It’s just that everything else seems to always get in the way . . . . Before I tell you about these two photos, I’d like to mention that my annual Quilt Retreats (2 of them – back to back) were from June 3 – 9. We had a grand time, and I do have some dandy photos of our instantaneous Outdoor Quilt Shows during each event — BUT — they are in my laptop . . . so maybe another day.

AFTER the retreats, I was home for ONE full day, and then Jery & I took off for an extended weekend trip. We returned home on Tuesday eve ...

Well . . . . here I am – TARDY again!  With always the best intentions, time disappears – totally.

Quilt Market was in Minneapolis this year – May 21-23.  Our booth was really pretty – all in the Roses, Blue version.

Barb (great helper!) has family in Wisconsin, so she flew early and enjoyed a visit.

Jery & I drove to Minneapolis.  We took a rather leisurely 3 days and drove the ‘high line’ (Highway 2 across the Northern part of Montana) to Wolf Point.  The High Line continues into North Dakota, but we dropped down so we could enter ND near Medora, where we visited the Theodore ...

Actually, they are Red Angus. Heifers. One old Mama cow and her adopted calf. One Bull – sort of a ‘baby’ bull – his first ‘bull’ season.
This photo is in our back yard. Lots of grass – along with a high fire danger this year (not much snow here this winter) – helped increase our interest in some ‘visiting’ grazers.

Cute, eh ??

Between rain showers – - – here we are in today’s Rendezvous Parade — promoting our Featured Quilter for ‘10 for the Eureka Montana Quilt Show — August 7th this year.

A windy day – kind of chilly – and my EMQS shirt ended up being the windshield wiper, since to turn them on would have disturbed the wonderful paper flowers!

I think this was the first time in age that I’ve actually driven with ‘clutch power’ . . .  i.e. so slow and in 1st gear – we simply moved forward when I’d release the clutch a bit.  Was fun, eh??

The fabric arrived around 1 pm on Monday. Jery & I had gone into town to meet Neil, the nice Fed Ex guy. Home with the fabric, and Lori joined me shortly as we cut the chunks for all of our ‘designers’ to ship or have picked up by them. By 5 pm they’d been here, or were boxed, and Lori and I had pre-cut the pieces of most of the patterns we were stitching here.
Tuesday morning – 9 am – Lori, Marilyn & Florence arrived and the stitching began. Actually, Kathern had stopped by earlier and picked up her fabric and ...

It’s ALMOST HERE! The NEW Split Stripes (2 of them!) and all the Blue versions of the incredible Roses — have cleared customs and ought to be on with local FedEx driver today. Neil is a really nice guy – and I’ll phone his cell shortly to arrange to meet him when he arrives at the south end of our valley. 73 pounds of New BLUE ROSES!

Then, it’s cut, cut, cut and phone the local designers to come for theirs as well as ship Mischele’s to Tennessee.

An exciting day!

You can see them all — including the ...

Barb & I returned to Bull River Guest Ranch in BC this past weekend to join the Cranbrook quilters for another wonderful time together. The chef was again in fabulous form — and we stitched and ate – royally!

I’m still waiting on my new fabric to arrive —  hopefully I’ll see it later this week.  Here I’m working on the blocks in the new quilt, Three Cheers, that don’t have any of the new fabric in them.

And I put the outer border on the lap quilt I’ve made as a fund-raiser for my high school – in Kansas ...

Do you know about the online magazine, Quiltposium? It has great articles (some by me, of course! ) and info and links to lots of downloadable patterns. You can read it on line, print whatever part you wish, and simply enjoy!   Shown here is the cover of the Spring edition.    You’ll find it at  www.Quiltposium.com

I’m working on articles for the Summer issue this afternoon, which reminded me that I’d failed to share this before now.

I swear — I need lots of strings on my fingers some days!

This is Lori Marvel’s lovely daughter, Cindy.  She was married last night in a beautiful ceremony.  Such a lovely Bride!  Lori has been really busy.  She made Cindy’s gown, plus the three bridesmaids, and two flower girls.  I rather suspect she did the lion’s share of the planning, also.

Once again – no photos. GEE! I DO need to dust off the camera!

There truly hasn’t been much time to think about anything, except trying to stay on top of things.  Last weekend both of my adult children, Serge and Bevin, came.  We spent the weekend here in Eureka, including Miss Kitty with Mother.  It was a really terrific visit.  Lots of memories shared, etc.  I really hated to see them go!

Raced home from the airport on Monday to try to complete the math part of the new patterns for Spring Quilt Market.  I have a really neat ...

My friend Deb Tribble and I won a lovely BLUE ribbon at the Dallas Quilt Show last weekend in the 2-person master category for our Montana Feathered Star. It’s my piecing and Deb’s incredible quilting!

I’m totally thrilled.  A few years ago I had a short list of three things I hoped to accomplish in my Quilting Career.  I remember achieving the first two.  The third was “win a ribbon – any color – in a respectable show”.  BINGO.

Deb lives sort of across the road from us.  She is a magnificent long arm quilter, obviously, as well as ...

We lost my Dad on March 17th. He wasn’t in pain. Daddy was a special man. He was gentle and caring. I was so fortunate to be with him so much in the final few days, and in the past 3 years. He shared a few ‘new’ stories and I heard some of the old ones a time or two more . . . the new ones were really special. We’ll all miss him.

My two adult children will join us in a week.  Daddy was an incredible bridge player —  won the last four times he played, too.  And, until a ...

Daddy was dismissed from the hospital today to what is called ‘comfort care’.  We’ve brought him to the Good Samaritan Home here in Eureka.  Mother is with us.  We’ll be visiting him daily, and she graciously has allowed this to happen in Eureka.

All my resolutions of posting more frequently went out the window last week. I failed to take my camera – apparently – and with the busy week of teaching, lost track of time.
BUT — when I finally arrived back in Kalispell at midnight on Sunday (instead of the planned 1:30 pm!) I found BOTH of my parents seriously ill.
Long story short – Mother has pneumonia though is staying at home. She’s improving gradually – WHEW! Daddy has at least four internal battles he’s fighting – and he’s in the hospital. When they release him, he’ll move to a care ...

I’m on my way to Chicago! Get to spend almost 2 whole days with cousin Linda before heading to the guild job there.

My day with my folks in Kalispell became fuller than I’d anticipated. Seems there’s a bit of a flu bug floating around, and Daddy managed to get it on Sat. Sort of the 24 hour variety, but it sure did manage to upset my Mother. Even more so when she caught it, too! So, I spent most of yesterday scrubbing, washing, scrubbing, washing . . . . and HOPE that all my hand washing, and the cleaning fluids ...

A small snapshot of the stitching area. We are 13, and it’s truly been an amazing weekend becoming acquainted with this fabulous group of women.

We’ve stitched (a huge collection of quilts have been completed!), laughed, visited, and we enjoyed really good food!  Evenings with the sound of sewing machines in combination with the Olympics, all stopping for some events.

It’s a gorgeous sunny day, which helps with the dismay of packing up and out.  The fellow with the ATV will arrive soon, to ferry all our stuff back across the ice to the parking area, and ...

This is an incredible place! Gorgeous. We’re looking south from the deck off the back – this morning.

It’s been a stitching day. I’m quilting the Iola Mustang quilt. . . . slow.

And enjoying the new friendships. This afternoon 3 of us strapped on the snowshoes and struck out across the lake to the island you you barely see in this photo. Absolutely divine, and amazing how much effort, in snowshoes, it takes to slog through snow – on ice.

Now, the sun is setting, I’m still working on the same quilt, the delicious nachos are history, and somehow I ...

It’s certainly a LOT of work to get ready for a retreat ! As I mentioned yesterday, I’m packing for a teaching trip to Chicago – BUT – before I leave I’m going to a retreat with one friend (and 11 soon to be new friends) at a lodge on an island on Salmon Lake — a bit south of the town of Seeley Lake, MT.

So — the machine is cleaned and packed, and I’m pin basting because my table is the right height!  Then have 2 other projects getting lined out —  it’s 4 days / 3 nights of quilt ...

How does that song go??

My bags are packed

I’m ready to go . . .

well, almost.

I will be leaving on a jet plane – that’s for sure!

And, in all honesty, parts of this particular packing are sort of bittersweet.  You see, I believe this is Frank’s final trip with me.  Frank, you ask ??  Frank Lloyd Wright.  He has provided many years of lectures and workshops.  His hat and cape, white shirt, slacks, and tie will go on top.   And, under the Hunter’s Stars you can see, are the 18 Wright quilts that are a part of ...

We’ve joined Quilterblogs.com
If you haven’t visited there yet, you might want to take a look! It’s quilters and their blogs – - – the best of them!

All right, my friends! I made this commitment (are there 2 t’s and 2 m’s? or 2 m’s and 1 t ??) that I would post more often — and hoping for some interaction. . . . . GEEZ! You are silent .

So – - – - flew home today from Arizona. It was one of the best trips ever. I saw FRIENDS, and had dinners with FRIENDS, and loved every minute. My quilting friends are the BEST!   Then, jumped on the big metal bird and winged my way home where I was gloriously met by JERY!! What a wonderful surprise. You know, I miss that man ...

Of course, it’s no surprise that Animas Quilts wants to deliver the best possible product to you. So . . . . share with me, please. What would you like ? Our strength is in good design with good instructions so you have something that ’sparkles’ when it’s done. What can we do to make it better for you ??  You are welcome to add comments here – maybe begin a thread that others will add to — or you can ‘e’ us directly by using the Contact button at the top of the blogs . . . . .