May was a busy month,

May was a busy productive month.  This is my first finish for the month.  Kris at Dandelion Quilts had a small quilt swap.  This is what I made for my partner, Carol at, Carol's Crafty Creations.. I liked how it turned out.

Saturday, May 12 was the walk for ALS.  Here is Kerri Anne and my son Andrew.  Kerri Anne did walk the first mile, the second she had a little help from a lot of friends.

Saturday night my sister Linda, arrived from Maine to visit with Dad and I for the week.  We enjoyed a wonderful brunch with Dad at Alden Gardens, where he lives. 

My husband drove to Elma, New York, to spend Mother's Day with his mother.  He did surprise me with this beautiful bouquet of flowers.

Linda and I went to IKEA one day. What a cute way to move your lunch.  We each could not resist a few wonderful things from this great store.  Linda does not have an IKEA up in Maine.

Dad and I one day.  Have to check out the wildlife. No baby swans yet!

Then I went to the lecture and workshop with Bonnie Hunter.  That was so good.

I purchased these cool magnets from Bonnie.  As you can see I used mine for sewing, Linda on the other hand is not a sewer, so she attached her corkscrew to hers.  Now she was ready for anything! Have corkscrew will travel!

One the way home from the airport after dropping Linda off for her flight home, we stopped in Wheaton to check out the Farmer's Market!.  What a wonderful stop.  The flowers and produce was looking so good.  I bought all sorts of fresh produce.

Then I started on projects I wanted to finish.  In all I made 17 new zipper pouches.  I have a variety of zippers that have wanted to play with fabric.  The pouches became all sorts of sizes.  I love making these.  They are always great for quick gifts.

Finished these 2 needle keeps.  About time.  They have been sitting in a partial state of finish for a couple of months.  Sometimes all things need are a few stitches and they would be done.  Why do I wait?

Another pouch.  I love how this one turned out.  The patchwork are all Japanese linens. It is just so cute.

I put together a small quilt top. These are siggy blocks from the last 2 years Dear Jane siggy swap.  Can't wait to show when this one is done.  I took it to be quilted today.

Here is the workings on Bonnie Hunter's. Patchwork and Pinwheels.  I am really enjoying using my scraps for this quilt.

Here is progress on Patchwork and Pinwheels.  I think mine is going to be pretty colorful.

Another finish.This quilt is from  a yahoo group I belong to.  The center of all the blocks are signed by members.  The block is called Prairie Flowers.  I received this one back from the quilter, Wendy, and got the binding on and it is done!! I like how it turned out.

This is the wonderful quilt I received from my swap partner, Carol.  She used the big stitch method for the quilting.  I absolutely love it.   It is just my style.

3 more of the pouches I made this month.

Last but not least, "Cottage Garden Path."  This was a project I started in 2006,  It is a pattern I found on the internet, Jeanne rae crafts.. It came out monthly.  This was another quilt top, that I found out all the pieces were there, they just needed to be put together, then quilted.  I got this one back from Wendy, and now it is done.

So, like I said it was a busy month.  I hope I can keep up the momentum for the next couple of months.  I have 3 more quilts that need to be bound and finished.  Plus, I really would like to get this Bonnie Hunter quilt done. 

I hope everyone has a great rest of the week. Stay happy and healthy.

Mary

Bonnie Hunter, Oh what a night and day!

Last Thursday, our guild "Pride of the Prairie" has the honor of having Bonnie Hunter speak and do two workshops. This has been on my calender since the first announcement.

Bonnie is a fun, warm, and friendly. She autographed her books and had cute magnets for sale.

Her quilts are wonderful, and so much fun to finally see in person. They are so colorful and beautiful. She loves to tell you were and how old some of those fabrics are.  She would point out where the millennium, music or ugliest fabrics are.  She has the theory, if you cut the uglies up small enough, you will never know what it was.
She gave up all her hints on taming the strips we cut, and what sizes for organization.  Bonnie is full of tips and hints.  One of her great ones, is finding 15 minutes to sew a day. 
Bonnie travels with a Singer Featherweight and sews in her hotel room in the evening. She works on her hexagon quilt, which is hand piecing.

These two quilts are the workshops, The top one (which I took), is Patches and Pinwheels.  The second one is Midnight Flight, which was in the 4th issue of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks.  Our guild was the first one she had tried out the teaching techniques on.  Both quilts are wonderful.

More of Bonnie's quilts.

Here I am with part of what I got done in the workshop on Friday.  I said mine looked so bright, as I am using some really old fabric. She assured me that I was doing great.  Her quilt, has been used and loved for about 10 years.  There was a contest to find who had the oldest fabric.  I really do have fabric from companies that no longer exist

Patches and Pinwheels

Bonnie, during the workshop.  She was great about posing for pictures, and autographing our books.

Another great quilt.

This guild member came with all her pinwheels, and 16 patch blocks done, and ready to start putting them together.  She said she had been working on them for 2 months.

Marilyn working on hers.

Cheryl used triangulations to make her pinwheels.
Bonnie again gave us tips on how she makes her pinwheels using the Easy Angle.  There are always more then one way to accomplish the same result.

Bonnie's hexagon quilt.

She was working on hers while waiting for her introduction. (15 minutes of quilting time.)

Some of us in our workshop on Friday.

Here is some of my progress.  I was using precut squares and strips.

Progress, one of my rows is on it's way to being sewn.

It was a wonderful couple of days.  My sister was visiting (she is not a quilter), and took 2 friends( that are quilters)  and her to the guild meeting.  I was in hog heaven, and grinning from ear to ear the whole evening.  It was so much fun being able to share my interest and excitement.

I now have 3 Bonnie Hunter quilts in the works, using those old and new fabrics.

Have a great rest of the week.  I have a lot of catching up to do.

Mary