A Very Quilty Day

Yesterday was a day filled with quilty activities. My monthly guild meeting was delightful. One of our very own members did the program and its topic was Friendship. She showed many, many quilts she had made over the years--and exquisite they were--but the best part was when she showed similar quilts that she and her best friend had each made. She told how they each had a different take on the very same quilt. Quilting friends are the best kind! Then, a friend from the guild invited me to tag along with her to attend the Machine Quilters Association show out in Overland Park. Wow, what a treat that was!! I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but I now love machine quilted quilts even more than handquilted quilts! Longarmers can do so many amazing things with those machines! Things I think a handquilter could only dream of. Since we left for the show right from the guild meeting, I didn't have my camera along :( but I can tell you the quilts were amazing. I was also impressed with those set-ups where the longarm machine is connected to a computer which sends the design. Such perfection. The friend I attended with is a longarmer and thinks that the computer-attached set-up really takes away the creativity. But to me, it's another way to GET THOSE QUILTS DONE!! Vendors were also great at the MQA show. Yep, I did some damage to the budget. One dealer had the most incredible collection of batiks I'd seen. Had to have a few FQs of those, for heaven's sake. Also bought some Bottom Line thread to try out. And--yay--the new Quilt Sampler was out! Had to buy that, of course. A few other things found their way into my bag. One thing I was hoping to find but didn't was Misty Fuse. Been seeing it in magazine ads, but so far I haven't seen it in any of my LQS's. May have to order it online.

The two photos above are from my own stack. The larger one was purchased from a dealer years ago and is a "bonneted ladies" hand appliqued. It needed refolding so I snapped a quick pic of it. The smaller one is one I made following a trip to Oregon a couple of years ago. (Yes, the trip included Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show!) I made some crazy blocks, then embellished with ocean-y kinds of things. Fun!
KC is chilly today with brisk winds. I am hoping to get annuals out this weekend. Maybe we won't have one of those late Missouri frosts--shut my mouth! Closing this morning with a photo of the first irises to bloom in my yard for the year. They began to open last week and today there are lots of purple and peach beauties out there. Iris is my most favoritest flower. I love having a few on the kitchen table. Peonies have now started to pop and will try to get a photo this weekend. Love the smell of peonies!