Michigan and 4 years ago

Hellooooooooooo!

I hope you had a fun Memorial Day weekend. We did! We celebrated David's birthday and had a wonderful visit from my sisters in law despite all the rain. Some days I feel like I live in Seattle instead of Wilmington! ;)

So a month ago, I was invited to give a "Chat and Play Date" with the Thornapple River Rippers Quilt Guild in Hastings, Michigan. This was the first time I had ever been to Michigan and this was also the first time I had 22 students in my class. They were all so wonderful and we had a great time making my Peter's Pumpkin.

This cute lady is Jane. I loved her clothes and sense of style. I'm good at decorating a house, but I am terrible at decorating myself. hee,hee,hee. I'm always in awe of people who can put fun outfits and accessories together.

This is Rebecca, the President of the guild. She is a doll and a professional painting contractor. I had the most wonderful dinner with her and enjoyed getting to know her better. What a terrific lady! Oh, and I totally wanted to steal her shoes!

This is Sally. I was soooooooooooo excited she brought her little hexie quilt for me to see. Can you believe there are 1100 little hexies in that thing! OMG!!! She made me the most delicious salad for lunch. Thanks Sally!

One of the most wonderful and best things about the trip was being able to meet my blog friend, Brenda. It's so exciting getting to meet friends in person. Brenda is such a doll and I was so grateful for all the help she gave me schlepping my gear hither and yon especially in the rain.

Brenda took two days off from work, traveled over two hours and stayed at the same Bed and Breakfast so we could meet. I loved hanging out with her.

She is an architect and so she loved staying in this Victorian B&B, the Adrounie House. She, her husband and her daughter also own an old historic home that they restored and remodeled. I loved seeing the photos.

This was the first time I had ever stayed in a B&B and Don and April, the owners, made it a very special treat. April made the most incredible oatmeal I have ever eaten. Brenda and I enjoyed tea in the parlor and we even took a 15 minute cat nap! LOL!!! If you are ever in Hastings, MI, be sure and stay in this lovely home. The bed was like sleeping on a cloud!

I had such a great time with my Michigan friends and am grateful and honored they invited me to visit. Which brings me to four years ago. It's hard to believe that four years ago, I took a big hop of faith and decided to make The Raspberry Rabbits my full time job. I had been through so many changes after my job loss, the economy, etc. Looking back on this whole experience of growing a business, writing a book, designing patterns, teaching classes and so on, I sure have learned a whole lot. Some things were easy, but most things were learned the hard way. Moving forward, I'm excited about the new direction of my designs and the collaborations with friends.

This is Julie of Auntie Ju's Quilt Shoppe. She is the sweetest and also lives here in Wilmington. I have drooled over her gorgeous booth at shows for years. She carries so many wonderful wooly things.

I'm delighted to announce that my new designs in collaboration with my dear friend, Jules Woolford, whom I told you about last week, will be featuring Julie's hand-dyed wool. Here's how they look with our Valdani "Wilmington" collection. Yummy don't you think?

Going forward, I will also have a new class for 2017. I'm working on the designs now and should be able to show you them within a few months. The class will have a bit of a twist and something I think you will really enjoy while at the same time staying true to my beloved Folk Art Fusion style. More on that later.

Thank you for following along with me on my adventures. It sure has been so nice having your friendship and support. The bunnies and I are forever grateful.

Hugs and see you next Wednesday!
Michelle

Magical Places

Hellooooooooooo! Are you having a good week so far? Today was absolutely gorgeous! Sunny and 83. Woo hoo!

As I mentioned last week, I am catching up from the previous month. Today I wanted to share two magical places I visited.

First, is the home of my friend, Arlene Quintus. I stopped by one day with my friend, Jean. Oh my! What a beautiful home filled with the most magical pieces!

First, this is her chandelier in her dining room!

Arlene loves pottery and has some very unusual pieces. I love this little pitcher. In my mind, it is to pour a little bit of sweet fairy magic into your tea. :)

This is her dining room  and living room. Check out the gorgeous tree mural in the wall.

She has this cool mattress frame hanging in her foyer with twinkle lights in it

and this little fairy is there to greet you too.

There are wonderful lamps and vignettes everywhere.

Arlene also has the most delightful sewing room.

Here she creates so many wonderful pieces of art. Check these out!

You know I fell in love with this piece! A perfect teapot in a perfect magical place, with a truly magical and talented lady. Hugs Arlene!

The next magical place I went to was Disney! My beloved Aunt Deb and Uncle Rick moved to Florida and we finally got a chance to visit. They took us to Epcot and boy was it fun! This was my first time here and I enjoyed every single minute of this magical place.

Pluto is such a cute boy.

Thumper!!!

David and I had to have our picture made by the bunny topiary. Ok...I had to. hee,hee,hee.

I Skype once a month with my friend and new design partner, Jules. When I saw this phone booth, I was reminded that even though my computer, printer, internet and cable have been driving me bonkers lately, I am forever grateful for it. The fact that I can not only talk to Jules, but see her beautiful face at the same time, is truly amazing.

My Aunt and Uncle got a new family member. This is Petunia. She is so adorable! She was watching David play a game on his phone.

It was such a fun time and I'm truly blessed to have these two dear people in my life. Love you both bunches!

Hugs to you and have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! I'll see you back here next week.
xx,
Michelle

Catching up and exciting news!

Wow oh wow! I can't believe it has been a month since I wrote a post. I can honestly say that it wasn't from lack of trying. It seems every time I sat down to write a post, I had a major computer issue, internet issue, or phone issue. All of these things happened right before I was headed out of town for teaching and my vacation to Florida. For instance, I sat down to write a post yesterday and my internet service was out in our neighborhood. It was out for 7 hours and  didn't come back on until late in the evening. By that point, I had other things to do. So, I'm keeping my bunny ears crossed that the technology gremlins have found another place to live and I can get back to my Wednesday chats with you.

That being said, I have sooooooooooooooooo much to share with you!

First, Bob and Larry, the Buffet Bunnies, are delighted to announce that our dear friend and talented artist, Jules Woolford from England, has joined The Raspberry Rabbits.

Jules and I will be collaborating on new and exciting Folk Art Fusion projects coming this fall.

We are both over the moon excited to introduce our new "Wilmington" perle cotton collection from Valdani Threads. I have the collection available in my SHOP, Jules will have some in England and Valdani will also be debuting it at the Spring Quilt Market in Salt Lake City. Be sure and visit the Valdani booth!

We can't wait to show you what we have been up to so stay tuned!

Next, I need to hop all the way back to April 15th and 16th. Boy oh boy did I ever have fun!!! I was invited by my dear friend, Carol Cooper, to be the guest speaker at The Colonial Quilt Lovers "Day of Sharing." In case you don't know, a "Day of Sharing" is an event where area guilds come together for quilting fun, fellowship and a giant show and tell! Not to mention, a fantastic lunch, door prizes and eye candy that will knock your socks off! I was extremely honored to be invited as their guest speaker this year and to share my adventures down the rabbit hole.

The hosting guild always selects a theme for the event. The Colonial Quilt Lovers selected seasons and holidays. Just look at these wonderful table scapes!

Here's Vicki modeling the mask. She is a riot!

You know I loved the Easter tables. ;)

Each guest got a goodie bag filled with lots of treats! I got this adorable mug mat made by my friend Robin. Isn't it cute? Check out my pot of gold too!

In addition to being their guest speaker, I also had the honor of having a "Play Date" with some of the guild members the day before. This lovely lady is my new forever friend, Diana!

Diana invited me to stay at her beautiful home during my visit. It was so wonderful getting to know her and the other guild members during two delightful dinners.

Here are a few class photos. They made my "Bee Happy" piece. Robin did a great job! She is the lady who made the owl mug mat. She is also a fellow quilting instructor and is adored by all her students. It's easy to understand as Robin is so much fun! 

This is Holly. She made me laugh so hard at the end of class. She couldn't find her keys. We looked high and low for them and she dumped her purse out three times! We walked into another room when all of a sudden she shouted "I found them!" She had put them in her bra!!!!!! OMG!!!! I told her never in a million years would I lose my keys in my bra. LOL!!!!

This gorgeous bowl was the centerpiece on Diana's table. She made it and the group decided that I should have it along with all the other table goodies. I'm telling ya, these gals know how to party! :)

The dishcloth, included in the gift bundle, was made my a 90 year old lady. Check out the note attached. How sweet!

The only bad thing that happened was that my dear friend, Carol, who invited me there and organized the entire Day of Sharing, got sick that morning and couldn't attend! We were all so sad she missed it, but everyone gave her a big round of applause for all her hard work. She is such a sweetie! Oh, I don't have a photo of her because she doesn't like her "picture made" as we say here in the South. hee,hee,hee.

Finally, I have to share this wonderful gift the guild members gave me. It is a print from an original fiber art piece made by a local artist. How beautiful and what a thoughtful gift. They all made me feel so very welcome and I am looking forward to being a vendor at their quilt show next year.

Well, I think that wraps it all up for this visit. I'll be back next Wednesday with photos from my Florida adventure.

Until then, hugs to you!
Michelle