it was so cool....

A group painting event was held in town this week. Karen and I signed up. When I first looked at the painting, I wasn't thrilled with it. 

BUT!

It seemed like a fun thing to do. There were about 20 gals painting.

Everything was set up when we got there. They supplied the apron.

One blank canvas, three different brushes and a plate full of blobs of acrylic paint and a water cup.

First the background went on.

Our artist teacher explained every step,

How to load the brush so the stem was highlighted,

how to make the white lines of the dandelion

how to make the little white ends

and which brush to use.

It was pretty cool seeing all the paintings,

all the same and yet each one different.

These two are obviously in touch with their inner artist.

They chose different background colors and words!

I didn't change the word or color. Most of us wrote the word with chalk, then painted over that.

Some used a stencil.

I never got a shot of Karen's.

We are going to do another one at the end of the month.

These events are put on by,

creativespiritsokoboji

The link brings you to the calendar page. If you scroll down to May 29th, you will see the wine glass we want to do. 

Just a few things...

I worked on making more bird blocks and the current block lotto blocks.
Our friend Dave bought a new tractor. It's a cute little thing.

wet and heavy snow fall......

Lots of snow over night. It was heavy enough to break a large branch off of this tree out front. At least it fell into the yard and not on the driveway. Clean up can wait a little bit.

It is pretty, in spite of the date today. May 2nd. Thought we were done with snow days. But, no, here I am at home.  

We didn't have much wind, so it piled up on the windmill. Can't say for sure if it was lack of wind or so much snow that made it stop turning. 

As I walked around taking pictures, the snow was as high as my boot.

When I came in I measured it.

9 inches. Wow.

Amazing. I think it is time to sew some flying geese for Block Lotto.

I didn't win any birds this month. So I could also make more birds.

I am thankful we have power!

the last one in his closet....

This one was more of a family quilt. It was on the couch for years and years. 

It is called No Ordinary Cats by County Threads.

I finished this in 1996. I know this because I had written the date on the back.

I love this as much today as I did when I finished it.

All those little pieces, all that scrappiness.

This quilt is getting worn too. 

A small heart could be appliqued over that hole. 

Or, I could make it all again.

When I found the quilts, they were stuffed in a basket on the floor of the closet,

or wadded up in the hall cupboard. I folded them and stuck them up on the shelf.

I think they look better this way.

The weather forecast had me spooked. I took all the pictures earlier this week when it was still nice. I didn't want to be battling cold, wind and snow.

Sure enough, the snow started this afternoon. Last time I checked 

we could get 5 inches.

Nice spring we are having here in north Iowa.

one of my first quilts......

This was probably the third quilt I made. There was no pattern, just a block to use. 

I said it looks like dinosaur foot prints to my middle son. 

He thought so too and wanted me to use it.

He would have been about 7 or 8, and in love with dinosaurs.

Of the three boys, he was the one who actually got involved with quilts and even tried sewing himself way back when.

 The middle one's first and last attempt at sewing

Check out the hand quilting. I really did that so long ago. I made a few more with hand quilting. It took forever and I didn't find it soothing or relaxing. Once I started sending them off to be machine quilted, I never looked back.

For years my mom would say, "you should be hand quilting that"

But, Mom, I don't enjoy it.

"well you could tie it then."

Oh please, Mom! 

I never liked sleeping under grandma's bumpy, yarn tied quilts.

 I don't really like tied quilts.

I think that after nearly 20 years of this same conversation, she has finally given up trying to get me to hand quilt anything. Now she just whimpers when I say a quilt is off to the quilters.

This was a quilt made to be used, and it was. It's age is starting to show. 

I am not sure this is worth fixing. There are many areas of wear on it.

For now it will just stay in his closet.

one loved green, one loved orange....

I am not sure of the year this was made. 

It is from a pattern in the Aug. 1996 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting,

called Stars Ablaze.

So it was after that, but before he (the middle son) graduated in 2006

That really narrows it down.

He had a Dreamcast video console. He picked this lime green fabric because of the swirl design, it reminded him of the game system. They must have had a swirl logo or something.

I also made this quilt twice. 

The other one was orange and white. 

It went to the niece who also has Orange Crush.

I texted her and she sent pictures of her orange quilts right away.

There was no date on this one either.

But on the back of this one....

...it says, Orange Crush 2009. Cool.

And the weather is still quite warm, if not hot.

babysitting fish this week....

My middle son is out of town for the week. Some school thing for his job. So, I am feeding his fish. He filled film canisters with food. One for each day he is gone. I can't go wrong.

AND, I am taking this opportunity to raid his closet for quilts I have made for him.

Then use his clothesline and take pictures. They are all pre-blog quilts so I don't think they have  been shown here.

This one is Bonnie Hunter's Orange Crush.

It was a mystery. I don't know if it is still up or not.

Yes it is! Orange Crush Intro

I did the original with orange and gave that one to my niece in Virginia.

Then I made another one with lime green and brown.

My plan is to take a picture of a quilt each day. He has quite a few.

I checked the forecast this morning. Thought it would be really boring.

Warm and sunny for days and days.

Not quite,

there is still the possibility of snow.

We shall see. AccuWeather seems to give the worst case scenario all the time.