Jodi Barrows Trunk Show

March is National Quilting Month, so I'm going to try to post something about quilts with photos throughout the month.

Last year, one of the quilt guilds that I belong to had three generations of the Yoder Amish family come give a lecture & a "Show & Tell" program, as well as vend some of their products that they sell in their store, the Lone Star Quilt Shop.
(sorry, there are no online sales by them)  

They were delightful women & we had a million questions for them about their religion, their dress & customs, which they graciously & patiently answered.  

Later the same Amish family sponsored a dinner & trunk show by Jodi Barrows, author of the Square in a Square method of cutting/quilting.  (follow that link to check out her website)
She, too, was delightful with her wonderful sense of humor, tons of useful information & a HUGE stack of quilts...I loved every minute of it. 

 First off, we were treated to a true "family style" Amish dinner with big platters of fried chicken, heavy bowls of REAL mashed potatoes & gravy, green beans & ham PLUS scrumptious BIG homemade PIE slices already in place at every person's setting.

 You should have seen us jockeying our seats so we could sit in front of our favorite flavors.  (you KNOW I found a lemon meringue one, don't ya?!)
We were then treated to a fabulous trunk show & lecture by Jodi.  I took photos of almost every single quilt that she showed us.




Jodi is a very entertaining speaker who clearly explained her techniques used in each quilt block as well as
showing them with various poster board demonstrations.



She is a very skilled educator, able to convey her instructions & methods both clearly & concisely 

This little Amish girl, with her beautiful long hair in a braid, 
sat directly in front of me, so her pretty hair is in many of my shots.
No matter how much I leaned either way, I could not photograph around her.
I hope she didn't mind me including her in these photos, as I know they don't 
like to have their photos taken.  The fact that her face isn't visible should make it okay.




Don't you ♥♥♥ Jodi's HOT PINK NAILS?









Notice the different hands holding this tiny little mini quilt below?

That is her husband, who helped to hold up Jodi's numerous,  lovely quilts. 

 He also ran the cash register, which was really humming afterwards.  We all bought her books & rulers, she was such a great salesperson!

They travel during the hot TX months, with a camper trailer so she can teach in various states all over the country.
  
I was in the Lone Star Quilt Shop when she dropped off one of her own quilts to be hand quilted.
I got to speak to her for a little bit & she was just a sweet as can be!




I'll try to stop talking now & just let you scroll down through the huge variety of wonderful quilts that Jodi brought to share.























































































I think these RED & GREEN & WHITE ones were my most favorites...I do love RED & WHITE quilts!







Although, the BLUE & WHITE ones were beautiful, too!







Jodi spoke lovingly about the generations of incredible women in her family & the hardships they endured while traveling to TX to escape the Civil War.

She comes from a loooong line of quilters & has written two novels, using her family member's & their history as the backdrops for Threads of Love & Threads of Change. 

I think she may have another book in the works, too.  I came home & immediately requested both from my library & read them from beginning to end, enjoying every minute.  I hated for them to end, which is always the sign of a good book! 








Ooops, here is another favorite one of mine with RED!!!
I hope to share some things I recently learned about the making of *rouge d'Andrinople*  in my next post.












The trunk show lasted for hours!
If you ever get a chance to see & hear Jodi, don't miss it.
I promise you will be incredibly entertained & come away very inspired.  

She also has a few videos on her website that lets you see & hear her explain several different kinds of blocks.
I especially enjoyed the "Ohio Star" instructions. ~~big grin~~ 

Click HERE to view a list of the videos.

March 17th is also National Quilting DAY, but you & I know there will be other GREEN things going on then!  *wink*

March 16th is Cuisine Kathleen's St. Patrick's Day Annual Blog Crawl.  The house will be decorated to the hilt in GREEN again this year for that one!

Thanks for stopping by The Gazebo House.  I hope you enjoyed Jodi's quilt show & will check out her website as well as stop back here for more calorie free eye candy soon.

Hurry Up, Spring!

This is the view out my sunroom windows, towards the gazebo.

Pretty to look at, but I was happy to stay indoors & QUILT!

We got almost 10" of snow last week & it was bitter cold...down to 4º at times.

This photo was taken very early the next morning, 

just as the sun was coming up.

At least the walkway was cleared!

I loved seeing the little snowcap on my lantern & staff.

As I said, I've been inside, quilting up a storm.

I completed the quilting of this lovely *Bear Paw* pattern quilt

 on my Innova longarm for my friend Nicole.

Then I was privileged to quilt her daughter, Maria's first quilt as well.

She joined an online swap of *Dr. Who* blocks &

this was the darling result!  

So fun to do...I stitched around each applique

then did swirls in the backgrounds of them.

All the sashings got stars & circles, 

since Dr. Who is a celestial time traveler,

or so I was told.

The view of the back shows off the piano key border 

that I did all along the outside edges.

My husband's grandchildren are now having babies,

so I put TWO of the SuzyBee Growth Charts 

side by side, on the long arm frame & quilted them

both at the same time.

One is going to Chicago to his son Tom's boy's baby &

the other to his Tom's daughter's first baby in California,

both due in June.

I am now working on some quilted pillows for my sister in Maui 

(photos soon)  as well as a

turquoise & white Hunters Star quilt, 

using Deb Tucker's ruler.  

I sure am looking forward to Spring, though!  

Today's temps are near 60º & I'm going out for a walk!

I hope the sun is shining today where you live.

Thanks for stopping by The Gazebo House.

End of January Blues

Shortly after my husband started his family practice office, his cousin, Eddie joined him once he completed his medical school training.  
Eddie later changed to orthopedics & had a very successful career in that field. 
He & his wife, Terry, often vacationed together with us in FL & we golfed together almost weekly here in Ohio when the weather was nice.

They had 2 daughters, one of which is the very talented artist Diane Arthurs, the designer of many cards & posters along with this line of dishes from Pfaltzgraff.  

She named the line "Evergreen Ernie" & I like to think it was after my husband Ernie!

I first saw these dishes on my friend Mary's blog, "Home is Where the Boat Is".  
Thanks Mary for showing them & for the 20% off code to help offset the purchase price.

Each salad plate has a different scene with the snowmen holding various garlands & wreaths.  The coordinating dinner plates have snowflakes around their rims, which also echo the mugs.

I

I was tickled pink to discover these little snowmen on sleds, 

(which I've had for YEARS), matched the teal blue colors perfectly!   

I used them as holders for tucked napkins between the sled runners.

 I found them at the Dollar Store a long time ago & I'm so very glad I kept them.  

I've heard it a million times....

"Mother, you never throw anything away!"

...and this is exactly why!!!

Aren't the snowmen's expressions just precious?  
They resemble my Ern, always smiling & making people laugh with his jokes.

Oneida's "Americana" silverware along with snow white quilted placemats completed the table setting.  
There are nice deep soup bowls that go with the set & I KNOW I took photos of them later in the day, but I can't find the pictures of them now.  Duh?  Mentalpause Moment!

I have many snowmen blues on my bakers rack this month along with the newly released reproduction Ball jars in the same turquoise color.  
I have several of the original colored ones but didn't dig them out yet & now January is almost over.  It will be time to put up the RED Valentine's Day items next!

Thanks to Mary, I also have the sugar & creamer as well as the S&P shakers that go with the set!

We've not had much snow here in Ohio, (♥♥♥ thanks to El Nino ♥♥♥) so I added some free standing lace snowflakes to the kitchen table light fixture.

I first made them for Sandy Hook & used them in a tablescape HERE. 

 They are done entirely in the embroidery hoop & are specially designed to hold together once you wash away the stabilizer. 

 Diane's dad, Eddie & my Ernie have both passed away now.  
I'm hoping to have both Diane & her Mother over for lunch, using these dishes, soon.

Next week, it will be a full year since my sweetheart went to Heaven.

  I miss him terribly every day still & always will.   

His smile would light up a room & everyone loved my Ernie!

Rest in Peace, Darling...I'll see you again in about 20 or 30 years, God willing.

Thanks for stopping by The Gazebo House today!

I hope the sun is shining wherever you are &

you'll come back to visit again soon.

I have TONS of quilting projects to share next.

You're always welcome!