A Rainbow in Every Border!

A quilt border doesn’t have to be an afterthought—it can be one more place to have fun with your quilting!

This rainbow border is cheerful, flowing, and easier to quilt than it may seem at first. In this video I’ll show you how I stitch the design and keep the rainbows moving smoothly across the border.

VIEW VIDEO HERE

Don’t worry about making every rainbow exactly the same. Small differences give free-motion quilting its personality and make the finished border more interesting.

Give it a try on a practice sandwich first, and then add a little rainbow fun to your next quilt!

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Check out my new, ONLINE, ON-DEMAND Free-Motion Quilting Course

CLICK TO LEARN MORE

Meet the Gwinnett Quilters’ Guild

As I mentioned on Tuesday, I had the pleasure of speaking to the Gwinnett Quilters’ Guild. From the moment I saw the room, I KNEW it was going to be fun…..

They were SO friendly and welcoming, and I had a wonderful morning with them.

Here are a few highlights from the meeting……

Their door prizes are provided by members who have birthdays in that month, and I was impressed with the extent and quality of the July birthday girls!!

One of my favorites were these quilted cards….

Ten handmade cards are a NICE gift!!

Their president (Kim) was vivacious and kept the audience on their toes…

The guild has numerous charitable projects that they are involved in, and much of the business portion of the meeting revolved around those.

Show-And-Tell was wonderful and included the following. I am sorry that I don’t have names for all of the makers, but enjoy the quilts.

I like how the dark green background highlights the colors in this simple strip quilt…..

Isn’t this a fun quilt…it just makes you smile…..

I am in awe of anyone who can do Improv, and this was very well done…..

I liked how the windmills “invaded” the outside borders of this one…..

This was a great 250th anniversary quilt….

This temperature quilt was fun…..

…and this quilt was the result of pages pulled out of a magazine at some point and turned into a quilt many years later….

I think that we have ALL experienced that at some point!!

Before the meeting, I started talking to Susan and she showed me her current W-I-P…..

….TEENY 1-inch hexagons with embroidered vines through out.

It was an amazing morning, and I came away with my heart full from my new friends and a BIG smile on my face!!

Thank you to the Gwinnett County Quilters’ Guild for hosting me so well!!

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One of my favorite things about quilting is motivating others and helping them in their quilting journey. As part of this endeavor, I LOVE to present programs and workshops to groups and guilds around the world. All of my programs work well with Zoom meetings, and I would love to speak to your group.

You can find out more at this link…..

On the Floodplain

We were still on the hunt for an old Cape Buffalo that we could give to the village to provide meat for the families. Since we had not found the one in the forest area, it was time to head to the floodplains.

These floodplains are extremely flat, low-lying areas associated with the Zambezi Delta. During the wet season, water spreads across portions of this landscape. As water levels subsequently fall, the exposed ground supports productive grasses and other vegetation.

The area provides an interesting landscape, with large open areas and small islands of trees….

Because of the varied terrain on the floodplain, they use a particular vehicle called a “Bandvagn”. It runs on two tracks, similar to a tank, and is amphibious as well.

We picked up our trusty steed at a camp close to the floodplain….

It is not a particularly comfortable ride, but what this vehicle can do is amazing.

Notice how easily it transitioned from dry land to crossing a stream and then back to dry land again!!

We stopped numerous times for Ben to “glass” the area for animals. His favorite perch was on the highest point of the vehicle!!

Unfortunately, because the vehicle is so loud (as you heard), it can only be driven up to a certain point. Then you have to cross the area on foot.

AND, because the floodplain is littered with swampy areas, you end up having to cross some. We had to cross ONE!! The water was almost up to my waist, and the mud was thick and sticky, meaning that your feet would slide all the way under the mud and then you would have to pull your feet out to continue. Our guide, Ben, told us to point our toes when we were pulling out of the mud, and it would help. Unfortunately, it is hard to pull your feet out like that AND maintain your balance!!

That was where Jorge came in to play. As I struggled through the water and mud, he magically appeared at my right elbow, placed his hand under my armpit, and somehow kept me upright as we crossed. We were both all smiles when we got to the other side….

I had on lightweight nylon pants, and this was how I looked after the crossing….

Fortunately, it was warm, and the pants soon dried. The shoes were disgusting and, upon arrival in camp, were whisked away to be washed. They were dry and ready for us the next day!!

We spent most of the day on the floodplain, and finally killed a Cape Buffalo that would be appropriate for the village food stores.

Now came one of the most surreal parts of the trip. Ben needed to communicate with the camp (his wife) and tell her of our arrival time, etc. There was NO cell phone service in the area, so he pulled out a box that contained a Starlink Mini, set it up on the front of the BV and, just like that, we had SCREAMING FAST internet….in the middle of the bush of Mozambique!!

Technology is amazing!!

Next weekend, we will finish up our trip to Mozambique, including delivering much-appreciated meat to the villages and a fond farewell. Be sure to come back for that!!

Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!

Helping a Village!!

Zambese Delta Safaris focuses on the conservation of habitat… animals, flora, and most importantly, people!!

They recently discovered that there was an area at the edge of their concession that was in limbo…. C-11 thought that C-12 owned it and C-12 thought that C-11 owned it!! It actually was part of the Coutada 11 (Zambese Delta Safaris) property.

They also discovered that there was a village in the area that no one really knew anything about. As the people from ZDS approached them, they were told a story of an old Cape Buffalo that was getting too close to the village and was threatening the people of the village.

This is the sort of thing that ZDS does best…..so they sent out a team (us, our guide Ben, and two trackers named Tasco and Jorge) to find this problem buffalo, kill it, and turn it into meat for the village.

When we drove into the village, Ben commented that they possibly had never seen a white woman before. That was an interesting thought.

We stopped at the local school, and it was fun to see the classroom….

….with the blackboard with yesterday’s math problem….

The girls wore interesting expressions….

…while the boys stood in the standard, defiant pose…

I have found that this defiance lessens if you smile and wave. Even the oldest will smile and wave back.

Two of the young men offered to show us where the buffalo often stayed, so we took off walking! The young men would stop every so often and point to where we were headed….

We passed a number of wells as we walked….

None of them had any safety measures, and who knows how deep they were.

Jorge and one of the helpers climbed to the top of a termite mound to get a better view….

Yes, it was over 10 feet tall!!

Apparently, Black Mambas like these mounds as well, so you are always vigilant when you are around them.

This was my scene for much of the trip…..

Yes, they are carrying firearms. Remember that this is a 1000+ pound animal that can turn you into goo at a moment’s notice.

You can see that I stay behind everyone else!!

Because of recent rains, the grass was quite tall, and at one point I found myself with this view….

I was only out of their sight-line for a few seconds, but it seemed MUCH longer. Needless to say, I hurried to catch up!!

We never found the buffalo, and the tracks indicated that it had moved into the neighboring Concession, meaning that the ZDS guys couldn’t do anything about it.

HOWEVER, when we were walking back to the village, the trackers started talking excitedly, finally telling us that the buffalo had crossed over our path AFTER we had walked past. Who knows how close he was with no one knowing that he was there.

As another example of the work of ZDS, while we were there, another village reported that there were 10 elephants in their village, destroying the crops and generally wreaking havoc. Mark Haldane jumped into one of the small helicopters and “pushed” them out of the village and escorted them several miles away.

At ZDS, human life and welfare always come first!!

So ended our adventure in the forest areas of C-11….. tomorrow we head to the floodplain.

Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!

Love me some Pickles!!

Reading the “FUNNY PAPERS” is something that my mother instilled in me. She read them every morning, starting the day chuckling at what she saw.

To this day, I still LOVE reading the comics. Honestly, it is the main reason that I still subscribe to the digital version of our local paper.

One of my favorites these days is “Pickles”, a strip written by Brian Crane. As I read a bit more, I found out that he based the characters on his In-Laws!! Gotta love that!!

BUT, the best thing about “Pickles” is that Opal is a quilter!!

Here is one of my favorites….