Victoria from Bumble Beans!

Pay it Forward Quilt  by Victoria Findlay Wolfe

Bumble Beans was one of the first blogs I started following religiously when I began quilting in 2007. Victoria (V) is a talent to be reckoned with. She quilts with such speed that her projects are endless. Her use of scraps and color, ah-mazing! She has always been an inspiration to me. I've done 15 Minutes of Play, a fabric self portrait, block and quilt swaps, charity quilts, etc. with V. I even have a quilt she gifted to me years ago for a Pay it Forward act of kindness. That's it above and it hangs in my studio.

The Orlando Modern Quilt Guild was fortunate enough to snag V for a couple of classes this weekend. Yep, that's V's hand flying so fast my camera can't focus. She really does sew fast! No wonder she makes so many beautiful quilts. We took her "15 Minutes of Play" class which teaches you how to make fabric. You use your made fabric to make more things. It's a fun process. V had all kinds of tips and tricks to share along with some of her amazing quilts.

One of her Double Wedding Ring quilts won Best of Show at Quiltcon 2013. Th gorgeous DWR above is the cover of her latest book. Double Wedding Rings -- Traditions Made Modern is available for pre-order right here. After making a quilt for the Modern Quilt Guild's DWR challenge, I'm eager to get Victoria's book and make something bigger. She showed us how to handle those curves with precision.

My table at the workshop started out neat. Look, there's a wiener mascot! Judy brought me Frank. He's really cute. That neat pile of fabric to the right was a big pile of mess minutes later. Red, my Janome is now my travel machine. I still love her. I just realized she's seven years old.

Here's some of the fabric I made during our sewing time. Now to hack them up and make something else! I could make fabric all day long. It's really fun and relaxing.

A group of us went to dinner with Victoria. The restaurant was next door to a wig shop. Is it just me, or do these wig heads give you the creeps? My uncle owns a wig shop and I've never been inside it.
The restaurant was Greek and we had flaming cheese! Opa!  I've been wanting to try Saganaki forever! It was so delicious. I want more! Maybe I can make it at home.

Speaking of creepy, the elves have come out. That's my vintage one on the left and the new (and improved?) version available today. I think I like my vintage elf better. The new elf went off to live with Hollywood's charge who is kind of creeped out and thinks the elf will come alive and mess with him while he's sleeping. I love to give gifts that keep on giving. Ha!