Opening Weekend Retreat

Oh! We are having SEW much fun! With Hollowen this weekend the creatures have come out!!!!!!
Kathy has a little visitor on her machine - no more Janome chirp!

Can you believe Rhonda would let this little feller' sit on her finger?
What the heck?!?!?! They seem to be a little surprised about something!


Ok, Ok, put your eyes back in your heads and GET TO WORK! Quit playing around!

Ok - first we have Molly working diligently. She wants those RWB Wacky blocks done! It's time for something new!

Well, Kathy has quite a string of pieces there. Do you have any idea which end is up?

Who me? Well, I have decided on this border . . . well, maybe this border . . . . no I don't like that one either . . . How about. . . Well, bother!

Oh Annie! Your blue and yellow is beautiful! You go girl!

Here is a two year old project - blocks were done but not put together. It's called "Buck A Block" from "Thangles". Just love that border!

There! Borders on another project - ready to go in the "To Quilt" pile!

This one is made from "charm packs" and "jelly rolls".

Lookie Here Now . . .

Well, it has been a while since I posted and I have been busy! So get a drink and a comfy chair and take a look at what I have been up to. . .

First I want to show you what I got in the mail . . . it is awesome!

This is my Round Robin. Actually - I have not put a stitch into this piece! I joined a group of gals for this round robin and ran out of time to "build" a center, so I went hunting for an orphan block and ran across a "brown box" swap that I participated in about 5 years ago! My theme was "Cabin in the Woods by the Lake". Catchy huh? Anyway - I picked out a block that Molly made for me . . . a cute little cabin with a squirrel. I loved the fall-looking fabric she used so I loaded up my round robin box with some of my favorite fabric scraps and off it went. The first one to do a round was Monica. This gal is truly talented! The next round was by Erika - the fabrics she picked were fabulous! Then Carol did a creative round with canoes, trees, bear tracks and flying geese. One of the ladies in our group got very sick and was unable to do her round, so Monica asked if I would mind if she did another round. Well, I loved my little quilt just like it was, but I also knew that Monica would really add something wonderful to it, so . . . there you have it! Not only did she add another beautiful round, but she also put the design in EQ6 and sent me the file so that I can play around with more possibilities! What a gal!

Now for some stuff I've been working on . . .

Well, shoot! I didn't make any of these either! This is the Wacky Pac Quilter's 2008 string swap. I chose the middle fabric and placed it diagonally in the center of a 13 1/2" square of muslin and gave each of my 8 Wacky sisters 3 and they added strips of cream on one side and browns on the other. They were laying on my cutting table this past weekend and I decided to git-r-done! So I squared them up to 12 1/2 and set them together, then added a border . . .

Then another . . .

That is probably as far as I would have gone, but I was talking to Kathy E. and she decided I needed to be challenged. (Little did she know, I am very challenged!) My challenge is to have it quilted, the binding on and a label by our (Wacky Pac) "Opening Weekend" retreat. October 30, 31, November 1, 2. Well, I just have to have it done or . . . well, I had just better have it done!
I had to go to the Dr. Tuesday in Waco so I dropped by the nice little quilt shop - Tomorrow's Quilts - and purchased a backing for the quilt. That's not all I bought - but I'll cover that later. Hopefully I will have it loaded on the machine tomorrow.

Now, remember the barn block that I made and was going to have to do 13 more for a swap in January? Well, all 13 are cut out and ironed down! They just need to be stitched down. I will probably try to do one a week, until I get them finished. Stitching around all that makes me sleepy!



Well, you must be getting a little bored now, so here are some pictures of some stuff I have added to my studio . . . I put 2 long shelves up in the room where my quilting machine is. This is where I will store battings and quilts needing to be quilted.

Some of the tubs on the shelves have kits or projects in them.






This last one is of my embroidery area, which is the long part of an "L" shaped work area.
That's it for tonight - I'm beat! Hope you enjoyed my last two weeks of work! I feel good about all I have accomplished.
Later!

This is for You Monica

Most of my other followers know all this already.

A. Attached or Single? attached
B. Best Friend? My sister, Jan
C. Cake or pie? Pie (Pecan)
D. Day of choice? Saturday
E. Essential item? FAN!
F. Favorite color? Blue
G. Gummy bears or worms? worms, I think - Kathy E. shared some with me once.
H. Hometown? Brown City, Michigan
I. Favorite indulgence? Retreats with my dear quilting sisters!
J. January or July? July in Michigan and January in Texas!
K. Kids? None of my own, but many by other mothers.
L. Life isn’t complete without? my family, my husband, and my quilting sister.
M. Marriage date? April 27, 1996
N. Number of brothers and sisters? Two brothers and One sisters
O. Oranges or Apples? Apples, Girl! You crack me up! -unless we are talking about those chocolate orange balls that you whack against the table then cram into your mouth like a squirrel on a 10 day starve.
P. Phobias? Under water, tight spaces, large crowds
Q. Quotes? "Blessings are like buttons; people seldom notice them until one is missing." I like that one too!
R. Reasons to smile? Reading your blog!!!!
S. Season of choice? Spring and Fall but I like Cinnomon too!
T. Tag 5 people: I never tag any one...I never like to pressure anyone except my husband. Dito
U. Unknown fact about me? My mother was from England, her mother was from Irland and my dad's ancestors were native Indian and German. Now tell me I'm not a confused soul.
V. Vegetable? Brocoli and corn on the cob
W. Worst habit? Living to eat instead of eating to live.
X. X-ray or Ultrasound? Lets hope that I don't have to choose. Dito
Y. Your favorite food? Italian, Seafood
Z. Zodiac sign? Sagittarious

Building Barns

One down and 12 more to go!!! Crap! What was I thinking! Same as always - I got caught up in the excitment. I guess it's not that bad.

Here it is before I stitched it.

After I stitched it:

Here's a little detail.

Another Project Complete!

Here's another project ready to go! My Wacky Americana blocks:

Thanks

Just a quick thanks to all of you that made comments. You are so very sweet! I will do better with posting.

Thanks again - see you in cyber space!

Deer Camp Koozies

Here are the koozies I have been working on. On one side it says "Quality Drinkin' Time Sheffield, TX" That's the town that the lease is near. On the other side there is a deer rack and it says "Nothin' But Horns".

The story, as I understand it, is that, one very cold windy hunting day, 3 fearless hunters, Wayne Wells, Wayne Hughes and Brick Sullivan took one of the hunting vehicles (one with a heater) to a favorite hunting spot. They sat quietly, sipping on an icy cold beverage, waiting for "the big one" to show up in the clearing. When suddenly something came into view. Well's drew up the binoculars and one of the other great hunters steadied their gun out the window of the vehicle and whispered, "Whadoyasee, Wells?" To which he replied softly, "Nothin' But Horns, man! Nothin' But Horns!" Well, if you know Wells like I do, then you probably already know that he added something like "Shoot the Bastard!" Any way - that's where that little saying came from. There's probably more to that story than this - but you will have to ask one of the great hunters about it to get the real feeling of being there!

Anyway - on the bottom of each koozie are the initials of each man on the deer lease. That is to keep them from fighting over them! LOL