Big Week

It was a very big week for me, and I am still getting over it.  Last week I was lucky enough to be one of the teachers at Threadbear quilts, Applique School.  This was the first such school, but the shop is well known for the wonderful stock of reproduction fabrics, patterns, books and great classes.  The school was a great success, with over 6o people attending.  Corliss has put some photos on her blog.  You can see them here.  There are some people putting there names down, in case the school is run again.  How cool is that?!

Edit - I forgot to mention the "surprise"!  As I was greeting the people coming through the door, in walks my friend Kim!!!  I nearly started crying.  She had booked,  not told anyone, and asked Corliss not to tell me she was coming.  Kim belongs to my sewing/social group - and she is very special.  xx

Back to reality....deadlines.....class notes......samples to finish....breathe......

Yesterday we had the monthly sit n sew group at Hettie's Patch.  It is normally held the 1st Saturday of the month.  As I was off in Victoria, the girls agreed that we could hold it this weekend instead.  One of the regular girls popped in with this large bunch of lillies.  She could not attend the class as she had a prior engagement.  Thanks so much Lyn.....so much appreciated.....and I did find a vase to fit, and a spot for them.  Today the flowers started to open.  This is my kitchen window that gets the northern winter sun and it is stunning today.  Not that it is actually winter....it is still so hot....but the earth has moved to the winter tilt and the sun is streaming through.

This is what I got done this morning.  No, not the whole quilt!  Just the borders on.  the pink fabric I auditioned before, got the vote of approval from a few, including me :-) so there it is.  I was going to put a little green border on first, before the pink, but I do not think it really needed it after some careful fiddling about.  I am going to *try* some BIG STITCH quilting on this quilt.  I had to do some research on the big stitch, perle cotton kind of hand quilting to help a girl in my hand work class.  I did the research, and got the needles and the threads recommended, and checked out all the blogs, and she did not come to class.  So, now I am all fired up and want to try it.  Will let you know how I get on with it.  If the whole thing is a thorough mess, I will just pull it out and machine quilt.

All I need now is half a day free to get the quilt basted.