Let me tell you about an awesome retreat

Annual retreat in North Webster, IN... a blast as usual, I just heart those ladies so much. There is just something so calming and reassuring about being around a group of ladies who not only share your interests, but help you to understand your place in the universe and the sisterhood of women. OK that sounded corny I know, but I sit at the age of 42 and see those younger than me struggling with the same things I struggled with I cant help but look to those older than me who fought and survived the same battles I'm currently facing.

I was very productive during the 5 days of sewing. I know my attitude of using things up really helped me to plow through the projects since I started with mostly UFOs and orphan blocks and worked to give them a home. We went shopping in Shipshewana as we always do, I thought I was being a good girl, buying only fat quarters from Lolly's famous boat. We got a great deal by buying 100 FQs, so that is all I bought, 100. It wasn't until we got back to the cottage did my buddy Darlene point out that 100 fat quarters are in fact the same as 25 yards of fabric! Yikes! Thanks Darlene...geesh!

Here are some pics of what I managed to accomplish.

Fall orphan blocks. This quilt is the result of 4 swaps and a BOM that never got completed with various flying geese thrown in there to make it somewhat square.
GPS Giant Postage Stamp swap blocks finally at home in a quilt top.

This was a BOM from years ago, Broken Stained Glass from planetpatchwork.com. I doubt very seriously if this were all the blocks in the BOM, but its together now.

A pieced back using the Turning Twenty pattern in homespuns. This will eventually back a quilt with wool batting, my first time using it. Its the winter quilt for our bed, i need to get a move on before it gets cold.

See my cute little Kilroy peeking out! :-0)

A RxR from Mailblocks from a couple of years ago. Fuzzy appliqued flowers still need to have some more leaves put into the barren places that just need a little more.

And my Sonnet charm pack quilt, also from several years ago, finally ready to be quited.

This year's challenge was Itty Bitty, it had to fit in a 10"x13" frame. So here it is, all finished. The buttons were DH's idea, I still just wasn't pleased with the way the centers came out and he was the button man.

Lastly, but certainly not least, the favors I gave. Hand made soaps in various yummy scents. Sandy at Earthlydelightsoap made up these darling little bags with two different soap scents. I highly recommend her soap, we've been using it for years and in addition to smelling just wonderful, it leaves your skin so soft and smooth. I cannot say enough about her customer service, i contacted her to explain what I needed and my budget and she made these special sized bags, she's the greatest! I am a very happy customer!

So now the North Webster September retreat is over, next to start planning for is May. And I also need to get all these tops quilted and finished!

UFO Analysis

I am involved in a UFO challenge at Mailblocks, we have four months to complete up to ten different UFO's that we listed at the beginning of the challenge. This really got me to thinking about how many UFO's I truly have and what makes them UFO's. Why have some of my projects lain at the back of the closet or at the bottom of the stack for so long? So I decided to pull a few out and seriously evaluate them.

This is a 4 Patch Stack n' Whack that I started at last September's retreat. What about is it that had it tucked away to live a life of loneliness? I think its maybe because I don't really like it. I loved the fabric, the whacked patterns did not turn out as dramatic as I would have liked and the blocks look uninspiring. I am thinking they might be better served if I gave them to someone who likes them or make a little charity quilt. Its not that they're not nice, I am just bored.

These raggedy flowers are just nine of a total thirty six that I have from a row robin that finished in April. I like them, I plan to add leaves and some butterflies and a nice floral border. Why haven't I worked on them? I think because there's still so much work to be done to complete the top let alone quilt the big beasty once the top is done. Oh yeah, and let us not forget that once its done and on my bed a 90lb. muddy dog will surely fly in there to avoid having her feet wiped off and roll all over that cream fabric! :-)

This is an older one, Wonky Houses from Quiltville.com made during a swap in 2006. I loved the blocks and decided to make some wonky trees for corner stones. But its small, I want to make a really killer border, like maybe pieced deer or bears with larger wonky trees. Again...that's just a lot of work. Maybe I will just make a nice colorful scrappy border of geese and use the following quilt to back it?


Homespun Turning Twenty from 2007. This was a retreat project that I used unloved homespuns just to try out the pattern. Now I really like it! I have a distressed black that I planned to make an inner border and smaller pieces of homespun for an outer border. I think the colors will work well with the Wonky Houses from the previous post. (Wow, it sounds like I have a definitive plan...maybe these will be my next UFOs to tackle!)


A Row x Row from Quilting in Indiana. This is a killer top, can you guess what I haven't finished it? Because I have been too lazy to figure out how to continue the black and white pinwheels into the border. I have a really nice gray for a border, but my laziness just keeps me from continuing.





A row x row from Mailblocks, really cute isn't it? I designed it with a particular lady in mind, an ovarian cancer survivor that i have so much love and respect for. I have been telling her about it for 3 years now. I wonder when she's going to finally tell me to get off the pot and MAKE HER QUILT ALREADY!!! What has me stuck on this one? I am envisioning a picket fence border around the outside. Again, I am just dragging my feet at designing the block for the borders.

Another Round Robin. I am disappointed at this one. One robiner made her round completely contrary to my color requests. I'm sure you can guess which round has me upset. Its almost 2 years old, and I pull it out occasionally. My anger keeps lessening each time I drag it out, maybe in another year I will actually be able to throw a black border on it and get it quilted.

This was a Row x Row that got hung up in the events of one Robiners life and I got it back after an extra six months. I was so excited about this when it started, it just makes me happy to look at. But somehow it got lost in the shuffle and now I do not have the intended border fabric anymore....Grrr! So now I am on the lookout for a nice complimentary fabric, but it always slips my mind when fabric shopping.

There's another factor in finishing UFOs, the cost of completion. Now when I look at the stack of UFO's I cannot help but to see $$$ fly around in the potential cost for batting and backing. Of course I could always piece the backings...but that would become a UFO in itself!

Good Gawd! This is just a drop in the UFO bucket around here...this partial list has really hit home....I need to go and hang my head in shame.....

My addition to row robin

That's my row for Zora on the bottom. And yes, a couple are paper pieced. And no, I have not changed my mind about paper piecing, I still hate it. I had different patterns picked out which were all paper pieced....they were tossed with a string of expletives that actually woke the kid in his room across the hall. I found some traditionally pieced substitutes and was very glad to have this leave my house :-)