TV Time

Last night I found myself wanting a hand project to work on while watching a movie with my husband, Paul. Ever get the urge to do something that is fast, easy and fun to do? That’s what I was looking for. I had recently picked up a copy of Cloth-Paper-Scissors’ special publication “Studios” at the local bookstore and remembered there was a yo yo pincushion project I liked. The pattern called for three different size circles made into yo yos with two yo yos left flat and the third stuffed. This is it!! A quick, easy and fun project that would give me a little boost. I cut out my three circles, grabbed my needle, thread and scissors and headed off to watch a Harry Potter movie.

The larger pin cushion is made following the circle sizes given in the article. I like to have a little smaller pin cushion next to the machine to hold just a few pins that I use as I am machine piecing – so I decided to reduce the size of the circles and try a smaller version. The smaller pin cushion fits my needs much better but both were fun to make.

It's Here! It's Here!

Excitement is in the air here at Bee Creative Studio as we are having fun paging through the new issue of Quilters Newsletter’s “Quilt It for Kids” magazine that just arrived. I designed a quilt project called Snips and Snails especially for this issue and is one of 19 projects in a publication with projects geared towards ‘tweens, kids and babies. It’s been hard sitting on this news but I didn’t want to let the cat out of the bag before I was supposed to. You can click on the image for a larger view.

To get your copy of “Quilt It For Kids”, visit the Quilters Newsletter website at http://www.villagequiltshoppe.com/ or your local bookstore's magazine section.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I’ve been buzzing around the studio for the last couple of weeks filling in for Mary and Toni as they have been out on vacation. Toni took a wonderful trip to Hawaii for a week and Mary made a trip to Panama but both are back and that means I get to get back to creating again. In addition to filling in for them over the last couple of weeks I’ve been sewing together a new quilt call “Songs of the Season” that will be featured in a special publication to be released in August of this year. I will post more on that later but thought I’d post a couple of pictures before it gets sent off for photography.

On Saturday Paul and I went over to Braddock Bay along Lake Ontario for their birds of prey migration and banding days. We got to see a Sharp Shinned hawk that had been caught and then banded as well as a Northern Harrier. I snapped a picture as they released the Harrier. It was a bitterly cold and windy day unlike the beautiful sunny day we are having today. In addition to the hawks we saw a Bald Eagle, about 200 Turkey Vultures as they migrated overhead and several swans in the marshes.

I started some nasturtium seeds a couple of weeks ago and most of the seeds are up and getting their second set of leaves. All of this puts me in the mood of spring and if you were here you’d see my “it’s spring! It’s Spring!! IT’S SPRING!!! dance around the studio. Have a great day.

One Sure Sign of Spring

We have had an unusually warm day today, reaching 67 degrees and that has released the peepers from their winter freeze to sing their songs of spring. Hearing their song always makes me smile and think of the warmer weather to come.

Growing up we counted the number of time the peepers came up and went back down into the mud as the temperatures fluctuated between warm and cold. After three times up and down spring was here to stay. Living in the northeastern part of the United States, winter and the cold weather always seems to stay around a month too long.

Now starts the trips out the door each night to listen for the peepers and count the number of times they come up and go down. Happy spring to each of you!

You can see what they look like and hear their song at the following website: http://www.naturesound.com/frogs/pages/peeper.html

Happy Anniversary to Ivy Thimble!

One of the local quilt shops in the area, Ivy Thimble in Victor, NY, is celebrating their 5th anniversary. Trish, the shop owner, asked if I would design a project for them to help with the celebration. During the conversation she mentioned her favorite flower is the sunflower and she wanted a smaller sized project. This is the final design that she and I settled on – 5 golden sunflowers for 5 terrific years.

This is my version of the project but they have made up a very cute quilt in the shop and have both fabric kits and patterns available. If you are in the area, stop by and check out the sales they have this coming weekend or visit Ivy Thimble’s website at http://www.ivythimble.com/