50th Birthday Party

I am going to take a break from showing doll quilts to tell you about my fun evening last night. My fantastic, funny friend is about to celebrate her 50th birthday so we had a surprise party on her last night. Now this was not an easy task since she lives in Cleveland, Ohio and we live in Western Indiana. She had let us know that she was coming to town for a charity event so we got busy and started the planning. Let’s just say she did not have a clue and was totally surprised. We had so much fun. Drinks, then dinner and then out came the birthday cake. It didn’t stop there. We had planned to give her 50 gifts, but everyone had so much fun buying these gifts that she probably had closer to a hundred. Some were small and some were big. She is so witty and her comments after each one kept us all laughing. We ended with the last gift being a quilt we had made her. We were each to make blocks depicting us as a quilt maker. What was so amazing was that she guessed who made each block correctly. I had made her the folk art chicken block I showed awhile back here on my blog. Linda made the teapot block as she has a collection of teapots and Dawn made the feathered star block. We also had decided on a theme for the party of “Fifty, that was easy”. She entertained us all at quilt camp last year with one of those “easy buttons” that she would press at just the right time to get us all laughing. I made the 50 that was easy block using Tonya’s freestyle letters. The quilt turned out better then we could have ever expected. We had no rules. The colors all came together perfectly. We spent a day laying out the blocks and coming up with our layout. Linda then did the math for us so that we could make it all work, after a bit of fudging here and there and adding a few filler blocks it all worked out. So, A very Happy Birthday to my dear friend Linda G, may you have many, many more!

And Even More Doll Quilts

Can you tell that I am a little over the moon for doll quilts at the moment? I am having a lot of fun with this swap. I had my little quilt all planned out and the fabrics pulled but I hesitated to start cutting until I received my partners information. I had put Quilters Choice on mine as I would love to receive just about anything. My partner has specific tastes in colors that she would love to have. That is going to make this all the more fun! My original plan is not going to work but I have drawn up a new one and can’t wait to get started. I spent a few minutes before work this morning pulling out fabrics.
So much is happening here on the home front. Our daughter has been gone most of this month to Grandma’s and her Aunt’s homes. She is definitely enjoying her summer vacation but I sure miss having her around. My middle son is working at my office this summer. He is our social one and is never home so this has been a nice change for us. I am actually getting to spend some quality time with him and at the same time he is earning dollars for gas, movies and Taco Bell that I will no longer have to give him.
Our oldest son called last night and is still very happy with his job and home in Wyoming. The word “happy” makes it so much easier on mom!
One more little Lori Smith quilt that I have done.

More doll quilts

I am anxiously awaiting my assignment for the doll quilt challenge. It should come any day now. Thanks for all the comments on my little quilt in the previous post. It is 16 x 20 and is a Lori Smith pattern. I have done a lot of her little quilts. I enjoy hand quilting and they are the perfect size. The one shown today is also one of her patterns.
Lucy has the picture of the walls of little quilts on her blog. I have seen this numerous times before and fall in love again each time I see it. I don’t have an area that this would work in but it would sure be fun to do.
Guild meeting tonight and dinner with the girls. That is the best part of each week!

Doll Quilts

I joined the doll quilt swap. I am so excited. I love little quilts and have been making them for years. I can’t wait to see who I am paired up with. I have a design planned out but will wait to see who my partner is and if she has any particular wants in her little quilt. I hope to be able to use both wool and cotton as my idea has appliqué in it and with the deadline to ship the middle of July it only gives us about a month to get this done.
My Aunt and Uncle celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this past weekend. They had a small party at there home which is about 60 miles away. They live in a town of about 1200 people. When I was a girl growing up I got to spend 1 week each summer with them. I have such fond memories of those times. Shopping at the 5 and Dime, eating Life cereal (that is what they always had), walking up to the schoolhouse which housed grades 1 -12 to play on the playground. If only things were so simple and laid back now days. And what a milestone, 60 years together, they have been blessed!

Books and Gwen Marston

I haven’t been able to make guild all winter and spring due to my children’s conflicting sports schedule. So it was a really nice surprise to attend Tuesday evening and find that they were having a book sale from our guild library. We all were able to go to the table and choose one book then sit down. After everyone had a book we did this again 2 more times. After the third time you could get as many books as you liked. I was thrilled to be able to add the Florida Quilts and Wrapped in Glory to my own personal library, along with a couple others. It was a good night!
I am also excited to say that Gwen Marston is coming to the Quilters Hall of Fame celebration in Marion, IN this summer and teaching 2 classes. I was able to get into both, Little Flower Pot Appliqué Quilts and Liberated Stars. I have always wanted to attend her quilt retreat that used to be on Beaver Island, MI but is now on the mainland. This is the next best thing.
I am looking forward to the weekend! We have just a couple of graduation party’s and 2 baseball games to attend. I am working on a mystery quilt and a few friends are following along so I need to keep ahead to make sure all my clues are correct. I hope to get it all sewed together this weekend.