Grammy Squares Assembly Line

 

Hello Everyone,

 

Yesterday, Gail and I got a chance to spend some time in my new sewing room making little kits for Grammy Squares.

These little packets of 4" x 22" strips sell like hot cakes at quilt shows.

We carefully select coordinated fabrics for each and every packet.  We take turns cutting and packaging while listening to music.

 

This is what we had packaged, but not sealed by the end of the afternoon.  We couldn't find a roll of scotch tape in the cabin.  We didn't want to stop and go to town, so today we will seal these little puppies up after a trip to the store.

 



I love teaching this class!  I named this picture "Hooters in the Hills".  I taught Grammy Squares in Auburn last year and these girls were an absolute hoot!

 

I'll be teaching Grammy Squares at Alden Lane Nursery during Quilting in the Garden next month.  Click HERE for more information about my class and other classes being offered.

 

Have, and give a "hoot" today!

 

Soon,

Lynn

P.S. Send an email to sewnwildoaks@gmail.com if you are interested in purchasing a Grammy Squares pattern.

Sew'n Wild Oaks Class Was In Session

Hello Everyone,

 

I met up with my girls at Sew'n Wild Oaks class on Tuesday.  As always my girls did not disappoint.  Some spectacular finishes arrived in the classroom. 

 

Pat took the last stitch in the binding on her Scrappy Leaves quilt.  She even machine quilted this one herself on her domestic machine!  That is quite the undertaking.  Her goal was to have this one done and on display by September 1st.  She did it! Pictures don't do this quilt the justice it deserves.  It is a work of art.

 

Lynnette and Irene are also working on their Scrappy Leave in anticipation of Autumn which is just around the corner.

Irene completed her Journey's End quilt top.  She kept up with her BOM program through In Between Stitches and this is her reward.

Karen is moving right along on her Journey's End.

So is Kristi. Each of them are incorporating fabric from their Kim Diehl stash.

Laurie made her last basket for Huckleberry Hill.  Now she is waiting for me to design the fourth, and last basket.  No pressure!

Gail is moving right along on her Walk in the Park quilt.  She's almost finished putting the borders on her blocks.

Kristi just arrived back from attending Primitives of the Midwest.  I put the ruler next to the blocks so you could see they are going to finish at 4-1/2"!!!  You all thought I did tiny blocks!

The next series of pictures are Mary's Lucy Boston blocks.  Mary has been doing a great job fussy cutting her rectangular hexagons.  This quilt is going to be quite the treasure when she's done.

So there you have it......another glorious day spent in wonderful company surrounded by beauty.

Our relocation to the mountains is starting to wind down.  My sister Gail met up with us in the city house and we loaded up her car with all of the props that I use at quilt shows.  We only had to clear out three bedrooms, but those bedrooms were full to the brim. 

Today we will do some unpacking and rearranging, then we start cutting kits for the retreat and the next four quilt shows.  Yes, four quilt shows, two retreats, two guild lectures, one class at Quilting in the Garden, two classes at In Between Stitches all in the next eight weeks.  I think I need a nap!

Soon,
Lynn

Harvest on the Delta Quilt Show

 

Hello Everyone,

 

I have just a few minutes to post a few pictures of the my booth at the Harvest on the Delta Quilt Show.  My sister Gail helped me set up the booth, so her For the Love of Baskets quilt gets center stage!  (Now about the cat hair.....don't forget the lint brush today Gail!)

 



I have little bundles all cut to make a Christmas Grammy Square quilt.

I have boxes of note cards too.

The Community Center in Brentwood is a beautiful location for a quilt show.  Excellent lighting and lots of space.

Gail's cash register is on the left.  My demonstration table is on the right.  The two Butterscotch Baskets quilts make nice bookends for us old gals.

As kids, we "played" store all the time.  Gail is in heaven and gets to play store for real for the next two days.  She and the cash register become one.  Me not so much.  The cash register gets a little crotchety at times......only when there's a line of people wanting to give you money!

Soon,
Lynn

P.S. Thank you all for commenting yesterday.  I will try to answer your emails personally when I get the time.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know.......

Hello Everyone,

 

I guess I spilled the beans prematurely yesterday when I showed you my quilting room reorganization.  I not only reorganized my room, I moved it up to our cabin in the Central Sierra Nevada mountains.

 

A few short weeks ago, our middle son's wife, decided she no longer wants to be married.  Just like that. This revelation caught the entire family completely off guard.....especially our son.  In order to keep some continuity in our grandchildren's lives, and let our son get back on his feet emotionally and financially, we are letting the three of them move into our home in the suburbs, and we are moving to our beloved cabin in the woods. We are going to try this arrangement for one year to see how it goes.



 

Our soon to be ex-DIL has been part of our life for 20 years.  Twenty Years!  I guess you never really know someone and what they are capable of doing to hurt themselves, and family members.  Huge mid-life crisis.....maybe.

It is so hard watching your child hurting so much.  I told our son that he has absolutely no control over the situation.  But, he can control how he reacts to it.  As a family, we decided to take a page out of Michelle Obama's book.  "When they go low, we go high".  We are taking the high road.  We aren't saying an unkind word, in fact we haven't said any words.  Silence is an opinion.  You can read into that whatever you want and you will most likely be right.

We are keeping our bedroom suite completely intact in our city home.  We will be driving from the mountains to the city instead of the other way around, which we've been doing since 1999.  I'll still be teaching at In Between Stitches in Livermore.  I'll be planning my classes around Little League, soccer, and softball games, and cross country meets.  I want to get the biggest bang for my buck when we come back to town to see all of the kids both big and small.

I have a full year scheduled for 2018 with guild lectures, workshops, quilt shows, and classes.  Most of what I have signed contracts for, is all based out of the city house.  Our son will get tired of seeing us.  We don't have room at the cabin for my long-arm, so every time I finish a quilt, we'll be back in the city.  Again, I'll plan my machine quilting around sporting activities and family gatherings.

I retired from my real job, my career as a Geographic Information Systems Analyst at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 2008, the same year I started my pattern company.  I really haven't had time to make a permanent tushie imprint in the antique chairs on the front porch....until now.  I will totally concentrate on designing and marketing my patterns while sitting in my green chair

Mr. Joe and I spent nine glorious days in a row at the cabin.  We were cleaning out closets and the garage preparing to move in items from the city house.  We toasted each day at dinner.  Day one.....day two and so on.  We managed to not kill each other in those nine days.  I think we are going to make it!

The first order of business is buying a generator for the days of power outages.  We are also having a new wood-burning stove installed.  The highlight of the move is now, drumroll.......we can rake pine needles year round! 

I'll be blogging more on a regular basis once we are all settled in by the end of the month.  I think this is going to be a good transition for us, and I'm looking forward to sharing stories about our year in the woods.  If this coming winter is as intense as last winter.....oh boy.....life is going to be interesting. 

We are headed off this morning from the city house to set up my booth for the Quilt Show in Brentwood.  I'm looking forward to meeting all of the quilters and get away from packing.

Let the circus begin!

Soon,
Lynn

Organization Overload

Hello Everyone,

 

This is what I've been up to......moving my entire sewing room to the cabin. I've been packing, folding, sorting, and fondling fabric for days.

 





This cute little piece of furniture is an old mail sorter from a small town out in the valley.  It is perfect for storing fat quarters and other fabric collections.

My old pie safe is the perfect place to store yardage.  This exercise has shown me a couple of things.  First, I have enough fabric to make hundreds of quilts......it's not going to happen in my lifetime.  Second, this reorganization has re-introduced me to fabric that I bought years ago, and it reminded me of why I liked it in the first place.  I had forgotten about so many of my favorite pieces.  I see a scrap quilt in my future!  Three, this picture shows me that I need more yellows.

The room is large enough to accommodate my office.  I still have to move the printers, office supplies, file cabinet, and cubbies that hold all of the printed patterns ready for mailing.  This area will be my blogging spot in the morning.....just as soon as I get a good Internet signal.  The repairman will be here soon to "boost" the signal. I've learned that the signal has a hard time traveling through log walls.

 

This week, I put down my feather duster and started preparing for the Delta Quilters, Harvest on the Delta Quilt Show in Brentwood this weekend.  I'll pack everything up tomorrow and head to the Delta and set up the booth.  It seems that all I've been doing is packing and unpacking.  I would love to see a lot of you.  Come on by and visit my booth this weekend.

 

Soon,

Lynn

Sew'n Wild Oaks Class Was In Session

Hello Everyone,

 

Yesterday I was at my happy place.  I spent the day with my Sew'n Wild Oaks girls at In Between Stitches.  Just look at what they've been up to since last month.

 

Suzanne has all of the final borders on Madrigal. 

 

I love the small, checked border along with the tiny pink flange.  It's all of this attention to detail that adds so much interest to Suzanne's quilts.

You saw this quilt last month without a few of the little faces.  They are now done and adorable!

Valery finished her Spoken For quilt.  All of the Dresden Plates were made from her stash.  Well done Valery!

Barbara finished her Southwest quilt of her own design.  I suggested she write a pattern for this beauty. I think she gave me a look that had "stink eye" written all over it!  This was beautiful.

She also made a little "Welcome August" wall hanging.  The honeybee is the logo for the shop, so this is a perfect representation for the shop, Summer, and August in general.

Barbara also finished this gorgeous batik quilt.

The crystals are an added touch of beauty.

Pat finished her "Bertie" quilts.  Stunning work.

So much adorable detail in each and every block.

What a wonderful, seasonal wall hanging to put on display for years of enjoyment.

Wendy showed us her almost completed back for a quilt.  Yes, this is the back...

 

 ,,,,for this quilt!  She made a reversible quilt......or she has two separate quilts.  Wendy is new to quilting and did a fabulous job on this quilt for her son and DIL.

 

Meeke mastered this block for Zinnie's Choice. Such wonderful fabric selections create a great deal of interest.

This little wall hanging that Suzanne is making is so sweet,

Jeanne keeps adding to her Lil' Orphan Scrappy block collection. I'm looking forward to seeing all of these cuties sewn together......all 120 of them!

Patty added two more baskets to her quilt yesterday.  Three down, six to go.

My girls are the best!  We were at the shop during the day, then many of us went to the Fall Preview Party last night to see the classes being offered at In Between Stitches this Fall.  The class schedule will be posted this week.

It was my quilty kind of day.

Soon,
Lynn