finishes and a retreat . . .

Back in April I shared a photo and story of a flimsy I'd completed, but it came from blocks I hadn't pieced.  I purchased the blocks (along with all the leftover coordinating fabrics) from an estate sale.  The original quilter, Janet Noever, had made the 9" blocks, but left no indication of how she planned to use them. So I put them together the way I wanted and even used (gasp) borders!  (If you knew how much I dislike using borders, this would make you laugh.)

ANYway, my sweet friend Lois, who is a long arm quilter, was the person I asked to quilt this special piece (because it deserved a little more than my straight line machine quilting).  She knew the backstory, and she said she had "ideas" for quilting.  I was really happy to hear that, since it's not my strong suit!  Anyway, I got it back and got the binding on it zippity quick (because binding *is* my strong suit) and, TAHDAH  . . .

Isn't it beautiful?  She did such a great job! Her quilting couldn't have been any more perfect for the piece!  And, as promised, I also did a couple of fun pieces to coordinate with the quilt, for out on our screened room:

So fun! 

I also zipped on the binding of my mom's quilt (Lois quilted it, too):

Yay!  We had such a fun time taking the class together.  She needed a finished quilt for all her efforts!  Not bad for a first quilt, huh??!

Another important finish is a little less quilty.

The construction of the bathhouse exterior is finished!!  As Todd continues to tell me, the bathhouse is about 75% complete; all it lacks is finishing up.  Ahem.

Our stitcher's group had a fun little retreat up in Bell Buckle, Tennessee! It was a great group of woman (and a really cute house) . . .

Okay, here's a photo where you can actually see our faces . . .

I'm peeking through on the back row, left side!  We had a great common room for quilting.  

I went in with three goals.  Number one was to finish the binding on the Picnic Quilt:

I didn't have anywhere to lay it out there ... I had to come home for that!

Number two was to finish the flimsy for the new baby's quilt:

And number three was to cut all the sashing and cornerstones for my Hospital Sketches in wool, and continue stitching on the wool blocks:

I nailed it!  I'm learning to be more focused at retreats.  I'm really pleased with everything that got accomplished!

:)

more utility (love) stitching . . .

Yes, I do have to qualify that utility stitching for my grands is definitely *love* stitching!  Ellie's 8-year-old "blankie" needed some attention.  Seriously, I should have taken a before pic! I reconstructed it for her, making it a quilt, of sorts . . .

  

Hopefully it will get her through (to adulthood)!  :)  It made her so very happy to get it back, my heart was happy too.  

I am struggling with allergies again. I'm sniffling and sneezing and coughing ... the very thing people do NOT want to be around right now! So I'm self-quarantining. Add the fact that I'm immunocompromised, and it just makes sense that I stay put. So I spent yesterday in the Nook, finally getting around to binding my wool pumpkin piece . . .

I'm really pleased with the final piece!  I'm especially glad I waited on binding it until I found the right black for it. I felt like a solid would be too harsh for it and I think I made the right call!

Sawyer turned TEN this week!  I could cry...it's so hard to believe this boy is already in the double digits!  I so wished to be able to spend this special birthday with him. His mama's is the day before and Kim & James's anniversary is today (twelve years)!  One year I'll make it there for all three!

Sawyer told me he was so excited to spend his birthday at LegoLand and especially to go to the pool there (they were spending the night).  They pretty much had the park to themselves on Friday, but the park made the decision to close on Saturday, so he didn't get to swim.  But he was okay with it.  They did get to overnight in the hotel and he enjoyed that!  Sweet boy!

I was going to show off my weeks 10 & 11 of my Peppermint Purple SAL, but when I went to grab the photo, realized I'd only completed through week 10!

So I guess you and I both know what I'll be working on this afternoon!

I'll also be working on a little utility work that Joc sent home with me Thursday, on behalf of Edith (this time).  LOL!

Sweet little baby doll frocks need fixing.  Neesey will take care of that! Linking up with Kathy's Quilts today ... be sure to hop over there!

Y'all stay safe ... stay calm ... and stay well!

:)

back-up beeps . . .

I realized that before I could share more about my quilt shop adventures, I had to have pics of my purchases, which I haven't taken yet.  Mainly because I've been going pretty much non-stop since I got home from California!  Then I also realized I wanted to share my quilt-related Christmas haul, and that I could also share some quilt finishes (of which I had FOUR in December)! So let me start with those . . .

All three girls were super happy with their Christmas quilts! They're so sweet! ♥ 

Leia even got in there and tested its catability. It passed with purrrrfect marks!

I did all the labels the same . . . the names were changed accordingly. *wink*

This is Olivia's finish . . . 

I can't believe I didn't think to get a picture of her with it. Doh! She was thrilled with it, though!

I really like being able to print a label, press it on, and blanket stitch around it.  

Here's my Christmas morning haul . . .

Didn't my family do good??!  I was thoroughly tickled!  There was one more book, which came in late, from Todd. 

It was Art to Heart's I Believe.  I love those Art to Heart books! 

He also got me the updated All-in-One Quilter's Reference Tool on Kindle.  This is a fabulous tool for quilters and I'd consider it a "must have"!

Then there was one more quilty-gift.  A class!  My mom has talked about taking a beginning quilting class for a year or two and I told her I'd take it with her.  Todd gifted me with that!  The class is taught by Barbara Black, who is a sweet friend, and I know that I'll pick up some good tips and learn a lot!  This is the quilt we'll be making . . .

Our first class was on Tuesday, and she walked through supplies and fabrics.  And then we shopped.  Tough class, eh?!  Baahaaahaaaa!  So we were supposed to pick a focal fabric, a fabric for the sashing, a background fabric, and fabric for the inner border.  Then were were to pick three groupings of colors with a light, medium and dark value.  Then we needed a "pop" color.  So here's what I ended up with:

This is my first four.

Here's grouping one:

Here's grouping two:

Here's  grouping three:

Here's my groups with the 'pop' color ... it's pretty easy to spot, eh?!

And here they are all together!

I think this will be a fun quilt.  It finishes at 49" square, if you leave the borders as is.  Not sure what I'll do yet.

I also saw this darling folksy animal print and decided I *needed* to have some of it, too. 

It reminds me of a Hungarian Camp MACOBA scene, with all of our little animal friends!

So there it is.  Not sure what this weekend holds.  Our guild (the membership committee) is hosting a New Member Tea that I'm helping with, but we also have severe storms/tornadoes/flooding in the forecast for Friday evening and Saturday.  It's been such a crazy winter here in North Alabama!  I do hope to get in some stitching time, though!

Have a terrific weekend!

:)

stitching therapy . . .

Two days in a row . . . please don't pass out!

I wanted to share my finished "Cattitude" piece from Saturday's workshop.  I had a little Nook time yesterday afternoon and managed to get it quilted.

Nothing fancy ... I did a little stitch-in-the-ditch machine quilting and then I tied it with yarn (because Gwenevere loved playing with yarn and string) which felt like the perfect touch.

Really pleased with this finish and have it hanging over my laptop!

I couldn't do the workshops on Friday, but I saw a lot of the finished pieces from the afternoon session.  In fact, I shared a picture of Meg's 'word quilt' in yesterday's post. I got the itch to do a word quilt of my own, and while I was brainstorming for an appropriate word, I realized I needed to stitch while the stitching is good.  Tomorrow is D-Day . . .

I know, right?  If they'd skipped everything between "shoulder" and "procedure" it would have meant the same to me! But what it will mean is limited mobility for at least five weeks, aka, no stitching. As I thought about all that, the perfect word hit me . . .

Heal! And since I had taken the photo workshop, I pulled up a png of a band-aid and printed it off to lend a visual to the project.  That was a fun and easy finish, too, and it's hanging over the space where I'll more than likely do most of my "recovery" for that first week! This was my pre-surgery therapy. Very fulfilling.  :)

It seems like there's always something blooming at the camp . . . but these yellow water lilies were so beautiful, I had to share them:

And in the same area (the turtle sanctuary), the lettuce had gone to seed and produced some beautiful purple flowers:

Yellow and purple are a favorite color combination of mine! That lettuce has never flowered before. Funny how nature works, isn't it?

Not sure when I'll be able to manage a keyboard, so it may be a little dry here for the next week or two. But I'll be reading (if not commenting).  But when I do post next, I'll expound on this pretty little picture . . .

Fits right in with my lilies and lettuce, no?!

Have a GREAT week!

:)

happy - busy - happy . . .

It was a busy work week (and just busy in general, work notwithstanding), but there were definitely some sweet highlights!  First, I had a mid-week office visit with *all* the grands and their mommies!

It was a wild, wonderful hour, to be sure!  I love it when they come visit me!

We also celebrated Todd's birthday on Friday . . .

Whoohoo!  He's older than me again!  Haha -- it only lasts for six months.  ;)

And I won a sweet stack of wool fat quarters at guild . . . 

Isn't it yummy?

I'm so glad I don't report my wool stash. That's a horse of a completely different color!

And I finished my center for the Chevron with a Twist piece . . .

I love that method for faux ruched flowers -- it was so much FUN!! The blue bird is ready to be appliqued down, but I think he'll actually go on the half square triangles.

And, tah dah!

I finished piecing Lil' Charmer and got the black borders put on! The lighting this morning does not do it any justice at all.  I so love this!  My Slow Sunday Stitching will be sandwiching it together and getting started on the quilting!  I can't wait to see the effect of the rainbow variegated thread on the black border!

Which brings me to my Stash Report . . .

I'm counting in the yard I purchased for Lil' Charmer, but counting out the 2.5 yards (front and back) I put into it!  Yay!

Linking up to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts this morning.  Y'all have a marvelous Sunday!!

:)