A new showcase for my tatting!

I have been fascinated with crazy quilting for a long time, and I spent a lot of time reading blogs and books about crazy quilting when I broke my wrist (almost two years ago!). Melissa at Honey Bee's Bliss became a particular CQ friend and sent me some lovely supplies to get started. I frequently pull out my stash and look at it, but I just didn't have the confidence to begin!

In the meantime, I found Pat Winter's blog and continued to dream about creating lovely CQ pieces myself. This summer, Pat announced that she would be giving CQ lessons in her summer kitchen as soon as she and her hubby finished transforming it into a studio for lessons. When I found out that Pat lives about an hour or so away from me, I jumped at the chance! I called my daughter Alison and my friend Pat, and I asked them if they would join me for a day of fun. Of course they said yes! Pat W. asked us if another lady from Michigan could join us, and we were happy to meet someone new. So, three Pats, one Alison, and one Diane spent a lovely day together yesterday!

Pat made us all so comfortable! She put kits together for each of us that reflected our individual preferences, and provided plenty of inspiration! We spent most of our time working away... if you can call it work! Our morning task was piecing,


and our afternoon task was embellishing.

Alison seemed to catch on more quickly than the rest of us... maybe because she's so much younger! ; )

We had a perfect day for creating beautiful pieces. There was just enough rain that we would not have been able to pursue many outdoor activities... not that any of us needed an excuse for playing with luscious fabrics, ribbons, laces, and beads! The sun peeked out through the rain clouds on and off throughout the day, and it kindly shone at lunchtime so that we were able to eat our lunches outside.

I would highly recommend one of Pat's classes to anyone who is interested. In fact, we enjoyed ourselves so much that I'm sure I could talk Pat and Alison into going with me again!

Look at all the goodies that I brought home with me!


Pat generously put together enough materials to really hook us on crazy quilting. I had to have a copy of her book. After all, I am a librarian!


Here's some of Pat's hand-dyed silk ribbon for embroidery, and a little wire teapot filled with goodies (candy, cookies, tea).

Thank you Melissa and Pat for sharing your love of crazy quilting with me! Now, if I can only manage to spend 8 hours every Saturday dedicated to crazy quilting...