Wednesday, June 13, 2012

The unexpected...Free Time!

Who has free time?  Me, never.  Today an unexpected morning cancellation of an appointment gave me the totally free morning!  What should I do with my time... I looked at some blogs, and chatted with a friend, a long overdue, nice long visit and at the end of the conversation she said,  "go eat a cookie. Everything is better with a cookie."
Not having any cookies, I decided to make some. Wanted Chocolate Chip, no chocolate chips to be found, so I made plain chocolate cookies.
Photographing chocolate cookies is like photographing a black cat, no offense Winston, but not easy.

Of course, I had to eat some of the batter while they baked.

On Kathie's blog this morning, she showed a little quilt of assorted squares from leftovers strips.  Hers is colorful, mine is chocolatety, like chocolate cookies.


I love quilts from leftovers.  Thought I would show you an antique quilt of squares hanging over the cupboard door. Have I showed you this before?  I've tried to figure out how the squares are assembled and the best I can tell is most often in 4 patches and then somehow the plan changed.


Free time is spent.  Back to sewing.  Time to hide the cookies.

Until next time,
~Betsy~

Thursday, June 7, 2012

A return to normal???

SEW...what is normal?  After a dismally sad early to mid May, the second half of the month impoved greatly, thanks in part to attending Quilt Market in Kansas City, followed by a fabulous trip to APQ in Des Moines.  Being with friends and surrounding myself with quilts and quilting talk helped lift my spirits so much.  Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers and such kind words on the passing of my dad. Below, you will find some of the things that made me smile...

Who doesn't LOVE looking at antique quilts?
Quilts from Mulberry Lane booth

Quilts from Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Blue Hill Fabrics booth

 Friends...
Linda, Jo and me

those Quilted Crow girls,
 Leonie Bateman and Deirdre Bond-Abel
Look at those happy faces!!!
Leonie has their new book in her hand...
Elegant Quilts, Country Charm
It is a Martingale publication.
Fabulous book girls!

Turn your head on its side to the left please...taken with my phone.
My Lone Star at the Kansas City Star exhibit.
Great exhibit of quilts by The Star's authors.
Put your head back on its side to the left for the next 2 photos....blame the photographer!

My Hourglass quilt from History Repeated


Carol Staehle's Pinwheel from History Repeated

The little dresser...a sweet treat from a recent antique show.
A step toward normalcy...

And finally, what I did this morning..froze 4 quarts of green beans from our garden.
Back to normal.

Before I close, I've been asked to do a little promoting...
I'll be teaching two classes, the T Quilt from Gone to Texas and Wheel of Fortune from
History Repeated  July 27 and 28 respectively at
Hooray for the Red, White and Blue!
the New Braunfels Area Quilt Show in
New Braunfels, TX
please visit
for more details.

Watch the blog and I'll do my best to let you know where I might be.
Due to the health concerns of my family, I've had to re-evaluate travel and bookings for a while,
so catch me where you can...

Stay tuned for a preview to my 'Wrappers' line from Blue Hill Fabrics.
Hopefully it will arrive this month.

Ok, last  happy comment...at Quilt Market, the shop where I work and teach, Lone Star House of Quilts, was named a Top 10 Shop and will appear in the fall issue of APQ's Quilt Sampler.
Congrats LSHQ!

Until next time...
My best,
~Betsy~