pair of scissors.  

Once you’ve trimmed all four sides, press the backing fabric under 1/4.”

Press the prairie points out.  

Bring the back up to the edge of the stitching a hand stitch in place!  Voila!  You’ve done it!

I recently got a great deal from my publisher on my second book – Fat Quarter Fun.  I’m passing the savings along.  FQF usually sells for $22.99, but right now I’m offering it for just $10.00 in my web catalog.  If you have some fat quarters looking for a project, I’m sure you’ll find something here to inspire you!

Look what got delivered to my studio last week!

 

It must be a boy.  It came wrapped in a blue blanket!  I need to give it a name.  Any ideas?

It took three guys most of the afternoon and a whole lot of tools to get it all hooked up.  

I got a couple hours of training and, boy, I’m having fun now!  But first I have to tell a little tale on myself.  For years I had a Gammill long arm quilting machine in my shop.  People loved to watch Nancy or me working on it, but someone, usually a man, would invariably say, “That’s cheating!  My grandmother used to do that by hand.”  For a long time I tried to come up with a snappy comeback.  I didn’t want to be rude, but I wanted to make my point.  Finally I decided on, “Did you get here on a horse today, or did you come by car?”  That usually got a laugh and I’d go on to say that my grandmother quilted by hand, too.  In fact, I quilt by hand sometimes, too.  BUT, if my grandmother had had a machine like this, you can bet she’d have been having a ball with it!  

I almost always quilted free hand on the old Gammill, and took pride in the fact that some of “me” went into every quilt.  I didn’t think I’d want a computerized quilting machine.  But, hey, even I eventually catch up with the times.  Heck, I have a cell phone, a lap top and even a DVR.  I might as well have a Statler Stitcher.  The quilt you see on it here is one made by my friend Pat Hall.  It was a big quilt, and a good one for me to experiment on–hope you don’t mind, Pat!  

I can’t wait to learn how to use all the bells and whistles this baby has.

Especially a small town parade!

 

Now, Dear Reader, some of you may be sophisticated and may have attended the Rose Parade or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  There you would have seen wonderful floats, covered with flowers–real flowers, and giant balloons and fabulously turned out bands and drill teams.  But let me tell you, you ain’t seen nothin’ until you’ve seen a small town parade!  And my town, Long Beach, Washington, knows how to throw a parade!  This year was our 59th Loyalty Day Parade.  

Our Grand Marshall this year was Abraham Lincoln!  It’s his 200th birthday this year.  Here he is in the reviewing stand with my dad.

Every convertible in town is pressed into service so the local dignitaries and politicians can be seen by the admiring crowds.  The yellow Cadillac belongs to my dad.

Of course we have mounted units and rodeo queens

Heck, we even have llamas!

And tractors.  I ask you, does the Rose Parade have tractors!?!

I do love the drill teams.  The girls work so hard to keep in step, and boy can they stomp!  I’d think they’d all have shin splints!

Of course Loyalty Day has it’s own royalty–the Loyalty Days Ambassadors.  This is what we call a float.  By the way, is that ambassador wearing a camo dress!

If you lived in Winlock, Washington, you could be part of the Egg Royalty and ride in an egg float everywhere you go.

I don’t know where these girls were from, but they had the most float-like float in the parade.  And I love the border print dresses!

Every parade needs clowns, and we have lots of those.

This guys not just another pretty face!

We have vintage cars.

And Volkswagon “Things,”

More floats.  The Scandinavian Royalty from Astoria.

Newfoundland Dogs get their own float.

The Chinook Tribe was in a float with a boat–a Chinookan Canoe.

And we have balloons.

But my favorite is the shopping cart drill team!

Three of our four grandchildren were here this weekend for the Loyalty Day Parade.  The big draw, besides the parade itself, is the tractors.  Here are some shots at home before the parade.  I’ll try to post parade photos tomorrow–but I have a pattern to write!

As you can see, the men in the family are pretty green–John Deere green, that is.  I, on the other hand, prefer orange.  Big surprise to those who know me!