Here is an update on some works in progress and an update on my travels.  I just got back from visiting my hometown, Des Moines, Iowa and seeing my family.  Everytime I go home, I take my mom on an adventure which usually involves quilting or fabric.  This year, we headed about 2 hours southwest to Hamilton, Missouri.  It is just a tiny rural town.  My husband was actually born in Albany, Missouri which is just a few miles away.  We went to the Missouri Star Quilt Company, a small business that has just about taken over the town.  The week after our visit, they were named the 2015 National Small Business of the Year.

Here is Mom in front of the main store with lots of precuts!  There are other shops in town with every kind of fabric you may have ever wanted.  It was hard to leave.  Everyone was very friendly and we ate BBQ at a new restaurant on the main drag.  It was a fun adventure and definitely worth the trip.  They have a building just for retreats too.  If you are in the area, I would recommend stopping for a visit.

It is hard to tell in this picture, but I am making another pillow with a paper pieced bra on it for a Breast Cancer fundraiser.  It does not matter where he is in the house, once I start to quilt something, Cookie Cat suddenly appears.  I think he thinks every quilt is for him.

This quilt is a variation on a design from Robert Kaufman fabrics using the Boy Scouts of America fabric they produced a few years ago for the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America.

While I was traveling, my son Colin attended his board of review and passed to receive his Eagle rank, the highest advancement rank in scouting.  As parents, my husband and I could not be more thrilled.  We still need to wait for the official paperwork but I had made this quilt and had been keeping it for this occasion.  I even embroidered an eagle in the center of the quilt.  I think the fabrics are now out of print, but you can still find some if you dig around online.

I embroidered the scout law all around the quilt in my cursive handwriting, I think it adds a little something to the overall quilt.

Here you can see some of the fabrics.  Maggie Smith quilted it on her longarm machine.  I had her quilt the scouting fleur de lei symbol along with stars.  There was even some fabric with designs of all of the badges.  I gave the quilt to Colin to celebrate his accomplishment.  We will have a formal Eagle Ceremony later, but I really wanted him to have his quilt.

My talented Sister-in-Law, Sue, requested one of my Dizzy Daisy Threadcatchers to use for knitting.  She wanted the weighted pincushion to have it sit on the arm of her chair and to put her ball of yarn in the little bag so it would not roll around.  She said she liked purple and green, so I made one for her.  I had just enough to make another one with a needle book and tiny nine patch pincushion.  I will be adding these items for sale in the shop soon.  I had been using sewing themed fabric to make them, but this one turned out pretty cute.  Make one for yourself, you can purchase the pattern as a PDF download.  Go to MY PATTERNS tab and follow the link to My Etsy Shop.

Here is a sneak peek at my next post.  I finally finished embroidering the sunbonnet sue nursery quilt blocks.  It only took me 10 years to finish them!  I only worked on them in the winter and I guess I was a little slow.  More to come!

What quilty things have you been working on?