BOTP 2016

Baltimore on the Prairie 2016 is now one for the record books!  This year's conference, in its second year at Lied Lodge in Nebraska City, was inspirational as always. I can't really say that I learned much but it is unbelievably energizing to see all of the incredible work done by the participants and instructors. There was one very exciting tip I picked up from one of my classmates - she takes her quilt backs to the dry cleaner to be laundered and ironed. I'm embarrassed to admit how long I have had quilt tops sitting around here waiting for backing to be ironed, Complete genius!

I don't have any pictures of my own work to post this week but want to share some photos of the beautiful quilts that we saw in show and tell and Jeanna Kimball's trunk show. I unfortunately didn't keep track of who did what - there were so many beautiful quilts and they moved pretty quickly!

First, our class photo from Barbara Burnham's three day workshop:

And here is just a sampling of the gorgeous quilts we saw:

I am always amazed by how much these ladies are able to accomplish!  If only I could focus my attention on one project long enough to actually finish something...

FNSI Fail

FNSI ended up not happening for me this month for various reasons - getting home from NY a little later than planned, one of the fur babies not feeling well, and my daughter deciding last-minute to come home for a visit with her new puppy in tow. So the only sewing that happened Friday was four orange peels on the flight home.  I've been trying to get back to the orange peels after a couple of months of neglect.  I've done quite a few so I will be able to take credit for at least a little progress at the end of the month!

I finally made the trek to Eataly while in NY last week.  It was crazy busy but well worth the trip!  I went to the original store by the Flatiron Building.  The Empire State Building was feeling Italian that evening too.

They have a whole section of the store devoted to Nutella!

The fresh pasta looked incredible but the wait at that restaurant was over an hour.

I decided to eat in the center area between the meat, cheese and wine counters. It was crazy busy but I was able to get a seat after a short wait.

Almost everything on the menu looked incredible (except the wine)!

I decided on the meat and cheese selection.

It was so yummy! I'm not even sure what the toppings were on the plate but I thoroughly enjoyed them! 

I had planned to stop in this section before heading out but I was too full.  I will definitely have to go back.

Most of my sewing room time this weekend was spent preparing for Baltimore on the Prairie.  We head out to Nebraska first thing Tuesday morning.  I did manage to get a second block four and one block five of Magic of Christmas finished this afternoon.  Here's the new one:

I will be back next week with a BOTP update.  Lots of fun classes and things coming up over the next few months - I can't wait for the fun to begin!

Truman Lake Hook-in

The Truman Lake hook-in took place a couple of weeks ago.  It seemed a little smaller overall this year, perhaps due to it being a couple weeks earlier than normal, but Patty and her crew put on a great event as always. I think there were more rugs than ever before - and there were definitely a few show-stoppers!

I only took a few pictures and none of the hook-in itself.  I fell in love with this tree skirt, however, and took plenty of pictures of it. It is gorgeous!

I have been trying to finish the binding on my Garden Album quilt to take to Baltimore on the Prairie next week.  I'm almost finished so I should have a picture to post soon.  Other than that I have mainly been working on my Magic of Christmas blocks.  Blocks 3 & 4 were posted last week and are making me re-think my decision to make two of each.  They both had a LOT of pieces for 6" blocks.  Here is block 3 before it was assembled:

That star in the center - 2.5" square when sewn. Surprisingly it went together pretty well! Here are my two #2 blocks and one each of blocks 3 and 4.

I have both of the others cut and have started sewing so hopefully I won't get too far behind.  Block 5 is supposed to be posted today!