It's getting closer to being done!

I was out of town for 10 days. The first 5 days I taught at a wonderful show in Providence, Rhode Island, Machine Quilter's Expo. It's getting to be one of the biggest machine quilter's show in the US. What wonderful talent there! I even got the honor of putting a ribbon on one of the quilter's quilts as a teacher's choice. Her name is Janet Stone. She made the most wonderful alphabet quilt. I thought I took a picture of it but I guess I didn't. I'll ask her if I can post it on the blog.


The next 5 days I spent in Texas. Two different guilds, one in Kerrville and the other in New Braunfels. Both guilds were  fantastic. Everyone was so nice. It's true what they say about southern hospitality!


I got to test two of my newest template sets; Geese on the Loose and Glorified nine-patch. Both of them worked great and everyone enjoyed using them. They are now posted on my website along with my new Chinese New Year templates. If you purchase them this month, you will get the pattern free.


My poor husband Mike says that he didn't mind me being gone that long, but I could tell he was getting crabby by the 6th or 7th day when I would talk to him. I was looking forward to going home and so was he. While I was gone our builders were working on the studio and I was anxious to see what they had done.


After I got back, my family had a special celebration for my mom and dad. My sister decided to give them a 175th birthday party. He turns 90 this year and she turned 85. Most of the family was able to join us along with their closest friends. It was very nice and they really enjoyed themselves. Don't they look good for their age? Happily married for 62 years!

I finally got to visit the new studio to see what was done. The floors were done, the walls mended and painted, new doors were in, and all the lights were up. It looked fantastic!

That was on Monday. I spoke to him on Friday and he said it was all cleaned up, no machinery and ready for stuff to be moved in. That will be the big job. I have no idea where to put things to make it look like a quilt shop/classroom. I'll have to get some of my friends out to there to help me. All that is left is to put in a bathroom (I'm putting in a environmental toilet), cabinets, and cutting surfaces. I'm going to have lots of fun shopping for tables, chairs, shelves, linens, and new furniture for the house. I haven't bought new furniture for myself in years! Now to find the time to do it all. I'm having my first guests July 9 and 10 so I still have a lot to do and even though it sounds like plenty of time, I will be out of town teaching for 11 days this month and 15 days in June.

Check out my newest quilts; Waving Old Glory in Fons & Porter's Easy Quilts and Meadow Brook in Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting. Both are from RJR collections with the same name. I do have kits for the Meadow Brook quilt, twin and queen sizes on my website. F&P carry the lap size kit.

I also have two new free holiday patterns on Hoffman's website. Yule Wrap and Wrap Stars. Yule wrap is a table topper or tree skirt and Wrap Stars a table runner and placemats.

Well, I've gone on long enough. 'Til next time. Always do what you love and love what you do. Toby