On my way home now from MQX in NH. Had a fantastic time with old and new friends!

My friend Jody (from high school!) came to hang out with me this week. We had a wonderful time reconnecting and renewing our friendship. PLUS, I got to hang out with all my quilty buddies and teach a few classes. What a FABULOUS week!

Landscape quilt

The quilt is covered with tulle, and then quilted.

Finally done! This is the last of my class samples for MQX. Finally done, and bound, and tucked away in my suitcase for it's trip to NH tomorrow!

Landscape Quilt

These are pictures of my latest project for my MQX class called "Not Gonna Take It Lying Down." This class covers things we can make on the quilting machine, but not real bed quilts.
So this is a landscape quilt. It's made kinda like a real quilt, but then I've added some charms, shells, foam pieces, rocks. Next I'll add tulle on top and quilt it to finish it off. I'll post more pics of that when it's finished later today or tomorrow.

New (old) Studio in MD

Just a couple more pics to update you all on the progress in the studio. Got the room painted (well half of it....the other half has to wait til after MQX) and my desk unpacked, and some of the studio set up. More to come...

The rack and hanging baskets came from Ikea.
The green paint dried to a more sage color, that I am quite happy with, after all. I was really worried that it was too green at first.

Still have trim around the windows and door to do, and a door to hide the sump pump, too. All that will come in time (and with much nagging!) I'm sure.

And, I still need to put up a pegboard and get all my thread hung up on it. I love all the color on the wall! But, I'm hesitant to cover up my pretty new paint!

And the IQ still has to be set up.

And the hand-grenade.....well, I think everyone should have one on their desk!!

Now.....back to work. All the business end, bookkeeping and such is caught up, so now I can finish working on my MQX class samples. My new class, Not Gonna Take It Lying Down is going to be sooo much fun and I'm really looking forward to it, but since it's new I don't have any samples made yet for it. So, gotta get to work on that, and an updated handout for TNT, and a new handout for the Bodacious Borders class. Think I can get all that done in one week? We'll see....

Spring is finally here! My crocus have bloomed and gone, and now the daffodils are in bloom. My little lillies are poking their heads out of the ground and I always really look forward to those coming into bloom! Lillies are absolutely my favorite flowers and I have tons of them planted in our yard.

In the meantime, while I'm waiting for the lillies to bloom, we've been working on my studio in the basement, also known as "the dungeon." The cinder block walls are now hidden behind beautiful drywall! I had no idea that doing drywall was so much work!! First, there was the framing, then hanging the drywall, then taping and mudding, then sanding....and more sanding....and more sanding. Finally, priming and painting. Now, it's all done and I can finally unpack! That's my goal for today ~ unpacking and arranging the studio.

So, now I'm down to only one week left before I go to MQX and a whole bunch of class samples to get done!! Next week will be awfully busy for me.

Been really busy here with unpacking and getting settled in, and working on finding all my stuff so I can finish up my class samples for MQX. I've posted some pics here of the samples I worked on today. This is for a class called Not Gonna Take It Lying Down and it's all about things we can "make" on the longarm machine, but not actual quilts.
These are thread appliques ~ made totally out of thread. You see them here on water-soluble stabilizer, but when the stabilizer is washed away you're left with only thread. These are SO much fun to play with!!

My, how time flies! After some harrassment from well-meaning readers of my blog, I have discovered that I have not posted anything new in over 3 months!
Well, obviously, I've been busy. For those of you keeping up with me thru other means (because you're obviously not going to find out much here!), you know that I'm in the middle of moving. So, now the BIG MOVE has occurred and I am drowning in a sea of boxes. They are everywhere ~ all over the place! Big boxes, small boxes, short boxes, tall boxes! And I have no idea how I'm ever going to get thru them all!
And, in the middle of all this, we're renovating the room downstairs that is my studio. It was the basement ~ block walls, concrete floor. We've now framed it, insulated it and drywalled most of the room. We've done enough that I can move in and set up shop again.
Well, that's all today. I've got to get back to the boxes. I'll try to not go long in between posts next time, and I'll also try to get some pictures of my new studio up soon!