Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? A Mixed Bag...

Hi, all!

Hey, how did that happen?  It's Friday again!!  (Snuck up on me this time!)  Well, we know what Friday means - it's time to get our whoop whoop on!  Are you ready?  I know I am!  Let's get started!

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As the title to this post says, I have a mixed bag of things to whoop about this week...

As you probably know by now, I had a blast at QuiltCon2017 and got to meet some friends from blogging and Instagram, like Sharon1216....

I'm also seriously whooping because I went to Joann's for something small and found a bolt of Kona Shadow, NOT ON SALE, and had a 50% off coupon - so now I have a bolt of Kona Shadow!  Alas, Kona went on sale the next day...

I also finished this quilt this week, although I can't show it in full today, because it is this Sunday's Stunning Stars quilt!  And I used a new quilting design, courtesy of Christa Watson and her fun class on spirals and swirls...

And oh, this makes my heart happy!  No, it's not my personal swag from QuiltCon2017 - - - it's a donation from Free Spirit Fabrics to be used as giveaways for the participants of this year's Hands2Help Challenge!!  Isn't that AWESOME???? I made contacts with a bunch of other folks at QuiltCon2017 that will hopefully bring in some more donations, too.

And speaking of Hands2Help (which starts on 3/12/17!), I was going over my list of people who have signed on as guest bloggers:

Myra of Busy Hands Quilts

Laura of Scraps of Life

Joanne of Everyone Deserves a Quilt

Kat of Kat and Cat Quilts

Pam of Quilting Fun

...and I realized I still need one more guest blogger, unless I've missed someone who said they wanted to do it already. (If I have, please email me to remind me!) So - if you'd like to be a guest blogger during Hands2Help, leave a comment below with your email address, or email me directly at salliesue57 (at) gmail (dot) com.  I'm so excited about the Challenge this year - it's going to be fabulous!!  UPDATE:  Carole of From My Carolina Home has agreed to be our sixth guest blogger!  Thanks, Carole!

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop?

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And now it's your turn! 

What's got you whooping it up this week?

What's making you do a little happy dance?

Share - we want to dance right along with you -

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah

Make-A-List Monday - Back To The Real World!!

Hi, all!

Wow!  My week at QuiltCon is over, and oh, what a week it was!  So much fun, and I've got lots to share, but I'll spread it out over the week.  Here's a little peek at what went on, and then I'll share my list for the week...

It started out like this - - - standing in a long line at 8 am on Thursday morning to check in before my first class...

...and - - - SUCCESS!

My first class was with Angela Walters, learning how to use rulers on the long-arm.  It was a great class, and Angela is a really good teacher.  What a rockstar - but one cool lady too!

I REALLY wish my eyes were open!

After my morning class, I had a chance to wander around the hall and look at some of the many beautiful quilts that were entered in the competition.  Here's a few of them...

This quilt won the People's Choice award!  It was totally amazing...

And this was my favorite quilt in the "nine-patch" section - I thought it was just so creative!

The thread painting on this quilt was so amazing - very minimal piecing, but the quilting really made this quilt!

Here's another one where the quilting really stands out!  I love the combination of matchstick quilting and hand quilting!

This quilt really IS a "Stunning Star", isn't it?  Love those quilted circles in the background...

Thursday evening I had a class with Christa Watson, quilting with a walking foot on a domestic machine. The class focused on spirals and swirls and was so great, I completely forgot to take any pictures!  I was getting pretty worn out by the end of the class...

Then Friday rolled around!  This was my day to meet up with people, and it started out with a total geek out...

I got to meet Kate Spain!!  I did manage not to totally geek out, for which I am eternally grateful...  Kate is another person who is just so sweet and real, we had a great meet-up!!

It was also pretty cool to get to meet her husband Pete, who I've exchanged emails with in the past.  He's really neat too!!

Mot of the times I met up with people, I got so excited talking to them that I forgot to take pictures - but here's one of me, Mel and Tirzah!  It was awesome to meet everyone in real life, although unfortunately there were a few folks I didn't get to connect with.  Oh well - there's always next time!

Saturday was another class day - two classes, both with Christina Cameli of A Few Scraps.  I took her Wedge Play class all day Saturday, and it was so much fun!  You'll be seeing the results of that class pretty soon...

Christina is really sweet and so much fun as a teacher!  We sat around on the floor for instructions and passed samples around, then played on our sewing machines all day!  Exciting news, too - she's got a new book coming out in November, which will be more about her Wedge Play quilts!

During the two-hour lunch break, we sat out on the grass by the river and watched the big container ships go by.  I was eating with Christina and Jack (short for Jacqueline) and it was so funny when this ship went by - we all three said, "Wow, there's a quilt in that!"  The colors were just beautiful!

I also got to take Christina's Wild Quilting class - and I found out that I am horribly rusty at free-motion quilting on a domestic machine!  But the class was a great learning experience, and I'll be able to translate a lot of what I learned to the long arm.

All in all, I had such an awesome time at QuiltCon!  I'll share more pictures during the week, but I don't want to bore you too much right now!

And now here's my list of to-do's for this week...

1.  Put together the final Stunning Stars quilt (which is also a baby quilt for a gift!)

2.  Write the tutorial for that quilt.

3.  Cut out a shirt for Nathanael.

4.  Start working on projects for the next secret sewing for Free Spirit Fabrics!

5.  Finish up my Wedge Play project.

6.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that come up.

I'm going to keep it short this week because I've got to get the last Stuning Stars quilt finished for this coming Sunday and two weeks from today is the reveal of the new secret project for Free Spirit - and there's a lot to do between now and then!!

So now the question is - - - what are YOU working on this week? 

Hugs!

Sarah