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!

Good wool, bad iron, nothing complete

So I have this Block of the Month penny rug pattern by Connie Huddleson called "Pennies" which is absolutely adorable with a different theme block for each month. My idea, instead of making a wall hanging that measures 33"x42" as its shown, is to make the penny rugs on various backgrounds and I can hang them as little mini seasonal wall hangings. So this is November's block...do you see what my bad iron did? The brown rust marks from the iron? Grrr! Any ideas on what to use? I am leaning towards a Tide stick but I have never tried it on wool before. Ok, so I throw the pumpkin penny rug aside and decide to start on my mini quilt challenge for the upcoming September retreat. My husband casually said, "You know, you can do any shape with that wool, you don't always need to do circles." Thanks Gene, like my mind isn't already crammed full with ideas, you have to get me going on a whole new tangent. So after a hour or so with my graph paper, I came up with this:

I really like it. I like it so much that I become nervous about my blanket stitch. Sure, I do a fair job on gentle curves and circles, but i will really need to sharpen my skills if I want those little points to really stand out. Which led me to this:

Another in progress candle wrap, hopefully honing my blanket stitch skills. i thought these looked a little like peppermints and I think I might make another for my Christmas candles they're really turning out cute. Finished pics will be soon I hope!

Better for orphans to have a home

Quick and easy utility quilt made long enough for my 6'4" son to stretch out under. I used orphan blocks and my scrap pile. I felt a little guilty slicing up the orphans at first, but then i decided it was better for them to have a home rather than live stashed away in a tote somewhere. I started with orphans I was fairly sure I wasn't ever going to do anything with and added strips and pieces from my scraps to make 12" squares. I then cut them on the diagonal and added solid red strips from jelly roll to make the diamonds. Q said he really likes the feel of fleece so I just did a large meander all over with the fleece as the batting/backing with turned over backing for binding. Quick, easy and done.

And then, out from the depths of the UFO pile.....

Sonnet from April Cornell, man I just love these colors!

So several years ago I bought some yardage and several charm packs, most of which were homespuns. Then I started cutting everything up and stitching. Maybe it was a different time in my quilting life, but the wonkiness of the homespuns drove me crazy and away it went to UFO pile.

Today I am in a finish it, use it or move it along kind of period and I pulled this back out. Still in love with the fabrics....its not their fault they are stretchy, I am ok with wonky right now so I am just trying to finish as quickly and easily as I can so i am using what i had precut and I need an inner border so that I can just do more rail fence blocks around the outside and show a definite change. So what do you all think? #1 #2 #3 or #4?

Something new

Most recent completion, a wall hanging from homespuns and wool. Used a Pat Sloan pattern as a jumping off point.

Current projects

This is just a little wool welcome banner I am working on for my own front door. Using mostly wool from thrift store sweaters and skirts. I have a few more leaves to sew on the branch and it will be time to back quilt and bind it. I initially planned to hand quilt it, but the more I think about it, a tight stipple might make it pop out a little more. And I am trying to get this quilted to take with me back to PA this coming weekend. My grandfather passed away and his memorial is this weekend and I'd like to get this to my sister who chose the fabrics last summer when we vacationed in TN together.

Projects from retreat

A scrappy something or other made from swap blocks. Not a whole lot more going to happen to this, just a nice red border. Great reversible oilcloth bag kit found on shopping trip. Really retro and cool!
Kit from shopping trip, so easy and quick, now just a border and be done!


Pattern and fabric selected by DH about 3 years ago, I was petrified at the paper piecing, but I think I kinda won the battle.

So, am I ready to get back to sewing?

Where have I been? Well not sewing that's for sure. But now I am ready to talk about sewing and maybe that will bet me to thinking about sewing and hopefully that will actually get me sewing again.

I did go to retreat a couple weekends ago. It was juts what I needed to get the creativity flowing again. Can you believe that before i left I seriously considered taking my fishing pole? That's how much I have been out of the quilty loop.

A few pics of retreat:

I will post what I managed to get accomplished later on.

Other retreat doings

This is an adorable little purse made from a pattern that Alison had...I actually made three of these, two were intended for my friend Jamie's mom and sister, but Jamie's daughters confiscated them as they were pulled from the bag :-) Forgive the long skinny pic, I didn't think you needed to see all the coats that have been hanging on the coat hooks since last spring! This is the top for my sister Amy. These are the fabrics picked by her when we vacationed in Tennessee a few months ago. I really played with the geese, this way and that, and the general consensus at the retreat was that it looked much more exciting and moving all jumbled up.

Guess what! I won!

I won this awesome cow block from Rhonda aka Ravelly1

How lucky am I? You cannot live in IN without seeing at least a few of these on the way to anywhere! LOL To see how its made, she has shared an awesome shadow tutorial, that can be adapted to any subject check it out! I'm so excited! Rhonda makes it look easier than it probably is, but I'm going to try one!