Cherry Blossoms

Visitors flock to the Tidal Basin every year to see the cherry blossoms in all their glory.  This year was no exception, in spite of the blooms being 2 weeks early due to the unusually warm weather.  Afraid that I would not get to see them before they were gone, I made the trek Friday after work and got some photos as the sun was setting.  While I didn't get to linger long, it was worth the trip.

Playing with Baby

Today I finally took some time to play with my new Babylock.  I have a small quilt from a Karen Eckmeier workshop 2 years ago that needed to be finished.  It needed some more quilting and binding & sleeve added, so I pulled it off the design wall and got to work.  I wanted to get the binding on, but realized I hadn't quilted the border, so that was the first step. I learned how to wind the bobbin and set the machine up for free motion stitching.  After quilting the border, I went ahead and added the binding and a hanging sleeve.  Then I decided to add some more quilting to the landscape.  I have a bit more quilting to do and maybe some more embellishment, but it's closer to being done, AND I got to play with the machine!  Happy with my purchase so far - lots more to explore.

Screen Printing Class

Yesterday, my friend Elizabeth and I taught our thermofax screen printing class for the Virginia Consortium of Quilters. We had a great time with an enthusiastic bunch of students who printed their little hearts out.  Here are a few shots of them in action.

New BabyLock

My new BabyLock sewing/embroidery machine arrived today.  It took a few hours to unbox it, set it up, check out the parts, figure out the threading and do some test stitching.  That's as far as I got.

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival

Enjoyed several days at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show last week.  There were lots of wonderful quilts - here are some of my favorites.  Enjoy!