Projects are Packed

Tomorrow morning I head out with my friend Janet to a quilting retreat. We are planning to make a stop at Threads of Time in Danville, IL for my birthday shopping trip.

Here's what I'm taking:

Neutrals for Jeff and Dane (blocks are made):

Quiltmaker quilt for me with the leftovers (blocks are made):

Another boy bricks quilt like this one (pieces are cut and some blocks are made):

Birthday Star Blocks (there's an idea in my head):

Neutral Sudoku quilt (just needs borders):

Yellow, Black & White (just needs binding hand sewn):

And another Yellow, Black & White

That should keep me busy for a few days!

More Retreat Stuff...

You are gonna get so sick of hearing me talk about this retreat.

For the past several years we have had a massage therapist come and he always says, "My wife askes me where the quilt is when I get home." So, last year we decided that we would make him a quilt instead of paying for the massages this year. He met Laurie and I at Cheryl's Quilt Shop a couple weeks ago and he picked out the quilt and fabrics that he wanted. I did the figuring cause he wanted a queen and the pattern was for a lap quilt, and Laurie took it home and cut it up and put the blocks in zip-lock bags. We paid $5 for a set of 2 blocks and will make the blocks and give them to Laurie at guild this month. The top will be assembled and hopefully we will have a quilt for him at the retreat.

Here are my blocks:



More Door Prizes
This week I received packages from Olfa, Calico Point Quilt Shop, Walmart, Rossville Quilts, Marvy Markers, Nancy's Notions, and Janet. Thank you so much for your generousity.



OK, can you stand one more photo of the Cobblestones quilt. Here's Jeni with her new quilt. Matches her hair pretty well, don't you think. She loves it and her daughter loves it too.

I'm back!

Boy, did I have a good time, but it sure is good to be back home and I can hardly wait to jump into bed tonight. There's nothing like your own bed.

So, how did I do?, you might ask.
Pretty good, I think!

First up was the Storyteller quilt and I got it all put together and the borders added on. I had to go buy a FQ of light green fabric from the store upstairs because I didn't have enough of the greens from the FQ tower from this quilt.



Very pretty, I really like it. Thanks again Vicky for the Fat Quarter Shop gift certificate.

Next up was the log cabin blocks from 2000. I made these blocks about a year after my first quilt. It seemed to me that I had accumulated way too many blue fabrics and I decided to make these blocks. (I must confess that I probably have 5 times more blues today than I did then!) Most of these fabrics were from Joanns or walmart, because I had not discovered quilt shops at that time.



By this time, I was ready for something easy, so I made the Pooh book for Elizabeth. These always seem to take me longer than I intend as they are NEVER printed straight on the fabric. I had to remind myself that it's a book for a nine-month-old. She came to visit with her brothers and her dad on Saturday and it immediately went into her mouth. They had to make a visit because Julie forgot her foot pedal for her machine. We first met Dan at the BGCC on Friday evening and he brought her my Janome Jem Gold to use. Jim was planning a trip to Lafayette on Saturday, so he brought the cord and her littletable then.

Next up was the bag kit that I won at MQS in Kansas City in May. I'll not be teaching this bag anytime soon. It seemed to take me forever.......maybe because the front, back and 4 pockets had to be quilted. I love it though and will be carrying it as soon as I switch things over from my placemat purse.


The inside pockets:


Ah, now for something fun....
The giraffe quilt! I am so happy with how this turned out. I may add another row of squares to the outside, but maybe not. It's a nice size, Julie says crib size, but I might want to make it a little bigger. I'll have to sleep one it. Mine is for a boy, so I didn't add any flower petals, just more leaves.

This is a free pattern by Red Rooster Fabrics.



A close-up of the appliqued leaves:



Julie and I left early today so that we could take Jessica to lunch and then shopping for her 13th birthday. The 2 things I didn't even get started were Andrew's car holder and the Floral Sorbet quilt.

I didn't get a photo yet of the Purdue wallet because I forgot to take velcro, so I couldn't finish it at camp.

I did get some done on the vegetable garden quilt, but didn't get a picture of it either....maybe tomorrow.

Patty's Block of the Month and Retreat Information

Here is Patty's BOM from Rossville Quilts. She picked it up yesterday and was very happy with it.



Next up is a baby quilt for Gwen and I need to do a little embroidery project for my friend Judy. That should keep me busy this weekend while Dan is off doing sound for the band.

Retreat Planning
I am coordinating a guild retreat next spring in March. We have had the retreat at Ross Camp for 2 years, but I am thinking of changing the location. I haven't had much luck finding a suitable location that is less than an hour from Lafayette. Stairs are an issue for some of our members, so that eliminates Camp Tecumseh. I have thought about a local hotel, but I think we would prefer to book an entire facility, rather than walking the halls of a hotel in the middle of the night after sewing till the wee hours of the morning.

Have you had a quilt retreat some place close that you would recommend?

My Little Quilt Show

What can you accomplish at a 3 and a quarter day retreat? Well, just about one thing per day. First here is my Simply Hearts, which I purchased the pattern and some of the FQs last year on the way to retreat, in Hannibal, MO. I just love it and it's been named Watermelon Hearts by Dan.



Next is the Pumpkin Patch Primatives block swap from last year. I still want to put borders on this and have a pile of half-square trianges to trim up.



Next is my Pineapple Blossom from Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville.com
I cut strips from my green and white/cream scrap boxes and would you believe that I ran out and had to get some greens off the scrap table for the final strips. I had plenty more green at home, but just didn't take along enough strips. I didn't get the rows sewn together until I got home, cause of space limitations at retreat. It still needs borders, but I'm not sure what kind.




Here's my March Challenge quilt, "Catch A Spinning Star" with it's blue ribbon on it. The pattern is one of the free ones available from JudyL.

Retreat

I'm having a great time at our retreat. I planned to take lots of photos and post them, but haven't had done that yet! The food is WONDERFUL and the company is WONDERFUL and I haven't had to rip-it much at all.
I'll be back on Sunday!