Summer is coming....

C and E's paperweight wedding quilt was a quilt that I made for a friend's niece, a couple of summers ago. It was an interesting experience to be asked to make a quilt on commission but I don't think that I would like to do it again. I found it complicated to place a monetary number on a quilt. You can put a replacement value on the fabric, but it was difficult for me, to find a fair price for the time spent creating a quilt. Personally, it is simpler,and I am happier making quilts and giving them away to my loved ones..

What to do first? At the beginning of the summer vacation (well nearly summer vacation because I am not officially finished until Tuesday afternoon) there is always the anticipation of where to begin and what I should get done first.

Sometimes I have immediate plans, and other times, I have some time just to hang out, relax and catch up to myself after the busyness of the school year. This year I have a quilt to finish by the end of the week, but I will also have some time to just read and relax. I do have the quilt put together, borders on and spray basted together. It is a large twin sized Trip Around the World quilt so it shouldn't take too long to quilt(I hope). I also have the binding made...

This weekend has been lovely. I have had two outings with friends -one Friday evening and one on Saturday lunch. On Saturday, a friend was in town from Thunder Bay ( a city in Ontario about 1100 miles east from here)It was lovely to see her. My dear friend V.( who is a good friend of the friend from Thunder Bay) arranged lunch in a Thai restuarant. V and I, then went off to a bead shop and I found some lovely beads for today's beading projects.

Since then I have enjoyed reading and catching up on my favorite blogs- there are some wonderful blog writers on my list. They share their stories, offer tutorials on techniques: for example making scrap bindings(cutting 21 inch strips of various fabrics and piecing them together instead of using all one color). Some other offerings were some ways to make wool pictures or use stitcheries in quilts or make a quilt using one color( blue or red the most popular). I find the blogs inspiring and interesting to see what others are creating. Perhaps you do too!!!

Some other 'bloggers share their life experiences. One of my favorites is Postcards from Cairo by Jenny Bowker . She was recently in India and posted some magnificent photos of the Taj Mahal. It made me go and check out WikiPedia for some information about that beautiful tomb. I don't remember having seen any close ups of the inside wall decorations. There are beautiful carvings, scrollwork and floral patterns that are absolutely stunning.. Jenny has also done some spectacular portrait quilts that she has written about in her earlier posts. I do encourage you to go and have a look.

Another blogger Corey Amaro shares her life in France. She writes poignantly about the loss of her father and about a wonderful elderly woman named Annie. Her photograph reflect the beauty of the part of the world in which she lives.

On the last day of school for my students, I asked some of my little ones at school what they were going to do over the summer- Some said going camping or swimming or playing in the park but I thought that the cutest answer was " I am going to have a lemonade stand". This little boy is a real character. He loved the house center where he would pretend to be a "Spanish cooker" or sell me paper french fries from McDonalds. He even made me the pretend money so I could buy them from him. I am looking forward to the break but I will miss my 5 year olds" stories and jokes. They do make me laugh regularly.

I received a lovely giveaway package from Angela at Yellowbird Art this week. There were two patterns - One by Anne of Bunny Hill Patterns and the other by Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts as well as two fat quarters that are very pretty. Thank you Angela- I shall have fun with your prize.
There are some lovely giveaways going on various blogs- One is a Minnesota Shop hop that you can find by going to Gudrun's Quilting on the blog list. Quilters really are generous people- there are many examples of quilters making quilts for Charity or people in need around the globe.

I am almost through all my older quilts in my quilt journal - I am down to the last dozen or so. I guess I better be productive this summer or I won't have much interesting to show you soon:O)

Hope that you are enjoying some good weather and sharing some fun times with loved ones.
Time to bead and make a quilt label.

Warmest Regards,
Anna