Castle Rock Quilt Club

April 2009

Happy Easter and Happy Spring!!!!  I know that each month I have something to share with you and of course this month is no different!  What are some of your favorite memories of Easter time?

One of mine is the year my mother made me an Easter dress that I remember to this day…and believe me that’s a VERY long time ago!  It was made out of an old-fashioned print with a drop waist and the year was 1957!

I had a new hat and white gloves and white patent shoes to match.  Another memory I have is that my grandfather had an old (which is now an antique) humidor which for those of you that don’t know, it is what men use to keep their cigars in to keep them dry.  I now own that humidor and it has a tin lining inside.  Every year my mother would hide a basket of Easter eggs in it and my sister and I ALWAYS knew we would find a basket of eggs hidden away inside.  Now I, as “grandma” hide eggs there for my grandbabies and they too know that they’ll find their hidden treasure in that old humidor stand.  Can’t our memories be so sweet sometimes!

Easter means a lot of different things to us all.  For me it’s about my beliefs and for others it’s a renewing of faith and thoughts about spring and rebirth.  For some it’s about the Easter Bunny and I have to tell you that I really like that ole’ faithful Easter Bunny!  He’s a lot of fun. 

When I first moved to Colorado in 2006 (it was July) I was so excited to plant all kinds of flowers and lo and behold reality hit me…I wanted to plant Geraniums with happy thoughts of them blooming all year…well…DUH…I had lived most of my life in Southern California…BOY…was I disappointed!  AND on top of that, that was the year I had 4 feet of snow in my front yard and at least an inch of ice on my windshield…THAT was a rude awakening.  Nevertheless, I love Colorado and I’m grateful for all the pretty flowers that come up in spring and I appreciate them more then ever now!!!

For those of us who had the pleasure of being at the March meeting…what a fun program we had!!!  I don’t know about the rest of you but I went out and bought 3 notebooks, material and my fusing to get busy with my notebook covers.  I was excited to think about all the possibilities for presents I could make and so easy to do too. 

This month Carolyn McCormick is going to show us and talk to us about her new book that came out in February.  I always love a new quilting book and I love all the ideas you get from them.

The Great American Quilt Store posted this site about their “Patchwork Party” and I thought maybe someone might be interested in this as it looks like a wonderful project.  http://www.patchworkparty2009.com/

Just wanted to remind you if anyone is interested…the 4th annual Firehouse Quilts Quilt Show will be July 17-18, 2009 at Cherry Hills Community Church.  Early bird entry fee is $10 with a deadline of May 16, 2009.  Regular entry fee is $15 with a deadline of June 20. 2009.  Rules and entry forms can be found online www.firehousequilts.org.  Questions should be directed to bguy@firehousequilts.org.

Be sure and check out all the wonderful classes that Sew-Ciety offers right here in Castle Rock and also the other quilt shops around our area.  Isn’t it fun to visit them all to see the new spring fabrics and check out what classes are being offered?  This also reminds me about David Taylor’s class that is being offered on August 4.  You can contact Lynette Z to sign up for it; her number is in the membership roster. 

     Be sure and check out this site for the Denver National Quilt Festival IV which is coming April 30 – May 3, 2009.  It will be held at the Denver Merchandise Mart.  I personally can’t wait to attend this event…it sounds like so much fun and I ALWAYS get inspired when I visit a show like this. http://www.quiltfest.com/activities.asp?id=35

I found by pure chance a quilt site that I think offers a great deal.  It is  http://quilt.com/ and it has quilter recipes, classifieds, a beginners guide to quilting, mystery quilts, blogs, chat rooms, “prayers, hugs and special considerations,” quilting hints…the list goes on and on!!!  Check it out; it has some great ideas too.  I also found this site which will lead you to LOTS of other sites.                                                           http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Crafts/Quilting/?skw=quilting

As I sit and write this newsletter I can see all the snow out my bedroom window.  Mother Nature sure likes to surprise us and keep us on our toes.  I saw a picture on the news yesterday where it showed a beautiful red tulip  covered in snow right up to the very tip of its red pedals…poor thing probably wonders what in the world happened to the sunshine!  The great thing about quilting is that if we choose, we can have spring all year long as we work on our quilts and pick out new spring fabrics.

Well Dear Ones, this is all for this time.  I hope you have a spring in your step and don’t forget to take advantage of the Range on Tuesdays to help with the charity quilt and also enjoy your crafts.  Until next time….remember…."spring is nature's way of saying, 'Let's party!'" ~Robin Williams