Karen Kay Buckley

This past week I visited Naperville, Illinois, just outside of Chicago. I gave a lecture and two workshops for the Faithful Circle Quilt Guild. What a great guild with fantastic quilters. To learn more about them visit their website at http://www.fcquilters.com

This is a very active guild and they often bring in national teachers.

My contact, Joan, was great. She provided Joe and I with guest passes to the Arboretum where we saw some glorious trees and flowers. Here are just a few photos I snapped.

Joe called this the Perfect Rose

I love coneflowers and these colors were beyond beautiful

More flowers

Naperville has a small river running through it.  There is a nice River Walk and the downtown is bustling with hundreds of boutiques and restaurants. What a great place to live. There are some covered bridges with beautiful potted plants along the sides.  And, there were lots of potted plants along the walk.  A really beautiful area.

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Student’s Work

Joan Dupuis-Neal finished her quilt from my Fiesta Mexico pattern in late fall. Joan entered it in the Manitoba Prairie Quilters’ Quilt show in April. She won a first place in category and an Excellence in Hand-Applique! Joan, also, won a first in category and Best of Show in their provincial expo (fair). It looks great with the black borders/sashing!  Way to go, Joan! Good job.

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I finished John Grisham’s book “Rogue Lawyer” on the plane ride to Chicago.  I did like this book.  I am a John Grisham fan.

Sebastian Rudd is not your normal lawyer.  He works from his bulletproof van moving from place to place because the last building where he worked was bombed.  His driver is also his bodyguard.  He tends to work on some high profile cases so he attracts a lot of attention.  He takes the cases no one else wants.

At the end of the book I thought….I don’t like this ending…and then I started thinking…..why don’t I like this ending….and I think it is because I wanted more.  I liked the character and wanted the story to continue. Hey, John Grisham, is there a sequel in the works??

Just returned from one of my favorite states: TEXAS! I flew into Austin and was hosted by the the Chisholm Trail Quilt Guild of Georgetown. What a great guild.  To learn more about them visit  http://www.ctquiltguild.org. Leslie, my contact and the program chair, was so very wonderful.  Here is a photo of the group.

Joe and I then drove to San Antonio and had a day to explore along the way. Here are a few things we saw:

Goat Sculpture in Gruene, TX (pronounced “green”)  Loved these goats but they would not fit in my luggage.

Mission Bells

The Little Flower Basilica, San Antonio

and when in Texas you must Remember the

ALAMO!

We had dinner on the River Walk. We did not know but we were seated under a two hundred year old tree which was growing out of the wall. It was a point of interest for the many, many boats which cruised by us. We were constantly waving at the photo snapping tourists.

San Antonio has many great quilt shops but I was only able to visit Sew Creative Quilts while in San Antonio. Fabulous shop, great owner, Laurie, and fantastic employees. Visit the shop or their website http://www.sewspecialsa.com

Look at all the thread choices! And there were more on the opposite side of this display!

First day with the Greater San Antonio Quilt Guild, I taught my Ocean Sunrise Class and the students learned paper-piecing and machine applique. The next day prior to my lecture, many of them were featured at the guild’s show and tell. Great job ladies! Glad I had my camera ready.

Another great guild and Janet, the program director, was wonderful. To find more about the guild visit their website: http://www.sanantonioquilt.org

The best thing about traveling is returning home to my girls:

“Silly” Tillie, my Sweet Potato Pie, soon to be 16. She is so hug-able.

and “Princess” Sasha, my Sweet Pea, 17 1/2 years old.

Until next week  …

I am very proud to be a founding guild member of the Letort Quilters of Carlisle, PA.  For more information about them, check out www.letortquilters.com. This group has never ceased to amaze me with their work ethic and charity efforts.  They meet twice a month which means they have a lot of programs throughout the year.  And, yet again, they have produced one fantastic quilt show with such a wonderfully diverse selection of quilts.  Here are just a few photos of some of the quilts that hung in the show.

“Laurie’s Wedding Quilt” was pieced by Sandy Moore and quilted by Cathy Franks. It was hanging as a surprise at Laurie’s wedding reception.

“Confetti in the Corner” was pieced by Cathy Irwin and quilted by Laurel Cook.

Susan Rynex pieced “Birdsong” and Jeanne Lowe quilted it.

I always like to see a student’s finished work from my classes. Here is a finished work from my “Ocean Sunrise” class that I  taught in April 2015.  It was pieced by Carmen Eiserman and quilted by Laurel Cook.

“Red Letter Day” was pieced by Cathy Irwin and quilted by Laurel Cook.

Donna and Debra Lohman worked together on “August Lily”. They chose the name of this quilt in honor of the flower that blooms for both of their birthdays.

I, also,  taught “Ocean Sunrise” in 1996. Here is the finished project from that class. This quilt was pieced by Winni Flynn and quilted by Tina Snyder-Black.

“Fire Stacks” was pieced by Donna Lohman and pieced by Debra Lohman.

“Flowers & Vines” was pieced by Lorna Beacher and quilted by Laurel Cook.

Lorna Beacher both pieced and quilted “Too Many Yo Yo’s”.

“Blue Passion” was pieced by Rhoda Collins and quilted by Tammy Long.

“Ruched Roses” was pieced by Carol Brown and quilted by Maria O’Haver.

What a great show!

Until next week……..

Over the Memorial Day weekend  Joe and I traveled to our dear friends’ lake house in Lake Arrowhead, CA. The community of Lake Arrowhead sits at an elevation of 5,500 feet in the mountains northeast of the Los Angeles basin. It was crisp and clear all week with lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s. Perfect. We had a marvelous time relaxing and were so excited to see new and beautiful birds, trees and flowers.

Here is what we saw…..

The road up the mountain to “paradise”

On top of the mountain on this amazing tree we spied a bird.

We had never seen a golden eagle. What an amazing bird.  We tired but could not get any great photos of him in flight.  He just drifted gently in the currents.  Ahhhhh

On our morning walks we were introduced to many Steller Jays.  What a beautiful sister to the bluejays in our back yard.

On our morning walks we also saw California quails: both the male one day and the female quail the next day.  Beautiful.

But the best place for bird watching was our friends’ deck. Our friends put out lots of peanuts and the Stellar Jays entertained us all weekend.

Also the acorn woodpecker

the black-headed grosbeak and many more.

Down at the lake we saw lots of ducks.  Maybe it is because people can purchase duck food right along the beach.  Momma was taking good care of her little ones.

It was a colorful duck fest (love the bright heads and orange feet)!

We drove through the mountains to Big Bear Lake and saw some great flowers like the Coulter’s lupines

Here is a closeup and they were so fragrant.

Here are some other plants

They call these pine cones Widowmakers.  Because they are very large and if one falls on you……..you get the idea.

They are from the Coulter’s pine and weigh eight pounds. Yikes!!

As if we had not already had a fabulous time with our friends.  On the first leg of our flight home Nyle DiMarco, who just won Dancing With the Stars, was on our flight.  And of course I requested that he join me in a photo and he graciously agreed.  What a wonderful man. I still have goose bumps from meeting him. Thanks Nyle. Very exciting……..  He’s even better looking in person than on TV!!

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I just love getting photos from students of their finished work.  It makes me very happy.  This is from my Kansas Rose machine applique class.  It was made by Maryann McDermott from the guild in Schenectady, New York.  Job very well done Maryann.

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BOOK REVIEW

On the flight to and from California, I read a book recommended by Grace.  Grace knows I like Lisa Gardner and I had not read this one…..”Love You More”.  It was another “on the edge of your seat” read.  I think it was the 5th in the Detective D. D. Warren series.  I have read several of the books in this series…..not necessarily in order.   The book starts with one of the main characters, Tessa Leoni, a state police trooper, being accused of killing her husband.  The book takes some good twists.  I could not put it down.  I like a good murder mystery.

Until next week