TVQG Monthly Meeting

Today was my guild's monthly meeting...good see those whom I only see once a month! Our speaker today was Susan Cranshaw...a designer, art quilter and fellow Texan via the East Coast.

I had purchased one of her patterns from a quilt shop a couple of years ago...the Horned Toad...mainly because I wanted to make some items for TCU (Texas Christian University) which is my S-N-L's alma mater, located here in Fort Worth, and has a very loyal fan base...oh, and the Horned Toad is their mascot!

The Horned Toad

They are not very pretty fellows but have an interesting history and have come close to extinction. The design that Susan created is much cuter!  I have made a tote bag for my daughter to carry to football games and a couple of mini wall hangings....

Tote Bag

Susan has many other patterns in her Texas critters series...longhorn cattle, hummingbirds, armadillo, road runner, and several landscape/floral scenes.  Because I enjoyed her Toad so much, I decided to also purchase the hummingbirds and road runner.  We have both birds around here so I thought I would like to have them done in an art quilt...a triptych perhaps.

I don't usually buy patterns because I like to make my own, but her designs are so well done, I think to try to do my own would be like trying to reinvent the wheel!  And half the fun is to select the fabric to be used....that is what makes it my art! (Kind of!)  I have created a link to her website where you can see her work and also purchase items from her if you are interested.

Good ending to a good week!

On Sunday, we all got together at Andrea's for the August birthdays.  We met the newest member of the family...her new puppy Leo.  Leo was a lost doggie wandering around McKinney and was taken in by a friend of Andrea's who already has a couple of dogs. So Andrea decided to adopt him...he is really a sweet dog and has landed in a very nice home...she will really do him right!!!  He is probably a mix; one of Andrea's friends saw his picture on her FB and thought he looked like a Pharoah Hound  (I thought they were saying "feral" hound) !  Having never heard of this breed I had to look it up and sure
enough...there is such a breed and he really does look like a small version!!

Then yesterday, we went to the movie with both grands... a final summer event for us with them....saw "Cowboys and Aliens"!  A scifi movie with Harrison Ford and Daniel Crag so what is there not to like!  Then out to a late lunch at Cotton Patch.  Kathleen had to go to band practice but Colin came home with us and spent the night.

Today, Trinity Valley Quilter's Guild  met this morning.  We didn't have a speaker today; instead we had "Christmas in July", whereby a few of us demonstrated various activities to the rest of the members.  I had decided to show how to put together several Christmas Cards, using fabric and other techniques.  Here's a couple of the Zentangle cards I demo'd.

 

After I got home, Colin's mom had come out to get him and we all had lunch together.

So...Friday finished the week off very enjoyably!!!!  If it would only cool down, life would be perfect!!!!!!!!!

Hummingbirds have arrived!

I put out one of my humming bird feeders a couple of weeks ago as I have had them as early as the first of March...but no such luck this year. But it did get pretty chilly again and then the wonderful rain. So today, March 20, one showed up and has visited the feeder several times so I think he is here to stay. I'll wait a few days then put out a couple more feeders. We usually don't see more than one to five off and on the early part of spring, but by late summer into the fall we will have dozens of them at a time!! More fun to watch! Pretty cheap entertainment, as I make the food for them myself!

Today, the Trinity Valley Quilters' Guild of Fort Worth (TVQG)had our monthly meeting. Interesting speaker albeit a little windy!! She had some gorgeous quilts to share with us, but her lecture was a little bit long and she seemed to talk to us as though we had never worked with color or quilted before. So we were a little late getting out! I ran by Cabbage Rose, one of my favorite quilt shops (http://www.cabbagerose.com/) as I wanted to get some fabric with my gift certificate I rec'd at Christmas from my daughter...don't ask how I managed to hang on to it as long as I did!! Our Donation Quilt for the 2009 show is just about ready for its public appearance...I put the sleeve to hang it on yesterday and need to finish up the label to put on the back. I want to get everyone's name on the label who had anything to do with the blocks, quilting, binding, etc.

We always have a "show and tell" (just like Kindergarten!) at the meetings. The Bridesmades all brought our small quilts to show off! One thing I do want to do with mine is tone down the bright white of the center. I used the white satin from one of the gowns and the dark rays are from some velvet that my quilter daughter gave me a few years ago; then all surrounded by a colorful batic. After my friends did such a wonderful job of adding the very colorful batiks, I thing the white is way too bright!! I'll need to practice on some scrap fabric I have!