Quilt Festival, Shoe Carnivals, etc.

This week is the Utah Quilt Guild's Annual "Quilt Festival" - doesn't that sound so grand and fabulous??? Well, it is! I woke up on Wednesday morning and couldn't stop smiling! I had such a hard time sleeping the night before, it was like Christmas when I was a kid (okay, as an adult too). I kept waking up and looking at the clock, waiting for morning to come.

This is my 5th year of attendance and I plan on going every year until I die!

There are all sorts of classes offered, fabulous lunches with National Quilt-y Speakers (David Taylor, George & Virginia Siciliano, Sally Collins) - 2 of my favorite things - eating and absorbing quilty-ness!

There are lots of vendors at the vendor mall, just waiting for me to stroll in and buy their wonderful items that I NEED. I am basically a lazy shopper, I don't like to go from store to store, getting sweaty, etc. So I love it when they all come together in one place!

This year, I took a scrap class - we learned how to organize our stash, and USE it, we got several patterns and I got started on a "Around the World" scrap quilt. What is that you say?- several hours in class and you got 4 (!) blocks finished? Yes - that is me. I took a lecture class with a fun batik quilt show. This morning I took a "Short Cuts" class with great ideas on ways to make flying geese, square in a square blocks, prairie points and more. I loved this class (taught by Bonnie Miles) because I love efficiency and she is very efficient and her brain works WAY better than mine at figuring out the most efficient/easy way to make blocks - and she shares her ideas with us! Tonight I am taking a hand quilting class and am looking forward to that. Tomorrow and Saturday - no classes, just volunteering at the mini quilt raffle/display booth and working on handwork + two more fabulous lunches!!!

Yes, I am aware that my quilt blocks look pretty skewampas, but I'm hoping when I make more blocks, I can arrange them in a way where they will play nicely together...

P.S. Did I mention there is a quilt show too??

P.S. S. Whenever I see the "Shoe Carnival" store, I keep thinking I'll go in and there will be high-heeled shoes riding a merry-go-round or something like that - I am always vaguely disappointed when it's just a regular shoe store.

Sigh...

You can see from my pics, that my projects are getting bigger and my design wall isn't! I guess it's more crawling around on the floor for me. I shouldn't complain, I am grateful I am physically able to get down on the floor, etc. But - in case you haven't noticed, I am a chronic complainer. (I think Mr. Handsome may have noticed a wee bit.) Here is my latest project from "Crazy Ladies Quilts":

I have 4 more "rounds" to go:

It's a Christmas Gift, it should be finished in plenty of time, which is great, except it is not even close to the amount of quilt-y gifts I am planning on giving this year. It is for my baby boy, Shane. He doesn't follow the blog (I try not to be insulted that he doesn't hang on my every word, now that he is married and expecting a baby of his own, etc.), so he won't see it, although he has gotten glimpses of it already.

Well -it's after 11 and I guess at some point I should shower and get out of my walking clothes...

I need a bigger design wall!

And somewhere to put it...

I have been spoiled with my design walls (flannel backed plastic table cloths), this quilt just wouldn't fit, so I had to crawl around on the floor. It was hard to get the perspective right too, I moved a couple of blocks around and numbered and stacked them, so we'll see. I can't wait to get this all sewn up and quilted!

Birthday Month...

Yes, it's my favorite time of year, September! I love that it's my birthday, fall is close, I'm anticipating the fun holidays, there are quilt retreats galore, the weather gets nice and cool, etc. This morning, it was nice and crisp when I went walking, which makes me think happy thoughts and want to quilt!

I just got back from a great visit to my family in Southern California. It was wonderful to see them all, it is so nice to be with a bunch of people that you love and they love you back! We celebrated my birthday (a little early) with "Death by Chocolate Cake" from Costco, always a favorite. Looking forward to a fun family reunion next month in Arizona for my Mamal's (grandmother's) 90th birthday.

Life is good and I am grateful.

P.S. Got a little folding & sorting in at the studio: