Wholly cow this is cute

I took a photo of this fun cow at a latte place in Seattle- one can never have too much coffee or too many smiles with funny cows

Welcome to Charmagne's house- note the black curtains in the background. If you click on the photo, it will enlarge and you can see many details...there is alot to see!

Aren't the witches on the top shelf here adorable> I would love one of those!

A Mantel to remember below. Can you believe that Charmagne has two small children and they leave all of the decorations alone and the candy too? What is her secret? A spell perhaps?

This kindly old witch is just one of the hundreds of greeters waiting to say "hello" to you.

And you thought you had spicer problems!

A nice paper group of Halloween pals to welcome you.

Dressed in lights to help you see the way...nice eyes on this scarey skeleton!

Another Skeleton greets you...her yard is huge and she has dozens of skeletons all over including hanging on the house! I can't imagine how much fun those 150 school children who visit on Monday will have!

Please comment it would make both Charmagne and myself very happy....

VISITING MY FRIEND EMILY AT TASUTI ZOO

Tasuti Zoo in Pacific Grove California is one of my favorite stops. The girls who own it "Mary" and Emily" have all kinds of wonderful things for sale and they inspire any artist who is lucky enough to happen along.
(below-This was on one of the windows of Tasuti Zoo

Here I am (Mary Lou) standing with Emily and my friend Tanya is on the right with a happy smile. We both love this place and are giddy being there.

This rug is in the entrace and I think it is darling.

More metal flowers at the entrance

Surprise! Quilts to look at

Two fun quilts below that will go for sale in November.

A wonderful way to use the alphabet fabric- my theme fabric is in the middle of the quilt-isn't it great? It works great in blocks or the back of a quilt too. It is from the Grandma line.

An Angel Rug that Made ME "Oh So Happy to See"

Years ago I wrote an angel book (Everyday Angels in Extraordinary Quilts) and through this made a new friend who is a rug hooker. She has taken designs and made them into rugs (with my permission). I am working on doing some new books and patterns and want to do some things that can be either made into quilts or hooked into a rug or painted or done with paper or...? I think this rug is adorable. Wait until you see the other things she is doing! It is such fun to work with someone who has the same whimsy and happy spirit and yet is doing something different than you are.

This is why I love Folk Art so much.

A Surprise Platter and More Story Quilts in the Works

I was with a group of friends who love to do Story Quilts and they were working on theirs and I was working on mine. I hope to do another book of stories and border tips and so I have begged friends to help fill the book. These are all quilts in progress.
The quilt below is by Lois who has done many wonderful story quilts. This quilt has the theme of a friend of hers and her cats. It will be wonderful once it is done and a legacy of who this woman is and what she loves. Do you have a quilt to be left about who or what you love? What will people know about you in 80 years from your artwork? Think about this.

Maris' quilt below is about she and her sons. She is embellishing this. The colors are wonderful as is the theme and design.

A pretty photo of Mari above.

Closeup of Mari's quilt below.

Close up of borders in Ginger's quilt below.

The quilt below is by Stasi Wilson who has become a master at Story quilts. We will know lots about her in 80 years as she is prolific and does great things.

The quilt below is by Ginger and is called "Festivus for the Rest of Us." I love her dog- this quilt is also in progress.

FLOWER POWER sample and fun things to look at!

This wonderful quilt is the cover of my Flower Power book. I got to take a few photos of it while I was at a retreat with 22 girlfriends sewing. Is there anything better than creating, sharing , laughing, eating, cutting ,sewing, drawing, taping, painting and about 30 other things all in one happy room? I got home a little while ago and I am tired but very happy at the fun I had.
Please ask your local quilt shop to carry "Flower Power" which I distribute. I also teach workshops Based on this great method and book. Such fun!
I tried to load the photo of the owner of this quilt who was ill when all of my Asilomar students made her a block from the book. Tonight, blogspot is having trouble and will not let me load this on.

The above arrangement was on Freddy Moran's table when I went to visit her after PIQF and go out for lunch. She has great stuff in her house that makes you smile.

The car above was parked outside a nice Quilt shop in Danville. I am a little concerned about the person in the trunk although she doesn't look like she was a nice person....does she look like a witch to you?

The above quilt was made by a "Rocket Scientist" named Cathy at our little retreat. I am not kidding...this was my first encounter with a Rocket Scientist-smart, sewed like the wind and fun too.

An Autumn Trip to the Pumpkin Patch-the JOY, the BEAUTY!

Cinderella pumpkins are my favorite kind- the colors are awesome

The beauty of nature and God's infinite variety- no two the same

My husband with many huge pumpkins of every kind that are orange-it was great to have a strong man to pull the hundreds of pounds of pumpkins

A happy face to greet us

On weekends this place is loaded with people-I am glad we came on a Tuesday

Mary Lou plays coy behind the pumpkin measureing sign

The color, the texture, the taste!

An Adorable Quilt Story quilt with the RIGHT WORDS for FUN! Isn't this wonderful?

I received the photo of this wonderful quilt about 6 weeks ago and knew you would all want to see it!

Story Quilt Photos from My Workshops-Legacy Pieces of Women's Stories-ENJOY

Today I am feeling sentimental and wanted to start posting some Story quilts here for you to see what people do in my workshops. I will be posting more and more here as time goes on. I have a library on my computer of many great ones. My biggest problem is when people sent them, I got an email separately and so now since my memory isn't what it used to be, I have the photo and a memory of what the person looked like (I know them in my head, does that count?) but I need names. If you know any of these people who did these great quilts, will you please give me names. I hope to do another Story quilt book before I retire (based on Creativity) like Whimsies and Whynots. I have so many good quilts from friends to go into such a book.
Enjoy what is below. The following is a question from my workshops-
QUESTION- WHAT WILL PEOPLE KNOW 80 YEARS FROM NOW WHEN THEY SEE YOUR QUILTS? THINK ABOUT THIS. LEAVE SOMETHING ABOUT WHO AND WHAT YOU LOVE FOR OTHERS TO SEE, SO THEY WILL KNOW THE ESSENCE OF "YOU."

I adore the quilt below. It was made in a Story Quilt Class in Toronto. A husband kept his boat in the backyard and the motor in a barrel of water and every so often he would get in the boat and start up the engine to make sure it went OK. He did this far more than going out to sea. So his wife (Marion) did them in the backyard in the boat (going Nowhere).





This quilt was done in a Chicago workshop and I think it turned out beautifully. The woman who did this made it of her daughter. Isn't it darling? What a nice thing to have that your Mother made for you and of you.

Can you hear the song "Sisters?" This darling quilt with hoochy borders is one of my favorites. I have people ask if you can use anything but brights with these blocks and stories and obvisouly here the answer is "yes!" I think this is a darling and sentimental quilt that will be treasured by family for a long time to come.

This quilt commemorates all of the things we love about quilting and computers. A thirieth birthday, a computer, a crown and look under the desk and on the screen- wonderful!

Celebrate Summer! A quilt photo sent to me that I think is just wonderful in every way

Forty and Fabulous. This was a quilt done in my Asilomar five day workshop.These girls are dancing on the bar counter top. Forty after all is the new 20. I think that's right. I am pushing 60 and feel 30...hope that's right too!

I love quilts that tell a story and this quilt was created at Asilomar in one of my five day workshops. The maker made this for her daughter and it is about painting their place before they moved in. FUN!

This great quilt was made by Annie from a Story quilt class in Hemet, Utah. It won a great award from Bernina. Isn't it darling?

A Hoochy Mama quilt made from a workshop in Coeur d'Alene Idaho.

A quilt made from the birthday cake in my "Quilted Memories" book. Note the cat's tale in the photo.

I have this listed as "Kevin's Quilt" in my files. The boy in the quilt is Kevin. I am sorry to say I do not have the name of the person who took my class. I am sure it is someone I know well. Note the hoochy borders. Isn't this wonderful? What boy wouldn't love this?

This is a quilt done by Asilomar "regular" Susan Typpi who is my good friend and is an airline flight attendant for Alaska. Her Grandson received this great quilt.

This wonderful quilt was done at my workshop at Santa Barbara quilt Retreat which I do once a year. I think the colors and fabric in this are spectacular. Not the great hair fabric (swirls).

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