A Play Date with the Croatan Quilters and a Quilt Novel

Hi ya! So sorry I was MIA last week. It has been a series of crazy appliance mishaps here at the cottage. We woke up at 2:00 in the morning gasping for air. Toxic fumes filled the entire house! The culprit was our brand new Whirlpool dishwasher. The spinny thing at the bottom of the dishwasher broke off and landed on the heating element. It basically caught fire and melted all the way through the plastic and the metal braking it in half! The fumes were all the toxic plastic. Needless to say we opened all the windows and turned on the fans. I'm truly grateful that Hannah's door was shut and Sabrina was upstairs in Bunnyville. I was so scared that they might be dead as we couldn't breathe and they are just little animals.

I marched up to Lowes the next morning and told them to get it out of my house right away and give me my money back. They did. Then I ordered a Bosch dishwasher from Best Buy and so far so good. However...we also had the refrigerator repaired a few weeks ago. Well, that broke again. So back to Best Buy to get a new refrigerator. We had a broken microwave too and replaced that. Bunny ears crossed that the stove doesn't decide to quit. Good grief!

Anyway, I will post about our new yard adventures next week. Today I want to share a super fun day I had with my dear friends at the Croatan Quilters Guild here in NC. These gals will always be near and dear to my heart as I was a member of this guild for 20 years before I moved to Wilmington.

Here is everyone with their "bunny ears."

Everyone made my "Beekeeper Pincushion." This pattern is exclusive to my "Play Date" participants and we always have so much fun! This class is meant to inspire individual creativity. Everyone gets to pick their wool colors, Valdani thread and embellishments to make a pincushion that reflects their individual style.

Everyone really loves playing with the options. Of course, I'm always on hand to help with colors and make suggestions if needed.

Here's Holly's flower. Holly is retired from the Marine Corps. She totally rocks and I love her positive and happy personality.

Here is Lori with her flower.

This is a close up. I really love the color combo and the yarn she chose for couching.

I was sooooooo happy that my buddy Renee got to take the class. You see, she is allergic to wool! So, I purchased some Bamboo/Rayon felt just for her. I love the colors she selected and the stitching she was doing. Jennifer to the left gave her a fabulous idea to use some seed beads. I can't wait to see it finished. Hint, hint, hint Renee. ;)

This is Lillian. She is new to the guild and I loved her color combo. Felt very Caribbean to me. I just realized that I didn't get a photo of Rene's flower. Reen is the lady in the white shirt the back of the photo. Dag! You'll have to send me a photo Rene! Rene was a quilting student of mine many, many years ago when I taught at a quilt shop. Love her to bits!

Here is Jennifer with her gorgeous flower. She loves embroidery and does such a great job.

Here is my good buddy, Kathy. She is a retired silhouette artist. She is AMAZING!! She had the easiest time cutting out the small details of the flowers.

Kathy sent me a photo of the stitching she has been doing on her flower. That is her kitty, Nimbus in the back. He's a big, handsome boy.

Kathy always makes me laugh so hard. She has the best sense of humor. This is her name tag. She said it was "Horse - Fat." LOL!!!!!

This is my other good buddy, Gerri. She makes lots and lots of pretty things and has lots of gorgeous quilts around her home.

She finished her "Beekeeper Pincushion" and sent me some photos. Isn't it gorgeous? Love the pom pom fringe on the edge.

Here is the back. She used some bee "sayings" fabric. It says things like Bee Happy, Bee Kind, Bee Respectful. What a great choice!

Gerri is also special to me because she adopted one of Sabrina's babies. You may remember Shamus de Barrington.

Here he is all grown up. Hard to believe he will be three this year. Isn't he gorgeous? He's such a big boy.

This is Bonnie with her beautiful flower. I simply adore purple, yellow and green together. Great choice Bonnie!

This is Nancy. She is new to the guild too. It was great to meet her and I love her color choices as well.

This is Cathi. She too is new to the guild. I was talking about how quilting is changing and I pointed to her saying that young quilters purchasing things different than us older quilters. I tell ya, I thought she was 25! Well, she just turned 40! LOL!!!! Her flower is so stunning and very modern. Love it!

Behind Cathi is Barbara. Below is Barbara's flower. I love what she did with the pom pom fringe and the orange beads. It has a Hawaii n feel to me like I'm sitting under a palm tree drinking from a coconut! LOL!

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This is Deanna. She is such a doll. She was stitching the rick rack with a gathering type stitch, which was really pretty.

Here is Loletta. She is a total riot. It was good to see her as she too is a quilting student of mine from many years ago.

This is my dear, sweet, wonderfully fun friend, Peggy. The girls brought some show and tell for me to see. Peggy was showing her baby hats she makes for a hospital. This is one of the Preemie hats. Isn't it cute?

Peggy also brought some pillowcases that her mom made (I think it was her mom or was it grandma?) These were made with selvages of fabric.

I think they are so cute!

Peggy didn't have much time to work on her pincushion at class. That's always how it is for the person in charge of the day. However, she went home and worked on it while she was inspired and this is what she came up with!

She says she is boring and plain Jane, but I beg to differ. This is fabulous! The button in the center came from her Mom's button box. Way too cool!

Renee brought the friendship stars quilt that she finished. It is hand quilted!!! I saw the star that I contributed. Of course, it has bunnies on it. ;)

Bonnie recently lost her mom and this was a memory quilt she made years ago for her. It was wonderful and I'm glad it came back to her.

Here is the ever happy and fun, Lori showing off my "Blooming Hearts" that she made from my book, Fabled Fusions. Great job my friend!!!!

Linda too shared my "Peppermint Tea" that she made from my book. Hey...where is the photo of your flower Linda? You need to send me one!

Barbara shared these fun pinwheels made from folding fabrics and

also these really cute stars.

I'm missing flower photos from Linda, Mary, Jackie and Charlene. So my friends, when you finish your pincushions, please send me a photo!

It was such a great day for me. Being in the company of good friends makes for a happy life indeed.
Love ya'll bunches!

Lastly today, for all my friends who enjoy reading quilt relate novels, I wanted to pass on this new novel from Rhonda Cratty. I haven't had the chance to read it yet, but it has sparked my interest for sure.

"Our Family Quilt came alive when a friend first took me to a quilting class.

I knew the journey I wanted to take the characters on.  I knew how to sew but not quilt -which was critical in the story. 

One day I asked a friend, who quilted, to give me enough information so I could write my book.

           

Generously, she took me into my first quilting class, and under her wing.  I went to quilting shows learning as I went, joined a quilting guild, listening to all their inspiring speakers and meeting encouraging quilters. As each friend talked to me, I became inspired to add a different dimension to both my quilting and my book.

I not only finished the book but fell in love with the art of quilting.  The needle became my pen and the thread my ink. As I wrote about Grace, a master quilter, -as she shared her creative gifts with her young granddaughter, Audrey. I was thinking about sewing with my mom.

As I wrote about their lives unfolding around their family quilt.  The love between grandmother and granddaughter was a mirror of my love for my mother and grandmother. "

You can hop over HERE to purchase a copy. Enjoy!

See ya next week.
Hugs,
Michelle

PS. If you would like a "Play Date with the crazy bunny lady, contact me for more information.