I'm early, I'm always early

In March I issued a new challenge to the members of the TVMQG ~ A Charm Pack Challenge.  Most modern quilters don't use many pre-cuts, like charm packs or jelly rolls; so I thought a challenge was called for.

The challenge is due at our September meeting.  Mine is really now because I never leave anything to the last minute.

For the quilt top, I used 6 Cookies & Cream 40 Karat Gems charm packs from Wilmington Fabrics.  I like that half the squares are white and half are cream.  They all have a subtle white on white print.

I grabbed a handful of my favorite colorful scraps and make an odd shaped triangle on one corner of each charm.  When I laid them out my only concerns were alternating the white and cream square and having the triangles touch.  I didn't care if they co-ordinated, I just wanted a butterfly-ish shape.

For the quilt back I had some gray Lizzie House that didn't get used in another project, so I used it here.  The binding is one of my favorite blues, Kona Windsor.  I always keep it on hand and I just reordered it.

The quilt measures 54' square.

May your bobbins always be full,

At Last!

 I hadn't touched my sewing machine in over two months.  Life and travel got in the way.  In April I went to Croatia and loved it.  If there weren't so many unexplored places on my list, I'd go back in a heartbeat.  I was home for a couple of weeks and left on a three-week trip visiting Norway, London, and NYC.  I go to NYC annually for Book Expo America, but I'm always open for an excuse to visit the city that never sleeps.

Well, now I'm home for the next 10 or 11 weeks and I intend on getting some sewing/quilting accomplished.  This quilt top was first on my list.  It's for my quilt guild's Charity Project.  Over the past year guild members created blocks from their own stash, our Block of the Month program, and donated them to the group.  Now, we're in the process of assembling the quilt tops; next will be making the quilts and them binding them.  They'll be donated to Jacob's House.

May your bobbins always be full,

Long time no sew, and a negative review.

I've really been a traveling woman lately; I was gone 14 days in April and all but 10 days of May!  My latest trip was Norway, London, and NYC!

I'm 56% Scandinavian and most of that is Norweigian.  I was very excited when I found a tour called Stitching in Norway!  I gambled on a tour company that I didn't know anything about.  For the most part, the Norway segment of my trip was a success.  Below is the review I sent to the company, Arena Travel. 

"I was a first-time traveler with your organization, so I didn't know what to expect. I was very satisfied with the trip, hotels, and food. The Arena office staff were top notch, as was Hilary, our tour manager. My only negative was with Karin, she constantly bashed America and Americans, (I'm American), one to ten times a day, every day. She asked me how to attract more Americans to her tours and immediately negated each suggestion. She did tell me that she was famous in America, several times, but I'd never heard of her prior to this trip."

I won't be traveling with this company again, the CEO responded that I must have misunderstood Karin Hellaby's comments, daily anti-American comments.

This is a negative review because there is no excuse for this type of prejudice in the world; especially if they want my dollars.  The CEO offered no apology but did offer to take more of my money on any future travel with them.  Not happening.  It reminded me of the type of prejudice that existed in the early part of the 20th century in America.

Rant over, how about some photos of Norway?  I basically posted this on my family/travel blog with different photos, if you're interested.

May your bobbins always be full,