I'm Still Here

 As you may (or may not)

have noticed

I've been taking a 

Blog Nap

Not to worry,

everything is fine

and 

I'm still here :)

Lot's of things going on,

just not a lot of quilty things to take pictures of and share.

You can always find me on Instagram under the name

Nedra Sorensen

I have done little bits sewing the last few weeks

for my friend Monica

She had a few quilts that needed binding

which is something I find very relaxing and like to do.

Love this Jelly Roll Race 

with a soft Minkee owl print on the back.

 And another Polka Dot Jelly Roll Race

These are so easy and fun to make.

The tops can be put together in about an hour and a half

and make a great charity quilt.

 Purple binding for a purple quilt

I even put the bindings on 8 reversible Place Mats

for Monica

that represent Christmas here in the Southwest.

Other than that, I have been making backings for 3 of my quilts

(needs to be done, but I won't bore you with the pictures)

Once our daughter was married,

and all of our Out of State company left town,

I immediately jumped into another new opportunity:

I have started a new job!

Little hint:  I'm still in the Quilt Industry

yay!

But more about that later....

Those Mesa Ladies September

 Wednesday was my favorite day of the month

as I met with

Those Wonderful Mesa Ladies

for our September meeting.

Jamie's latest finish.

The ladies always bring the cutest 

Show and Tell !

 Love her border fabric

The always beautiful

Christine Cook

You may know her as cc.quilts on Instagram

 Christine is expecting a baby boy #4

in the next few months

and brought along this one to finish binding.

 The backing is a soft navy polka dot minkee

 Many of us are grandmothers making quilts for our grandchildren.

Steph brought two baby quilts to bind.

 Left Over Tater Tots

cute name!

 Love her printed labels

 For The Love of Aqua

Also made from leftover scraps.

 Love love love the blue against the crisp white.

 And especially love her creative border

Vicki and Janet 

treated us to the most amazing gourmet lunch.

These ladies can cook!

We meet at the church

where everything needs to be brought in

 and yet the ladies decorate 

as if they were hosting at home.

Even though we are not known for rain in Arizona,

the umbrella represented our recent

 Record Breaking Downpour

that made National News :)

Shop Hoppin'

When I lived in Utah

I used to go on their quilt store Shop Hops each year 

with my girlfriends.

But, now that I live in Arizona,

this is the first time I have attended the

Maricopa County Hop

Theme: Rally In The Valley

What an experience!

I was invited by my friend Denise

who coordinated 4 car loads of ladies.

Denise was amazing.

She had printed out Maps and Instruction Binders for each car.

These ladies have gone together for several years

and are quite experienced hoppers.

Judi stocked her trunk with cold drinks in a cooler

and boxes for each one of her riders to stash their purchases.

W.O.W.

I learned a thing or two :)

Some of the stores on the list 

were quite a distance from my home in Chandler.

Consequently, I had never been to them before.

Fortunately Rally In The Valley lasts 9 days

so there is plenty of time to drive from here to there.

We started with the store that was the farthest away for us

Arizona Quilts

in Surprise, AZ

is 55 miles away, and an hours drive.

A nice store with some beautiful quilts.

I especially liked this version of

Lori Smith's

Quilt Block Sampler

Our next stop (and my first time to visit) was

Sun Valley Quilts

in Sun City, AZ

Lots of fun things here too,

and everyone found a lot of quilty goodies.

With Denise's great directions and instructions

we managed to reach 7 of the 11 stores the first day.

I felt

Sew Blessed 

to be invited along with these wonderful ladies.

On Monday I was able to finish up with the last 4 stores on my end of the valley.

Rally In The Valley 

runs through Saturday the 27th

if you would like to join along.

Cut, Press, Sew by Lori Holt

 Last June 

when I went home to Utah

I had a chance to meet up with my girlfriend

Lori Holt

of Bee In My Bonnet

 Lori is always so kind to 

"gift"

something she knows I will love.

I was so happy to receive

her latest patterns

Cut, Press, Sew

that was launched as a 

Sew Along on Lori's blog

in May

 Along with the pattern,

Lori included her own fabric lines

to complete the projects.

How lucky am I?

These little Mini's will be perfect for my sewing room wall  :)

I have had a few other quilt commitments

in the line up,

but plan to get started on these very soon :)

 I was especially happy to 

walk into my local quilt store

ETC in Mesa

and see their display of 

Cut, Press, Sew

 I love their choice of  fussy cut Novelty fabrics.

As soon as I finish my daughter's 

wedding quilt,

Cut, Press, Sew

goes to the top of the list!

Meet Up with Lori Holt

Quilt designer Lori Holt (Bee In My Bonnet)

 and I have been friends for many years.

While I've been in Utah for my sons wedding

I gave her a call and we met for lunch.

 Lori has a new fabric line

coming out

and it was pretty exciting to see the Strike Off's.

*I'll share more about that in a future post.

 When I used to live in Utah

Lori and our good friend Nanette (Freda's Hive)

would often meet up at our favorite restaurant

Food For Thought 

in Draper

I was so happy to be able to once again go to lunch 

at our spot

with these two very talented and wonderful ladies!

How I have missed them!

We caught up on all the latest with our families

and life

and it felt as if I had never moved away.

 Lori gave me a present

of her latest pattern release

Cut. Press. Sew. Quilt.

What a wonderful gift!

Thank you Lori!

 Complete with Lori's

Vintage Happy fabrics

In fact, starting this Monday

Lori is hosting a

Sew Along for

Cut. Press. Sew. Quilt.

Because of Lori's wonderful gift, I'm now ready!

Want to join along?

She gives great tutorials. and instructions.

More information can be found on Lori's blog

Bee In My Bonnet

HERE

Handy Caddy

 My girlfriend Denise

gave me a very nice

"quilty" birthday present

that I have found very useful.

 The Handy Caddy

8" X 11" X 5"

is a great storage organizer.

The vinyl pockets allow you to 

see clearly where each little notion is stored.

The Best Part!:

It folds easily and fits just perfectly

inside my Sewing Machine Tote

right next to my machine.

So when I travel to classes

I simply pull out the Caddy

set it next to me

and I'm ready to work.

 Denise added several notions to help get me started.

Pencils, post it notes

lotion

little containers

Frixion Erasable pens

Now I won't have to lean over and borrow her things :)

(as much)

Thank you Denise! 

 I've added in a few items of my own

like 

scissors

seam ripper

tape measure

and Clover Wonder Clips 

with more items to be added soon.

Denise has a purple Handy Caddy

and as you can see, has already filled it with all kinds 

of useful things.

 The Handy Caddy 

comes in 4 colors.

Denise ordered several on-line from Joann.com

HERE

 They normally are priced around $23

but have a 30% off sale going on right now.

While researching the item

I also found that there is a  slightly larger

Deluxe Handy Caddy available 

14" X 7" X 5"

in turquoise

from HSN found

HERE

price $30

Juggling with the Juggle Quilt

 The other day when I was sewing with

Those Mesa Ladies

Jamie was in the process of cutting out

fabrics for a new quilt pattern.

Juggle

by Camille Roskelley of Thimble Blossoms

 Love this pattern 

with all of it's darling

hexie's made with Camille's

Happy Go Lucky fabrics.

 If you look closely you can see

a lot of small white 60 degree triangles sections 

that separate the hexagons.

The pattern provides a paper template 

that you should first copy onto your own template plastic.

The only problem:

we were sewing at a church building

and Jamie did not have any template plastic with her.

 This was a time when the word 

JUGGLE 

really came into play.

Stephanie Romney (Stuph From Steph) came up with the best idea!

By working with what we had in the room

Steph taped the paper template 

onto the underside of a ruler.

She then cut

3" strips of fabrics.

*the height of the triangle

Within minutes

the exact size of needed

60 degree triangles were created!

How's that for adaptability?

 

That Steph is brilliant :)