I was envious...

I was so envious of a friend's quilt! I had to make one. First I had to get the pattern...Jen, the friend I was envious of, told me it was Baker's Square, so I had to get my hands on that pattern. Then I loved the fabric so I was in search of the fabric. Which fabric line would capture my heart and imagination you might ask? SMORES! I had to find a layer cake so when we went to Madison that was the quest I was on. Then I needed additional fabric and the icon fabric was sold out at the quilt shop I normally go to...bummer. I searched in Madison...no go! Now what...I ventured out on the internet and there it was...the Smores fabric. I found an on-line store where I could purchase 1/2 yard cuts so I had more than enough. They also had charm packs so I bought two of those. Good thing I did because there was a little bit of a cutting fiasco with one of the major fabrics so I went into the two packs for that fabric (the rickrack fabric). So I cut the fabric to take it with me to my quilting retreat...but I decided to sew one row just to see how it looked. I ended up finishing all three of the A, B, and C rows so on retreat I only had to finish up the D rows and put them together as well as put the borders on. Here it is:

Well once that was done I then had to make a matching tote...what else is a girl to do? The only thing missing from the tote is a button on the front pocket and a friend of mine told me she had one for me. It is a snowflake, how appropriate for a Smores Charm Tote.

I still need to finish the quilt and add a button to the tote but I am much farther than when I left for quilt retreat. I sure love this fabric...thanks Jen for showing it to me.

Finally - A New Post

Thank you Jen for helping me update my Blog. Jen and Jill came up with the title and Jen came up with the new look to my blog!

Last night I went over to see Jen and give her this bracelet. There are so many stories involved in this bracelet. First of all I took the class years ago with my niece and I wanted to make one for Jen for Christmas, yes that is December 2007. Well first I had to find the pattern...easier said than done in my old quilt room. Finally it was found and I thought here I go. I am going to get this made but I didn't have pink crystals. So I waited. I was going to go out and buy them but I decided to go with purple because I had them. Something told me no...wait you want pink. So I did wait. Then I moved out of my house and in with my parents, well I thought that I brought the instructions with me. I went and picked up pink crystals and couldn't find the instructions. I really didn't want to go to my storage shed and try to find them. Not wanting to mess it up I asked my mom to ask her friend at work who also had the instructions. So only 10 months later and Jen has her bracelet. I had this beauty more than halfway done when opps I don't have enough fireline to finish it so I took it all apart and started over. I am so happy with the results and Jen seems to really like it. YEAH!

Not only did I work give Jen her new bracelet but I worked on some quilt tops! I finished putting borders on two quilts that I started last weekend. Last weekend I went on a quilting retreat in Lake Geneva with two friends and I finished up a bunch of tops and made a Charm Tote. Over the next couple of days I will show pictures and blog about them...How's that.

With all that has been going on I let blogging go and well I needed a new name for my blog so here it is Bear Paw Chronicles. Again I have to thank Jen and Jill for coming up with the name. I really didn't know what to call my new blog and well I was just not sure. So Jen asked me what my favorite block is and it is the Bear Paw. Mind you I have never made this beauty but someday maybe I will. I have so many UFO's that I just don't know when I will get the time to start one. That might be something to work on this winter...mmmm maybe some flannels? We will have to wait and see.

Kristie's 300th Post

My good friend Kristie is having a give away for her 300th post. You should go check it out...http://quiltingcowgirl.blogspot.com/2008/05/300th-post-giveaway.html.

Yeah Kristie!

I'm Alive

Okay now that I have your attention...I am alive. My viral bronchitis only took 9 1/2 weeks to go away. I admit there were times I thought I wouldn't make it. My lungs, throat, ears, stomach, ribs all hurt from coughing so much. Ohh well it's time to look forward to spring and hopefully some of the time to quilt!

Emma loves this time of year...is it because she was born in April and she's a spring dog. She has been really good lately. Okay except for the little incident with the pizza. I know you're thinking little incident with the pizza...Emma helped herself to two pieces of pizza the other day. I am sure the pepperoni was not the greatest for her but well she was happy when she was done gulping it down. Trust me I was not there encouraging her in fact I think I was telling her to leave it...like that's gonna work with PIZZA! The dog loves pizza and french fries. What's a girl to do.

Update on Rosemont!

Sorry I haven't written before now about Rosemont but I have been pretty sick. In fact I was sick while in Rosemont! I have Viral Bronchitis. I have been coughing for the last eight and a half weeks. While I was in Rosemont, my viral bronchitis came back like it was back at the beginning. This cough has been horrible! I am trying to rest, drink lots of fluids and take musinex.

On Thursday, I woke up at 4:30 AM and left to meet my friends in Silver Lake, WI and then we went to Rosemont for our first class. We took a quilting class with Linda Fiedler. It was okay. I already knew a lot of the information that was presented but it is still good to get another person's view of quilting...also it's practice, practice, practice. I enjoyed spending time with my friends and seeing them learn more. I did pick up one or two tips such as pulling the bobbin thread up to the top at the end of the line of quilting. She also went over pulling the thread up at the beginning...something I have done but sometimes not. We practiced e's, stippling, meandering, wavy crosshatching (which was pretty neat), etc. It was a whole day class and it was fun to spend time with my friends.

Friday we took a mystery quilt with Debbie Caffrey. It was fun. I like the way it is turning out. Once I figure how to download the pictures from my camera, I will take a picture of the block I finished. We used Baby Lock Espires. They were really nice machines. Only thing was I didn't have a good scant 1/4" so the pieces were wider so I have to go and resew all the seams with my home machine. I am sure with this the viral bronchitis I wasn't as careful as I should have been.

Saturday we took "The Bag Lady" lecture. We went station to station and learned about all the purses and how to make them. It was fun. We also went to see John Flynn for a lecture and luncheon. It was interesting ... I really was impressed with his hand quilting. WOW is all I can say. I would love to be able to hand quilt that beautifully! Later that evening we went to Meet the Teachers where you go from teacher to teacher and learn about their topic. You can't meet all the teachers due to time constraints but we saw quite a few and learned a lot. That night we celebrate my friend Kathy's birthday. We had a really good time except I got really exhausted. I did go back to our room between the luncheon and Meet the Teachers Sampler. It took a while with all the coughing to sleep but I finally slept!

Sunday I finally went shopping ... I bought a yard of fabric and I had bought a book and pattern from Debbie Caffrey. I guess with as tired and sick as I was ... I really didn't get a chance to shop as much as I would have liked to. We also went through and looked at all the quilts... there were so many beautiful ones. In fact, we talked with the person who won the Viewer's Choice. She was such a nice lady and her quilt was very pretty.

Your Slogan Should Be

Maureen. Uncommonly Made, Uncommonly Good.

The Slogan Generator

What an intersting slogan...What do you think?

International Quilt Festival in Rosemont

My friend Sherry gave me a book called Quilter's Guide to UFO's. She is so cute she showed me a picture in the book which shows a before and after picture of the author's studio. Sherry said it should make me feel better because mine isn't that bad. I think once I get back from the International Quilt Festival in Rosemont, IL, I will have to take pictures of my studio and figure out how to get it to look better.

I leave on Thursday for the International Quilt Festival in Rosemont. I am taking a class on Thursday with Linda Fiedler called Creative Machine Quilting...it should be quite a bit of fun. On Friday I will be taking Undercover in Chicago IV with Debbie Caffrey...it is a mystery quilt. On Saturday I am going to a luncheon called Confessions of a Non-traditional Quilter by John Flynn and I am going to go to a Saturday Night Sampler where 15 teachers will be demonstrating various techniques. I am looking forward to it! Sunday is our day to go to and check out all the quilts and to shop. I am going with my friends Kathy and Kristie! We have had a great time the last two years we have gone together and I anticipate this to be even better.

Ohh No I Made Changes & Lost Stuff

Well I tried to make changes all by myself and guess what I lost all my stuff on the side like me Weather Pixie and my counter at the bottom...WHAT HAVE I DONE! I am so mad at myself I know I can fix the Weather Pixie but the counter is something I just don't know how to do...so for a while my website will be under construction. I knew bad things would happen when I deleted a "widget" or something like that. Well I guess it's a done deal and there is no crying over the spilt milk or lost stuff! Wish me luck fixing it...

Update - I added quite a bit back...unfortnately I do not know what number my counter was on but I did know it was over 5000 so I figured I could easily set it at 5000 and know that it was correct. Well I hope it looks okay...I tired for now and am planning on watching TV and finishing laundry... Tomorrow I have an open sew day and I need to finish some of the blocks for Wendy's Block of the Month Club at Frank's.