Let’s start with an apology…
I’m sorry… it’s the last day of August and you might wonder where I have been… or not? I have no excuse, no reason, no nothing. All I can say is that I am here now and let’s do a catch up before the start of September. 😊
I need to look at my calendar to remind myself what have I have been up to since I last wrote.
There was a weekend in Nashville, visiting Jonathan and family. Bridget flew in from England and we went to an Ed Sheeran concert.
We had excellent seats and it was a wonderful evening.
There was also shopping, eating and pool time involved. Good times!
Back home for a couple of classes with the people of Mancuso under the Virtual School House banner.
I managed a screen shot of the three hour beading class before everybody had left (!!) but missed out on the very well attended Walking Foot Class.
It’s good to be able to occasionally offer a class that’s open to people no matter where in the country they are!
Here’s the piece I worked on in class.
And then, as one might, Steve and I flew to Cleveland for the day to visit the Cleveland Museum of Art before the Manet and Morisot exhibit moved on…
I always like the pictures where people are stitching! This is Lilacs at Maurecort, 1874 and shows Bertha Morisot’s sister stitching while her daughters look on.
We had a super day. We left Midway at 8 in the morning and landed back again at 8.15 in the evening. Our flights were on time, we had a lovely lunch at the museum, there was lots to look at besides the exhibit. We didn’t need luggage! Where to next?
July!
Our friends, Elizabeth and Trevor, flew in from London, ready to celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday. Where better than the happening city of Rockford?
A patriotic concert from the Symphony orchestra at the Coronado on the 3rd, a downtown parade and fireworks on the 4th, with a grandstand view from the roof top bar at the Embassy Suites…
and then on to Wisconsin for a family BBQ at Joanne and John’s on the 5th.
Thank you to James for this picture!!
Back home and a quick trip into Chicago to the Art Institute before Trevor and Elizabeth flew home.
Time to get back to work with a day trip to Quilters Plus in Glenwood, Illinois, about an hour South East of here. We enjoyed a fun filled day with Lessons Learned While Quilting in the morning and a half day Introduction to Wool Appliqué in the afternoon.
And then a bit further afield for Maine Quilts 2026!
I had a full schedule with half day classes of Hand Beading and Dorset Buttons, full days of both Free Motion and Walking Foot Quilting AND my Lessons Learned While Quilting lecture.
Here are some of the Walking Foot Quilters
And this is the audience for my lunchtime lecture. They brought their lunch with them.
The show is held in the Augusta Convention Center which isn’t known for its culinary prowess but my Saturday evening driver was easily persuaded to go out for dinner on the way back to the airport!
We shared this fabulous lobster dinner.
I mean you can’t go to Maine and not have lobster?
And that brings us to August!!
August has been busy.
I started with a trip to Overland Park, Kansas for the Original Sewing and Quilting Expo. We had a full classroom for both Walking Foot and Free Motion quilting and almost full for Hand Beading on Fabric. I do feel special when I get good sign-ups!
I also hosted a gallery walk of the quilt exhibits before the show opened one morning. It’s the first time I have ever done that. I didn’t have any problem talking for the one hour allotted to us!
FYI I will be in Cincinnati in October with OSQE for an encore performance, find registration details here
Home one day and Julia and Co. came to visit. We went to the Science and Industry Museum for the Anne Frank Exhibit. No photos were allowed. It was very well done with lots to think about.
We also toured the Spider Man exhibit, less to ponder but plenty of photo-ops!
Ruby was finishing off a pillow in the back of the van. I was very happy to get a picture when she was done.
Didn’t she do a good job? It’s Antonia Tiger from Elizabeth Hartman. You can find the pattern on Elizabeth’s website. Organic curves walking foot quilting for the win!!
Not a lot of time to sit around. I attended a meet and greet with the President of BERNINA USA at BERNINA of Naperville. With thunderstorms and tornado warnings in the area it wasn’t as well attended as perhaps we’d hoped but we still had a good time.
And then I was back in the car for our Girls’ Weekend in Milwaukee. They might be making the decisions for me at some point so it’s a good idea to make sure we are all friends? Lauren flew up from Nashville, I picked up Julia in Rockford and we met Sarah at Joanne’s before we drove in to the city together. I booked the hotel and brought chocolate, Joanne sorted out dining and entertainment, Julia was responsible for the signature cocktail and craft activity while Sarah made sure we all used words and were grateful…
That’s not very many words for a fun-filled weekend…
I was just home for one night before I set off again! This time I was headed East to Grand Rapids for AQS QuiltWeek.
Another busy show. Tuesday was spent as a judge, along with Sue Nickels and Jenny K. Lyon. They know what they are doing and AQS has a very organized logical sequence to judging their shows so we got it done. Lots of discussion but no fuss!
And then to teaching.
Two and a half days (four different classes) of Walking Foot Quilting classes
And a very fun Wrapped in Scraps clothes line bowl class. Everyone made at least one bowl. I managed to get a few pictures…
In between there were several evening events. I took part in the All-Star Review AND Games Night where I was defending my title from Hertford…
Well done Team One. We did it!!
And lest you think we weren’t excited enough…
Everyone won a brand new ruby red Panasonic cordless iron!
Just one quilt from the show. This one was in the New Quilts from an Old Favorite exhibit… food…
I just needed a picture.
I actually had a short nap after my last class before I returned to the show floor where I helped pack up quilts during take down. It was an excellent week but I was ready to drive home on the Sunday morning and spend the next week not doing a whole lot of anything.
Which brings us to today.
A good day for catching up before September begins tomorrow. I did actually make a few things while everything was going on. I will try and share those and some other news before the end of the week. Now I have written it, I’d better do it?
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