COW PARADE_ Ideas for Making your own cow with our Book, these ideas and Pattern that is IN the Book!

Somehow Hula Girls on the Cows Udder seemed like a fun idea....many people have put all kinds of things on their cow's udders...this is what you have an imagination for!

Many of you have used the pattern in the "Out of the BOX with Easy Blocks" book by myself and Mel McFarland. I am teaching a group of classes on making ta cow with some kind of fun theme. So I thought I would help you out and give you some ideas for making a COW of your own. The Minnesota Quilters are showing 25 COW quilts this June at their show and the Idaho Falls quilt guild is showing 12 quilts (COWS) at their show next year. We are hoping to have COW PARADES all over the place because they are so creative and so much fun! Think about these.... Cowafornia Okowhoma MiniMoo Moodesto ACOWtant Cattle Drive MOO'tise (the artist) PiCOWso (the artist) Half Calf Calf'iene COWselor ChristMOO's COWnt Dracula MOOve Over MOOn river, MOOn over Miami, Blue MOOn, By the light of the MOOn Purple Cow Dairy Barn, COWtinental MOOve Over Cowtini Cowabunga I'm in the MOO'd for Love COWnt Your Blessings Very MOOving Moo-chas Gracias MOOsic Star MOOxico Steering Committee Cow Chip Cow Patty Udderly Wonderful, Udderly Silkly, Udderly Whimsical MOO-iro (the artist) MOOndrian The artist Bovine Wine MOOther's Day Cow Town Cow girl Old Cow Hand Cactow Cowthedral COWalillies MOOmaid Hot COWco Cow Boy COWsmopolitan MOO'la COWpachino Eiffel COWer American COWthic Be sure to check the comments as there are some GREAT ideas there too! Thank you for commenting friends! MAD COW Cow Jumped Over The MOOn Now you think of some cow things and share with us please-us play off's of Beef, Moo, heifer, calf,herd,Cow and see what you can come up with- we would love you to share with US! You can see more cow quilts on both of my blogs if you scroll down....such fun! And so easy and the cow itself takes little time to put together! Please comment and share!

Princess Carolyn Has a Nice Surprise Coming from Her Grandmother

From the quilt canvas and drawing to working on the real quilt below...this is in the works and will be given to Carolyn's Granddaughter for her 8th grade graduation...isn't it fun seeing it develop? I will be posting another photo of the finished quilt....she has all of her interests (which are many) included in this quilt- that is a Chinese scroll of words behind her head because she is taking Chinese as a language, she ski's and she plays lacrosse and does archery and loves to shop (note the Nordstrom bag!) and loves her cat and fashion....isn't that amazing? Very fun! Carolyn we love it!

If you recall this quilt was begun a couple of weeks ago in West Virginia at Cedar Lakes. ----------------------- Keep scrolling to see a joke and then what happened in Idaho Falls this week..............

Something to Smile About Today

I just loved how these two ladies are dressed and think they belong in a story quilt...love friends who have been friends forever...they are so cute!

Idaho Falls a Nice Place for Family Living and Nice Quilters

Skateboard bench is alot of fun in Idaho Falls...they had all kinds of cool benches in different shapes...very fun city with lots of family type things to do and parks and good restaurants and nice people.

This is Liuda and Dee-they are sitting on a becnh that would be the top part of an instrument..see it? Linda is in charge of the raffle quilt which I hope to show a photo of here and De was in charge of me which was kind of sad for her because she had to carry everything. De and I learned we are the same age, LOVE red, our middle name is Louise, Our Gtrandmother's name was Louise and loads of other things...we think we were separated at birth...although I was born in Feb and she was born in Oct....

Linda made this darling little holder for her iron...I had to get a photo because it was made from a fabric I did called BEE HAPPY.

This little bird got a great tail and we all were happy to see him develop

Here I am in front of the beautiful Falls of Idaho Falls with Dee who I had such much in common with...I am standing weird because of my back issues but I am happy!

I am not so sthrilled with my pose here but isn't this the most darling bench for Idaho who is known for it's potatoes? And if you ever get to this bench you are across the street from the best Mexican food I have ever ever had...and that is saying alot!

Here is the beginning of some of the blocks we did-I am going to load more on when I get the images off of my cell phone. The class made wonderful blocks and started in on thinking of stories. One lady named Sye flew from an hour away from where I live down to Idaho Falls to take my class. She had a wonderful frawing of a girl on a boke with Out of the Box on the bottom and her leg was kicking the T from the word "Out"-it is wonderful and we plan to connect while she works on her story. She started an amazing COW in class too. We can never have enough cows and if you go to the Minnesota show you will see the cow show with 24 different cows thanks to Suzanne Fisher who coordinated the whole thing. If you finish a cow quilt, please send your information and a photo to me so we have it for other quilt shows that will show the "cow parade!" It is UDDERLY wonderful!

AS Rosanna Rosanna Dana says "It is always something....

So a long time ago a woman from Canada gave me a twenty dollar bill. I sent her a Flower Power book, I got a letter from her that she didn't get it and I sent it again. I realize now I put an L where I could have put an I in the zip code... So then I started getting angry letters from her husband. I couldn't believe it essentially because why wouldn't I want to please her and if she knew me she would know I would want her to be happy. So this week I sent her a new book and her twenty dollars. Today I get this letter from her husband. I can't believe this guy is threatening me over a twenty dollar book. he writes YOU ARE IN THE WRONG HERE FOR NOT PROVIDING ANY KIND OF CUSTOMER SERVICE. I intend to do everything I can to make your current customers (if you have any left) and any potential customers aware of how shoddy your business is. I work in a very specialized area of internet I.T. ….. don't be surprised if you have a disruption in your website service REAL SOON if I don't receive a check for $25.50 + an apology. -------------------------------------------------- Now I ask you, if you were me what would you do? By the way, my Mother was Canadian as was my Grandparents and my cousins. Normally I think Canadians are the most respectful and kind people in the world...this guy must be from somewhere else.... My husband is amused that the guy is so involved with this and has time to send threats and hate letters... And may I wish the rest of you NICE people a happy day full of things to give thanks for...I am thankful for my husband, good friends, happy people, kind people, my Grandkids and you nice people who are my customers....I don't mind losing mean people as customers because essentially there aren't that many mean quilters, unless maybe their husband's are mean maybe. :0) Thank you so much for your nice comments to me which made me happy today. I can hardly believe it but I got another letter from this guy today.....went on and on. I contacted my attorney and my web people and everyone suggests I send his letter to the Sheriff here and the FBI. I plan to do just that...it is scary to be threatened. This is why when an order gets messed up, I like to deal with the quilter. I WANT to make people happy...that is my total goal.... AND by the way, I am certainly aware that Canadians do not act this way. I didn't mention that my son in law and my Granddaughter are Canadian did I? Over half my family is Canadian and I don't know any of them that would ever threaten anyone.....ever. That is so UN Canadian like.....I am planning on having a good week and trying to forget all of this and am hoping that I am safe and my website and blogs too...the next post you see will be next week about my class in Idaho Falls at the southern tip of Idaho....nice gals there!

Want to Take my Asilomar Class at a Discount?

Dear Mary Lou, I am registered to take your class at Empty Spools Seminars on May 27-June 1, 2012. This is the first time I have done anything like this and I have been very excited about it. My quilting girlfriend and I booked our classes a year ago, and I have been anxiously waiting for this new quilting experience. I have your Hoochy MaMa book and have been thinking about what fabrics I will bring and what my quilt will look like. However, three weeks ago my husband had a stroke. He is home recovering and doing remarkably well. His stroke affected his left side and balance, but that has improved considerably. We are very lucky; it could have been so much worse. I cannot possibly leave him alone for a full week, which would be the case since I live in San Diego. I have talked to Susan at Empty Spools and she told me I could transfer my reservation to someone else. I have tried desperately to sell/transfer my reservation (at a discount) to quilt shops, quilt guilds, Quilters, and Quilterznooz online community, with no luck. Unfortunately I didn't purchase the insurance, which was a huge mistake. I know there is nothing you can do about this. I just wanted you to know why I will not be in your class. And if you have any quilting friends who would like to take your class at a big discount please pass my email address on to them. Most sincerely, Diane Troncale diquilts@san.rr.com emptyspoolsseminars.com for info on the dates and class description

Carolyn's Granddaughter is going to get a Story Quilt for 8th grade Graduation!

As many of you know we spend the first couple of days setting a color palette for our story quilts. We use hoochy techniques (hoochy is a verb) and we take traditional blocks and make them free and easy and fun and add in Flower Power blocks from my book and think about our stories as we work. Once the blocks are complete, we sew them together with a great inner border that is a "light giver" fabric to draw your eye into the story.

Above Carolyn has taken her drawing of her Granddaughter and gotten it ready to translate into fabrics to show her hobbies. I have asked her to make her Granddaughter a little bit larger so the outside doesn't over power her (she is the STAR afterall). Well for me it is always a delight to hear what story someone decides to make in my five day workshops. Carolyna Buckingham is fabulous qith color and she started in on her quilt canvas as we all do and she based the colors on a dress of her Granddaughter's. The colors in person are fabulous and the story is quite wonderful too because this young lady is a straight A student and she does Lacrosse, she likes computers and she loves her friends and she likes music and she is just an overall terrific Granddaughter...her Grandmother is quite talented so you can see where she gets it. I love this type of quilt because both of my Grandmother's quilted and made many quilts and gee a story quilt from either of them would have been fabulous. Each person's approach to story quilts and stories area all different and wouldn't you love to own something made about YOU by your Grandmother? These quilts become history and a percious keepsake that only grows dearer with time. In 80 years what will people know about YOU from the things you sew? Are you leaving a memory of who you are, what is important to you and things that might be left that speak to what is important in life? As we grow older, we hopefully grow wiser and these quilt provide a wonderful avenue for sharing the important things that make you YOU. They are alot of fun and the sentiments and thoughts are like writing an essay. Maybe today is your day to think about what you would like to say in a story quilt. I hope so!

Baked Oatmeal is Fabulous for a weeks worth of breakfasts!

.

The block above is by Carol and isn't it wonderful? Just in time for a beautiful spring.... I stayed with Dorothy Klitzke in Bentonville Arkansas (home of the original Walmart) and she made this wonderful baked oatmeal for breakfast. After I got home, I put my spin on this recipe and it didn't last all week as both me and my husband loved it. Hope you enjoy the recipe too! Thank you Dorothy, this was terrific! BAKED OATMEAL 1/2 CUP PACKED BROWN SUGAR 2 CUPS WHOLE UNCOOKED OATMEAL (NOT QUICK) 1 TEASPOON SODA 1& 1/2 cup of FAT FREE MILK or what kind of milk you would like.... 1/2 cup applesauce NOTE_ today I put in 1 full cup of applesauce and it was a little moisture I liked it better 1/4 cup butter- melted 1 large egg beaten 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla dash of cinnamon 1/2 CUP CRAISINS, 1/2 cup white raisins,1/2 cup toasted pecans Preheat oven to 375 degrees combine first four ingredients in medium bowl. Combine milk, applesauce, butter and egg then stir well. Add fruits and nuts. Pour over dry ingredients. Pour into 8 inch square pan or baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake for 20 minutes. Serve warm. I serve this with fresh blueberries on top and it is fabulous. On the table have the brown sugar and milk or cream in case others would like this. Once you eat this oatmeal you will always want to have it in the morning. The goodness of the oatmeal with the mix of the fruit, nuts and blueberries is heavenly

More Photos from West Virginia, thank you Kim!

Isn't this photo beautiful? Cedar Lakes in West Virginia is a slice of heaven for sure...everything about it is wonderful and the good news? Everyone in the class signed up for next year already plus a few more people so as of now, we will have 24 happy and fun students for more story quilts, easy piecing and getting outside of the box with our ARTIST at full attention!

The wonderful story quilt above was done by Mary and the photo taken was by Kim. If you haven't already seen Mary's fabulous quilt it is about she and her family making 100 coffee cakes at Christmas time and giving them away...people come and stir and help and it is a memorable time for many friends and family too. Isn't this a great story for a quilt? We all just love this and so does her family!

Above is a jar of cherries on the quilt...isn't this fun?

I also LOVE how Mary designs her birds for her quilts with the freeform piecing we do. Awesome and whimsical!

Blue flowers of happiness the easy piecing way...........love these that Carol did....two Carol's sat at the table and one of them has two L's in her name, I am confused....

This COW is of coarse another one for the collection! Bessie is Mary's Mother. She is thinking about what she wants to put on the udders. I put hula girls on one of my cows and hot dogs on another one. The easy cow pattern is in the Out of the Box with Easy Blocks book. It takes about 2 1/2 hours to make and then the fun starts. There is ONE more opening at the Quilting Adventures class I am teaching in June where we will do cows and flower power....would love to have you there! I have been very happy with the lovely girls in the classes this spring. There are so many many wonderful quilters out there and they make the best friends and are the most fun. Quilters have their hearts in the right places and they want what is best for each other and the world. I am so thankful for this wonderful passion I have for quilting and the people who quilt. It makes my life very happy and very fulfilled. Art does fill our soul no matter what the medium as long as it is thought provoking, positive and impactful. Get to work! :0) By the way I love comments and I am behind on sending out the winners of that last comment contest. I had steroid shots in my back today for my heriniated disk and so this is your week to watch your mail............honest.

ALMOST HEAVEN IN WEST VIRGINIA- Developing story quilts a great experience for all of us!

The quilt above was made for a charity by Carol, isn't it wonderful? She used Hoochy blocks and a pattern for my cupcake in the "Quiltem Memories" book which you can still purchase on Amazon.com Building borders first is an approach we take for story quilts. 21 ladies drove from Phio, Washington DC, Michigan, Kentucky and West Virginia to come to Cedar Lakes West Virginia to make story quilts over a five day schedule. Five days of fun, getting to know each other, stash talk, developing blocks hoochy style,talking about stories and enjoying the beauty of West Virginia in the meantime. Sharon announced "HOOCHY is a VERB!" And we all laughed. Carol used the pattern for the ice cream cone from the "Out of the Box with Easy Blocks " book. SHE is fast and really talented!

PLEASE DO Me A HIGH HONOR AND COMMENT ON THIS BLOG...

This quilt all came together in a wonderful way. In the end of the workshop, she had three generations of sewing ladies in her family along with this sewing machine. If someone got a good photo of this, please send it to me to show. It is quite wonderful and her blocks were beautiful for the border. Grandmother, Mother and the designer will all be remembered in a beautiful story quilt about the gift of sewing.

This quilt is a memory for her husband. She has a detailed drawing of vegetables, and things in the garden that he tends. The colors of the vegetables on top of the quilt will be fabulous!

It is so much fun to watch everyone share their blocks and the story and the whole thing comes together. A productive and FAST five days provided lots of time to sew and think and learn from one another. It is really fun to watch. If you are coming to Idaho, take note that this is what we will be doing in Post Falls. :0)

Here I am (above) with my mouth open and telling about getting your artist outside and how to keep it out and how good art doesn't need a whole paragraph of explanation....you should know what the story is about by looking....this is what we do at Museums and art centers....think about it. I have my new creative necklace on with inspiration built right in....and why do I always choose blouses that are LOUDER than anyone else's? I guess it came from how I wanted my Mom to dress me. :0)

It is always fun to hear someone's story who grew up somewhere different than we did. Margo grew up in Australia in a house with stilts and she has a passion for kooaburra birds. :-)

Or some people do story quilts about their family leaving and coming here to ths US as in this photo-I hope you can see how beautiful her parents were-they came from China.

These two photos are quite wonderful because Debbie was a beginner and wasn't sure she could do "Out of the Box" quilts and she was fabulous and got her drawing of her in the middle of a log cabin with all of things that make it special. She is going to make herself BIGGER because bigger is pretty much always BETTER>

The drawing above is of her husband with a shovel and all of the things that made him special. The quilt is going to have the words "Goodnight Wife" across the top and across the bottom will be "Goodnight Husband" -Mary did the coffee cake story quilt if you remember-I will post my photos of that again because it is worth seeing many times.

One thing we all enjoyed was a Mom daughter that came to play. The daughter has interest in all kinds of art and tried story quilts out. She is hooked and she and her Mother are now going to start to sew together. It was fun having a coouple of younger girls in the workshop. Now the people in the workshop can guess if I am talking about them. :0)

The quilt above is quite exciting. The final quilt will be an elephant with the quilter on top of him. Each block that she made had wonderful photos of her trip to Thailand in the middle. She wanted to do a small quilt but it grew much to my delight because the impact will be MORE. It is such a cool story that it needs to be bigger and in the end she will be really happy it is bigger (I think she already is). This is just the beginning of the elephant design.

Tiffany did a dionsaur quilt for charity (other than her story quilt) and I wanted to snap this before she put it away. Fun!

Here is a block show and tell above and below is her fabulous drawing of her (Sandy) from behind in the garden. Isn't it wonderful? This is going to be a FUN quilt that is sure to bring smiles. This girl was a true artist who came "Out of the Box" i a wonderful way and shared ideas with all of us.

Everyone gets handouts for new blocks and most people have bought the books I have written. Here is a great example of how you can do the blocks and then add something from the Out of the Box with Easy Blocks book-aren't these cats darling? It is really a fun pattern to do and out of my plaids from benartex, it is even more fun. :0)

It always gives me great satisfaction to watch as people develop their ideas, colors, blocks and stories. I didn't know if I could make the trip as my Doctor told me I couldn't go and I ignored him (for now). I have a herniated disk and a pice of the middle of the disk has come out and is pushing on my nerve in my back so I am in some pain. Terry Chilko and the entire class was so nice about maiing sure I did not bend over to pick something up (a habit) and they lifted for me all week long. A nice nap instead of going to lunch made the week a great experience for me. Next year in West Virginia everyone signed up to come back and keep going so that is always nice too. There is a reason the song say "Almost Heaven." It is! NOW that you saw this blog on West Virginia, look at the many photos of the stories people drew and are in the middle of their quilts! http://marylouweidman.blogspot.com/