This lovely piece was started in one of my “Coneflowers” workshops in the Atlanta, GA area by Pat Kilmark! She recently sent me the photos along with a report that she had entered it in the fair where it won! Congratulations, Pat! Very nice. I am always happy to see the finished works.

She is planning to enter it in an AQS show next and I wish her luck!!

I’m safely home from my trip to Maryland; it was great fun in spite of the torrential rain. I even brought a little home with me as we had an inch here, which was much needed, after my return!

A special thank you to everyone at Nimble Fingers who made my visit special. The workshop was fun and lots of lovely new coneflowers pieces were started. I hope I get to see photos when they are finished!

Now I need to concentrate on catching up, unpacking and getting back to the routine of my daily life, with the priority of finishing that elk!

Driving to Springfield, MO on Monday, the skies were at times threatening with dark clouds and at times sunny with blue skies – you never know in the mid west! I only encountered a few raindrops though.  This was my first trip in the new car and it was quite comfortable, I’m still getting used to the differences from my old one which I think I like better, but this one is gaining favor!

Could this be the spot that inspired the “Longhorn Splashdown” quilt? There were no longhorns visible this day.

Roadside wildflowers are beautiful this time of the year.

My time at the Ozark Piecemakers Guild for two lectures and a Coneflowers workshop was delightful! Had a bit of an equipment malfunction but nothing that couldn’t be fixed. My hostess and everyone I met there at the meetings and in my workshop couldn’t have been nicer!  If I lived closer that would be a guild to join!

When I tried to take workshop pictures I discovered that my camera batteries were dead. Again.  I had packed the charger but it was in the bag that got left at the venue, not the bag that went with me to my lodging. I guess  I need to start making packing lists!

I arrived safely home yesterday (Thursday) afternoon to a huge backlog of email and stuff to put away so  today will be spent catching up and hopefully tomorrow I can get back to quilting on the elk!

The workshop finished today and everyone did such a good job! I am always amazed at the beautiful coneflowers in all different colors, and the variety of wonderful fabrics that are piled on the tables. Everyone did Coneflowers except one–she had already taken that workshop and so wanted to do the bluebird instead. I hope to see many finished projects soon as they really got a good start!

It took two shots to get everyone in, there were so many participants!

I have been busy putting away and getting ready to take off early in the morning for Denver and the SAQA Conference. Doubt very much that I will post during the trip, technologically challenged as I am!

Monday evening and Tuesday morning, I did the programs for the Kaw Valley Quilter’s Guild in Lawrence, KS. Kaw Valley is my home guild and this is the third time I’ve presented there! It was the first time I’ve presented with the new Keynote setup and it went well. Especially in the evening one. The room has skylights so we couldn’t get it dark enough for the morning one and everything was real washed out. Too bad because no one could really appreciate the colors and details in the quilts. But I did bring some actual quilts to show as well. After lunch we started the Coneflowers workshop that runs through today. Everyone got a good start and I’m anxious to see how things come together today! One lady flew in from Boston to take the workshop with her friend!!

Two of my quilts were awarded Viewer’s Choice prizes at the recent quilt show, but I think one of them had been put into the wrong category and the prize should go to someone else. “Just Dandy” was VC in the wall category and “Spring Encounter” was VC in the lap/crib category and it is NOT a lap/crib quilt. I am trying to get it sorted out.

Early tomorrow morning I fly out to Denver for the SAQA Conference. I will meet a friend there and we will drive back to KS together next week, so I may be rather out of touch for awhile. Oh, wait! I HAVE been rather out of touch for awhile!!! I have just too much to do!

Here’s one more finished piece from the Colorado workshop, it’s neat to know these actually get finished!

Pam used realistic colors for her scene and I love how she used sky fabrics with a bit of light to blend into the lighter central piece, which, along with her accent strip really highlights her added butterfly making it a focal point. The appliqued strips of flower colors frames it nicely.

I have been working on getting the patterns ready for Market and I seem to be more behind than usual this year! Hopefully today will wrap it up and I can get them to the printer.

I took a day off Saturday and went to a workshop sponsored by the Kansas Art Quilters. It was on transfers and I hoped to find a way to make fabrics that would work into some of my pieced work as it said that we would learn to transfer images to fabric. We did, but mainly we did Gel Medium transfers which are very plastic-y and not at all something that I would want to use. Disappointing, but at least it was a day out!

There was a nice note from my hostess, Maxine in Ft Collins, CO where I went in July and did a Coneflowers class. She sent me some photos from the class that I can share with you. It’s always fun to see what other folks do.

Maxine wanted her Coneflowers to be very pale like the White Swan variety that has a greenish cast. She chose rich darks to set them off and I like the wall effect in the foreground and the shadings in the centers. Her stem and leaf really stand out against it and her quilting gives nice dimension.

Julie chose a very interesting complimentary color scheme and it looks like her coneflowers are growing at the water’s edge. Her fabric choices for the flowers really emphasize the light and shadow on the petals and centers. Nice choice of accent strip and the piping in the binding is a nice touch!

This one is fun! Kay’s choice of black and whites to set off her hot pink flowers really works, and she used so many different ones! I like how it is darker at the bottom, grounding the piece and shades up to light at the top. The accent strip is just dark enough to stand out. I LOVE the flower centers! And the free form edge sets everything off perfectly.

Nancy’s coneflowers make me feel like I just discovered them growing out in a field on one of my walks! They are surrounded by wonderful nature fabrics – even some songbirds! I think she got all of her petals from one wonderful batik fabric and did it masterfully, utilizing the subtle purple shadings. The dark centers set them off nicely. This is going to improve even more with quilting!

That was such a fun workshop! Good job, everyone!!  I invite anyone from any of the workshops to send your pictures to me to share…

Late Thursday I arrived back home from my trip to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Guild in Fort Collins, CO. They are a great group and I had a wonderful time there; they took great care of me! The two day “Coneflowers” workshop was a lot of fun for all of us, I think. Some beautiful work was started and I hope to get finished photos to share with you!

Yesterday I had another commitment so I don’t even have all of the quilts put away yet – that is on the agenda for today.

Bad news arrived while I was gone – “Longhorn Splashdown” was not accepted to go to Houston this fall. This will be the first time that my work has been rejected there, and since they send their cattle up here to get fat, it’s not very nice of them not to take one back!!! Oh well, it will go somewhere else, I hope.Click on Longhorn in the side bar to see a photo.

Over the weekend we went on the local Pond Tour and visited all ten of the water gardens on display. We started early and by the time we finished Saturday afternoon it was in the upper 90′s, the heat index was well over 100 with the humidity. Really, only one of the gardens offered much in the way of inspiration, but that one was worth the trip! The water garden/koi pond was well established and beautiful but the whole surrounding area was amazing with huge hostas and gorgeous flowers. There was a coneflower – Echinacea Hot Papaya that was “to die for”! I went to town on Monday and bought one for MY garden.

The one on the tour was huge, loaded with big pompom flowers with a depth of color that was actually quite red. I can only hope that this one will mature into something similar. I also got an Echinacea White Swan and a Butterfly Weed to add to my space.

Wow, it’s been a week since my last post – times flies!!

I was really working hard to finish the Longhorn before my trip to Lincoln, Nebraska, but that didn’t happen. I still have just the “splash” to finish. With Mother’s Day in there, I had to quit and get the quilts organized on Saturday to pack Sunday evening for an early start on Monday.

Monday turned out to be a stormy, rainy day so the drive was NOT fun. That kind of torrential downpour that makes you want to stop and have a gooey dessert and wait it out. But there was not time for that so I just pressed on. I had a lunch date and a personal tour of the International Quilt Study Center/Museum planned. Fortunately about an hour and a half into the trip the rain cleared and I was only a few minutes late.

I had a wonderful time in Lincoln. What an amazing resource they have there in the Quilt Museum! The guild was warm and friendly; an inspiration with all of the activities and public service projects they have planned. The Coneflowers workshop was full, with a waiting list and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Some really beautiful works were started.

Yesterday was spent putting quilts away and dealing with inventory and book keeping for the trip, shipping orders and generally wrapping up loose ends. Today I will get my suitcase unpacked and hopefully back to normal – whatever that is! Since we’ve had so much rain, I hope it can include some weed pulling!!