Getting away from it all!!!

Yes just 4 more sleeps and I will be headed to quilt retreat with 10 other lucky ladies. Some are the same as the fall retreat but a few are going to be new faces to me. New quilting buddies are always welcome. So that give me just 4 days to get things ready. Suitcase packed and decide what projects I will want to work on. Most undecided  about what machine to take? Really want to take my featherweight but will need my big machine to do a couple of projects I am taking. Guess there is room for two machines as long as I don't forget one at retreat like I did in the Fall!!!
I will have my camera handy but you know what they say...what happens at retreat stays at retreat!!!

One of my first quilts

Well this past week I did a trunk show for one of the guilds I belong to. We had a busy evening of decisions that had to be made but finally it was my turn to show my quilts. I had my sister along as my helper. Here are a few of the quilts that I took along. I packed three suitcases and that was probably only half of the quilts that I have in my house.

Crimpoline handquilted to a flannel back ..yikes

1st Big girl bed quilt for my daughter

catnap from quiltmaker magazine

Polycottons and handquilted

plaids and stripes everywhere

starry logcabin

as close to artsy as I get

                                                                      

woven ribbon logcabin

So today I have been working outside. The weather is cool and there were no bugs till after lunch. I got a lot accomplished. One flowerbed weeded, lilac bush weeded and edged and I transplanted and weeded the raspberry patch. That is a good days work. The lilac shrub isn't doing as well as could be cause a certain little puppy decided this winter that it was a good chew toy. So lots of branches were a bit nibbled on and had to be cut away! Now if I can just keep her out of the garden. So after supper I think I will be sitting down and doing some relaxing slow stitching with Kathy to unwind! Have a great week ahead, I know I am counting the days to the retreat!!!        

weeds are gone and lilacs are coming

they don't look healthy but raspberry and strawberry patch is expanding

Graduated!!!

I'm legal now

It has been a busy weekend for me. Friday evening, all day Saturday and 6 hours today...I spent in a classroom environment learning about hunting weapons and bullets and then that was followed by a hunter's safety course. Now I realize this has absolutely nothing to do with quilting but I would like to share on my blog all parts of my life and what makes me ....ME!!! It was a learning experience for sure...haven't had to study for awhile and the old brain has a few cramps. I also quickly realized there was only one lady older than myself and I was probably older than the one instructor. Just to add insult to injury (as the old saying goes) some of the "kids"other students, were my daughter's age!!!!YIKES
So I passed with great marks and can now officially hunt and carry a hunting weapon. Just a wee bit scary for me! For any non-hunters....please read on!!

So needless to say not much got done in the sewing room this weekend. I will spend a few hours relaxing sewing up some hexies this evening and joining Kathy with some slow stitching.....unwinding from the weekend. I have to pack up three suitcases of quilts for Wednesday as I am doing a trunk show at my guild. I only hope I can get them all in those suitcases. I have accumulated quite a few over the last few years and this pic isn't all of them.

As a treat for working so hard over the past few days, I am going on a quilting retreat in a couple of weeks. Four days of sewing and friendship with some girls I know and a few I haven't met yet!!! I only have to decide what projects to take with me and I even have to decide what machine to take. I would love to take "Penelope" but I am thinking maybe just my Featherweight.Oh decisions ...decisions!!!Guess it will depend on what I take to work on. I am thinking piecing all the way!!

"Penelope"

Where did Spring go??

With temps hovering around 10 degree Celcius and morning temps even cooler...it has a person wondering if we are ever going to see Spring much less Summer. We can only wait and hope and I am sure in a few months we will be complaining about the heat.
Although I have to say this does give me time to do more sewing so I am finishing up a few projects in preparation for a retreat that is happening in a few weeks. Retreats are great for getting piecing done not machine quilting so I am getting that done now, here where I have more room.

I have finished this quilt just in time to show at guild for a lesson on curved piecing. It looked like a fairly simple pattern BUT !!!! Yes that "but"....after doing all the piecing, cutting the curve and sewing things back together into blocks. I sewed the blocks into rows and thought I was doing great! WAIT FOR IT....everything came to a screeching halt! There was fullness I couldn't sew out and places where there just wasn't enough fabric. After reading the instructions several times and getting DH advice, we came to the conclusion there was an error in the cutting directions. I have emailed the magazine and am waiting for an answer. So I took out the offending blocks (there were only 10)and made new ones and sewed the top up with no hassels. Then it was "what do I do with the error blocks"! Well I fixed them best I could and made a second smaller top (it isn't quilted yet). I am sick of those colours now so onward I moved.















I have had these blocks on my design wall and sewed them into a top last week. I showed the top on this post. I have since corrected the errors, sewn a few unsewn seams shut and added borders. It is half machine quilted and I hope to finish the rest this afternoon. I have a busy weekend ahead with no time to quilt(that's another story for next week, stay tuned) so I will be looking forward to Sunday evening and some down time. Have a great weekend!!!

Holiday Weekend

The first holiday weekend of the summer is here and we are finally getting some sunshine and warm weather. It has been rainy the last few days.
Spent yesterday getting backings and battings ready for these quilts so today I could do  some pin basting and maybe get to some quilting in. I figure if I pin both of them...I can choose which one I feel like quilting!! It would be great to get both done to add to my total at guild for projects done this year...but I am thinking too far ahead ...I think! Well only time will tell.

left-right me, Louise, Barb at Pelee Winery

So for slow stitching Sunday with kathy  ...I am hoping it will be binding! Stay tuned to find out how far I got today!!

Usually this is the time of year I go on a road trip with my quilting buddies.We call ourselves the Fabric Piranhas. We added one more piranha last summer. But busy lives and other adventures are keeping us busy. We are hoping to get together this summer for a retreat...hope it happens. So here is cheers to Barb, Louise and Kathy...miss you guys.
Enjoy your weekend with whatever you decide to do!

Fun, exciting and happy times

Yes this has been a great week. My friend Jessica and I went on a road trip on Monday to a quilt store that was having a 50% off sale. As I mentioned in my last blog entry, I took a list and got only that on my list. That was a first for me!! Always great to catch up with Pat at the store where I had a dream job for awhile before I had to move away!

Hills and Valleys

Tuesday was a day of sewing and catching up around the house. I finished this curved pieced quilt. However not without some difficulty. I followed the instructions only to find out when sewing the rows together that it wasn't working. I put it away on Monday night and tried again on Tuesday. It would appear that there is an error in the directions. It is only a matter of 1/4" but it made sewing the rows together impossible. So a few corrections were made and VOILA it worked. I have emailed the magazine people and I am waiting for an answer back. Good thing I had enough fabric to be able to correct the mistake. Now with the wrong sized pieces I was able to complete a small lap quilt 3 feet square.( will be good for a wheelchair patient)
Tuesday I also learned my summons for jury duty was cancelled...that made my day!!! Also now I am able to go on a quilt retreat with some friends for a weekend.

Love in the Cabin

Today I sewed together these blocks I received from the stash of a quilter who had passed away. Actually the curved pieced fabric was from her too! I have none of the fabrics in the log cabin blocks but want to make this bigger so I will have to do some "stash searching" and see what I come up with. But before adding anything I can see that I will have to do some "unsewing"(upper left corner is wrong) oops just noticed it in this pic!! :(  Well at least it is on the outside row!!
Well tomorrow is another day. One that will find me doing groceries if we want to eat and maybe one or both of these will get pin basted in prep for quilting by machine!
We are on the downhill to the weekend, enjoy!!

Happy Mother's Day

Wishing all my MOM friends and blog readers, a happy day!! Today is a day of relaxing sewing for me as I was away from home most of yesterday. My guilds(I belong to two) hosted a Neighbourhood Show and Tell. Quilters and stitchers came from cities near us(some 2-4 hours away) for the day of just showing off their quilts, a light lunch and social! Each attending was to bring along a single quilt to show. Some brought embroidered items too. It was like old home week for me but in a single afternoon. I got to speak to and visit with a lot of ladies who I was in a guild with before I moved to where I am now. It was very nice to reconnect with them and see what they all have been up to lately.

Sorry couldn't get her spun right side up!

I had to add this pic of my name tag. I found her at the bottom of a box of things I picked up at a guild yard sale some years ago. I added the name plate and received lots of compliments on her yesterday!

Sewing today trying to get this top together so I can figure out how much backing I need. I am headed to my most favorite quilt store on Monday morning with a friend.

Country Quilter is having her annual May sale....1000 bolts of fabric at 50% off. I could spend the whole day in that store just looking at all the fabric but I have enough of a stash so I am going with a list and that is all I am buying!!Wish me luck on that one!
I am linking up with my friend Kathy. She loves slow stitching Sunday. That I will get to later today with more hexies! Join her and see what she and everyone else is up to today in blogland!!

April showers,May flowers!?

almost ready to pop

Isn't that what is suppose to happen? Well this is as close to daffodils as I am today. I am sure with the warm weather and rain we are suppose to get, the daffodils will be showing their sunshiny happy faces soon!! They will match the smiley face of my DH who  after two months of holidays is now officially retired. So we have his and her "ME" days, he putters in the garage and I do crafts!!! lol Apparently he didn't like me saying he was puttering around so he calls my sewing/quilting...crafts!!
 This week has been another productive week of sorts. I got the binding on that dresdan plate quilt. What fabric I had set aside for the binding, I found wasn't going to work. I managed to find enough inner border fabric and that with the original fabric, I created a two coloured binding. I am very happy with the compromise...now to just hand sew the binding to the quilt!

With this quilt almost done I decided to start something new. NEW PROJECT!! Well it is a teaching aid of sorts for a curved piecing class that is being taught at guild in a couple of weeks. It is a lot of straight sewing till the final curved cut and I think the outcome is great and looks way more difficult than it really is! The pattern is called Hills and Valleys from Fons and Porter scrap quilts..Spring 2015.

Now if that isn't enough on my plate of things to do today. I could sit down and put some stitches in this embroidery as I slow stitch along with Kathy today for slow stitching Sunday. I would also like to say "way to go Kathy" on your ribbons you won at your quilt show.
Hope that whatever you are doing today you are taking some time for yourself to enjoy what you love to do!