It Doesn’t Get Any Better…

A gathering of friends… quilting friends… over several days – it just doesn’t get any better than that!

My annual (6 years now!) summer mini retreat has come and gone all too quickly – but the memories remain and I know I am looking forward to next year for many reasons.

I think we have a nice mix of people – Some of us have been friends for more than a decade… (gosh now I’m starting to feel old) and some for just a few years… but when we come together it’s all about sharing our knowledge, talents, and friendships. 

 

Our best intentions never seem to remind us to get a group photo until after someone has left… so I cropped a picture of her out of a group photo from another year!

Our Challenge this year was to use a color – shading of that color – to show shape or movement in their project.  We set a 36” minimum size and here are our entries.  Although everyone seemed to have a busy year we had a good showing – many projects completed at the very last minute!

This was a stunning entry – inspired from a photograph of the splash-down of a flamingo in a pond… complete with beads for the water splash.  The second photo shows the birds head partially submerged.

A landscape to ponder…

Someone worked outside the box…

 

by showing the inside of the box.

I want to see the light at the end of this tunnel…

Love the pop of color with some hand painted work in the center.

Lovely light table cloth with the shading in the prairie points that surround it.

Pictures don’t do this justice… she dyed her own fabrics for the shading of the reds.

And last but not least – the winning entry this year! Beautiful undulating work here… and the quilting lines enhance the flow.

I could use the words lovely, beautiful, stunning in describing all of these quilts – I love what my friends create…. such a talented bunch!

I am always amazed at how quickly our days together go by.  Most folks who travel arrive on Wednesday and leave again on Monday… we sew Thursday through Sunday.  There are always a few trips out to this, that, or the other store… and we have even discussed starting a day or two earlier so that they can fit in some more shopping trips around the area.

Our weather was spectacular!  I live in an old stone house that doesn’t have central air – so we have to rely on individual room units when it’s hot.  Some years it’s been miserable – but this year – no AC’s!! It was cool overnight and dry… DRY in July!  And the temps only in the 80’s during the day.  I couldn’t have planned better weather… if I could plan such a thing.

My only regret was not having everyone bring a 5 gallon bucket… so that they could pull weeds to take home… sounds like a good idea huh? LOL

Monday after everyone left I ran a couple errands and then took a 2 hour nap.  Then Tuesday my handyman helper showed up… so I’ve been out ‘helping’ him pull weeds.  I ordered 3 yards of mulch which we will be spreading as soon as the weeds are all out (ha, ha, ha… that’s optimistic huh?)  Anyway – he’s out there right now and I’m sitting here… so I’ve gotta go… pull weeds…

Another Year… Another Retreat…

Each year since 2009 I’ve had a group of friends arrive to spend a few days sewing, chatting, eating, shopping, and laughing.

We moved our gathering this year to September from it’s traditional mid-July date and by consensus I think this will be the preferred time to gather.  It’s so much cooler outside and inside!

Here is the 2013 (Year 5) group picture taken with some of the Star Challenge Quilts behind us.  Listed below left to right are those pictured with a note as to their attending the Retreat (sewing with us), submitting a block, top, or finished quilt for the Challenge, and those regular attendees that were unable to make it this year but either sent a Challenge quilt in and/or were with us in Spirit ( we sure missed you! )

• George – Retreat & Challenge
• Lori – Retreat & Challenge
• Ginny – visitor with sister TJ
• TJ – Challenge
• May – Retreat & Challenge
• Me – Retreat & (I don’t enter my quilt in the Challenge)
• Brian – Retreat & Challenge
• Bev – Retreat & Challenge
• Melissa - Retreat & Challenge
• Neen - Retreat & Challenge
• Wendy - Retreat
• Sue – with us in spirit & Challenge
• Dawn – with us in spirit
• Elaine – with us in spirit

This is the 2009 (Year 1) photo.

Here are the Star Challenge Quilts in no particular order…

Bev’s winning Lemoyne Star Quilt

Brian’s combination Lone/Lemoyne Star top

George’s Lemoyne Star Block

May’s Sawtooth Star top

Melissa’s Star Quilt

Lori’s Tropical Stars

Sue’s Carpenters Star Quilt

TJ’s Star Sampler Quilt

Neens Birthday Star Sampler Top

Again this year we gathered in the classroom at Piece by Piece Quilt Shop in Ephrata, PA.  If you ever need a large retreat location… this is the best! 

First row of work tables – yes there are seven tables

Second row of work tables ( 3 )and extra large cutting table (6 large cutting mats fit easily around it) behind that (with challenge quilts laid out) and against the far wall are ironing stations and more tables if we needed them.

Everyone headed out for home Sunday afternoon and Monday was declared a PJ day for me.  I had intended to finish the few little areas left of hand quilting on my Challenge – but took a nap instead!  Maybe later today I’ll finish it up and get the binding cut and sewn on… maybe…

I will post a picture of my quilt when it is finished later this week after I wash it… hoping that the wonderful rumple look will hide my newbie hand quilting.  I have decided that I am consistently in-consistent – it’s all about being consistent.

Developing New Skills…

Do you try new things? 

Like maybe hand quilting?  Like maybe hand quilting on a Challenge Quilt project?  A project that is due in just a few weeks…

Yeah – probably should pick something a little less public for a first real attempt at hand quilting – you know something I could throw on the dogs bed when I’m done… but no… I’m just going to go for it.

Usually for these quilt challenges I just get my ‘top’ done and I never get it to the point of being quilted… like last years Crayon Challenge Quilt.  I just love this quilt!

I think the last quilt I completely finished to the quilted and done point was the Swimmies quilt for my grandson (who is almost 5) – and that was handed over about 3 years ago – Dec. 2010.  This picture is from when I finished piecing it while we still lived in the townhouse – spring 2008.

I also did some machine quilting on some (4) of those Calendar Quilts… but after I broke my knee in Feb. 2011 I was lucky to get the remaining tops assembled and nothing else happened with them after that. 

Last year I saw an Ulmer Quilter frame at a new quilt shop in the area.  As I was finishing up the piecing of the Star Challenge Quilt for this years retreat I decided to go and get the frame and give hand quilting a try.  I liked the frame because of the way it’s constructed, reasonable cost, and portability.

The Engineer came over to where I was working last night – scrunched up his face and said “why are the stitches so big?”  He saw all the basting stitches and thought that was what I was doing… I guess by comparison my uneven quilting looks just fine… LOL

I decided to just post a picture of my work in all it’s ‘new quilter glory’… I selected a ‘light brown’ thread because although it stand out in the white squares it isn’t all that noticeable through the colored fabrics… and there is more color in the blocks than there is white.  I thought about changing thread color – but it is actually helpful to be able to see the stitches.  This is the first area I worked on – I hope to gain some consistency as I go along.  But I know once I wash it and the wonderful all forgiving rumpled look sets in… all is forgiven!

Do you hand quilt?  Do you have a favorite method?  Favorite Thimble?  I suppose I could have done all this research before hand… but what would be the fun in that?

Are Y’all still there?

I started this a couple weeks ago but never seem to get more than a thought or two in before something gets in my way and then I have to start again.  Lets see if I can finish tonight…

Life has been very busy around here and this week looks to be about the same… so I best try and get this post done while I can that week was busy and I never got back here to finish.  My daughter is going up to MA without… let me be clear… WITHOUT the kids - so Granny and Pops will be in charge for 4 full days.  The two older ones are fine – it’s the Tornado baby that is the challenge.  There are 6 gates installed on the main floor of my house… and you still have to have eyes on him at all times… AT ALL TIMES!  He has been here long enough and grown just enough to be able to climb into and onto anything he sets his mind to… the chairs, couch, rocker… even a pile of boxes of stuff my daughter had ordered.  There was just enough space from box to box for him to get a toe hold and he was up a good four feet off the ground in no time.  The only cabinet door that doesn’t have a catch on it is the corner twirly cabinet that has the plastic stuff and pots and pans… up until today he was content to grab a couple plastic lids or containers and play with those… but he emptied both levels of the cabinet today.  I told The Engineer he needs to add a catch to that door as well.  It took me over an hour to put it all back – I was thankful I had just mopped the floor so I didn’t have to wash everything too.  Well I did wash the grater… the boy licked it when I told him to put it down – yeah the face was priceless as it wasn’t what he expected… he didn’t hurt himself and it was rather funny…

early in the unloading process…

gotta love the face… even with the breakfast mask applied…

and just in case anyone questions his ‘manhood’… skull & cross bones diapers and the ‘man tuck’ of the hand… LOL  The other hand was busy with his bottle…

Miss K will be starting school here on Monday and Kai will be attending a pre-school… goodness – summer is over already?!  Miss K is very ready – although it’s been fun going to the kids programs at the gym she is looking forward to getting back to a school routine.  Probably happy to have a few hours each day away from us and her little brothers too.

I got her started with some embroidery…

The boy enjoying some ice cream Pops dished for him…

And did someone day Pig Pile?

Since it is getting towards the end of summer - would someone please tell my tomatoes to STOP… I don’t have time for tomatoes.  We are eating as many as we can – I am cooking sauce and making salsa and throwing them away if they even look a little bit questionable.  If I had known I would have so little time on my hands I wouldn’t have planted a garden – I don’t water or fertilize anymore… and they just keep growing!  LOL  We have enjoyed our fair share of zucchini (those plants have died – yea!) we did not get nearly enough cucumbers for my liking, we enjoyed a few melons the chipmunks didn’t make houses out of, there are a fair number of red and yellow peppers which have been delicious.  I wanted to be able to can some blackberry jam and syrup… but I’m not sure that will happen.  Maybe I should go ahead and get some berries to cook down and then once the kids get into their school program I can pull the sauce out of the freezer and can jam and syrup.

Oh and in my last post… a month or so ago… I should have given some details on my Crayon Challenge quilt but didn’t have the info with me at the time so I posted without doing anything other than showing a picture of it.

The pattern is Russian Rubix from Prairie Grass Patterns.  Although I loved it when I bought the pattern and I had fun picking out all the prints.  It was a challenge to make.  The pattern gives you a template to use to cut the octagons from 3 3/4 inch squares… really??!  I suppose that size is what is necessary in order to get to the final size… but starting with a 4 inch square would have been so much easier.  I considered having a acrylic template made – but chose in the end to make up a paper piece pattern and work with that.  I am very happy with the end result but it was a good bit of work doing all the trimming that goes with paper piecing.

My colors were cerulean blue, olive, and yellow orange… the border print was perfect.  A ‘block’ is made up of two of the octagon units with 2 small white corners and 2 large white corners.  Four of those are put together to make the circle.

Yes Professor… if you see this I’d love to get credit if I can – I need to review my list and update things – not that I’ve had any time to get into the sewing room recently. 

I do need to get this posted before the kids return from Karate tonight…

If you never hear from me again – well… you’ll know we didn’t survive Momma being gone 4 days... LOL

Annual Mini-Retreat…

Our 4th annual retreat with quilting friends has come and gone all too quickly.  We had a small group this year.  We missed those that couldn’t attend this year and were happy to welcome a couple new faces to our group.  I don’t know why we didn’t take our group picture on Saturday when everyone was there… here we are on Sunday from the left - Me, Dawn, Sue, Neen, Bev, May and Lori – missing are TJ and Brian.

This year I also called on my husband to act as judge for our annual challenge and he brought along our granddaughter Miss K to help.  She had spent some time down at the shop visiting with the ladies over two evenings and had quickly made new friends.  When she and Pop’s arrived to judge the Crayon Challenge quilts on Saturday I asked if she was ready to be a judge?  “But Granny – what if I hurt someone’s feelings?” she asked as she put her hands on her cheeks!  Such a dilemma for an 8 year old!

Miss K and Pop’s looked carefully at each quilt and they compared the crayon colors with the colors in the quilt.  After they had made one round looking at everything they each picked out what they considered their top three.   Since 2 of their 3 were the same those became the 2 to choose between. 

I told Miss K that they would now need to choose between the two and asked her how she thought they would go about it.  Both her Pop’s and I were surprised when she said “well - we could use a decision tree… list the things we like or don’t like about each one and compare”.  All-righty then – a decision tree it was!  Who knew that they teach this stuff in 2nd grade??

Our winner Bev and her quilt with the Judges.

And in no particular order…

Lori’s quilt…

May’s  – sorry about the wrinkles – our hangers might just get fired… LOL

Sue’s…Dawn’s chain…

TJ’s…

Neen’s…

Brian’s…

and mine…

All the quilts were lovely and as usual the pictures don’t do the colors justice.

I’ve always loved our group challenges – it’s always interesting to see what everyone does.

Our Challenge next year will be Stars!  Should be very interesting!!

And So She Sews…

And boy does that feel good… well outside of the fact that standing still (ironing and cutting) uses my knee differently and made it a bit sore in different places.  But I can at least sit with my feet planted in front of me for a period of time and that felt really good.

Really a post about quilting!  Can you believe it?  Yeah, me neither!

Anyhoo – this is what I’m working with…

This is the 3rd year for a gathering of quilters here at my house – we call it Howdy’s HoeDown.  Hokey I know – but it is what it is!  LOL  The Challenge this year was to use the fabrics handed out in a quilt top.  I had selected 3 fabrics (yellow, green & pink) and then combined 2 of them in each package -  a 2 yard cut of one fabric and a half yard cut of another.  You can add whatever else you need to end up with a 60 x 60ish size quilt.  My fabrics are the yellow and green and although I had a plan and other fabrics picked out last summer – I shifted gears and selected an easier design and picked up new fabrics last week to work with.  I have the blocks completed and into rows.  Today I’ll have a top… and I’m happy with it!  But I can’t show you pictures of it until after the gathering!

I have turned in both the July and August Calendar Quilts… but I only have a picture of one of them.  This is August.  I’ll get better pictures – those bees really are yellow.  Although I had quilted the first 4 – those done since I busted up my knee are just assembled and fused – I’ve not done any of the decorative stitching nor quilted them.  Next week I’ll go back to the shop and get the fabric picked out for Sept. & Oct. so I can get them going.

I’ll have to update my Quilt University list next week when I get some pictures.  Actually I need to go in and refresh my memory as to what I wanted to work on – I think I’d like to try and catch up by attending ‘summer school’… LOL

Only a quick note about my knee… I saw the Dr. this past week – 4 months post surgery.  He said I’m doing very well considering the extent of my injury.  So I continue with PT – I’m now at 125 degrees of bend – with them pushing on it.  Functionally what I can easily bend it to with my own lame muscles is about 115.  I’m not content to stop there… I want my knee back… I want it all back.  I still have swelling and discomfort but that’s all part of the therapy – I’m challenging it every day so it stays a bit annoyed at me.  The water therapy I’m doing at the gym is wonderful for all of me and I’m slowly adding to the ‘circuit machine’ exercises I do – I really need to add ‘core’ exercises and now that I’m stronger in general I can do that – PT has now OK’d my adding some of the leg machines in as well since we started those this past week in therapy. 

I don’t think I’ve ever exercised this much in my whole life.