Home from Green Bay

Green Bay, Wisconsin, was lovely! The drive north through the rolling hills of the southern Kettle Moraine was almost at peak fall color, absolutely glorious. Stunning sugar maples were torches of flame amid the darker pines and oaks, and the sumac blazed in scarlet glory. The bright intense blue of the October sky was the perfect backdrop. We do have some bad winter weather here at times, but fall is the season that makes up for everything.

Thanks to everyone from Evergreen Quilt Guild for making my visit go so well, and to the big crowd at the lecture for being such a great audience. I hope you do go out and buy more mud fabric for your quilts, although from your show and tell quilts I can see this won't be an issue!

Class was in a large room, above, and everyone worked hard at their feather designs. Machine quilting on a home machine is not the easiest thing in the world, and there is much to learn and enjoy in the world of feathers. Start with the basics, get those feathers smooth and familiar, and then start branching out to make your designs more intricate. It takes focus and concentration, and frequent short breaks so the feathers don't deteriorate and become the proverbial toxic vegetables, tongue depressors, or stubby protrusions. And don't go around the Q-tip.

I think everyone did great with much good humor and of course things will go much better at home, but you do have to put in some time, add feathers to a real quilt, don't sit and practice.

My nemesis in the world of snack/junk food was lurking behind my table for hours before I noticed it, beckoning me, luring me in with the siren call of cheese and crunch, mmmmmmm. Cheetos!!! I ate only TWO and stayed clear of this temptation. When I arrived home that evening my husband had a brand new bag of them on the kitchen island waiting, as a treat for me when he knew I'd be tired out. Oh no..........

Keep quilting; your work does really really get better every day!

Diane