HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I hope and pray each of you has a very blessed day today!
I have so very much to be thankful for each and EVERY day!!!
First and foremost is my husband!!!  He is such a gift from God!
My 2 AMAZING children who are FABULOUS young adults now!!!  I LOVE to watch them grow, learn, and bless others each day!!!
My sewing/quilting abilities...THANK YOU GOD!!!  (Need I say more?)

Today starts the beginning of a frantic time of year...
I will try to slow down and know the gifts I give are good enough!
Loving someone enough to want to include them in your Christmas Cheer, in any way, is a blessing to us and them!  Think of your many blessings!  God is GOOD!!!

Slow down this year and enjoy the happiness, cheer, fun spirit of this celebration!!!

Here is a present for you!

This is a paper piecing class I'll be teaching at Block Therapy 

Dec. 2, Tuesday and again on

Dec. 4, Thursday.

If you've never tried paper piecing before, these little cards are a fabulous way to start!  

These are 3-4" squares.  If you don't like this, you're not committed to a large quilt you've already purchased the pattern and fabrics for!  

DON'T YOU WISH WE COULD LEARN NEW TECHNIQUES LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME!!!!

And what a great way to share your love with quilting friend!

Or,

use this card to give a Gift Card in!!

Or,

use these little blocks to create a table runner, small wall hanging, or something for Christmas without committing to a large project!

Once you get going with these little blocks, they atart going VERY FAST!!!!

Don't eat too much today!!!

Enjoy your families!!!

Each of you are such a blessing to so many people!!!  

(Even if you don't realize that...you ARE!)

Nina

Instagram Famous! LOL!

I received an email from a wonderful quilter last night, who has taken several of my classes.
This is What she writes:


I was so delighted to realize that the woman that look so much like Nina WAS Nina!  What a fun trip this was/is! And congratulations for going on the MS Instagram feed.

--------

Talk about a work of art! Nina from Mobile, Alabama brought this into the shop this week and really wowed us!! #msqc #mostar #msqcshowandtell
http://instagram.com/p/vwMzMCIcgS/

Shared with Flow for Instagram
http://appstore.com/FlowForInstagram


Go check out the link!!!  I tried to copy and paste the picture, but it won't copy.

So, here's the spoiler... this was the finale of our Shop Hop...MISSOURI STAR QUILT COMPANY!!!!  And it was AMAZING!!!!  Let me tell you just how AMAZING...

Every quilt shop I've ever been in is ONE store/shop...right?  You too?
NOT Missouri Star Quilt Company...they have 6!!!  Thanks right, 6!!!  Each store is it's own location, name, and specialty.

The MAIN store...right?

The sign on the side of the window

Inside this store is HUGE!  All the prints are in this store.  

I really just wanted to get 1/2 yard of everything!

There was SO much fabric...I was like a kid in a candy store!!!

The other side of the store...Can you see how deep it is?!

Now, let me tell you a little about their buying power...LOL!  

They don't buy one bolt of fabric at a time, the buy 3 or 4!!! 

That's my kinda quilt shop!!!

This is the SOLIDS shop!  

YES, a whole shop dedicated to solids, tone on tone, and a few other fun fabrics.

None of these stores were small....can you tell?

Displays were gorgeous, fun, and made you want them...spot on!!!

Isn't that what displays are supposed to do?

Cute cup!

The seasonal shop...and batik shop next door.

Kids print store

I think this was the reproduction shop, civil war, 30's and such...

A cute little court yard restaurant nest to the main Missouri Star shop...

Isn't it nice?

Lisa Ernewein and myself in front of the shop!

A beautiful sunset to finish off the FABULOUS day!!!

Now, Ladies and gentlemen...

If you ever get the chance to go to Missouri Star Quilt Company in person, let me give you one piece of advise...

Plan to stay there ALL day!!!

Want to guess how much time we had?

ONE HOUR!!!

That's right...1... uno...ONE!!!

We barely made it into the solid shop, our second shop to go into!!!

But we had so much fun!!!

This is DEFINITELY a quilt shop destination!!!!

Be creative today!

Nina

My Backwards Star quilt complete!

OK...

Are you ready?  

Here it is...

ALL completed!!!!

And YES, my 6'3" son is standing on his tippy toes holding this up!  It looks warped, but it's NOT!  The final dimensions are 66 x 82.

Now...I'm going to tell on myself again!  (Isn't it nice to know we ALL make mistakes!!!)
When I was cutting out my boarders, my intention was for a 7"  boarder.  I was using a 5" wide ruler, adding 2", then cutting the 5" width of the ruler.  Are you following me...yes, you guessed it...I was NOT using a 5" wide ruler, but a 7" wide ruler.  My boarders ended up 9" wide!  WAY, WAY wider than I planned!!!  But I kind of like it...
What do you think?

Make lemonade out of lemons!
Be creative!
Nina

Missouri SHOP HOP!!!

While I was in Kansas City, Missouri recently, I met up with an amazing friend...Lisa Ernewein!!!  Have you ever met someone who you simply click with?  It's like you've known each other all your lives and you're just catching up!  That's how Lisa and I are.  A VERY SPECIAL Lady with a BIG heart!!!

Lisa went with me on the SHOP HOP in Missouri!!!  She lives there, knows the shops, and even knows how to get to each of them!  (Although the handy dandy GPS is always helpful...just sayin!)

Our first stop was in Lee's Summit, Missouri - QUILTER'S STATION!

As you can see, we had a GORGEOUS day!!! 

This is a wonderful quilt shop!    The walls are full of quilts, of which some are original works, (and understandably they didn't want pictures taken of them).  I did buy a pattern, and I'm not much on patterns as I don't want my quilts looking like everyone else's...silly, I know.  But this one spoke to me!  It's a wall hanging, and each block has a word on it...

Chosen

Found

Redeemed

Secure

Accepted

Forgiven

Strong

Free

Blessed

Confident

Loved

Rescued

Complete

Restored

AMAZING RIGHT?  I just had to have this!!!  I'll post a picture of it when it's complete, I think it'll be my January project.  It will hang either in my stairwell, or by my front door.  I LOVE the words!!! 

The displays were creatively done! 

Talk about having all shades of a color...the fabric is packed in!  Actually, there wasn't enough room on their shelves for ALL their fabric...LOL!  We LOVE that!!!

Fabulous selection of colors!!!!

And the section I always LOVE to check out...

THREAD!

What a large selection to choose from!!!

Now, I have to tell you about the people working here...and the owner...

We were greeted as we walked in, and not your standard "hi, let us know if we can help you" blah, blah.  There was a smile on her face and in her voice!  She came over and asked what she could help me find and we started chatting.  Then the owner walked over and we had a wonderful conversation!  Everyone in this shop was SOOOO nice!!!  We felt welcomed and cherished to be there!!!

THANK YOU LADIES!!!

GREAT JOB!!!

GREAT SHOP!!!

I hope to see you again soon!!!

So, that was our first shop of the shop hop...

Seek creative opportunities!

Nina

My Backwards Star quilt

I've been on an AMAZING trip to Kansas City, Missouri!   My husband had a business trip, so I tagged along.  It's a beautiful area of our states!!!

But the BEST part of our trip...

A QUILT SHOP HOP!!!!  (While dear hubby was working...I was playing!!!)

I'll tell you ALL about it in another few days. I have to get my pictures onto my computer first.


SO, for today, I'd like to show you the star quilt I've put together...
While I was in Galveston, TX, there was a precut quilt being offered.  You supply the fabric, (12fat quarters & 1 yard of background fabric), and she'll die cut it for $10.  I'm in!  Sounded like a fun little project, and hey...it's already cut out!!!!

You what this meant...I HAD TO GO SHOPPING!!!

Pat Bolton-Legg, whom I stayed with, took me to a quilt shop.  I fell in love with one fabric and bought solid-ish fat quarters to go with it.  I was set!!!  I LOVE my fabrics!!!  I gave my fabrics & $10 to Pat.

Here's a picture of Pat's Star quilt

Didn't it turn out GREAT!!!

FABULOUS job Pat!!!!

Now, I'm going to tell on myself...

Remember I said I LOVE my fabric choices for this quilt?  

Well, guess what I did?

Come on.....
Guess....

I did my fabric BACKWARDS!!!!

YES, I bought a print I LOVED to be the background and 12 solid-ish fabrics to be the stars...
Hmmm...
How is this going to look?
Well, I will tell you, when I realized what I had done, we had to go to a different quilt shop so I could choose a different print.  One that wasn't so large and would hopefully blend a little bit and work.
(Really, I just wanted to go to another quilt shop!  LOL!!)

AND...here is my Star quilt, without boarders on it, I'll get to that...

It's not so bad...right?  LOL!!!

TOTALLY BACKWARDS!!!!

But not so bad?

I'm going to add a small black boarder, then a larger "background" boarder.  Hopefully that will pull things together and make it NOT look SO, VERY BACKWARDS!!!

Isn't life fun when we're not perfect?!!!

Now I have a quilt that's NOT like anyone else's!!!!  And I challenged myself to make it work!!!  

I'll post a picture of my backwards star quilt when I get the boarders on!

Oh, what a great name for this quilt!!!

My backwards star quilt.

Happy quilting!
Enjoy the creative opportunities you create!

Nina

Crazy...

Whew!

What a crazy few days!

I have been drooling over a sit down long arm for a few years.  I had the chance to test drive a Baby Lock Tiara...Oh my!  I'm in LOVE!!!  YES, I have a new baby!!!  Now...the real task...clearing out a spot in my sewing room for her!  I'm almost there!  I'll post a picture when I'm done... Anybody want to come help me?  LOL!!!

Keep your sewing room clean ladies!

Be creative!

Nina Clotfelter

Joan's Bears!

There is a quilt shop in Gautier, Mississippi...BLOCK THERAPY.  The owners are wonderful people and are so good to their customers!!!  I enjoy teaching there tremendously!  If you haven't been there, you HAVE to check it out!!!

So, Joan has had this panel on her wall in every sewing room she's had, for 31 years!  Yes, 31 YEARS!!!  Her husband asked me to quilt it so it could be turned into a nice wall hanging for her as a surprise. He said I could whatever I wanted...Whoop! Whoop!

Here's the panel before being quilted.

                                                         

And here it is quilted!  

Don't you just LOVE how the bears pop out?  It took a lot of work...and I'm so proud of how it turned out!  This was COMPLETELY quilted on my domestic machine!

I just love how dimensional the bears are!!! 

And to my amazement...Dear hubby couldn't wait to give it to her!!!  

She totally LOVES it!!!

And was completely surprised!!!

The front of the bears

The back of the bears

Here's the part we were laughing about...Joan bought this wall hanging 31 years ago in 1983!  Before her first child was born!  AND, those bears still speak the truth! 

I'll post a picture when it's bound...in red...and hanging up.

Be creative today!!!

Nina