Tatting,Spring In My Gardens,Lovely Grandchildren

While at the Paducah Quilt Show this past Spring I decided to look for some good instructional books on tatting. My good friend Judi found this vendor and share her location with me. The shop is called "Zig-Zag Corner" from Greenfield, IN. She had a whole section dedicated to tatting. To my great surprise she also carried the new lovely tatting thread called Lizabeth. I bought all my favorite colors, aren't they all lovely? The one book called "Learn to Tat" has a DVD included in it so I am hoping this will greatly improve my chances to learn how to tat. I am very excited about these new purchases and I am hoping after the busy summer and my new supplies I will finally learn how to tat. Wish me luck. vbg

This is a photo of my lovely grand daughter Chloe napping after a busy morning of being at her cousin's birthday party. She is such a sweet big girl. She is 3 years old. she is laying on the blanket that "Grandma Judy" made for her.

This is a lovely photo of my grandson Ethan playing under his new picnic table we bought him for his birthday. Ethan is now 4 years old. Isn't he a real sweetie. Love that smile and those beautiful eyes.

This is one of the lovely bushes growing next to our garage, but I have no idea its name but it is truly beautiful. Maybe someone will know the name and let me know. Thanks.

The above photo is of my gardens that we look upon from our sun room. Not a lot of color yet but there will soon be. The Red Bud tree is now in full bloom.

This is my new Hosta Garden as of last Autumn. This Spring I added the White Bleeding Heart, and some Japanese Ferns. I finally found a home for the antique milk can and tub I brought home with me from Germany. I just bought some pansy to add to the tub which I think will really brighten up the Hosta Garden.

This is one section of my front garden with my lovely pink fringed Tulips blooming.

This past weekend I bought three white Bleeding Hearts and two pink ones. This one is planted under my Maple Tree in my shade garden which I also started last summer.

This pink Bleeding Heart is also in my new shade garden. I hope you enjoyed the wee tour of my Spring Garden. I wish everyone a Very Happy and Safe Memorial Day weekend.

Hugs,

Lovely Gifts From Inge, Beautiful Miniature Quilts

For over a year my dear friend Inge from The Netherlands and I have been planning to meet at the Paducah Quilt Show in 2009. The anticipation of our meeting for the second time was really enjoyable but our meeting in Paducah was fantastic. We spent many hours of quality time together and enjoyed looking at the glorious quilts and shopped till we dropped. We also took three classes together which was really fun. Inge gave me some very lovely gifts. Above is an up close photo of some lovely unique threads I have never seen before in the market. The two top and bottom one was created by Kates Kloths In the UK, click on her name to go to her website. The third one down from the top was called Imitation Silk Embroidery Thread Made in London by De Haviland Embroidery. I was disappointed that I could not find their website. It is very soft and shiny floss and I really look forward to stitching with it. I also received some lovely silk dupioni fabrics, lovely ribbons and a Peacock charm. Lovely Lovely.

Inge also gave me some lovely greeting cards created from winning quilts from her friends in The Netherlands. I also received some wonderful strong beading threads, Italian applique threads, and a couple of wool felt kits. I received my first very pretty " Inches" but they are really 2 Inches. Pretty neat. I have never made "Inches" but Inge's will received my first ones soon. VBG

Above is photo of a daisy beaded seam treatment that Inge taught me while at Paducah in her room in between our hectic schedule. Thanks Inge I really enjoyed our two beading sessions together.

The above Crazy Quilt is called, "Dreaming Hearts" by Michiko Yoshida, Ebetsu, Hokkaido, Japan. When all the Yo-Yos were joined, Michiko's Heart filled with Happiness. She loved using delicate embroidery and attaching ribbons and beads. She also hand quilted this CQ. This is an extremely lovely Crazy Quilt and the photos does not do it justice.

Here is an up close photo of some of the lovely laces and buttons and beads used in this wonderful created Crazy Quilt.

This is another up close photo of the detail of this lovely Crazy Quilt.

This miniature quilt is called, A study In Silk Ribbon Embroidery and was created by Katy Conde of Aurora Colorado. I feel this SRI is truly lovely. Thank you Inge for traveling all the way from The Netherlands to come and meet me at Paducah. I treasured every minute we spent together.

I would like to thank all my wonderful and kind visitors for stopping by to visit my blog. Greatly appreciated. I hope you all enjoyed seeing more of the lovely quilts we saw at Paducah.

Hugs,

Circle of Flowers BE Project Finished and Goodies

Hello everyone, I am so very pleased to say that I finished my "first" Brazilian Embroidery project, called "The Circle of Flowers"! The only change I made to the pattern was that I added seed beads to replace the field flower french knots. This project was a bit of a challenge. Even though some of the stitches are the same as in regular embroidery they are always a bit different. Also the Lola BE floss I found a bit frustrating to work with because it likes to twist allot. I love the shiny look of all the BE flosses and the dimensional look of all the stitching gives to a project. I have been working on this project since February, I think. LOL I made a couple of mistakes but I let them go to remind me that this kind of stitching takes lots of patience and is not a piece of cake to learn. The original pattern was plain in the center so I added 2 dragonflies and 1 butterfly tatted motifs which were beautifully created by "Wendy in Singapore and her blog is called, Umi N Tsuru". I think they brighten up the whole piece.

While I was at the Paducah Quilt Show I bought some more BE flosses to add to my stash along with some hand dyed Silk Ribbons in my favorite colors of pinks and purples and greens. I bought them at a really neat quilt shop called "Quilter's Alley". This shop is in a house across from the convention center. I was so very surprised when I walked in the shop and found a huge selections of fabrics and everything else under the sun including BE floss. I have never seen BE flosses at a quilt shop ever. I ask about how they came to have BE supplies and the lady told me the owner loved to do BE and hence all the supplies. To say the least I was thrilled with my find. Today is a very lovely and sunny day here in Michigan. A day that brings a big smile to your face. Enjoy your weekend and your week.

Hugs,