Ingrid Whitcher

I sent my quilt, “In the Garden I”, off to Paducah. It is going to hang in the AQS Knoxville quilt show in July. This year I am able to actually go to the show.

New projects are in the works – hopefully pictures soon!

The past few weeks have been full of activities. I had my first kid’s sewing class and it was so much fun. The girls all made a needle case and started their quilts by making a four patch block. The ages range form 7 to 11 years old. They were so surprised that it is ok to sew on paper!

I also have been preparing for a lecture on curved piecing to give at the Flying Needles Quilt Guild in Niceville, Florida. My daughter is going to come along for the day. Mark and I have been working at a feverish pace in order to get four patterns ready to take. Scott, at Digital Now in Pensacola, was a huge help to me today and got all of the large patterns printed on their special printers. There was a little problem because the iron-on paper wanted to stick to the press. (Opps!) But despite the problems, he got them all printed for me. I was also able to make several kits for each pattern with fabric form the Quilting Station in Pace, Florida. Ellen was so sweet in helping me get the fabrics pulled and ready. I will pack the quilts tonight. The Fear-less Curves program is one of my favorites to give because I love piecing curves.

Here are pictures of the quilts that we got patterns ready for. Hopefully very soon in the future we will have the on-line store ready for the patterns and other fun stuff.

I also am getting quilts ready to send to the GSQA Quilt Show this weekend. I picked up my wholecloth quilt that had been hanging at Derrell’s in Pensacola and decided that the binding MUST be fixed. It is a large quilt! Last night Emilie and I got it all ripped off. I trimmed it and sewed it back on- now just the hand sewing part. At least have most of the day on Friday to get it done.

Sorry, such a long post. So much more to say- but so much more to do!!!

Sorry, no posts in a long time but it is spring. I wish I could say that it is because I have been busy with spring cleaning but it is really the opposite. The flowers are all starting to bud up and I would much rather be outside working in the garden. It has been this way since I was a girl. I would go outside and work in the garden instead of doing housework. Thankfully, I have a daughter that prefers inside work and would rather clean bathrooms than weeding.

I also have had the distraction of a wonderful camping trip with the family. I was afraid that I would not be able to sit still for 2 days – I did not take any projects with me – but I did it!

We also have a new addition to the family – a velveteen rabbit named Rabiseuraus Rex – Rex for short.

Baby Aaron’s quilt is finally ready to be shipped off. (He is my newest nephew.) Of course, he is already smiling and cooing – but late is better than never.

I also have been working on a new lecture on color. I will be presenting it to the Pensacola Quilter’s Guild in June and then again in July to the Santa Rosa Quilt Guild. I challenged myself to make a small quilt from each of the main color groupings. I was going to try to make the same quilt in at least 4 color ways but discovered I really only like the Analagous color way and had to change up the design for some of the others. I will post some pictures of them when they are done. I probably will only have the tops done for the first program but hopefully will have them all quilted later this summer.

I have been having such a wonderful spring. I always get the urge to get outside this time of year. The sewing suffers but the garden is looking great. Half of it weeded and mulch coming soon. We sent the last few night camping – yes, in tents. Despite a child puking, sunburn and eating hot dogs (since we did not catch any fish), we had a wonderful time.

I am busy preparing for my new “adventure”. I have decided to start a summer sewing program for 8-11 year olds. I am really excited about this and the class is filling up. I think I may need to buy 3 instead of 2 sewing machines. (Oh bummer!) Can one really have too many machines?

My sewing goal the next month is to finish up some projects that have been sitting in my incomplete pile. Today I quilted small quilt, made the binding for it and got one side sewed on. I also put binding on 3 other quilts that have been waiting for some time. (One of the quilts, I had to replace the binding on that my son had worn out.)