A Finish - About time

So I finally finished the top that I thought I would have done Friday of retreat, maybe mid Saturday at the latest.  Ya well as you saw in my last post - that didn't happen.

It's really hard to see the detail in the over all picture but the tone is more of a celery or sage green and then the pink. I have so much lined up I won't be quilting this until closer to the beginning of the year but so happy to have it done to this point.  :) 

Thanks for stopping by - Blessings, Lynn   

August Retreat 2015

Quilting Queens of Laughlin 

For this retreat we were called the Quilting Queens.  :)   And quilting we did.  I did not make the progress I was hoping to - I think I was in denial of how long this one project was going to take me, but more on that later.
For this retreat as apposed to the retreat I went to in February, we were in a bigger room.  This room is the main Pavillon at the Tropicana Casino in Laughlin NV.  I've been to a couple of concerts here so that was kinda fun to see it in a different setting.

Here's a couple of pictures from Friday morning while everyone was setting up.

My station in this one here with the red pillow on the chair.  I'm so glad I brought it the chairs were a little low and even though the pillow was small, it helped a lot.  

Included in our retreat package was, Dinner on Friday, breakfast and dinner for Saturday and then Breakfast for Sunday.  I didn't take a picture of my plate at the breakfasts but here is Friday's dinner.  I'm sure this is someone else's plate - I would never eat that much.   ahem... clearing of the throat.  wink wink. 

Chicken, roast beef, salad, steamed veggies, mashed potatoes and gravy, and rolls with butter. 

There was also chocolate fudge cake for desert - yes I split a piece with my friend Judy.  

We did go back and sewed for a little while after dinner but not long.  I think all the prep for getting there and then setting up tired us out so we stopped sewing at around 7pm and went to our room.  

Nice and clean and comfortable.  

Judy and I had a great time together talking for a couple of hours like two school girls until finally we were like we need to stop and get some rest.  So at 9 pm we stopped talking and with in 10 seconds I think we were both out. We got up at 5:30 the next morning cleaned up and went down for the morning buffet that started at 7am.

I didn't get a picture of my plate but here's a picture of the wonderful fruit they had for us.  There was so much to choose from, oatmeal, cheese omelets, beans, eggs and chorizo, Fritata's, bacon, sausage, bagels, muffins, breakfast pizza, I don't know what all.  

I spent most of my day on Friday making strip sets to be used as sashing for the 12 blocks I had already completed. They also were being cut into smaller sections to be made into four patch corner stones around each block.  

Here is what I got completed Friday and finished up Saturday morning.  

It's a little hard to see in this picture so you'll have to click on it to enlarge, but the sashing is two colors.  A pink checked and the green. 

At 11 am on Saturday we broke and went downstairs to have lunch with my husband and his brother.  Frank whom  has been visiting for the last month. He was heading out on Sunday before I got  home so it was our farewell.  Four of my friends joined us so it was a very nice lunch. I met a new lady at my table her name is Barbara and was sitting next to my other friend Barbara and they both have the last initial of Z.  So they were the B.Z's. sitting next to each other for the retreat.  She is a friend of Melinda's that is part of our guild and will be joining the guild this year.  It was fun getting to know her.  So she and Melinda came with my Barbara Z. and my roomie for the weekend Judy.   

Then back upstairs to get at the sewing again.  

I brought 5 projects to work on, in case I was super speedy or if I got at a point and got stuck or if I was just bored with one and wanted to move on.  My hope was that after I got this top done - the next project I wanted to work on is this one. 

I have about 9 of the 12 blocks fused on their back grounds and probably 5 of those top stitched. So I was planning on top stitching them and and making some more blocks.  Nope that's didn't happen. 

So at around 4:30-5pm we broke for dinner, they had a taco bar for us.  Tortilla's, hard shells, two kinds of meat, rice, beans, salsa's cheese, sour cream, guacamole, you name it.  And yes again the chocolate fudge cake, however this time I didn't have any.  

Shortly after dinner Judy said she wanted to go play a few nickels and then go up to bed.  Her eyes were bugging her and she was tired.  I told her I would be quiet when I came up.  :)  So I kept working on the friendship stars.   I worked until 9 pm sewing and trimming 160  half square triangles. I got them all sewn and trimmed, whew. And made two of the friendship stars before I finally stopped.  I thought I better head up or wouldn't be worth anything on Sunday if I didn't.  

So I get upstairs and the TV was on a movie I really like so I watched some TV and munched on some corn nuts and then went to sleep.  

Sunday - Sunday (cue the music to Monday Monday....) - Off to the buffet again and then up to the sewing room.  We had until 2pm - again I had visions of grandeur of getting the top done. 

Cue the doom and gloom music - dunt dunt daaaaaaa

 Unfortunately - the top still looks like it does above.   Try as I might I just couldn't  get it done.  

I did however get 33 of the 40 friendship stars done - so I am really hoping that at tomorrows open sew at the shop I finish the remaining starts and then will finally have the top done.  

As for my other projects I wanted to get done.  Well they may end up on my goal list for one of the upcoming months.  But may be down the line a few months.  I already have some heavy goals for September and October so not sure they will get in there and then November we have a lot of family things going on, Our Son is getting married in Vegas the first part of the month. My Sister is coming to visit for a week the middle of the month. And our oldest Daughter and son in law, and grandaughter and great grand babies are going to try and make it at the end of the month for Thanksgiving.  So these other sewing projects may get pushed out a ways. 

Well I've spent long enough on this post  - hope you all have a wonderful day!  

Blessings, 

Lynn 

Challenge Quilt

We are having a quilt show next February and as far away as that sounds it will be here in no time. So I'm trying to get ahead of the ball so to speak.  We have what is called a "Challenge Quilt" where we are supposed to express "what does Red, White and Blue mean to you"?  Well I can't fit all that into a 36 x 36 quilt, so this quilt doesn't represent what it means to me but it does represent some Americana.

Here's what I'm working on.    This was my original center block, that is all wool on a cotton background.

However once I made my borders that I wanted to make, it did not look good at all.  The center was too golden against the cream.  So even though I had already fused this down and started to stitch it. I cut away from the background and placed it on a new background. 

Viola 

I like it much better.  

So now I am working on stitching down the center by  hand with a blanket stitch, and do some detail with embroidery - and then I will attach the borders.  They are just laid there for the picture.  I will sew around the stars as part of the quilting and not sure what I will do for quilting in the center yet.  

Yesterday I worked on some stuff to sell at the quilt show boutique and today I'm going to lunch and then playing cards with the girls.  

Hope you have a super Blessed Day. 

Lynn 

Pretty Little Things

The last couple of days have been especially fun.  We have had a guest teacher at the local quilt shop for the last couple of days.  Our shop owner used to have a shop in Lake Tahoe and this is her best friend from there.  Anyway she comes a few times a year to visit and always had new things to make.
On Friday we had 3 projects.  Microwave bowls, which I've been wanting to learn how to make forever!  

  
Next we made little business card holders.  With a decorative little button.

Then our last project for the day was a candle mat.  This was really fun for a couple of reasons.  I learned a new technique to overlap all the squares and we got to use some decorative stitches.

Then on Saturday - I had Free Motion Quilting class in the morning.  There were only 2 of us there so we got a little extra practice and instruction so that was good.  We practiced a feather design and a wacky triangle shape.  

Then after lunch we had another class from Bobbi.  This was a cut and fold project where we cut very carefully with an Exacto knife then folded part of the cut parts over.  Then we top stitched which serves at the quilting and then bound.  I am finishing the the last of the hand stitching of the binding.  

I want to make another -  but I would also like to think of a design of my own and try it.  Of course I will let you know if I do that.  

Today the guys are going golfing so I'll be working on something.  I'm not sure if I want to sandwich the baby quilt or if I want to start on my challenge quilt.  I'll figure it out I'm sure.  

Have a great day - Blessings, 

Lynn 

The Trip

Well we left on Tuesday morning and headed East to Show Low, Pine Top, Lakeside, and McNary  AZ. We were going to see part of my husbands family.  His Aunt and the cousins from her and then another cousin that was from Yuma.

My husband and brother in law that was with us, had fun going down memory lane as one of the cousins drove us around and pointed out where all the old places they went to when they were kids.  Most of the buildings and houses are no longer there, however one of the local stores had some old photo's.  Here are some pictures I took of them.
McNary was a thriving Mill at one point - and that's how the guys remember it.  Here are photo's of the mill and log pond.  

Their Grandparents lived in McNary and that's where their parents and Aunts and Uncle were raised.  So of course they have memories of doing things with their grandparents and cousins.  Three of my husbands siblings were born there, including my Brother in law that was traveling with us.  The grandparents house was left of the top picture.

The building on the left is the general store - one of the buildings beyond was the hospital that they were born in.  

Above is the theater where my brother in law says they would go to the movies. They saw the movie,  and got a popcorn and a drink,  for 25 cents.  Yup he's showing his age. :)

On the left above is another shot of the General Store, without snow, 

On the right is the "Shell Station"  That was a real important landmark for them. That's where they made a turn and meant they were 3 miles from Grandma and  Grandpa's house. 

I had so much fun reliving memories from their childhood.  

The next day I was planning on going quilt shop hopping, however I got talked into staying with the guys and doing a ride along in the golf cart.  

The scenery was beautiful.  See how close my honey chipped the ball to the hole?  And it was fun because I ended up getting to drive the cart the rest of the day.  :)

Sadly we did not do pictures with the cousins - and I kept meaning to and then we drove away the last day with out any.  :(

It was a wonderful little trip - so many more great pictures of the beautiful weather and scenery but I'll leave you with just a couple more.

Look at those wonderful clouds. 

I love these rock formations - they had lots of them along the highway.  These were at a rest stop. 

Hope you have a great day -

Blessings,

 Lynn   

First Monday into Saturday

Okay first things first - the first Monday of the month means two things.  It's Mystery Monday which is one of my favorite things.  And secondly it's the day that All People Quilts picks the random number for working on UFO's.

Drum Roll please...... Random number says - #2.   Which on my list means, Wool Crazy and Wool Ark Crazy.
Here is my wool crazy.  I have a lot done, but a lot to do too.  I need to put the applique in some more spots, and I need to finish doing decorative stitches between the blocks.

And the next wool crazy that we were going to do when I was still with my group in Oregon was Wool Ark Crazy.  Here is the pattern. 

All I have done at this point is fuse the wool pieces down. I need to do the stitches on the edge and the animal appliques.

I have so much going on this month, I don't know how much I will get done on these but I do love them and would love to get lots done on them. 

Next  - Mystery Monday 

We made something really cool .......

A picture is worth a thousand words. 

A pincushion and scrap/thread catcher. 

I have all kinds of patterns for different types of these and I have been intimidated to make them because they seemed too hard.  HA... HA Ha  I laugh in the wind - ( Just Kidding)  It was painless and I am very happy with it.

Okay after Monday we took off and went to the eastern part of the state to visit family.  I love that part of the state it's so beautiful.
So I will post the trip on the next post and then I will also catch you up on what I've done after we got back home.
Have a super great day,
Blessings,
Lynn

July finishes and August Goals.

1. Continue to blog more ... still doing better. So I'd say goal met.
2.  Mail the Not Forgotten Quilt. Complete.  The Auction was Friday night I'm still waiting to hear how it did.

#2.  Mystery Monday - Complete   It was a notebook cover. 

4. Top stitch the Woodsy Squirrel  - Complete.  There will probably be more stitching some thread play - but that will be done when I quilt it. 

5. Progress on SNR Guild Mystery Quilt - Goal met.  I completed the top.  I started the month with only a few 9 patches done.  I had already cut them and realized I forgot to take a picture so you'll have to trust me on that one. 

I finished sewing the rest together, then chopped them apart. 

Then sewed them back together. And now I have a new top.  

6. APQ random number UFO buster.  #1. 

Henrietta Whiskers - goal met. I wanted to make progress on this one and I did. Very little but progress.  It is a hand pieced, hand appliqued quilt, I started with only two blocks done.  

and I got this much of a block done.

7.   Not like I planned.   Well I put this one in because it seems like there is always some kind of project that comes up that takes me away from my goals.  Well I'm not sure if that was a good thing or not to put that in.  First off I did have a lot of Not like I planned things that came up.  Yikes.  

         A.  We were on vacation , came home and decided to paint living room, kitchen and bathroom. 

         B.  We were wrapping the painting up and our Arizona room flooded and we had to tear out all the carpet.  This is also my sewing room.  So I had it all cleaned and set up pretty like I wanted it and bam  total chaos.  So these were definitely "Not Planned" events. I was talking about Not Planned Sewing events but that still counts and not sure I want to put that on the list again - ha ha. Even though I know things come up I don't want them to be like that.  I have however rearranged all the bins of my stuff and my sewing tables AGAIN...  I decided to bring my sewing tables closer to this end of the room because it is closer to the air conditioning.  So here is the new arrangement.  Once Monsoon season is over and we are sure everything is sealed up right we will do something to the floors - but for now I'm liking the fact that I can wheel my sewing chair around on the concrete real speedy like.  

 8. Charity work -  Well there are a couple of things, part of which I don't have pictures of.  We made curtains for an old school house that is going to be part of a historic arena in the area and the old school house is going to be a museum.  Then we are sewing things that can be sold in our next quilt show boutique to help the guild - we are making little fabric boxes and coasters and  bottle covers.  This fabric box and set of coasters are ones I made for someone else but they are the same type we made for the guild.  

And here are some bottle covers that I made for the guild.  So I'd say this goal is met. 

9.  Start quilting one of my tops.  - Goal met.   

This is a goal and an extra credit.  For extra credit that I noted on my goal list but not on my blog cause I thought there was no way to get to my extra credit - I said I wanted to do the top stitching on my Sea Turtles from last September. Well, I got the top stitching done and have started quilting it, I'm actually pretty close to being done.  I'll finish up in August for sure.  Here's how it was when I started the top stitching. 

         Here's where I'm at now.  It has a fin that will hang loose on top of the quilt 3D.  That's why there is a little paper and pin there.   I've put it in for the picture but it needs to be quilted before the final attachment.  Please excuse the threads I have a lot of burying to do.  :) 

10.  Work on and make progress on the wool projects I prepped.   Well I didn't make much progress but I did make some - so - Goal met.  I've done a blanket stitch around the star, the staph, the grassy hill and part of the shepherd's clothing.  Still need to do the sheep, the buildings and the rest of the shepherd. 

11. Vintage Kitchen - I had a few to do on this.  I wanted to do the alternate block for #5.  Then I needed to do #6 for June and #7 for July.  Boy when you get behind it snowballs.  :)  - Goal met I got them all done.  

The month ended up being really productive.  We were on vacation until the 8th.  Then came home and did the painting and home repairs.  And on top of the things listed above, I made 6 presents for people. Most of them are Birthday presents so I can't show them right now, but some of them I can be shown later in the month.  :) 

August 

1.  I'm going to keep going with this one * Blog More * 

2.  New - Mystery Monday - complete it. That's always a gamble since I don't know what it is.  

3.  Woodsy Quilt - Make a new animal block.  I'm torn between a rabbit and a fox.  I'll let you know.

4.  Wool Project - finish Bethlehem wall hanging. (Pictured above) 

5.  Quilting -  First, finish the Sea Turtles, then start quilting another top.  I haven't decided which one for sure but I'm leaning towards "Beehive Baby".  I've had this top done for way too long.  I took inventory of already completed tops - I need to knock out some serious quilting to get these done.  :) 

6. Embroidery - Vintage Kitchen Block # 8  - I am still doing all of my blocks in a salmon color, but this is the block.  

#7.  Pieced - UFO  Chocolate Stars. - It's a BOM quilt that I started a few many years ago.  ha ha.  I want to make progress on it.   I'd really like to finish the top - so we'll see.  

I have 10 of the 12 blocks done and then there are 40 friendship stars around the border.  

Here's a close up so you can see the colors a little better.  The original pattern was done in browns which is probably why it was called Chocolate Stars, but I think I'll rename mine to Strawberries n Mint, what do you think?   LOL

Here's a close up of the 10th block so you can see the colors better. 

#8.  Charity/Boutique - If we don't have small projects that need to be done for the boutique I will work on getting a top done for one of the guilds.  I have material and projects for quilts from both.  

Here are some blocks that were donated - I'm going to put a common sashing on each of them and then a border.  

#9.  Boutique - in addition to the guild making money in the boutique, we can make our own stuff and sell in the boutique.  I have a few things I would like to make to sell for myself.  So I will say the goal is to plan out and start on some of these items. 

#10.  All People Quilts - Random UFO Buster # ________  I'll know on Monday which number is picked and will update you on the UFO and what the starting status is.  Since I don't know which project will be picked, to meet my goal, I will say - Make Progress. 

#11.  Challenge Quilt - Also for the quilt show in February 2016 they are having a challenge quilt.  So I want to start on that.  Again I have some Ideas so I need to finalize the plan and start it. 

#12.  SNR guild workshop - I'm teaching a class in October at the SNR guild workshop.  I have created a pattern and have put in an order for the supplies.  I need to make up the sample to show at the September meeting to get sign ups.  I need to write out the instructions and draw out the pattern pieces to be cut.  I will be doing this in wool felt.  I prefer felted wool but am trying to keep the costs down for those who want to participate. Anyhow, I need to get that pretty close to done this month. 

#13 Row by Row pillow.  There is the nation wide Row by Row experience going on.  I have not traveled enough to collect a lot of the patterns but I am going to use the pattern from our local quilt shop to create one of the bench pillows.  On the 3rd Saturday of the month we are doing bench pillows from Kimber Belle.   But we're also improvising.  A few of us are using the Row by Row as our August Pillow.  So I want to finish my pillow form, and make the Fabrics Unlimited Row by Row for it.  

Well I've made a pretty long list - but what I haven't shared is that I have two tricks up my sleeve. My hubby's brother is in town and so I've had a little extra time in the sewing room and will until the 23rd of August AND I am going to  a retreat.  Not only do I get to go there for 3 days but this time I'm staying overnight.  So I can get up as early as I want and stay as late as I want and sew as much as I want.  :)  So between these two things - I'm hoping that I will get real close to meeting and completing all my goals this month. 

Wish me luck.  :)

Have a blessed day! 

Lynn