I"m Still Here!

The last few months have been crazy since we moved to our new home. But we are here now and I have finally gotten back to my blog. There is a lot to tell. 

The above photo is our grand dog Floppy who has taken up residence with us in Pennsylvania. She is loving the new community since there are so many people to pet her! She is a pup who really loves her petting time. 

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The inspiration for renewing my blog at this juncture came last night at a lecture by Seth Apter at a local quilt shop. He told his story and how someone had been his inspiration to start and then keep going. So, I came home and decided that today was the day! If you do not know Seth's story, go to his website and learn more about him. His fabrics are fabulous and he is not a quilter but a mixed media artist. As a designer for Free Spirit fabrics, he has created fabric designs from his very own art. His lecture described his process in creating his fabric and how Free Spirit brings it to life. His website is sethapter.com . Check it out. I was also fortunate to have won one of the door prizes which is a package of his half yard cuts times 10!

I have been busy working at the Old Country Store and also creating some gifts along the way. Some pillows for my kids and a zoo animals for a friend's new baby. The Winnie the pooh quilt was gifted to my grand daughter. She discovered him recently!

I have been teaching a few classes at the shop. The above photos show some of the lovely items created by my students in village classes as well as others.  It is a real joy for me to teach classes and learn from them as well. 

Some potential classes for the future. A lovely jacket from Karen Eckmeier's book Wearable Waves.  The circle bargellos are based on a book by Cheryl Phillips that is no longer in print. 

Since it is the 250th anniversary of the United States, I created two special villages to celebrate. I decided to make the one in an oval form to be more colonial and I quilted it in the way that I have done other villages. The second village was quilted in a diagonal crosshatch pattern. I wanted to give my students a different option to finish the tulle and quilting step. I liked it.  These are being displayed currently at the Muncy Historical Society Quilt exhibit. 

In an effort to finish some projects, I found some new ones along the way. I saw these mushroom fabrics and had to have them. My daughter in law loved them too so I made some pillows for their house. Then I had to make the JOY quilt. You know what I mean! And then I saw this one block wonder pattern with quarter square triangles instead of hexies. I chose a wonderful Marcia Derse fabric. Then I bordered it with the same fabric but with a black background. I love not knowing how it will look until you are done piecing. A great mystery! 

Lastly, I opened a box that had a surprise in it. Al Goodwyn is an American political cartoonist. He drew an Easter cartoon, and I contacted him to see if I would be able to translate his cartoon to fabric. He quickly agreed but I did not start it right away. On Easter Sunday, one year later,  I found it and started to do this project. It still needs quilting, but I will get to that soon.

Hoping that you are still finding your happy place in quilting and crafting! Talk soon!

Piecefully yours, 
​Trisha