Recents

Bear paw blocks for a swap at Mailblocks I think I'll make some more and use them on point as a back to my Homespun Turning Twenty UFO 8" Batik Happy Blocks for a swap. I've made 50 of these, the maximum is 75 and the due date is not until August, I plan to make at least 25 to 50 more, hopefully!
Dog block swap at Mailblocks Blocks were supposed to be 12", my puppies are 24" I had hoped that I could just trim them up to be 12" but I would have lost part of their ears, so I expanded to make them 24" square, I hope Ronda and Melanie arent upset.

Summertime

I guess its the summertime that's making me neglect my blog. I've been enjoying mornings on the deck with my coffee, watching the birds and a bowling ball of a squirrel that lives in my backyard. I call him a bowling ball because he will wait patiently for the birds to perch on the privacy fence in the backyard, then catapult himself towards them sending them flying and sometimes falling off their roost! Evenings are spent either in the adirondack chairs in front or on the deck in back after the sun goes down. I have been trying to spend some time on the yard. Let me assure you, its not beautiful, I'm just playing catch up with the weeds I've let take over in the past month or so.

I finally started taking things into my own hands regarding the renovation of the living room. Q and I tore up all the carpet before DH got home one day last week. So now we have concrete floors. I am hoping this will be enough to light a fire under him so that he gets moving on the drywall. He thinks by asking me "What furniture colors are you going for? What colors are you going to paint the walls? Have you thought about what furniture you you're going to buy?" that he is putting me on the spot, in other words, "If you're going to make me do all this work then you better be prepared to get a move on also!" But I was already prepared, I have the paint samples in my purse and I've been to the furniture store twice and know exactly what I want, I just haven't decided on a color yet because he's not made a decision on the floor :-) Still just waiting on him!

How lucky am I?

June has started out to be a really lucky month for me, first I won the lotto for the tulip blocks from Mailblocks shown in the previous post! Then, I won the FQ lotto at Quilting in Indiana for neutral FQs! Plus, this is my surrogate birthday month at Quilting in Indiana also, there were too many November birthdays so I chose June instead...its going to be a month of squishy fun! I will post photos of all at the end of the month!

Lottery blocks

Lottery blocks for May at Mailblocks using Tulip Quilt Block pattern. I think these are so sweet, the winner will be so happy!

Trudging through the UFOs

When I said I was going to start busting through some of the UFO's I have laying around I decided the fastest way to do this would be to start making 2 sided quilts. This is the first, a generous twin (What do you know...held up by one of my generous twins! Hehehe!) all made entirely from swapped blocks and stash fabrics. That beige has been around since I started quilting six years ago so I'm glad to see it's finally earning its keep for the room and board I've provided over the years. ;-)

Step 5 Complete!

Thanks to a little bit of sprinkling here this morning which kept me in the house, Step #5 of my OC is done! Woohoo! I'm not going to post a pic since it looks like the pic in the previous post except there's setting triangles and corners.

Now what kind of trouble can I get into? Looks like maybe more rain....:-0)

OC Progress and Indy Life

So I woke up this morning with plans of working in the yard, but it was a little chilly so decided to sew a little instead. I knew I still had work to do on step #4 of the Orange Crush mystery at Quiltville, I had the hsts done and a couple of the spinning stars completed, but I needed to finish them up. A quick peek and what do you know? Bonnie had step #5 posted so now I was close to being two steps behind! I finished the spinning stars and cut the squares for the Album block. So...they're going to be set on point...why could I not picture the way they were going to look side by side in my mind? I just had to make 5 completed Album blocks just to ease my curiosity a little. Here's a little preview hanging on my design wall, and I likey! There's only one thing I may just have to change, I used a blue that's very similar to the blue in the spinning stars for my Album block corners in a few blocks (see bottom right Album block) and I'm not sure if they'll stand out too much, so i may be ripping a little.

I live just south of Indianapolis and today is the 500. I had the TV on while sewing mostly as background noise, I am not a race fan. I just cannot see the thrill of watching a race, honest, i have tried numerous times since moving here in the early 90's. Its hard to not know something about Indycar racing with all the press coverage. I will say I am excited to hear there are 3 ladies racing today, Danica, Sarah, and Milka. Way to go girls! All of you! There have only been six women to start in the 500 and today will have 3 of the six who qualified! Sending them all the positive girl power vibes I can today!

Ok...now out to the garden since its almost noon! :-)

Finishes

First of all the table runner for the Fat Quarter Frenzy Challenge at Quilting in Indiana, I finally butched up :-) and cut into Jennifer's gorgeous fabric. I hope she likes the results! And the Relay for Life charity quilt completed. I was a little disappointed in the amount it brought in, only $280. But the raffle was cut short at the relay by 24 hours, essentially the whole thing, so all the tickets that sold were in the two days prior at work. I'm not happy about what happened, but I am happy with the results of my efforts, it turned out really well.

Retreat goodies

I also wanted to share the favors I made for the retreat. A FQ for everyone, 3 pieces of Lindt Lindor chocolates, (Warning, if you've never tried these and wish to, they're highly addictive!) and some awesome quilting postcards. The postcards were specially made for me by Vicki at Nanasnotecards.tripod.com aren't they wonderful? I plan to return to her again for September's retreat gifties.

And this was the big piece of quilter's candy that everyone received. Everyone seemed to be happy :-)

Retreat May 2008

Wow! Wow! Wow! Another great retreat! I just love meeting up with my friends in northern IN twice a year for our retreats, they are such blasts! Sewing, laughing, eating, ooohing and aaahing, great friends, what could be better?

I did manage to be productive while being social, which is always a bonus! I have several swap blocks done and did manage to work on my Orange Crush. I forgot the quilt to be repaired at home, but that's ok, I'll manage on my own.

We have a challenge every year that is due the next retreat, this year's challenge was to make something that was at least 30" in one direction that represented an emotion or feeling you felt at retreat. Let me tell you, EVERYONE completely outdid themselves. I wish I could post pics of everyone, but my camera was acting up. Although its so hard to pick a favorite, I would have to say this one from Liz represented the feeling of the retreat most concisely for me. Liz showed it to us in two stages, the black and white upper portion first. She said, "This is life." Then she unveiled the lower colorful portion and said, "This is life at the retreat!" What a wonderful interpretation!

This was my previously mentioned secretive challenge piece apparently as I was about to fling it back over the railing :-) My label says, Nestled among the new spring leaves and situated alongside a lake of sparkling blue waters sits a cottage that contains twenty bright lights, glowing glowing orbs of inspiration. Nineteen of which are perfect and one that's a little off center.

Another highlight for me was this beautiful antique quilt that Jody bought at an estate sale. Completely hand quilted and just drop dead gorgeous.

There will be another retreat in September, which just isn't soon enough for me!