Weird Bee

Does anyone know what the deal is with this bee? It had yellow bulges on both of it's back legs(the yellow oval on the right, hind part is actually on it's leg). I've never seen a bee like that in my garden before and am not sure if it's supposed to bee like that, or if it's got an issue.

It's on some bachelor buttons that I planted seeds for in the spring. I totally forgot that I planted them and almost ripped them out in July, thinking that they were weeds! Good thing I decided to be patient to see what they turned into (or was it laziness perhaps?) .

Party and retreating

Well, the party at Tammy Tadd Designs was a lot of fun. I got to see a lot of my favorite quilters and eat a piece, yes just one piece, of Sweet Dreams cake.
Terry Atkinson was really nice, and of course the quilts always look better in person. She showed an interesting machine applique technique that didn't use any fusible webbing of any kind. Once you see it, you say "duh! why didn't I think of that?" Jennie pointed out that if we had, then we would be the ones with the quilting books on the mass market.
People often ask me how I work 2 jobs. My response is that while they are vastly different, I really like both of my jobs, but the quilting job is really not work for me. It's fun. What better time can you have then picking out fabrics all day, listening to fun music, and working with fabulous ladies. It's very inspiring. My non-quilting job is very different, but I work with the greatest people and learn a ton every day. Many of my good friends are ones that I met at my non-quilting job. Some of them I've even turned into quilters!
Here are some pictures from the party. How could you not be happy working in a place this bright, cheery and surrounded by colorful fabrics?

This is a pattern that Terry debuted at the party.

This is my favorite part of the store. I love the satisfying thwack that the screen door makes when you go through it. And yes, that is a pink Weber grill!Terry Atkinson (left) and Tammy Tadd (right). The blue and green quilt on the table was also debuted at the party.
Laura goofy posing in front of Terry's quilts. I don't think she realises that I have this picture. We have a great time working together.

"Sweet, Simple Tote" pattern by Late Bloomer Quilts , fabric by Paula Prass for Michael Miller. Made by Me! I have about 3 more of these bags planned.

I have my quilt guild retreat this weekend, and have to decide which projects to bring. I have several ladies trying out my folding grocery bag pattern to see if it's ready to publish. I'm really, really hoping to get that done ASAP! Jennie told me I shouldn't bring my whole quilting room this weekend, but what if I change my mind about what projects to work on, then what am I supposed to do? Go to one of shops nearby and get a new one? Hmmmmm......

Big Excitment!

Tomorrow at Tammy Tadd Designs we are having a big party to celebrate the fact that we are featured in Better Homes and Garden's Quilt Sampler magazine as one of their top shops! To see more photos of the shop, click here.

To celebrate, we are having a sale, special drawings, cake from Sweet Dreams (this alone is worth the trip out) and most excitingly (I think I just made that word up), Terry Atkinson is going to be there to demo and autograph and the such. Terry designed my favorite pattern of all time, The Yellow Brick Road. It's my go to pattern and it's what I teach my beginning quilting friends with. I've made so many I've lost count. I whipped one up this week, start to finish, in 4 nights. That's right 4 nights from ironing and cutting to binding! I did cop out on the binding and sewed it down by machine, but I didn't have time to do it by hand and get it to the store by Saturday. It would take me just as long to tack the binding down as it did to create the thing! The backing is Moda's version of Minky called Fireside. It's sooo soft! I'm calling Ice Crystals, I think. And I used metallic threads for the first time. I had to quilt slower than I usually do, but it only broke 6 or so times. I don't think that's too bad from what I've heard others say about metallics.

We had the photo session for the magazine back in April. It was really interesting. The crew from Quilt Sampler were great. The photographer was really nice and got us all smiling at the right times.

There were two exciting surprises when we finally saw the magazine. The first is that Nan, who does the long arm quilting and is the most excellent supreme store decorator has her thread catcher design featured in the very front of the magazine in the company of, now get this quilting friends, Heather Bailey, Carrie Nelson (Miss Rosie), and Sandi Henderson! Jennie and I totally freaked. I know for a fact that I squealed! I mean, 3 renown designers in the quilt industry and our Nan! How excellent is that! (For those non-quilters, a thread catcher is a heavy pincushion on the top and a baggie that hangs off the table to put your threads and fabric snippets into.)

This is the other exciting part. See that uber-girly Girly Girl purse made of Lakehouse and Ava Rose fabrics? The pink and blue one right in the middle? That's my purse! I squealed about that too. Quilting and fabric make me squeal in delight, am I a quilting dork or what? You can't see the really cute pink plastic purse handles in the photo, but you can on my Flickr site. You can also see how even though I was super careful to cut the fabric out so the roses are right side up, I wasn't paying attention when I sewed it together and one side is upside down. As DiscoJen would say, Oh Well, it's done now! I have to say, the Girly Girl pattern is quite easy and you can make is as frilly or modern as you like. Jennie made a black, white and red one that's just fabulous.

If you are in the Chicagoland area, I hope to see you at the party tomorrow! I'm pretty sure I'll be wearing a pink and green apron. Maybe I'll whip up a pink headband tonight to control my badly-in-need-of-a-drastic-cut hair!