Inspirational Sunday (9) - via the 2013 Road to California Quilt Show

Oh My Stars! - A Nod to the more Traditional Look

This week I wanted to share 2 quilts with Star blocks that are just gorgeous.

This one is called "Two Score and Seven Stars" by Thelma A Childers of Charleston, IL, quilted by Judi Madsen.  Here is her description of the quilt, "Civil war themed fabric was selected for this stars in a star design.  The quilting continues the civil war theme & feel with original free hand quilting which uses civil war themed pieced block designs for the quilting design.  The light square blocks are quilted using the block Order Number 11.  The dark square blocks use 9 different civil war themed blocks.  The 3 outer borders are united by a unique overall design of stars and feathers."

I have no idea what some of that means, but I think we can all agree that it is stunning.

Here are some more stars in a color combo that I really enjoy.

This quilt is called "Chocolate and Toile" by Barbara G. Goddard of Lancaster, CA, quilted by Myrna Ficken.  She took Judy Laquidara's (of Patchwork Times) Starlight Path Pattern, but used a different border by hand appliqueing those 584 leaves.  The result is an amazing border, don't you agree?

I hope you found these beautiful star quilts inspirational today!  Next week, 2 whole cloth quilts that are stunning.

Thanks for reading,

Jen

This isn't a ski blog - Building Blocks Tuesday

Check out the improv block I did today for Licet in the Simply Solids Bee.  She chose the prettiest colors didn't she?  These improv blocks are fun, but I really want to see what they all look like put together.

We are back from our ski trip to Mammoth, CA.  I didn't break anything this year - hooray!  AND, I got all the best prices at my yard sales (skiers will know what I mean).

They call it Mammoth Mountain because it is HUGE.  This is just one part of the mountain, there are at least four.  I was too busy enjoying myself to take many pictures.  We had gorgeous bluebird spring weather 4 of the 5 days we skied.  Not too shabby!

The girls all had a great time too.  Here's a pic of them riding in the gondola.

Olivia didn't ski, but she enjoyed riding the gondola up the mountain each morning and waving goodbye to her sisters at ski school.  Here are my little daredevils.

Lizzy did extremely well for her 2nd year on skis, and Ashley, well, she can almost ski better than me at this point, and she is only 6!  We are very proud of them.

But hey, this isn't a ski blog, is it?  So what have you been working on this week?

Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open for a whole week.  And spread the word!

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page in your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!


Thanks for reading,

Jen

2nd Quarter Goal Setting - 2013 Finish Along

Just a quick post to formalize my goal setting for the next quarter.  This 2nd quarter list will take me to June, when things really get crazy around here with the kids out of school.  I should try to make the most of them still attending classes, while I can, because my 3rd quarter list will undoubtedly be more sparse.

Here it goes:

• Beginner QAL quilt - need to finish it.  I still need to add outer borders, back, baste and quilt it.

• Les Amis Baby quilt - This one is partially quilted

• Baby Boy quilt - my friend is due in July, so I need to get going on this one
• Hands 2 Help quilt - I signed up for this year's charity drive and quilts are due in June.
• I also have my bee commitments
• Star of Africa Bee - I am 2 months behind, plus I will have 3 more during the quarter
• Skill Builder QAL - I still have 6 blocks from last quarter, plus another 6 from this quarter
• Lucky Star BOM - will have 3 to do.
• We Bee Learning Bee - 2 blocks per month for 3 months
• Simply Solids Bee - 1 block per month for 3 months
• Make it Modern Bee - April is my month, so I will only have 2 blocks per month for 2 months
• For the Birds Blog Hop item for a May date tbd
• I would also really like to start on a quilt for my own bed!  I've chosen the pattern, and started collecting fabrics.  Truthfully, it will be a miracle if I even get it into a top in this time frame.

That's a lot of stuff!  There is also a potential for all my goal setting to be for nothing.  If we decide to move this quarter, I will be lucky to keep up with my bee commitments while packing/moving.  But, at the moment, there is no house to move into, so I better get cookin'!   I hope you will come back to cheer me on!

Thanks for reading today,

Jen