I LOVE having company!

(I thought it had, and don't know why this did not publish in April, but I'm going to try it again!!!!)

So many fun & busy times were had here in April!!!
Why?, well, because
I had house guests from out of the country!
My Norwegian friends, 
who I met about five years ago at a quilt retreat,
came to visit me!

I'd not seen them for about 550 days...
but who was counting? 😁
From the time I collected them from the airport,
it was like we'd not been apart those 18 months.
We visited and caught each other up with our lives.
We grocery shopped, cooked, shared recipes,
and, of course, we ate well.

Outside the Morgan House restaurant

They were here after Easter, so we shared the tradition of 
one of our family Easter dinners with them. 

making Sun Buns!

We laughed and enjoyed ourselves to the max...
even attending a couple of wine sampling events. 😂

We visited the #1 Zoo in the United States...
THE Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.

We walked and counted our steps together.
We also did some important shopping....,
visiting local quilt shops!

 

And not-so-local shops, too!

The last full week they were here,
we attended a quilt retreat in the Amish area of Indiana.
Where we also visited, ate, laughed, walked;
and shopped those local quilt shops:

Gohn Brother's

Caroline's Quilt Cottage

Just that last week of visiting the quilt shops and retreat and back to my home, we traveled 600 miles!

I love my quilt-y friends and can hardly wait until we meet up again!!
(I may be counting down the days, again!)

building tiny Shipshewana houses...

little THREE INCH HOUSES!!

Aren't they just the cutest??!!

My messy process, above, 
is a little dab of glue on the paper to the first fabric piece, 
then the usual paper-piecing from there, using 
Judie Rothermel's trimming ruler for the little seam trimming.

I don't know if I'll do a house a day, as some are doing, 
but they sure are fun to fit in here or there during the week!

Many thanks to Hanne for the pattern
(Her pattern of her own design, is available at:
 Hanne's Quilt Corner -Tiny Shipshewana House),
and to May Britt (AbyQuilt) for helping me get going on this!

Along with Hanne and May Britt, there are many other gals from around the world that are making these tiny houses so that when we all return to Shipshewana, Indiana for the Dear Jane retreat in November of 2015, we'll share our quilts of our own little neighborhoods!
 

royal friends and scrap built houses

You meet the best people through quilting, I think.
And those friends get you into THE best quilt-y projects!

First up: Royal Friends

Last Autumn, at retreat in Shipshawana, Indiana, 
a friend and I were going to a quilt shop (imagine that:) .
We offered a ride to a couple of other quilters (they are from out of the country).
Little did we know that those out of country quilters were royalty.
After fabric shopping, they acquired their royal headdresses!

Here is a picture of the new friends in the back seat,
riding like the royalty they are - 
the Norwegian Queens in their crowns:

 I was riding up front (as co-pilot) with our driver:

(She is even wearing her driving goggles and cabbie hat!)
And, our royal bounty for the day:

Secondly: Scrap Built Houses

So what do I see online recently?
Those very same royal friends 
shared pictures of their foundation-pieced, 
three-inch houses!!!

I never knew that royalty could be such troublemakers!!
             That's my way of saying that I let my arm be twisted.  Again.
OK, full confession here - there was really no arm-twisting involved. :)
The royal plan is to bring a finished quilt top of little houses 
to the 2015 Shipshewana fall retreat.  

We have a year, and I'm full in - 
Building Little Shipshewana houses!!

I'll soon have more to share on my little, scrap built houses,
because I'm starting my construction this week!

See?  That's the kind of stuff that quilting friends 
(even royal, quilt-y friends) get you into!
Stash building AND house building!!!!