Let's get back to QUILTING!!

Hello Friends,

The Holidays are behind us, the house is all put back together, and it's time to get back to quilting!

How many of you purchased some of the wonderful line of fabric from French General called Rouenneries? I've had a fat quarter collection just begging to be made into something beautiful for weeks. This fabric has a rich, linen-like feel, which makes it a pleasure to work with.

When Joe sees the pasta dryer coming out of the cupboard, his first thought is fettuccine alfredo...NOT.....it's strip quilting time. ( I'm trying to convince him that quilting is much healthier for us.) The pasta dryer is the best invention for handling lots and lots of fabric strips.

You can see them at a glance. Organize them by color and it takes up much less room than having strips of fabric spread out across your work surface.

This fabric lends itself to a wonderful medallion-like center for an 8-1/2" block.

I want to have this quilt done and hanging in the shop before Valentine's Day. So stay tuned to see how I'm going to set these blocks.

So readers, what kind of quilter are you? Do you like to have your home perfectly tidy before you sit down to that quilting project that you've been dying to start? Or do you just start to quilt no matter what state your surroundings look like? I have to have my house picked up before I can sequester myself away in my sewing room. I don't like to have anything else hanging over my head or nagging at me when I start creating.

I've got multiple projects going right now. I always have a pieced quilt going while working on an applique project, just so I can see some progress since applique quilts seem to be completed at glacial speed!

Speaking of applique projects, the Party in the Garden blocks are coming together nicely. I'll be sharing more pictures soon.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

As always,

Lynn

We have a winner! READ THE WHOLE POST!

Dear Friends,

The winner of the Wilder Family Cookbook is......KATHY ROMANO! Congratulations Kathy.

Zinny actually licked the rawhide chew with your name on it before she picked up Anonymous.

Please email your address to patched55@comcast.net and I'll get the book in the mail to you right away Kathy.

My thanks go to all of you that have posted comments to the blog. I appreciate your comments and get so excited when I actually get a comment or an email from someone that has read the blog. My friend Kathy suggested that I watch the movie Julie and Julia. Joe and I watched it this weekend and I am so like Julie when I get a comment. Whenever I say, "Joe, listen to this!" He knows someone sent in a comment.

SO HERE'S WHAT I'M GOING TO DO......

In appreciation to all that read the blog, send me an email, and I will email you the recipe files in .pdf format. That way you can print them out if you wish and put them in the recipe binder of your choosing. I'll get the files sent just as soon as I can. I need to spruce them up a bit. They are in the order that I put them in the computer, so a little organization will be required first on my part. (I hope there won't be a run on real butter at the market when everyone gets their files!)

This blog started out being the Blossom of Friendship block of the month blog. Friendships are blossoming and I'm enjoying every minute of meeting so many of you, either in person or "virtual" friendships via the computer. What a nice, and special group of people you are! I will get back to the Blossom of Friendship quilt and post a tutorial on those pesky borders soon.

I'm off to work at the shop this morning. I took last Monday off for the Holidays, so there will be lots of new fabric to look at today. I wish all of you could come to the shop and spend some time enjoying the quilts, the fabric and the friendship.

As always,

Lynn

Happy New Year.....The Perfect Day

Happy New Year to all!

Have you ever had the perfect day? A day that is so enjoyable you don't want it to end. Well reader, we had one of those days at Wilder's Last Resort this fine first day of 2010.

Santa Mike and Mrs. Mike arrived yesterday for the weekend. We managed to stay awake until 11pm before we called it a night.....because we had a busy day ahead of us.

Mrs. Mike (Kathy) brought up some of her homemade wheat bread and made delicious turkey sandwiches for us to take on our hike.


Homemade pumpkin cookies for our lunch also. Yummers!

We have our annual New Year's tradition. Come rain, sleet, or snow, we hike in to Alpine Lake Lodge and picnic on New Year's Day.

It's about a one mile walk from the winter parking area into the Lake Alpine Lodge that unfortunately is closed for the winter. We actually walk along State Highway 4 on the nicely groomed road that is closed to traffic from now until Spring.

The boys and Zinny were standing out by the Lake. Can you tell which one is Santa Mike?

Here I am with Kathy. We were laughing about out "hat hair." The snow was really coming down and it kept snowing the rest of our hike.
Here is our feast after our trek in to the Lodge. Look at all that fruit....we were trying to be good.

We took refuge on the front porch which is usually filled with diners throughout the summer season. It's sad to see it all boarded up. We were so grateful to have a roof over our heads. We sat on the porch and Kathy said she felt like we were on the inside of a snow globe.

Here's the dock at the shoreline of the frozen lake.

Zinny enjoyed here day in the snow and has been sleeping since we returned home.

Kathy is fixing dinner for us while I'm working on the post. The herb-crusted pork tenderloin is smelling mighty fine about now. I can see a salad and snap peas and yams from my vantage point. If I keep typing, I'm going to miss dinner!

I hope to have more perfect days in 2010.....and I hope you do also.

As always,

Lynn