The Cupcakes Meet for Their tenth year at the Lattas of Lopez-Wonderful again

This was a quilt that Laurie made for her husband Kit about the Island they live on. Fabulous place....like a dream.
Cupcake wine, who knew?

Laurie has the cupcake table ready to serve from as we arrive-we sat outside with lovely drinks, and all the makings of a fabulous dinner and dessert too. Laurie makes Marco Polo drinks that are tasty and make you feel relaxed...but then maybe it is the island where Laurie lives and the view of the ocean.

Here Mel and Eilene bask in the sun with Mel wearing my hat and looking much cuter. The weather at Lopez Island in the San Juans was glorious.

Mel gets some sun with her "cupcake" hat on. I would wear one too if I didn't look like an old woman wanting to be a cupcake. :0)

Here Mel and Eilene discuss quilt projects, cooking and life in general on the ferry to Lopez...Susan and I watch and learn....

Candy ready for when we need energy and note it is in a "cupcake" container. :0)

This is a nice photo of one of the great projects for the book that Mel was doing at my house. We worked alot and she worked more. I cannot believe what all we got done! Lots of great stuff for the book. I think you will love what is in there. It will be out either next sept or Oct.

"There are NO bad Grandma's! says Charlotte's Grandson

This darling quilt was done by Charlotte Lorenzo who is coming for my retreat all the way from Florida in two weeks. :0) She did a story quilt about her Grandson and how she had forgotten his birthday or something like that and she said to him "am I a bad Grandma?" And he said "there are no bad Grandma's." Isn't this the perfect idea for a story quilt and since Charlotte has made many story quilts and has such fun stories along with her Sister Laura (the Webb sisters) she will have ideas for many more. If you haven't done a story quilt, perhaps you want to plan one.
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I designed a stork quilt for my book Quilted Memories and many people have done their own stork quilt, just like this darling one. Great job! Charlotte took this idea one step gurther and designed her own ideas for her own kids,Grandkids and Great Grand daughter. It is hard to believe she is so young and can have a great Grandchild. What fun and smiles this quilt evokes and it is a memory her Great Granddaughter will own for years to come.

IF YOU HAVEN'T BEEN TO MAINE, PUT IT ON YOUR BUCKET LIST

I hope this Portland Light house shows just how beautiful this place is....


Below is where you could sit to eat lobster and enjoy the sun and the seagulls who want your food....we ate indoors.

My dinner at the lobster shack



Here is one of the guys we ate on our lobster sandwiches-he was tasty alright-Maine lobster is wonderful.

A darling shop that jeanne took Sue and I to-right on the Atlantic Ocean.

This sign was where we went to order McDonalds Cokes-they could not answer you back because of a noise ordinance- so basically you pulled up to the window and the guy said he couldn't hear you but it was against the law to talk on the order box-this is in Portland Maine. Weird.

I got permission to take this photo and look at this little kids spelling-isn't this the cutest and sweetest message?

Here I had my chance to draw on the wall at LLBean along with the kids...fun

Huge huge boot at LLBean- very fun for everyone

Door handles at LLBean where the store is open 24 hours a day every day of the year-no locks on any door. Cool place!

This Indian was huge and it reminded me of childhood trips in the car to South Dakota when I prayed that God would turn me into an Indian_I loved the colors, the symbols and the beauty of their culture-I am still Irish and Norweigen/Swedish-my prayers did work.

I have a whole new appreciation for light houses now

How is this for a cool business name???

I love the imagery of this and wanted it in a future quilt...isn't this neat?

PLAID TO MEET YOU CLASS PRODUCE GREAT GOODS IN A SHORT TIME

Isn't this great? One short little class and people produced great stuff in this Plaid class in Augusta Maine.

This house hanging was on the wall where we first ate lobster-a great idea for a Maine quilt or even Alaska-they look the same to me....

I thought this castle was a great block-very fun and very creative!

The house class is one of my favorite as there are infinite possibilities-well I guess most of my classes are like that.

Here are some photos of the students hard at work creating their very own designs of "Plaid to Meet You Houses." Really fun stuff and something new for many of the girls. I love seeing people create their own ideas.



Here is a fun photo of my two great buddies Mel who I am working on a new book with and dear Linzee in Iowa with a bolt of my plaid fabric-fun for me to see.

Maine serves up great beauty,Flower Power FUN and inspiration as well as Moxie

The story quilt above was made by Stephanie who lives outside of the state in Mass. I think. She took my story quilt class at Lowell Museum class I taught a couple of years ago. What fun this is and isn't the saying wonderful? This main character is Stephanie and if you look at her hand, she is holding one of those furniture tags that says "do not remove under penalty of law (etc)". I thought that was really fun and she has her red hat rockets in there along with her terriers. Great quilt that is going to have loads of embellishments once it is quilted. What is your story?
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Moxie is a kind of pop or soda that Maine people love or don't love. I tried a bottle and set it next to my Bernina as I loved both of them. Bernina is my sewing machine of choice for sure. The pop tastes kind of like Dr.Pepper but not as strong and it has an undertone of lemon-I thought it was good.

The beginning of our Flower Power day-great girls in class with fun attitudes and ideas. I loved being with these lovely people-this is a great part of the country for super people who are quilters and otherwise.

The flowers and lady bugs of Maine using Flower Power books and some instruction

Below is the most talented 11 year old I have ever had in any of my classes- she did the bird to the right of her with the big tail...she was very talented and has a twin brother who does the ironing for she and her Mother when they sew-wouldn't we all love that?



This good looking group took my Flower Power class and made alot of blocks and progress in one day. Great fun for me and alot of laughter, clapping and creativity.

Below is Stephanie who did her own bird and used leaves for feathers (very nice job and texture)

A flying bird in progress...pretty colors and motion (I can see it already flying)

The quilt below got put together before the one day class was done and this student said it is the first time she has ever done that. She said she will add a border and finish it off. :0) No UFO's for her.