Hangin' With CrazyMomQuilts

Amanda Jean Nyberg from Minnesota, who blogs and Instagrams as CrazyMomQuilts was in The Villages on Sunday and Monday. A group of us from the Central Florida MQG executive committee, and committee chairs, went to dinner together at the Mallory Hills Country Club.

These gals are some of my best friends in The Villages: Dee; Karen (formerly from Iowa); Amanda Jean; Debbie; Cindy; Jane; and Cathy. I'm on the far right.

We learned what a personable, lovely, and talented quilter Amanda Jean is. We like her, and we're pretty sure she liked us too! Karen drove to and from dinner in the golf cart so Amanda Jean could have that fun Villages experience.

All day Monday, October 2, I was in Amanda Jean's "Spin" workshop. Our group met at the newest rec center - Moyer Rec Center - to choose and start making a scrap quilt from Amanda Jean's book No Scrap Left Behind. In this picture, she posed with my "Ring Me" blocks that I'm piecing from a huge bag of solid scraps.

I'm thinking to make these 7"-inch blocks two ways - in cool and warm colors. But her version with all the colors mixed up is great too. See below. This photo is from our Central Florida MQG meeting on Monday evening. To read all about Amanda Jean's visit to our chapter, go here. 

By the way, I have to say that I loved Amanda Jean's Washi dress. She's made five of them now, from different fabrics - this one was double gauze. Seeing it on her and hearing how comfortable she says it is, I might have to make one for myself.

After seeing all the quilts from Amanda Jean's book at our meeting, members who have made Amanda Jean-inspired projects were invited to show them. These are what I've made:

A couple works-in-progress (WIP) bags

Two 12" x 12" ticker tape on canvas pieces that hang in our bathroom. Tutorial here.

Making those for the wall inspired what I did to a plain white desk that's now my "War Desk" (after seeing the movie "War Room.")

Amanda Jean inspired me to save fabric strips - she calls it "fabric yarn" to crochet a rug. I chose to make mine oval-shaped. A rectangle-shaped tutorial is here. I'm current saving and sewing strips together to crochet another one.

Over the summer of 2015, Amanda Jean hosted a quilt along to make a Scrap Vortex Quilt. I absolutely love this 90" X 92" quilt which is stored in the top of my closet because I don't have a place to use it! :-(

Lastly, my "Slopes" quilt from Amanda Jean's book is a WIP. She made hers with solids. I'm using prints. I've had to stop working on it because I've run too low on print scraps to keep the color rows going! Are you as reluctant as me to cut into yardage to "make" scraps?

I have to add that it was a real treat to finally meet Amanda Jean in person! We have mutual friends - MadeByA Brunette, RenéCreates, LiveAColorfulLife, among others - and I've been following her blog since 2010 or so. I felt like I already know her! If we lived any nearer to each other - and if she had the time! - I'd sure try to spend time quiltmaking with her. I'm a big fan of her scrappy style.

Oh, and one more thing that happened on Monday... during the workshop, a roving broadcaster from WVLG radio in The Villages, came in to ask about doing a live, on-air interview about what we were doing at Moyer Rec Center.

This is the WVLG radio station at Lake Sumter Landing.

Of course I obliged! He and I went into the kitchen of the Moyer Rec Center for the interview. He introduced me, said where I moved from, what village I live in, and how long I've been quilting.... Eek! Since 1975! Then he asked about modern quilting - what makes it different (That's always the first question about modern and it's tough to answer because modern isn't completely defined, and is so subjective!), and the sewing machine I was using. Wouldn't you know that this was the workshop where I decided to use my antique black Featherweight!

On a more somber note, I can't not mention my sadness and disbelief of the shooting of 59 innocent people outside the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. You'd think I'd be removed from it here in Florida, but then I learned that Michele, my friend and former editor at American Quilter magazine (AQS) who is now a professor in Illinois, was in the crowd during the Route 91 Harvest Festival country music concert. She posted this photo on her Instagram account...

... and wrote:

*GRAPHIC* These are the new shoes I bought in Las Vegas to wear on the final night of the Route 91 Harvest festival. I’ve left them behind, hoping they hold the memories I don’t want to carry with me. Too many bodies, too much blood, and I still feel like a remote viewer. I thought it was fireworks until the girl next to me was covered in blood and I felt a burning sting on the top of my thigh. The bullet broke skin but did not lodge because it didn’t have enough velocity—that girl caught the worst of it. My mind keeps wondering if she made it out alive; I pray that she did because unlike me, she wasn’t old enough to have really lived yet. 💔 #rt91harvest

Like most of you, I am grieving for the people who lost their lives, the families they left behind, and the senselessness of this insane and cruel act. It's difficult to accept that we'll never know why. We must keep praying. Linda
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