Retreat Report

There sure was a lot of sewing going on at the Retreat I went to this week. Some people (like me) ended up doing more ripping than sewing and went home with four quilt blocks made.

Other people (like Jan) sewed like a fiend and got an entire quilt made, quilted, and partially bound.

And then other people (like Dar) kept the smoothies flowing!  Some were really healthy with spinach, oranges, apple juice and bananas.  Others were just smooth, with chocolate and cream and other good stuff.

In all fairness, Dar did also get some sewing done, like these beautiful string blocks. 

Reba wowed us with one great baby quilt after another.  She worked on quilts and brought lots of Show and Tell.

Joan got a T-shirt quilt put together......

...Barb made several cat or dog quilt tops to be raffled off at a charity event for Heartland Humane Society of Missouri. 

...and Katy used strips she won at a guild meeting to put a cute top together. 

Ree finished a Thimbleberries quilt top. 

This shows just part of the gorgeous homespun log cabin type quilt Lee Etta worked on.

This is one of the baby quilts Rita worked on.

Jeanne worked on so many things I couldn't figure out what she was doing, but her sewing kit/organizer made for a good photo.

Just like every other retreat I've been to, it was way too short.  It was hard to say goodbye to these special ladies. 

I hope it isn't such a long time before I get to see them again.

Happy Housewarming!

I love it when I get to finish a UFO and end up with a lovely gift for someone special at the same time.  This quilt was started several years ago when my friend Barb was in charge of the Lotto Blocks for our quilt guild.  She came up with this simple batik 6" block, so of course I was going to make a whole quilt from it.  I made 25 blocks, stitched them together and then it sat in a drawer until two months ago when I decided it had been a UFO long enough.  (You have heard this song before, haven't you!? LOL)

I did not want to make gazillions of the same block so I thought it would be fun to make this a sort of "One Woman Round Robin" instead.  One border at a time and it would be a real quilt!

I found a great eggplant batik at my favorite online source, Batiks Plus.  I used six different gold and purple batiks cut into 2 1/2" squares and had my first border done.

It was looking a little bland to me, so the next round was a colorful piano keys border.  No, I did not repeat a fabric.  Yes, I do have a great stash!

                                                                                                        I wanted to add a plane border next with appliquéd flowers and vines.  Everybody knows you need some curves to balance all those straight lines.  Well, almost everyone.  Hubby said it needed squares instead and sketched it out for me.  Huh.  Looks great!  Whatta ya know about that!?

I appliquéd the squares on and then embroidered around them and finished it off with another eggplant border.   I mailed the quilt to my nephew Tim and his wife Catherine in celebration of them buying their first home.  I think it will make a great snuggle quilt for them to use for many years to come.

So, Congratulations to Tim and Cat.  And Happy Housewarming!!!

Christmas 2009 - Part Three (Brandy's Quilt)

I don't think Brandy was real surprised, judging by the expression on her face as she started opening her gift.  Usually when a quilter gives you a gift, and it's squishy -- that's a pretty good tip-off. 

Last year when I started thinking about a quilt for my new daughter-in-law  (And I am only telling you she's my "new" DIL because I don't want anyone to think I waited over 10 years to make her a quilt.  That would be a shameful confession from a quilter!!) I asked Adam what her favorite colors are, and he said, "Black and White."  Only Black and White??    "Yes."  Hmmmmmm.   I noticed that a lot of the tops she wears (with her Black and White skirts and her Black or White slacks) are coral or turquoise, so I decided to use those two colors for just a little splash of an accent color.

I thought the perfect quilt would be one from "Thinking Outside the Block" by Sandi Cummings.   I had made a baby quilt from this book in 2005 and it was one of my favorites.

I wanted this quilt to be ready for Christmas so I sent it to my friend Angela at Quilted Joy.com.  She  does beautiful work, and she came through for me with a great quilting design and in plenty of time! She did interlocking ovals all over it and a very cool design in the borders to pick up on what she saw as pick-up sticks in the connector blocks within the quilt.  Very cool.

                 Here's the completed quilt.

One really neat thing that I did on this quilt (because I love to include "back art" on my quilts) was to make the back one giant transition block using the coral and turquoise batiks from the front.  I was pleased with how it turned out!

Since I mentioned the other quilt I made from Sandi Cummings' book, I might as well show it off now!  I made this quilt per special request for a very special baby who was arriving in 2005.  A friend of my husband's was to become a Grampa so how could I resist?

My friend Barb was teaching from this book at our Guild Retreat in 2005 so it was perfect timing, and I had plenty of fun brights in my stash. I used a great stripe for the border and backing (always a good idea!) and it ended up being one of my very favorite quilts ever.

I got a little off track here, but Christmas 2009 is still.......

......To Be Continued!