SNOW!

We have had the mildest of winters, but today we are supposed to get the entire amount of snow that we usually get in all of March. This is the snow so far at my house at 8:00. At our store, about 25 miles away there is nothing. I'll add more pictures as the day goes on. Watch the bird bath disappear.

Snowfall, one hour later, 9:00. You can hardly see the top steps. It is finally snowing at the store.

10:00 No top steps, and the wind is starting to blow!

11:30 The wind is really kicking up and the drifts are starting to pile up.

12:30 These pictures are actually in color.The rock wall here is about 2 1/2 ft. tall.


1:00 No baths for the birdies today. : (

9:00 the next day Beautiful blue sky--let the melting begin!

You can barely see the corner of the bird bath.

Hey, I wonder where you were yesterday? Are you waiting for a bath?

I hope you enjoyed a little Springtime in Colorado!

Don't Iron on the Walls and Don't Flush Your Gloves

I just finished transferring my photos to the computer and have made a small slide show of our teaching trip to Pigeon Forge, TN. I didn't take a lot of pictures and many that I took were blurry, and somehow I didn't get any pictures of the Christmas Pickle class--I apologize. As a fairly new blogger, I try to take pictures that will inspire you as well as make you laugh. Two pictures that I missed taking (Becky Goldsmith got one) were two signs that read Don't Iron on the Walls, and Don't Flush Your Gloves. Now, for a little explanation..it seem's that one quilter in a class attempted to press her/his block while it was on the wall, melting the newly hung wallpaper. The other sign was very prominently displayed in several locations in the restrooms. If you were not handed plastic gloves as you walked in the door (so that you could handle the quilts on display at will) the sign seemed really peculiar. To those of us who knew about the gloves, we just shook our heads and thought "Would someone actually flush gloves down the toilet?" and yes, someone did--therefore the signs.

Enjoy the slideshow--the music is The Hills of New Zealand, by my favorite Irish group, Cherish the Ladies!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Stitching,

Pigeon Forge, TN and a prize winning quilt!

I'm sorry that I've been negligent in posting, but it has been a very busy couple of weeks. Nancy and I had a great trip to Pigeon Forge, TN for the 15th annual Mountain Quiltfest. We taught 4 classes, did a lecture and a panel discussion. We met some wonderful quilters with funny accents : ). Actually, Nancy had picked up that accent by week's end. It was an incredible week! My one regret is that we didn't have time to really see the quilts on display which were in another convention center a few miles down the road from where we were teaching. However, I did make it a point to see this quilt.

This quilt was made by Kathie Weatherford. She used to live in Denver and was a GAQF regular. She was a Saturday Sampler, Cabin in the Woods participant. Kathie's quilt won an Honorable Mention and here is what she has to say about it.

"The Great Smoky Mountain National Park is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. This park is the most visited park in the USA. As part of 'A Mountain Quiltfest' in Pigeon Forge, TN, quilters were invited to make a quilt to celebrate the anniversary. Each quilt had to contain 12 blocks from a pattern by Klaudeen Hansen that symbolized different aspects of the park." The winning quilt was purchased for $25oo and will hang in one of the park's visitor centers. Kathie's quilt used the borders from Cabin in the Woods. Kathie has donated her quilt to the city of Pigeon Forge and it will hang in the city's Visitor Center. Way to go Kathie--we wish you still lived in Denver!


I'll have more about Pigeon Forge next week, but for now, I'm off to California for a little family time. I'll be working on the Happy Halloween Blog of the Month and hope that you will want to join in the fun. Until then,

Happy Stitching,

Lynda

Patchwork Lottery winner and Store visitors

Cathy Barnes was the February winner of the Patchwork Lottery Blocks. She won over 45 Shoo-fly Blocks in beautiful shades of red. I can't wait to see how Cathy puts them together.

If you would like to enter to win the March blocks, download the March pattern or pick one up at the store. Complete your block in the suggested colors and have them to the store by or on March 31st. Each block you enter equals one chance to win.

We had two delightful ladies visit the store this week. They are Maureen and Peggy and they work at The Happy Quilter in Valley Cottage, NY, not too far from New York City. They were refered to us by their hotel concierge and didn't realize that GAQF was also the home of Possibilities. They were so excited and spent a good portion of one day shopping, looking, and getting inspired and then they came back the next day for more. They have a very interesting blog, Happy Quilter Adventures, because their store owner is overseas in Shanghai for a few years. So, you can be inspired by the quilt stories on the blog and enjoy the travel stories posted by the store's owner, Lorraine. It was fun to meet them and talk to them! The little guy next to Nancy is her grandson Ryan.

Well, we are off to teach and lecture at Pigeon Forge, Tennessee at the 15th annual Mountain Quiltfest. If you are there, please stop by and say hello. It is always nice to make new friends. I'll be back with more photos next week.

Till then, Happy Quilting!

Lynda and Nancy

Lori Broshears' T-shirt quilt

One of the great perks about having a quilt store is having customers share their finished projects. Lori Broshears brought in a really terrific T-shirt quilt to be long-armed quilted. Merrie Jones quilted the quilt and brought it back in for Lori to pick up. We think you will enjoy seeing it.

Great job, Lori and Merrie!

Thanks for sharing,

Lynda and Nancy