If you know of Pat Sloan, stand up and clap your hands.
Now that we all have gotten a bit of cardio in, I wanted to let you know I am honored to be a guest on American Patchwork and Quilting’s podcast, hosted by Pat Sloan.
Tune in Monday, April 16th 3-4 central time. I am segment 4 in the show. I could say she saved the best for last but I don’t know who the other 3 people are so she probably just picked me for last becasue she knows I get nervous!
So tune in.
It should be a lot of fun.
You can listen on the computer, subscribe by itunes (search American Patchwork & Quilting), or download to a player.
Another little goody is that if you go to Pat’s Radio Show page on Monday, she has always has a find of something she likes, recommends or features! I can’t wait to see what it is on Monday.
Today is my day on the A PIECE OF CAKE blog hop. I have known Peta for quite a while and I am so proud and excited that she has shared her creativity with us.
Thank you, Peta for asking me to participate.
There are 14 different projects in this book and many of them are on my must make list, but
when it came time to
decide which quilt to make I knew I needed to make the LOVE quilt. I have perfect person for this quilt, my {little} grandson, Jacob.
His mama loves the graphic fabrics from the Savannah by Ginger line, so I dove right in.
This quilt was fun and easy to make.
A quick quilt just perfect for gift giving.
There are two sizes of the LOVE quilt. I went with the 45″ x 60″ version. The quilt is big and chunky and has plenty of room so that I can add some big stitching with Aurifil threads.
Let me introduce you to one of my grandsons, Jacob Ryan Alexander, Cub for short.
He is a whooping 6 months old and is just as cuddly as he looks.
Jacob kindly modeled to show off his new quilt. Don’t you just want to pinch those little legs?
He completely understands that it still needs to be quilted.
A few of the squares from the animal panel fit perfectly inside the big heart. Speaking of big hearts, isn’t this kid the cutest thing ever?
A little bit of stitching, a pieced binding and some quilting will finish off this project.
Thank you for stopping by and to celebrate I will be giving away a copy of this book. Leave a comment telling me what is your favorite Moda precut and I will pick a winner at random, Thursday evening. I will post the winner here Friday morning.
Be sure and stop by all the people participating in the blog hop, listed below
If you have an email address, you have probably received all kinds of email forwards that promise good luck and to pass along the email for continued blessings. This is one of those emails I have recieved and I am glad to say that after receiving in 2013, I am still alive and kicking. I have not won the lottery yet, but this list is almost as good as winning any jackpot so I thought I would share it here.
ONE. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
TWO. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.
THREE. Don’t believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.
FOUR. When you say, ‘I love you,’ mean it.
FIVE. When you say, ‘I’m sorry,’ look the person in the eye.
SIX. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.
SEVEN. Believe in love at first sight.
EIGHT. Never laugh at anyone’s dreams. People who don’t have dreams don’t have much.
NINE… Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it’s the only way to live life completely.
TEN.. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.
ELEVEN. Don’t judge people by their relatives.
TWELVE. Talk slowly but think quickly.
THIRTEEN. When someone asks you a question you don’t want to answer, smile and ask, ‘Why do you want to know?’
FOURTEEN. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
FIFTEEN. Say ‘bless you’ when you hear someone sneeze.
SIXTEEN. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
SEVENTEEN. Remember the three R’s: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions.
EIGHTEEN. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
NINETEEN. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
TWENTY. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice
I recently had the pleasure of attending the
Knit and Stitch show in London, England.
Yes, glamorous job, but someone has to do it.
One of the Moda designers, Janet Clare had a booth filled with patterns, kits, stitcheries and all kinds of goodies.
Janet was wearing her iconic Artisian Apron.
I love it… wear your creativity!
Read more about Janet here.
Right down the aisle from Janet was Harriett Riddell, a performance textile artist. Yes, a performance textile artist.
I was drawn in by her eclectic table covering made from vintage linens, hankies and art. I knew there had to be a good story here.
While I did not officially meet her, I did stand and watch her work for quite a while. Harriett uses thread and a sewing machine much
like an artist uses paper and pencil to create characters.
Here is a bit of info about Harriett from her bio page.
Harriet Riddell was born in 1990 and grew up in Oxfordshire, England. Harriet is a mixed media performance artist, specializing in observational drawings using a sewing machine. Her artwork responds to and interprets the transient world on to a permanent canvas. Harriet encourages interaction by working in unusual locations and experimenting with the subjects the she chooses to stitch.
(photos used with permission of Harriett Riddell.)
The Halloween candy is almost gone or if you are like me the candy is buried in the freezer. The turkey and all the fixin’s will be on the table very very soon. Then it will be time to pull out all those Ugly Christmas Sweaters, the tackier the better, right?I couldn’t resist when Kerry contacted me and see if I wanted to be a part of her ugly Christmas blocks, sweater blocks that is.
For information on details about the sweater pattern, visit Kid Giddy. There is an a whole group of us making sweater blocks and posting them on Instagram. To follow along search #uglysweaterblock or follow Kerry’s IG.
I will be sharing my block on my Instagram soon, @modalissa.
DISCLAMIER: I am told I am a pretty private person, so I thought I would go ahead and fill you in on the past 5 or 6 months of my life. The post is long, but I wanted to fill in the gap so I can get back to sharing good things.
Several years ago, I read a blog about how people should not be adding “exclamation marks” to the end of all their sentences. This was not proper grammar and we should be able to tell our story with the correct words and not have to emphasize our feelings with “exclamation marks”.
Last week I read an article about many text messages include emojis and the over use of !!. The average text message includes 3 emojis and a few !!. That is my kind of communication. Recently, I noticed that more and more of my messages and emails to my family and friends have had multiple !!. Thought I should explain.
noun
1. the sign (!) used in writing after an exclamation.
2. this mark sometimes used in writing two or more times in succession to indicate intensity of emotion, loudness, etc.: Long live the Queen!!
3. this mark sometimes used without accompanying words in writing direct discourse to indicate a speaker’s dumbfounded astonishment:
“His wife just gave birth to quintuplets.”(!)
so my story begins……
Since my early forties, I have suffered from migraines, not really suffered, just possibly 2 migraines a year. I know when they were coming on and how to treat them immediately so the effects were not debilitating. Fast forward to late 2015, I had started to have more mild headaches that felt more like sinus pressure. Went to doc and was told to take sinus meds. Things still did not seem right. I went to my eye doctor to see if maybe my contact prescription had changed. It had not.
On March 3rd I spent the night at my son’s house to help with my new granddaughter!!!!
The morning of March 4th, I had a seizure!! Crazy – weird !! I was rushed to the emergency room of a local hospital, spent a week in the hospital as I continued to suffer from mild seizures. This was the same day that I had taken off work and had a doctors appt to get to the bottom of the headaches, the hospital admittance just sped things up a bit.
I stayed in the hospital a few days, overcame the seizures and went home.
Then, March 15th back to ER with headaches and on March 16- Right Crainotomy (brain surgery), then March 23rd headed home. (thank you to the wonderful doctors, nurses and staff of Medical City- Dallas)
My best friend is a nurse and she came into town during all this and stayed with me at the hospital, explained things to my family, while assuring them everything was going to be okay. I hope each of you have a friend like this. Except for the fact that she took pictures of me with staples all through my head and sent it out to her family. I will have to get her back for that.
a huge bulletin board full of notes from co workers, sales team and designers and industry friends.
Once I returned home, I slept in my own bed and was thrilled to be un-hooked from all the machines. My daughter had lined up 24 hour care for me, splitting many of the shifts between my husband and herself. daughter-in-laws, brother, sister-in-law, cousins, mom and friends all took their shifts. All the while my team at work took on more and more responsibility since I was “resting” during the busiest time of the year. They are priceless!!! Thank you to all!!
Texas Law restricts you from driving after having seizures. My daughter knows I am pretty hard headed and she took my car with her just to make sure I didn’t sneak out of the house. One of my first outings, my daughter took me to Target. I felt as if she wrapped me up in 3 layers of bubble wrap and put a leash on me. It really wasn’t that bad, but those of you that know my daughter, Jillian, would certainly believe that I am not exaggerating!!!!!
My mom was showing up for her assigned shifts to take care of me, all the while never letting us know that she did not feel well. Hard hardheadedness runs in our family. Shortly after Easter weekend, my mom fell and was hospitalized. After many complications, my mom passed away exactly one month after I had returned home from the hospital. My mom was an incredible spunky, funny and loving woman. She was a breast cancer survivor and had lived through the death of my father and sister. Mom was known for making notes on a small book she kept in her purse. When cleaning her things I found a torn piece of notebook paper in one of her purses that she had scribbled my doctor’s names on along with…. I like Lissa’s doctors. She is in good hands and will be alright. She also probably thought a few of the doctors were cute and was not afraid to tell them so. Yes, that was my mom!!!!
If my mom would have ever met you she would remember your name and everything about you and quite possibly written a little note about you that she would has stashed away in her purse. Our family is not the same without her!!
Throughout the past months, I have found that my circle of friends is much deeper and wider than I could ever have imagined. I am so grateful!!
There are so many reasons for every day to be a good day and to add !!!!!’s to all messages.
The most moving exhibit had to be the Dementia Darnings by Jenni Dutton
This project developed over time as Jenni was the care giver for her mother. Encouraging her mother to remember the past, they explored family photo albums together. Using some of the photos, the large portraits, constructed using threads sewn through netting that was stretched over canvas, became a way for Jenni to explore the concept of aging and her mother’s gradual loss of memory.
This is a closeup of the process. INCREDIBLE!
I continue to be amazed at the expressions of love through the art of needle and thread. To read more about the Dementia Darnings, visit Jenni http://www.jennidutton.com/dementiadarnings.html or follow Jenni’s blog. http://jennidutton.blogspot.co.uk/
I recently returned from Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England. We had such a delightful time. This is England’s largest trade show and I can certainly see why. The show was a buzz full of energy and excitement. One of Moda’s International Distributors, Winbourne Fabrics had a booth to meet and greet quilters and sewists from several countries.
Some of the sales team along with the President of Moda, Mark Dunn were present as they demonstrated Moda Precuts.
They even had a few sewing competitions showing some free patterns from the Moda Bake Shop.
Janet Clare stopped by to share her designing process and the place went crazy.
We got to meet store owners that were passionate about their craft and also had a wonderful selection of moda everywhere. It was so much fun!
The show was full of charity quilts. I believe they called them aid quilts. There were quilts made by all kinds of groups either raising awareness for a cause, raffling quilts to raise money for an organization or to commemorate a milestone.
This quilt immediately drew me in. Isn’t that what a quilt at a show is supposed to do? Was it the classic blue and white? Was it the variance of texture? Was it the simple repetitive shape of the hexagon? I would say YES to all of the above. It was not until I made my way through the crowd that I was able to actually appreciate the true charm of this quilt.
The quilt was made to document the history of a hospital. An aid society had taken pieces of cloth from the hospital and combined it with notes from patients, memorabilia, embroidery and so much more. Each piece was a small piece of the history and told so many different stories.
A few other of my favorite pics from the show.
A car full of brightly colored sewing machines! Who wouldn’t have wanted to drive off with that baby?
A music inspired mini quilt challenge. Black, white and red!
Luke Haynes was there!
No trip to England would be complete without a stop over at Cath Kidston for a little souvenir shopping.
And a visit to see the Queen!
You have got to love a country that has Nibbles & Sharers.
