Belgian Waffles Quilt

Most of the ladies in Steph's Group have made this cute Belgian Waffle design.
They got together a while back, and decided they each would make the same quilt, just in different fabrics.

Peg knows how to do a Wilson right

Belgian Waffles is a Happy Zombie design for Moda Bakeshop, using pre-cut turnovers.
Monica called it a Swanky Turnover.

Peg also brought her latest finish of this cute Quilt As You Go pink baby quilt

She said she drew grid lines down the center of her background fabric, which had already been sandwiched with 3 layers.
The squares are held in place with a dab of glue, and then stitched in straight lines through all layers 1/4" from the edge of each square.

Bind, and then toss in the wash to give the edges that nice frayed look.
Peg said the entire quilt only took her about 2 hours from start to finish.

Amanda knows how to do a Wilson, too!
Bright, happy quilt made for one of her daughter's teachers.
What a nice gift!

And tomorrow I will show you what Stephanie is doing with these.
No, they are not a wedding cake.

Do A Wilson

Yesterday I met with the wonderful little quilt group from Mesa.
They really don't have a name.
I call them Steph's Group, because Stephanie is the one who invited me to join with them.
I took so many pictures that I will show you their quilts in several posts.

Stephanie asked Karen to "Do a Wilson" while we took pictures of her cute table topper.
Remember Wilson from Home Improvement?
I'll have to remember that line as I photograph people with their quilts.

Cherries everywhere!

The red jumbo ric rac is a great addition to first stop border.

Her quilter did such a nice job custom quilting in red thread.

I missed the Wilson moment on Karen's Whirlygig quilt.

Made from the Pure fabric line by Sweetwater for Moda.
What a nice quilt Karen has made for her grandson!

And again, her quilter added such wonderful details and design with the machine quilting!
More pictures tomorrow from Steph's Group.

Pat's Quilt

I wanted to share with you the beautiful quilt Pat Roche brought for Show and Tell last night at our guild meeting.

This is another one of those stories.
Pat originally found the vintage quilt top on e-Bay.
She doesn't know much about the quilt, except that it probably came from an estate sale in Indiana.
I'm telling you, I think I need to spend more time sitting next to these ladies at my guild and learn the ins and outs of e-Bay.

Pat brings her treasures home, and then machine quilts them.

For this find, she felt it needed lots and lots of quilting.

She really added some fun thread colors.
Notice she used green for the pebble stitching, purple for the stars, red in the red sections, and a neutral for the background fabrics.

Nice job!

When I was a new quilter, I had the privlege of taking a class from
Sue Spargo.
I have never forgotten one of her best pieces of advice:
She said "Every quilt needs a little bit of cheddar".
(except with her beautiful South African accent it came out "ched-dah")
I think of Sue every time I see bits of gold that make the quilt stand out and be noticed.

Thank you Pat for sharing with us.

Noah's Perspective

Our grandson Noah is all boy.

At age 4 he can be serious at times.

When he smiles his dimples come out, and if I can get him to sit still for half a second, I love to run my fingers through his beautiful curly hair.
From the moment he was born, Noah has been keenly aware of everyone and everything around him.
He shows his emotions openly, and I'm constantly amazed at his intellect, and how much he perceives at such a young age.
I feel joy just being near him.

Noah spends most of his free time trying to find someone who will wrestle with him, and especially loves his Aunt Aubrey who indulges him often.
We've nicknamed him Noie-Kablowie.

In his world, he would be Captain America and fight the bad guys.

Our daughter Amy is a wonderful mother, who spends hours with Noah each day, finding activities that will keep him happy while his older brother is at school, or while his younger sister naps.
I was especially curious to see Noah's perspective of his mother, with notes written down by his teacher at church.

According to Noah, his mom has brown hair and blue eyes.
(During those snuggle times, he has paid attention to the details of her face)
She weighs 20 pounds and is 11 feet tall.
(Tall enough to be a superhero who keeps him safe)
And she is 12 years old.
(He can count to 100, but numbers are still a little confusing)
Her favorite TV show is Transformers.
(Amy laughed at that one. Guess who really likes Transformers the best?)
Most of all Noah loves it when his mom plays with him, and he knows she is the best mom because he feels loved.
From my perspective, that makes her the true superhero.

My Kind of Day

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day.
A day where you felt a little bit spoiled.
Thank you to all women who devote their lives to the care of precious children.

After we arrived home from church, Mr. Cactus and our Son-In-Law treated us to the best presents.

There is nothing more attractive than a man cooking dinner, unless it's two men cooking dinner.

Mr. Cactus makes the best marinade.
And, as a restaurant owner, Dano knows how to cook chicken to perfection.

They prepared a beautiful fruit salad.

With mashed potatoes, and grilled asparagus.
Healthy, beautiful food, full of color.
Thank you men!

Mr. Cactus knows that I really don't enjoy watching TV very much, except for PBS and Masterpiece Theater.
Too many of the current shows shock my system.
When I quilt, I often retreat to the safety of classic movies, found through our local library.
Mr. Cactus gave me this Hollywood Cinema Collection with 60 Classic Movies.
Add up the total hours, and I just might get some serious quilting done.
Oh, which one shall I watch first?

He also added in the 2nd season of Downton Abbey.
After reading many of your comments and recommendations, we recently watched the first season on DVD from the library.
We knew Downton Abbey was a must if Jimmy Fallon took notice.

Have you seen his spoofs Downton Sixby ?
You can watch clips over on his web site.
Pick me up off the floor hilarious!