4 0 -- MONDAY

40 years ago, Easter fell on March 29th.
A mother was close to having her second child,
and the Doc said, no, you won't be having that baby today.

So he went home to have his Easter Dinner...
Then just to surprise everyone, I decided the time was right...

Instead of the Stork, I was delivered by the Easter Bunny...


I recall being a little kid wondering what I would Look like when I was 40.

now I know.

I wondered what I would be doing. I always wanted to be an artist...
now I know.

I wondered if I would be gray early, like my mother.

now I know!

I wondered if I would be a mother and a spouse. Where I would be living?
now I know.

And mostly, I wondered,
Would I be happy?

And Now I know.

I'm all those things, and more. And it just keeps getting better and better...

I wonder what I will look like when I am 50.
...
I don't want to know...

(not just yet.)


Today I am happy right where I am.

he he!


Thank you to:
Felicity
Kaaren
Be'atrice
Kathy
& Mary C.


And just to answer a lot of the emails I get.
the address to mail the blocks to again is:

Bumble Beans Inc.
335 W 38th St 8th floor
New York, NY 10018

All blocks that want to be entered into the Amy Butler fabric giveaway
must be rcvd by April 30th. drawing will be May 1st.



Be back in a week!
Sorry, I won't be able to answer emails this week.

Happy Sewing!
and thank you!

Lancaster Show

Thank you to Lucille from Philly! Does anyone know her? #328
This was her quilt in the show...
She very kindly shown us the way into the show from the parking ramp, and we made it around to see her quilt as she mentioned her quilt was in the show! I popped around to take a picture of it, and she tapped me on the shoulder, and very sweetly said,
"someone just said they loved my quilt and It made me cry!"
So very genuine and lovely...


I turned around to snap the picture, and when I turned around again, she disappeared!

If you know her, tell her to email me... I can't read her last name on my shot....

the log cabin Quilt was called "Beauty"

Click here...for all the images
I took a lot of pictures, but some not very good ones...

Ronda Beyer

Jimmy McBride (NY) ;-)
love this...

We sure had fun in DC, and Lancaster...

(George Washington's House is a must see...)
So happy to be home.
Briefly!

We're off again Monday, bright and early...
beach & sunshine here I come!

9 plus miles

Good Lordy!!! We've walked 9 plus miles today AND we found choice
street parking in D.C. I could fall over asleep right now... Wish we
could have given Bo a scratch on the ears or a big hug to the prez for
Clare(hehe) but he's busy with Heathcare... (thank you Jesus!)
Saw one quilt... And a load of other stuff at the history museum...
I'm savingy quilt time for Saturday when we drive back, through PA for
the Lancaster show... :-)
So enough walking for today... Perhaps the zoo and Georgetown
tomorrow...

VOLUNTEERS:
Also, all you in the Nyc area... April 28th from 3:30-5 is when I will
be doing the projects with the kids from Basics.... Place and other
info to follow... Save to date please... When I know more I will pass
it Along...

Happy sewing!

questions for DC

Any great quilts I need to see in D.C.?

Any info any of you have, shoot me a comment.
;-)
thanks!

or any other favorite thing.. restaurants, other places etc.??

house blocks galore!

WOW-eeeee!
I came home last night to some very fat packages of house blocks!
thanks AGAIN to BARBARA , she has sent two packages filled with blocks... thank you!
Also as fabulous, is
Deanna, Vicki and Mary Kay! All these blocks came from these 4 ladies!
you guys rock.
I met with BASICS before I went to Dallas, and we are going to put a few more quilts together for several of their fundraisers with these as well as donating them to families..
SO thank you so very much...
now if I had a long arm machine, I could really crank these out...



Well I tell you Texas color, Texas Weather, Texas Friends...have made a
big soft spot on my heart!
People are so friendly!
no one is a stranger...
I heard that more than once!

our kids had a blast, and me and Shelly and her family
had some good old laughs...

The only difference between New Yorkers, and Texans, in March?
We don't dig our flip flops out until June~!
;-)
thank God, I wore my boots!

Now I gotta get my butt the doc,
then pack
and we are off tomorrow, for DC....

The loot

Why don't we have half priced books (store) in new York? Shelly, her
mother and I, rumaged the quilting section for some fun finds! I took
home two books... Lots of old beauties with some quilts I have not
seen published before...

Picked up some sale yardage, some fabric for new pillowcases for my
bed, and some RED with pink for sashing my sunset blocks!!! Yipppee!!

We had such a nice time, the kids played their brains out, while we
just relaxed and chatted... No sewing at all! Can you believe it??

We head home tomorrow and since the snow is now gone.... It will be in
the sixties... So we get just a teeny taste of warm Texas!

The only thing left to do is, see the spot JFK was shot... B studied
him, and can tell you anything you want to know about him, so we can't
miss seeing THE very spot...

I picked up the antique quilts issue by Better Homes and gardens....
I'm all geared up to run home and make the cover brown and pink star
quilt.... Yeah, that one and about 20 others.... :-) vacations are
good for rebooting....
Happy sewing!!!

And thank you , Shelly and your family, for a great weekend!!!
See y'all soon!!

Snow + tulips= Dallas

Snow and tulips in Dallas....

Hello Dallas!

Dallas here i come.

I'm set.

Although my mind is spinning, rather like the rings on
this sand painting in Union Square today....



Why is it, when I have no time to create,
my brain goes into creative overdrive?

My fingers itch...

I have way to many projects to work on...
but I have even more in my mind...

I hate missing the opportunity of creative energy...
I like to pounce on those moments,
& not let them slip by.

(yes, that beer truck star actually inspired me)

DO you write down your ideas?

or Do you let them slip by until one grabs hold?

And festers?




Thank you Dagmar for your houses!

I had a lovely chat with the BASICS.org. today...
We're are organizing a kids day
to make blocks which will also be made into quilts
for the fundraisers in the fall...

It will most likely be after school one day (possibly a wed eve)
towards the end of April...

I will need volunteers to come along and help me...

Are you in the NYC area?

If you'd like to help me for a few hours one day,
please,
leave me a comment...

so I can keep you posted
as we narrow down the day...

Believe me, these kids will have some creative energy!

Come play.


(remember, I will be away for a bit, but not disconnected...
I may be slow to answer my emails though...)

5 minutes

5 minutes to play
(jennifer paganelli new St croix prints)

5 minutes to relax

5 minutes to open mail!

thank you Lori
and Gail!
look at all the great blocks!

I've got you added!

I'm heading to Dallas friday, so I won't be posting blocks until I return..
So if you haven't seen yours posted yet, check back Tuesday...

And a whole lot of time spent outdoors today enjoying this
bright blue sky day!

Here's a picture of the Dakota from last friday...
during our very nasty windy rainy flooding day...

Vacation starts friday...
priceless indeed...

whirlwind...

All a whirl....

tick tock... the clock ticks by and I am frantically trying to get stuff done...
Busy week, dr. apts, hair cuts, school events, field trips, and pedicure!
(gotta get beach ready!)

I took a few minutes to play in scraps, as I flip between cutting 10.5" squares from the fabrics you all have sent,
(Thank you YUKI, these are some scraps from the
fabrics you sent I cut down to 10.5" blocks)

to getting my playtime in on an idea for a new block,
then taking it one step further and free piecing it with waves and curves...
(throw that one into the orphan block bin!)

NEXT!

A bunch more House blocks arrived yesterday!
thank you's to
Carla, Cherie,(again!) and Sarah!
thank you ladies!

Carla, a thank you to you double! A few goodies came in the package for too!
This lovely runner for me, and a package of jolly rancher jelly beans for B...
Suspiciously all the BLUE RASPBERRY JELLY BEANS went missing!
hmmm, it's a mystery...
Someone was skipping around here in s sugar buzz last night!!
I'm all orange, so you know it wasn't me!

back to applique...

pays to play

Time to bury the threads...I got around today to bind this Sunny D quilt!
now to bury a ton of threads for all the quilting... my least favorite part of the job...
But. This was an experiment that has had a happy ending... I played with a few different things here, more curves, and bits like the waverunners. added some silks,
playing with depth in color, not just in quilting... and really just trying to push a little further out of my box...


Continued to do so by playing with scraps... making a block with NO straight lines anywhere... except for the trimming of the size of the block...

Play.
Gotta love it...
Wish you could all come over and we could just play...

Speaking of playing....Carolyn
sent me 9 fabulous houses! Thank you Carolyn!


And I have started to play a little with the squares you all have sent me... I have to tell you what a god send it is to have the pre-cut 10.5" squares....

If I can get a whole lot more houses I'd like to lay them out like so...
If I do this, I think right now I have about 16 quilts.
But If I break it down even more and out one house block per quilt.. well then that's 72 quilts...

I'd like something in between...

More houses pleazzzeeeee!!!

I'm cutting down a lot of the fabrics you all sent to 10.5" it takes a lot of time..
so please feel free to send me more 10.5" blocks...

And remember the Amy Butler fabric...(click here). ;-)

Perhaps I can find more prizes, if more folks can send me houses! ;-)

House block Pattern click here

rainy day

itsy bitsy teeny weenie... Playing with my scraps again...
all the big projects can get boring... so I've been making mini's...
What fun, and a great way to work out ideas...
and keep me interested in the next thing i should be working on...

Megan! I added your name to the entry for the raffle! these are great!
Thank you!


Wanna be in the fabric giveaway?

Send me a house block or two And be entered to win!
Click here for details.

applique day

Applique the day away...
I'm not going to be posting as much as I am stitching my brains out by hand over here...
This is a slightly different project I am working on, but I enjoy it just the same...
For once I have had a complete idea in my head, and so far it's playing out
in all the right ways for this commission... It suits the client to a T...

Everything below is to be hand appliqued, so I dove right in today...
Have a super weekend!

GIVEAWAY and BLOCK gather in last post..
or click here

How cute are these cats from YUKI??
Thanks Yuki!

GIVE AWAY !!!!

HOUSE BLOCK GATHER
and GIVEAWAY

Thank you Carol and Barbara!! how cute are these houses?
I rcvd a whole bunch of fabric and bindings and squares from these ladies also...
Also from Nellie and Gael! THANK YOU THANK YOU!
thank you so much! I can now see, a lot of quilts are in my future for BASICS...

GIVE AWAY!!!
EVERYONE who sent me house blocks, and or anything to help with the quilts,
squares, binding, backing, batting

your name will be entered in for a raffle drawing...

All blocks are to be rcvd by
APRIL 30th.



I only need House blocks at this time

thank you to everyone who sent me or is in the process of sending...


the prize??

well...
How about some Amy butler Fabulous-ness!!!



They sent me a big box of scrap fabric to help with this project
and what a Good way to help
by sharing with all of you who have helped me!

All you have to do is send me a house block and your entered...

I am collecting the house blocks until April 30th
so you still have time to enter!
Winner will be selected May 1st. so get them in early!

pattern is here

Have fun!

email me for address to send to:
bumblebeansinc at gmail dot com