Infinite Variety & QuiltAlbum Blog Hop

Oh my! So much time has passed since my last post but so much has been going on. Let's just start with yesterday. I was fortunate to be able to see "Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts" that is an amazing exhibit put on by the Folk Art Museum in New York City. It's over tomorrow but if you can, make your way there. It is AWESOME!!

I got up early and headed into the city via the Holland Tunnel. I parked at my usual spot and started downtown toward the Henry Glass offices. Along the way, I met these snazzy shoes. I love them.

There's something about beautiful leather men's shoes. I know I'm weird that way. I get inspired by everything around me.

Bryant Park and the Empire State Building in the morning.

I'm finally at the offices in the garment district. Well, can you guess who I was meeting here? Why, that's Carrie Nelson from Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. all the way from Arizona. We both look like the Michelin Man because it is still pretty darned cold here in NYC.

After some brainstorming in the conference room, we headed out for lunch. By the way, her new line is gorgeous.

Carrie and I headed over to Brendan's for lunch with Larry, Karen and Lenny from Henry Glass.

Forgive for pulling out my camera at lunch but I love architecture and the ceiling at Brendan's is to die for. The food is amazing too! I had the pan-seared scallops with feta cheese salad. Yummy!

Afterward, Carrie and I took a cab up to the Park Avenue Armory to see the show.

The building itself is impressive! Again, beautiful architecture and detailing.

This is the entrance to the show. It is beautiful but it doesn't quite prepare you for what's inside.

This is only part of the exhibit but what a view. The quilts are hung all the way to the top of this 8 story structure.

We chatted with Jennifer Keltner and Elizabeth Tisinger of Better Homes & Gardens [American Patchwork & Quilting].

I didn't manage to beat the traffic so we decided to head down to Purl Soho and Kate's Paperie. 

It was a beautiful day and one that is hard to describe in pixels and text but I am inspired to the core.  I will show you some more photographs here, on Facebook or Flickr in the next few days.

Meanwhile, I can't forget the fun event that just started today. I've been invited to share QuiltAlbum with you. My day will be tomorrow. Please come back for a little bit of fun with this terrific program. Each day there will be one giveaway for a CD or download of the program! How exciting!

Here are the participants this week. Click on their names to get to their blogs for more information.

March 29

Rachel Griffin

Benita Skinner

March 30

Linda Lum DeBono

Vanessa Christenson

March 31

Geta Grama

Michele Foster

April 1

John Adams

Pat Sloan

See you tomorrow!

xo, L

The Quilt Fest of New Jersey VII

Imagining India by Pat Holly

Last weekend I went to the Quilt Fest of New Jersey VII. I had a great time, saw a lot of quilts, chatted with friends and met some new friends along the way. I thought you'd enjoy seeing some that made it to my camera.

Fish Eye View by Betty Busby

Lost In Illusion by Gloria Hansen

Anniversary Oak by Rosemary Cushman

Arabian Mystery by Judith Heyward

My Baltimore Album by Leona Unkle

A World of Santas by Susan Dicks and Jamie Wallen

Star of Bethlehem Quilt - Collection by Pepper Cory

Watering Can III by Laura Wasilowski

I ran into my friend, Lois Griffin. Don't tell her this but one day I'm going to have to figure a way to remove one of her handmade and totally awesome necklaces from around her neck. They are beautiful! Her husband is too cool. 

I met up with my friend from Henry Glass, Karen and her sister. Her sister Linda has an entourage of lovely ladies and they sure had fun. They're headed to Lancaster this week.

xo, L

Spring Is In The Air, Fun Is Everywhere

We have had a lot of snow days here in the northeast. I am anxiously awaiting spring but I can feel it in the air. Most of all, I see it in the colors around me and in the activities or events that I am able to sneak out to experience.

Last week, my son had Safari Day and I showed you their underwater experience. It was so fun to decorate and he had so much fun talking about his dolphin.

Later that night, my friend Joanne and I went to the Hunterdon Art Museum for their ladies night out event. It was fun being out with good friends eating good food and making fun jewelry like the bracelet that I made at the top. You can see how I still had blue and ocean on my mind!

I still had the color blue on my mind when I bought this kit bead kit at the quilt show this weekend. More on the show later this week. What a pretty bead.

I love to see bright and happy fabrics. My friend Sarah Fielke sent swatches of her new fabric, little things, for Lecien. The line is so happy and I love the dots especially. I used the yellow dot in a project for Mark Lipinski's Christmas 365. The issue should be available in the next week or so. Thanks Sarah!!

Oh, look at the adorable funky chickens!

Most of all, I love all of the spring quilt shows. I went to Quilt Fest in NJ this past weekend and I believe that the big Lancaster show is coming up in two weeks. I get to see beautiful quilts like this one made by Judith Heyward.

I will share some more from the quilt show this week.

xo, L

New Week But Recovering From Last Week

Last week was insanely busy but insanely creative. There were school events and after school events. There's too much to tell in one post. I think that this week will be a busy blogging week.

I want to thank all of the participants to the yo-yo challenge. The entries were all awesome!!! I appreciate all of the effort that went into the designs. I understand that there are a few more to come. I'll let you know but you can peek at the ones already posted to the Flickr page. Enjoy!

Here's my entry. I drafted this little purse and made all of the yo-yos only to find that my original idea didn't quite work technically. So I frantically made a new one over the weekend. I love it!

I thoroughly enjoyed stitching with Aurifil Mako 50. Dreamy, dreamy, dreamy. I used the thread to sew the yo-yos, the beads and to hand-applique it down to the front of the design.

I used the same thread but in a different color to machine quilt some vines and leaves. 

I can't wait to make another one! They're fun and easy [that is after you've drafted the pattern it correctly!] to make.

I promised some little treat. I haven't decided what it will be. Fabric, thread, something. I randomly picked two winners. They are: lucyeths3 and ytzgirl. E-mail privately and I will pop some things in the mail.

Meanwhile, hop over to the Aurifil blog. Miss March has posted her project. She's Sarah Vedeler and here design is beautiful! Remember to post any finished projects on the Aurifil Flickr site. We'd love to see and you get a chance to win some awesome thread!

xo, L

Yo-Yo Challenge

DSC07678, originally uploaded by Sayitaintsew.

How's your project? You can start posting your projects on the Flickr page. I can't wait to see all of the finished designs. if you can't finish today, don't worry. I will let people know once you've posted here.

xo, L

Welcome To The Atlantic Ocean

I was at the kids' school today. I was there for most of the day because Big A's class is having Safari Day and their theme was the Atlantic Ocean. It was fun and I'm tired but I can't think about that though because I've got girls' night out at the Hunterdon Art Museum tonight with my friend Joanne.

Four moms volunteered to turn the classroom into the Atlantic Ocean. I had the kids make these adorable fish so that we could tape them to the windows. We had taped the blue cellophane on the windows to give it an underwater feeling in the class. Everything was so blue.

Then we hung up balloons, streamers and fish that the kids had made the day before. We were definitely feeling as though we were under water now. We also made some rock formations to resemble the bottom of the ocean floor.

Big A made this large blue fish below. We had the kids draw an underwater scene and cute out coral from construction paper or make coral from pipe cleaners to line the bottom of the ocean.

One of the moms had actually found some blue bubble wrap in her neighborhood so we laid that on the floor. Then we had the kids tape seashells to the floor as a path to guide the guests through the room.

We taped plastic table cloths to the ceilings to form the other walls of the ocean. These inexpensive table cloths are a must for any mom who volunteers at her child's school. They're great for parties and for decorating as you can see.

It was hard work but we had lots of fun. Now I have to nap before I go out for ladies night out!

xo, L