Retreat Update



Early on Saturday morning

 You knew I would have a good time, didn't you?!  The company was great, food was fantastic and the innkeepers are lovely people. 

The retreat was terrific although I had one sewing nightmare after the other.  I worked on a simple braid quilt and if I never see it again it will be too soon!  (You would have thought I was performing brain surgery.)  I won't even show it to you until the border is on and that may be years from now.  I did start on my "Swoon" quilt and though all the pieces are easy and quick to cut, I learned quickly that I needed to read the directions several times before actually sewing anything.  I have a quarter (!) of one block done.  I worked on a bag and didn't have the right color thread to quilt it so it is designated for the trash can.
 

Saturday at dusk

I am not going to say much about the snow and let the photos speak for themselves.  We had flickering lights many times but never lost power.  Sunday morning was the perfect winter day...in October!


View from the car window as I headed towards home

I was one of two "newbies" at the retreat.  The executive committee extended a return invitation to both of us and I will be delighted to return...and bring a box of scraps 'cause there are some serious scrap quilters in the group! 



Retreat!

This afternoon I am driving to the White Oak Bed & Breakfast in Lancaster County to retreat with Nancy and 8 other quilters.  My clothing is packed, my chair is packed and I have 10 projects packed just in case I get a bad case of "quilters ADD"!

I have never been on a quilt retreat without my sister so I am both excited and a little bit nervous.  Sure hope they like me!

FNSI Results!!

I am pretty pleased with what I accomplished last night.  I had an order for a small, cross body purse.  I think this will work!

Isn't it cute?  It's only about 8 inches high, 2 inches deep and about 7 inches wide.

The bag has two pockets inside and on the back is a large padded pocket.  It is perfect for a cell phone, sun glasses, etc.

One down, 29 to go!!

Gonna do the "Friday Night Sew In"?

It's that time again!

I know that I will be sitting in front of my sewing machine tomorrow night.  I am in the mood to do something fun but have not decided what that will be.  I have some charm squares and yardage that may turn into a quilt tomorrow night!

Click on the button on my sidebar to go directly to Heidi's site to sign up.

"Summer" quilt

Months ago, I started a quilt for my mother.  She wanted something to throw over her in the living room if she got a little chilly from the air conditioning.  (My first suggestion was to turn off the a/c but you should have seen the look I got!)  I have had the quilt top done for months but just never got around to quilting it.  It was on my list of projects that I wanted to finish before the big bag push.  I attached the binding yesterday afternoon and spent the evening hand stitching.

Because I wanted this on and off the long arm pretty quickly, I did a huge meander.  This is the first quilt that I have used flannel as the batting material.

The quilt is heavier than I thought it would be but certainly not as heavy as it would be had I used Warm and Natural (my batting of choice).  Originally it was going to be bound in the small purple print that I used for the inside border.  Unfortunately, I was about 10" short (can you just imagine how annoyed I was?!) which I discovered as I made the last turn attaching the binding.  Finding there was not any additional fabric left at Burkholder's, I asked my sister to pick up something so she brought me more of the outside border fabric.  I am just happy there was enough to make binding for the ENTIRE quilt!

Would I use flannel again for batting?  Absolutely!  I did not pre-wash any of the fabric (I am crazy that way) and it washed and dried beautifully.  The drape is very soft and the quilt is warm.  The flannel I used is the basic quilter's flannel at Joann's and I used a coupon so I think it was roughly $3 a yard.  I think flannel would be good choice for batting especially in baby quilts.  The downside is having to piece the flannel.  I ran the batting seam opposite the backing seam and did not have any difficulty quilting it.

Lots of quilting!

My sister has been out of town quite a bit over the past month or so.  While she was gone I had access to her long arm so I took the opportunity to finish several quilts.

The first is the black and white Delectable Mountains quilt (I posted photos a long time ago!)that I am going to gift as a Christmas present to my brother and his girlfriend.  Because the outer border is mostly red, I thought the quilt would look sharp if I quilted in red.  The quilt pattern is very linear so I quilted with a large looping meander to contrast.

Several years ago, I made a braid quilt from a pattern found on Moda’s Bake Shop blog.  Once again I went to the “well” of my 3 Sisters scraps and all the fabrics I used were from several collections.  I quilted this one pretty heavily.  I did a large loop in the outer border, smaller loop in the inside border, feathered down the center of each braid and then stippled between the feather rows.  It took me about 5 hours to quilt and I went through nearly 3 pre-wound bobbins.  I am very happy with the quilting and doing this one really helped build my confidence.

I have one more to quilt to bind and then I think I am going to work mostly on bags and totes for Hazelnut Deux.  I am afraid the holidays will be here long before I am ready!

Or is it just me?

This post has absolutely nothing to do with quilting.  It concerns Facebook.  Does anyone else think it is a really bad idea to complain about your job, write negative posts about members of your family or argue with someone on Facebook?  The only reason I am on Facebook is to know what is going on in the lives of family and friends but some of the negativity I see makes me cringe.  Call me crazy but if I need to vent about something of a true personal nature, the last place I am going to do that is on Facebook.  Airing dirty laundry for all my friends and family to see would be, at the very least, an incredible embarrassment.

Maybe I am too sensitive.  Is it just me?

Sweet baby quilt

I just finished this quilt for a co-worker.  It is a gift for a family that recently adopted a little girl.  My friend choose the sweet paisley from my stash and then I went shopping for coordinating fabrics.  (I showed them to you a few weeks ago.)  I used my trusty copy of "Four on the Floor" for the pattern.

I used pale pink So Fine thread for the top and the bobbin.  I quilted the body with a large, very loopy meander and then stippled the block around Gracie's name.  I washed and dried the quilt (as I always do) and threw in 3 Color Catchers as a preventative measure.  I was nervous about the dark pinks but

none of the colors ran - thank goodness!

My friend is thrilled with the quilt and I am happy to have another finish for October!

Another one bound!

I have quilted 5 quilts over the past few weeks.  This one is a lap throw made completely from scraps of about four different lines of 3 Sisters for Moda fabric.

I was playing around a bit on the long arm and covered the quilt in loops and "wonky" feathers.

I used King Tut in a varigated sage green on the top and Bottom Line thread in the bobbin. 

I have never met a Moda red that I didn't like so I bound in a left over piece of Luna Notte. 

I think it is delicious and I am so happy to have another one completed! 

Guess who I met today?

A lot of quilters come to our area of Pennsylvania to shop for fabric.  Today I met someone whose blog I have been reading for years.  I met Irene and her friends, Margaret and Dianne.  They were here from Ontario on a fabric hunting adventure and we met at the Hayloft in Morgantown.  Irene has the proof on her iPhone.  I completely forgot to take my camera with me!  Irene is just as sweet and genuine in person as she is in her blog.

Since I drove all the way to Hayloft I had to buy something.  I really like "Grace" which is the 3 Sister's holiday collection from Moda this year.

I picked up two charm packs and a half yard cut from each of two coordinating fabrics.  I am not exactly sure what I am going to make but I am going to find a pattern in my copy of Schnibbles Times Two from by Carrie Nelson.  I can't believe I still haven't schnibbled!