Quilting

We are ready to hit the road for the Annual 53 Annual Topanga Banjo-Fiddle Contest and Folk Festival it has been going on since 1961 . Pa competed prior to falling madly in love with me! Now since Ma moved in our time together is far and very few between. We made plans for this date and it turned out so nice The tree are people lined with chairs and instruments. There was not a corner you would turn with out a boing or a twang going on!Banjo - Fiddle - Mandolin - Guitar - Big Standing Bass - Spoon things- Bucket upside down with a string attached.It was endless and So MUCH FUN !Here we find a young lady who brought her own piece of wood to clog on. Really?Amazing stuff and foot tapping. I drew up a bit of dust as I tried to copy her Pa pulled me away -fastThere was a pavilion dedicated to the second owner of theBlue Ridge Pickin Parlor in Granada Hills, California. He was Frank Jevorsek. Not the first and not the last owner. This Parlor is still in business and thriving. In the Western streets of Paramount Ranch, small clusters of hot pickers and fiddlers, and youngsters strumming alongside professionals and surrounded by many delighted spectators, can meet and swap songs, strums and licks. Spinners making yarnMore JamminThis vendor had my heart being a quilter !Ok this guy is to cute!Uni-brow AlertThe Jug ? Ok so he had a partner but the song they sang was so Good!Pa's banjo instructor is the man far left! BillThen on the way to the car I saw Jug Boy.WOOT WOOT . I do say there are so many young people at this festival and kids galore

Picasa is not being nice to me today. I had some pictures that I needed to edit, but for some reason they will not load. I don't know how to edit in any other program, so for today ........Oh, and the reason I need to keep calm is because I chipped a tooth this morning at breakfast, and you can guess this is one of my least favorite things to do :-(

I have been so busy in the garden I have forgotten about this lil blog! Oh My!Well Mama's Day was nice and all the Mama's sat on their ass's and did na-daPa's ma came over and they look like twins ya think?I think this year the thing that made the difference was that we did nothing. Just sat around giggling and enjoying the day. My baybay came down from Oakland for 5 day's It was daughter heavenHow cute are these precious children!My BabiesAll Three of my babiesThree generationsGrama and Baby JoshLulu

I'm hearing the Home Decorating CallMight be time to finish these drapesStarch these linensFreshen up for Summer(or stay off Pinterest!)

Yesterday I had the honor and privilege of participating in a very special book signing and meet & greet at The Quilt Merchant in Winfield Illinois! Valerie Langue and I met many years ago when she first took one of my workshops in Illinois – and we have kept in touch! When I went to Paris a few years ago, she shuttled us around, taking us out to Versailles and other historical ‘Must See’

Each Wednesday, I share a Quilters’ Coupon with you from one of our favourite online retailers. New Classes from Craftsy I have two new classes from Craftsy to share with you this week. The first one is from Joe Cunningham, a quilter I’ve admired for years. His class is Pattern-Free Quiltmaking. Combine spontaneous design with traditional techniques for bold quilts that are all your own. The second class is from Nancy Smith called Strip Your Stash. This sounds like lots of fun to use up the never-ending scraps. Learn how to sew strips using leftover fabric and make a number of fun projects with it. If you’re a retailer and would like to offer a weekly coupon, please send me an email to discuss.

It's no secret that I love all things Moda...and as usual, the Moda booth and new designer fabrics did not disappoint. Here is one of the new quilts by Brigitte Heitland of Zen Chic using her new collection Barcelona. And here are a few other new Barcelona quilts. The Barcelona collection is stunning. Brigitte spoke during the Moda Designer Schoolhouse, and her thoughts on quilting

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The theme for this week’s Quilters’ Show & Tell Flower Gardens. Any quilting style is acceptable and unfinished quilt tops are welcome as well. I want to see lots of flowers either in the design or in the fabrics chosen. Also, please don’t submit a quilt you’ve already entered in the past… let’s see something different! Read the Guidelines and submit your photo before Friday, May 24th, 2013 at 8 a.m. (EDT). Sponsors To sponsor a weekly Quilters’ Show and Tell event, please send me an email and I’ll send you the information package. Check available dates here. Sponsors are featured on the voting post published on Friday. Guest Judges Want to be a guest judge? Guest Judges have 100 bonus points that they can assign to their favourite quilts. Obviously, you can’t enter that week if you’re a judge. If you’re interested, check the schedule, and drop me an email me indicating TWO possible weeks that you’re interested in judging, along with your blog address (if you have one). Preference will be given to people I have communicated with in the past.

Put it in, take it out.Try this, un-try it. Trying that doesn't work either.What am I talking about? I'm trying to finish my quilt. I thought hand-quilting would work, but it became too lumpy-bumpy and distorted. I kept hoping it would get better, but it didn't. It got worse. I stopped quilting this morning at 10am, and pulled out quilting until 1:30pm.Then I decided to tie it, with buttons. But the buttons overpowered the quilt. The embroidery became insignificant. All I could see was buttons. I sewed them on for 3 hours: they only took 45 minutes to remove.I tell you, this baby is starting to look a bit worn around the edges with all the stitching/unstitching.I finally understand why Crazy Quilts are tied. Trying to do anything else to secure them can make one crazy! And so, my next feat will be to tie it, unobtrusively. It still has 4 lines of quilting, which I think I will keep. In the end, maybe it will have to go too. If nothing else, I've changed my thinking. It is more important to do it right, than to meet this year's Houston deadline. Meeting it is still a possibility, but one that is becoming more and more remote.Oh well. I still think goals are good! :)