Jordan River Temple

 We took the opportunity to visit the open house for the Jordan River Temple since we were in Salt Lake. Grandma Helen came with us; she was the only one of us who had been inside pre-renovation. I had always been told that it is a sister to Seattle, so I was curious. 

The impressive chapel seemed to go on forever. And the staircases were enormous. It did have a feel of Seattle, but more open. Seattle feels more utilitarian where Jordan River feels more ornate. 

While we were at the Willards, I took a picture of Charles and James Howard Willard, brothers from Illinois, born in 1894 and 1885. They are quite handsome.

I'm on the Cover of a Magazine!

 On the way to Rexburg I got a phone call from Dodi Poulsen in Poulsbo. We have a common friend, Jen Bay, whose father-in-law was Paul's mission president ages ago. Anyway, she wanted me to do some quilting for her that would go in a magazine. How exciting. 

There were two in this batch. She explained that magazines require quilt submissions to be more on the beginner side of the scale. At times she has had to dumb down patterns and designs to suit them.

Unfortunately, when I got to the bottom of the quilt I realized something was terribly wrong. I had to unstitch my quilting and then unstitch the turned block on the right corner and restitch it back together. That was the second time I'd done that for a client. It actually doesn't take that long to do. There are deadlines to meet!

Now that looks a lot better. I hope I get to work with Dodi again. She has been designing fabric for Riley Blake and is very busy.

Organized Chaos

 I loved Sujata's Organized Chaos when I first saw it. It's found in her book, Cultural Fusion. My preference or aesthetic is grid-based. Even if the fabric patterns are wild and crazy, there is stability in the grid. I can appreciate a lovely pictorial quilt or a Baltimore Album, but I prefer a grid.

Another secondary design coming through--bonus points! I could make this quilt 15 times and they would each look different.

So many options for placement!

I threw the rest of the fabric line onto the back. 

Even Chuckles approves.

Marnie's Bag

 Marnie requested a handbag and I happened to have the perfect pattern in mind. I just needed to stop by Quilting Mayhem and pick up the hardware.

I took a class from the woman who makes Bag Bits and she is dangerously brilliant. It can be scary to sew around metal, but you can do it! I wish I had a riveter, but not now. Maybe when I retire.

A little Kaffe and a strong strap and she was ready to go.