Ahhh....the desert sunshine...

My Original Whimsy Lane Pattern

 We made it to Yuma.

It's been awhile since we've done a guild show....

and I forgot how much fun they are.

Example....

The Guild Chairman Evelyn Mosley...

brought us an organic orange and tangerine

from the tree in her yard...

And then this darling 12 year old girl came up to me

and wanted to show me her first quilt

that she had made completely herself

adapted from my Whimsy Lane pattern...

When we have been off the road for a few months

it is always interesting....

the first set up of the year!

But somehow we managed to get the booth put together...

 

My Demo Table

My French Apron Pattern

The other side of my demo table...

And now for the beautiful quilts hanging in the show....

An incredible Cathedral Window Quilt

A quilt made from my Pinkilicious Pattern

This was the most awesome 'Signature' Quilt I have ever seen!

Signatures from all the piano students, friends and family for the recipient.

And 3 times a day
there was an Antique Bed Turning in the back room.


An Antique Bed Turning
incorporates a bed laden with quilts...
and as each one of them is held up, the story is told about the quilt...

Very unusual to find a 6 pointed Star

They are then folded over at the end of the bed...
to reveal the next quilt...

This quilt above had something I had never heard of before.
A Moustache Band!
They were used at the top of the quilt,
to protect the quilt from a man's moustache!

And at the end while the Guitar Man was breaking down,
my ex-husband's aunt, Claudia
picked me up to take me to dinner at 
a fabulous place called Julianna's

This wonderful lady made me a handmade Grandmother's Flower Garden...
King Size...
hand pieced, hand quilted....
when I married her nephew.


I am sad to say I was 18...
and used it until it was in threads...
and then lost it in a move!


This was long before I was a quilter myself.
Oh...the follies of youth.


The other person in the pic is my nephew's wife Denita.

Julianna's was so amazing...
I had to take Guitar Man back there
to have a meal with him.


I had him pose with this  metal mariachi band.


If you look close below...
there were these amazing and noisy birds....
serenading us while we ate too.

Make sure to head over to Quilt Story

for 

Fabric Tuesday

And now it is off to Phoenix!

Madame Samm has been working her magic....

Oh Ladies....

Darling Madame Samm....

over at

Stash Manicure 

has been waving

her magic wand...

over 

The Scrappy Appleyard!

Just look at that new header she designed for me.

Oh I think I am tickled down to my

tippee toes!

I received a call from this amazing lady...

last Sunday.

She has asked me to be a guest blogger in 

April, May and June...

over at

Stash Manicure.

I feel humbled and honored.

It will be my first guest blog appearance.

I'll keep you posted....

I'm going to be giving away....

A Complete Buttercream Summer

Block of the Month Quilt

over there....

so make sure you tune in!!!

I'm at a show...
busy as a bee..

so off I go...

Thank you Madame Samm...

My heart....

    John'aLee

What it's Like....Around Here....The Day Before A Hard 30 Day Quilt Show Run...

For any of you out there who thinks it's a glorified life....

this being on the road all the time...

getting ready for shows....

I thought I'd show what a day around here is like...

ahhh...

the day before....

The Guitar Man is up early...

very early...

assembling and cutting kits...

After much badgering from the wife

over the years...

he's gotten pretty good...

at keeping a list going...

so he doesn't forget anything...

(Note from wife: something is alway's forgotten...)

Finished kits...

Time to reflect for a few minutes

The wife knows...

she'd better start this day out right...

because it's going to be a tough one...





She throws some bones in a pot for some chicken stock...

Heads to the studio to get  a little sewing in...

knowing if she doesn't make some headway 

on these postage stamp quilts...

they might not ever get done....

seeing all her worldly goods are 

coming home with her from this run...

Time will be spent setting up house...

so she sews...

And Sews....

Guitar Man is faithfully working away in the shoppe...

Making  Kits...

And More Kits...

Yards and yards cut down and packaged...

Fat Quarters and more yard pieces...

The wife starts gathering up demos...

BOM samples...

Handwork for the car...

Strains the soup stock and adds 

a bunch of goodies...

Guitar Man's having a bad day...

so wifey figures she'd better make him his favorite...

cornbread...

She even adds...

heavy cream to the soup for him...

They work til midnight...

they are supposed to leave at 6 a.m. the next morning...

Next morning....

it's 11 a.m.

still loading...

Now doesn't this sound like fun???

Hopefully we'll see some of you on the road.

Our first stop is a guild show in Yuma AZ...

the next week Rusty Barn's show in Phoenix, AZ...

the following week, Rusty Barn's show in Denver....

Awww...

then a few days with the grand babies....

Til later...

John'aLee

What INSPIRES you...in the dreary days of Winter???

Download our Button over on the right....

I'm sitting at Starbucks...

sipping on my...

Iced White Chocolate Mocha...

3 Pump...

No Whip...

Decaf...

And it's softly snowing out...

Go figure!!

Reading through blogs...

I think a lot of us are stuck...

we need inspiration....

snow day upon snow day...

not being able to get out....

not being able to see the sun...

Or maybe we can get out...

but still need a little pick me up!

I thought we could all share what we do...

to snap us out of the

Winter Doldrums!

A Page from my Sketchbook (Everything Book)

Here's what I've been doing;

I'm going to share some pictures of my "Everything Books"

that I take

with me.

EVERYWHERE!

(Don't laugh....they are pretty raw...

I'm putting myself  out there gals...)

These sketchbooks have changed my Creative Life!

I take them to class with me...

to the bookstore...

out to restaurants...

on the road...

I post lists...

Books I want to Read...

Books I want to Buy in the future....

Books I want to check out at the library...

Places I want to travel...

Movies I want to watch...

Artists I want to look in to...

I sketch...

ideas for new quilt designs....

Block of the Months...

Embroidery doodlings I can incorporate...

 

Rough sketches of a Christmas BOM I am working on...

Scrapbook ideas...

Class Notes....

From K. McTavish's Quilting Class...

  More notes from the McTavish class...

Ponderings...

Desires....

Goals...

etc.

I paste magazine clippings...

Some feeble attempts at sketching...

Now taking

Several trips to Borders is top of my list for inspirational jaunts.

 I grab a pile of Stampington magazines to peruse and maybe even buy...
Cooking Magazines,
Home Dec Magazines...

I go to the Craft Section...

there are all kinds of books on creativity there.

Books that have 365 prompts a year...

one for each day.

I picked up a new book called 

The Artistic Mother...

that is great not only for young creative mothers...

but for those of us whose children have long gone...

She tells us to create an Artistic Vision Statement..

(this should reflect who you are, and where you want to go with

your artistic pursuits

outlining the big picture)

She works with us on Long Term Goals...

(Where do we want to be with our art in 5 years)

Short Term Goals

(this is the road map to the above.)

I read about Creating Rituals

to trick one's self into getting up and doing your art,

sewing..whatever Creative Journey you

are pursuing.

Such as...

putting on certain music...

putting up an image board 

with words to inspire...

Quotes to inspire...

lighting a candle...

find out what works for you!

Something else I do...

is tell myself...

okay I'm going to work 30 minutes on this....

just 30 minutes!

When 30 minutes is up...

I tell myself

just 30 more minutes...

before I know it....

I have had hours of productive creativity!

Another HUGE thing I came across...

that stopped me in my tracks....

was...

acknowledging how much time I spend on the internet.

And how this ISN'T pursuing my creativity.

Figure out a certain amount of time that you are going to

go blog reading...

and then stick to it.

Does anyone else have this problem...

or is it just me?

Another thing I do...

is go into my own personal library...

and choose a book that maybe I haven't read in years....

realizing it inspired me at one time....

maybe it will jump start me again....

and I read.

So share with me in the comments what you do.

Let us all share....

let us reach out and help each other...

in the bleary weary days

of winter....

Winter Hugs...

Work in Progress

It's Fabric Tuesday over at Quilt Story today...

 Go Check It Out Here!


I didn't have a finished project to show....
but it is Tuesday...
and it is with fabric!


The above is my hexagon quilt,
that I am slowly making progress with.
To check out the Tutorial on this....
Go Here!


These are made with plastic templates
and make for an easy project to carry with you.


Now to tell you about my weekend...
Friday morning I headed out to meet a blogger
I met online who only lives about 20 minutes from me.
Confessions of a Fabric Addict 

Of course I got lost getting there....
but once I did find the place...
I was amazed by her beautiful piece of property.
There are hundreds of trees...
and in the back drop is this lovely
Southern Looking Plantation like
two story house.
I was convinced I could just move right in!

Sarah has a Quilt Ministy
and her and her gals make quilts
on a continual basis for those in need.


I am always humbled by those
who do so much for others.
And...
I was thrilled....
to get an invite...
next Saturday...
to her house....
to sew with other like minded ladies!

I so hope I can go.
It is two days before we leave for our Arizona shows....
so we shall see.


Now on Saturday...
I was feeling the need for some inspiration....


A jaunt to the bookstore always
fulfills that need...


So out we went...
that Guitar Man and Me.


This time I managed to get a picture 
of that sandwich I was telling you about...

Honey Pecan Chicken Salad on Cranberry Pecan Bread

I cannot begin to describe...
this divine piece of heaven.

So time to get about my day...

It is cold and snowy out...

a good day to sit and sew..

Cioa...

                      John'aLee