Sounds of spring and summer

There are certain sounds of the seasons that I listen for. Spring is when you will hear song birds coming back to your yard. Summer, I listen for chipmunks! I know you are thinking, "what? Really? " yep!
Yesterday I finally heard the chipmunks! LOL here in Michigan winter can be long and spring can play games with your psyche!  Spring will give you a little teaser of warm weather to come and then vanish just as quickly as it appeared allowing winter to come back and take over. I see the little birds that are scurrying for food, the deer walking around in the field, rabbits, squirrels. ... but this winter/spring teaser time I saw no chipmunks or heard their calls. I really got excited when I heard the chipmunks!
When I'm in my sewing room, I get to watch the chipmunks chase each other.  See the momma chipmunk call to her little ones, you can tell when she scolds them, lol. Sometimes there is a little battle of the territory going on...a strange chipmunk enters another one's territory! Watch out! Man can those chipmunks run! It's just something small that I enjoy: chipmunks
The tulips have already bloomed,  irises are now bloooming, everything is turning green and pollen is everywhere! I have all the windows open enjoying the fresh air and listening to all the sounds of nature! I'm inspired to sew today.  I plan on keeping my windows open as long as possible. The fresh air and all the sounds of nature inspire me to create....
Oh yes, and my cup of coffee is right here with me.
And here is my view:

This past weekend,  which was Memorial day weekend,  I thought the I was going to get a lot of sewing done. That really did not happen. I couldn't really focus. I tried a block, not a new one, but tried to figure out a different piecing technique to a trading block.  I just could not focus and get the math right. I continued to mess up...so I walked away.
My husband decided a few weeks ago that we were going to rearrange our master bedroom. I was kind of dreading that, we have heavy furniture and it is big....lots of pieces. Saturday after dinner he said, "let's get started on our room" ok...it took us 4 hours!
Just think about having to dust all the sides of the furniture that you can't get to, vacuuming walls, cleaning the screens, windows, blinds....but it was so worth it! The master bedroom looks fantastic now!

So, what did you do this past weekend?

Oh! I also weeded 1 flowerbed, now today I'm going to go purchase mulch and 2 flats of annuals.  I need to get all the hanging baskets ready too.

Time to go to work! I have a project due to

Fons & Porter

Happy Quilting! Nancy

Memorial day weekend

Sew, it's Memorial day weekend,  what are you working on?
Are you taking a vacaction?
Are you sewing a project?
Planting a garden?
Hanging out with your family?
Or all the above?
Whatever you are doing, I hope you have a wonderful time!
Me, I'm going to be...are you ready?
Longarm quilting
Cleaning house
Longarm quilting....did you catch on that I'm going to be longarm quilting this weekend?
Preparing for my next travel: Wheaton,  Illinois to present my trunk show
Longarm quilting
Preparing a sample block
Longarm quilting

This is one of the sample blocks, there are actually 3 different ones, using the same fabrics.
Here is a little snippet video. I was talking very quietly, hoping my phone recording could capture all the birds.

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!

It's May, time to catch you up.....

You've heard April showers bring May flowers, I'm just hoping that we warm up in May! It seems like we had little teasers of warm weather in April. ...then we would drop back down into the cold temps. Cold enough to where you would have to keep the furnace running in your home and put on a coat when you left. Ugh...I'm longing for some sunshine too.
And I am going to get those warmer temps tomorrow!  Tomorrow I fly to Pensacola, Florida!  Woo-hoo!  I'm not going for vacation, I will be teaching at Martelli-enterprises.
You've probably seen Martelli at the quilt shows. Martelli has the amazing cutting tables and mats that mist quilters long for. I hear they are spectacular!  Their rotary cutter fits your hand better so you are not straining your wrist and fingers. I'm hoping I will have some down time so that I can play with their products! Oh!! I hear they have a quilt shop in the front part of the building .... fabric? Did someone say FABRIC? Oh yes!!
I think I'm going to have a great time.
Stephanie Deese is one of Martelli's sales reps for their longarm machine.  I met Stephanie at a quilt show and basically, she and I hit off! Stephanie and I will spend Wednesday together.  I will be teaching her free motion quilting. Thursday is packed with other fun activities. .. and Friday I will be teaching ruler work to students.
I'm excited and honored that I have been asked to teach :)
Hmmm,  what else has been going on?
I've been traveling a lot!
In April,  I traveled to Des Moines, IA.  Do you know why? I was a guest on

Fons & Porter 's Love of Quilting TV show! 

That was a wonderful experience! I wouldn't trade it for nothing! 

On set, I met Patrick Lose.  He was great to work with, so nice and he made the atmosphere calm, you know. He helped to calmed my nerves, I was able to relax and be myself.

While we were taping, I decided it would be a great time to have a coughing fit! Seriously!  We had to stop filming. So, when you see the episode I was on, you will notice...lol

Important information,  inquiring minds need to know:

I filmed for the new series 2800, I believe episode 2804. I could be mistaken about the episode number. When I'm notified, I will post it.

Let's see if I can find some pictures for you.

Here is the famous table that Marianne and her daughter Mary sit at to read us the viewers tips and tricks.

Here is my quilt hanging on the set.

Quilt name:

Anna Starflake 

My quilt will be in the July issue, 2016 of Love of Quilting magazine.

Here is the alternative quilt. Different color pattern, no smashing and cornerstones to create the secondary block.

Patrick's assisant, Greg (I believe that is his name) came up with the name for this quilt.

Queen of Diamonds

While I was in Des Moines,  I was able to meet Scott Flanagan and his Aunt Linda. Scott and I have been Facebook friends for 2 years, we finally were able to meet!  Scott and Linda waited patiently for me to finish on the set. After I was done we went out to dinner. Before Scott had to head back home to Nebraska,  we drove to Linda's home. Spent some time showing off our quilts to each other and having some pictures taken.

Scott left for home and Linda took me around town for some sightseeing. 

We were in Winterset. ... home of the Bridges over Madison County,  home of John Wayne. 

Sorry the picture is so dark, it was taken at dusk. But it is the statue of John Wayne in front of the museum. 

This was John Wayne's childhood home.

It's time to get moving off the computer. I have a quilt to work on for Fons & Porter.  

This quilt will have 100 blocks.  It's not paper pieced, and no "Y" seams. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Nancy McNally 

One-Stitch-at-a-Time