OOPS Where have I been

Boy oh boy, where does time go? I went off to a retreat and had a blast come back and went on overtime at work and lost all track of time.
Go here to get more cutting for the mystery. After I get this blog caught up on all I have been doing I am going to get the sewing instructions caught up too. So look for it before the week is out.

When my sisters came up this past summer one of them bought a jelly roll and then we decided that we would go in halfsies and do a challenge to make a purse out of them. Well you know I had my parents for the next three weeks but she went home and made the darn thing. So when I took my parents back home she boasted her new bag in front of me.  No sense in me making it now. So now almost a year later I got it done.

Ok she won that challenge and I don't care! Bologna I hate loosing so.... when I took my parents back home and she had finished her purse she decided to make another challenge or was it me. OH who knows her LQS had the Christmas fabrics on sale. I mean it was the middle of July and I for one was not thinking of Christmas but she decided that was our next challenge. She picked out 8 half yard cuts of this Christmas looking Christmas fabric. Oh no I have a mental block on doing anything with Christmas fabrics. Christmas maybe my favorite holiday but I just can't seem to get it together when it comes to the fabrics. So I picked out the 8 most un Christmas looking fabrics. My sister said that they did not go together and even the shop owner cringed over my selections. But I took it as a challenge, to make them work together. I mean that is what we were doing right, having a challenge. So as I stated above I went to a retreat and I was in charge of doing a mystery for it. It thought it was about time to do something with the 8 half yard cuts. I knew that my sister hadn't done anything with hers yet so if I really could make this mystery come together I could win this time. So to the drawing board.

This is what I came up with. I know you really can't see but the light fabric in the zig zag border has the green brown and turquoise in it and the strip fabric has all of the colors in it.  One lady there messed up on the zig zag border and it ended up being all flying geese, which looked great too! That is the freat thing about borders you can just do....







Here is a top I completed at retreat. This was a row by row that I did on the internet in 2006. I loved the top so much that I have been looking for the right red for the borders. I first thought it needed a plain border so not take away from the inside but when I made one side I hated it so I then had to re do. It took me almost another year to figure out the zig zag. I almost went with the woven ribbon but gals at the retreat said the zig zag from the mystery would be better. And weren't they right!

I did get these two other tops finished at retreat. The log cabin blocks were made for me years ago by internet friends but had gotten lost. They are doggie themed and were for my grandson, well he is a little old now but I am going to check with him and see if he still wants them or save them for the next grandchild. NO there is not one on the way!                                                                                                                     

Oh please look how hard the two retreaters are working!. The other quilti is for my husband, it is all cow themed. I posted pics of it on here a year or so ago. but I managed to get the border on it so it is now on the shelf for quilting too.                                                                                                                                  

Ok I have more for you but since I have to get the sewing instructions up I better runa nd get the next post together and I will add quilting pics there. Sorry for the delay in posts but I am sure everyone knows just how life goes!