HAPPY NEW YEAR

My last finish of 2018.  The Labryinth Walk  quilt.  I started this oh sew many years ago. 2012 this came out in  Quilt Magazine and my husband said  'Now thats a quilt! I like that"  In 2016 I finally bought some fabric for it. I mean if it's for the Hubster it has to be just right. 

I LOVE quilt retreats have I mentioned that. Well anyway I go to a few a year and I have finally learned that if I precut  I can just sit and sew and eat and laugh and sew and eat and laugh and sew. It really stems from having back problems and standing on the concrete at most of these rtreat places is not good for me. Seww anyway in OCT I retreat with my sisters in Joplin MOand decided it was time to get the Labryinth Walk done. So I pre cut had everything in seperate baggies and put a copy of the pattern in my retreat project bag. OH mistake mistake mistake! 

Retreat was going great and my work motto is do a couple UFO's and then I can start something new. I worked like a mad dog on Thursday finishing up a couple of things so I could get to this The Labryinth Walk. Block one came to a screeching halt!! You know you seem to think youre being smart saving space making copies of a magazine pattern BUT if you do, do it in color. I just copied mine and now I sat with this black n white pattern and it shows me a black square that should be a black/charcoal half square triangle. Now I have no clue which way the angle needs to be.  Luckily another retreater wa sthere and had her pattern. I was on her list to do. OH thank Heavens to Mary Anne. She works for  LQS and was making it for them and sat two tables over. With the ability to jump up and chack her pattern for the correct angles I got this together before I left Sunday morning.

It did sit in my to be quilted pile for almost a year and then in the waiting to be bound pile for 4 months. BUT it is done now. Yay me. I only have 5 quilts left in my to be bound pile. I won;t mention how many in my to be quilted pile. But all this keeps me out of the bars.

Talk about staying out of bars. we fixed a pitcher out of this and I had one. Whew I can tell I don't drink anynore.

Retreat

A friend invited a few of us to her vacay home for a quilting retreat. It's on southern Indiana hills. With beautiful wildlife to interrupt my sewing. Working on this needle turn applique project. Once done I took hand quilting lessons/advice from the quilter doing this beautiful plus quilt. She's hand quilting it and i bought along a project just for hand quilting. 

It's so hard working on anything when nature is so close. I miss living out in the country. Town had some advantages but so does the country.

BIRDS

WOODPECKER

DEER

 So much fun. 

Working a new way.

I'm in semi darkness. Like a fool I put feathers in a white light floral border. Finally remembered to turn off the light. I had them off on one side and for some reason couldn't figure out why I was crossing over my lines. But hey the inside looks good.out i hope it does. 

It's a Saturday sew day. I've finished some swap blocks and now I'm working on an internet row by row. Ok it really looks like I'm eating.  

Oh my I forgot to post this. It's months old. Is this an age thing?

Cra cra crazy

Putting a binding on with the glue baste method. I have to tell you I've  glued my sticky  fingers to everything. Don't think I'll be doing it this way again. One good thing about the sticky fingers they stuck to my drink.

Trying to layout this cute little quilt, but I don't have my design wall up yet.  Heck I  can't even find the wall.  Changing rooms has really been a pain. I did make a major decision to get rid of two totes large totes of scraps.  

I'm just so sick of the overwhelming feeling when I look at all my stuff.  So I'm trying  to really get rid of some stuff. Not even sure if anyone even stops by here anymore but I'm  thinking I may just start posting some giveaways here. I mean magazines I've never opened.  Patterns out the wazoo. Yep if you're reading this stay tuned in will start going thru  patterns and such soon. 

Sew Sew Sewing along

making this from a kit. It's not something I would have picked out formyself. But a co worker has asked me to do this for her. An ailing Aunt had got this kit, which is dated 2002, to make for her or one of her daughters. So here I go.

look I have one fused and stitched.  Whoot whoot wish me luck only 11 large ones and 12 small ones to go.

All the single hearts done.

Been going though things and I found this box of scraps.After taking off the top layer of some poly cotton stuff, LOOK all original 30 fabrics. I got this box at an Estate auction maybe 6 or 7 yrs ago and it has just been sitting there taking up space. This auction was the estate of an 80 something widow. I know she didn't quilt, it was her mother that quilted. She had all these boxes of quilting stuff sitting in her garage and they had been there for years, since her mothers passing.  There are blades for a dresdan cut and triangles,, squares and diamonds all cut. Whoot whoot what a score. And I didn't even know I had it. 

1st retreat of the year down

Well first retreat of the year is done, and it was a great time. I love retreats. So the first order of quilting was to do a top that was suppose to be done last fall.  but let me show outhis cute little table runner first. Have you seen this fabric. Already into stripes.  I threw the selvedge  away but I believe  it's called STRIP-R, so all I had  to do was make the vertical cuts and stitch it back up into this table runner.  what an easy way to make a bragello. I could see a bed quilt done like this and is it cheating?Who cares is was a breeze. 

So this is the challenge piece It should have been done last November, but I'm always late.  I wish I could get the beautiful purple to show as purple not black. At a retreat Igo to we swapped these black and white blocks. There was 20 of us and each person chose a block and made 20 of them then we swapped them and each of us ended up with 20 different blocks to make a sampler.I picked out this pretty limey green and this luscious purple to go with the black n white blocks. Im really pleased with how this turned out.

still not the right shade.Well maybe after it is quilted Ican hang it outside and it will look better.

Well I had a post

So let's just start this out with some eye candy

This is a quilt I started as a challenge with a sister. Many years ago sge wanted to do a Christmas challenge and we went to her favorite shop bucause it had it's Christmas fabric on sale. We both had to choose 6 maybe 7 or was 8 Half yard cuts and then make something out of it. I didn't want to do someone eles pattern so I came up with this. Ihad saw a pattern sometime before with a star in the center with some flying geese and loved it, so I came up with this. No flying geese but arrows.I used up just about every inch of the fabric too. Now many years later not even sure how many it is finally done. 

I'm packing up things to go to a retreat this next weekend and I am so excited. I love retreating. I can just put on the headphones and sew or I can sit and sew and talk with everyone. Just whatever mood I"m in.  I need to get a lot of things done. Last year I blogged about my dad being ill with dementia and he passed away this past fall and I want to make memory quilts out of his shirts.  The shirts are cut apart and cleaned and stacked in nice order just waiting on me. 

Here are some of them all stacked up and the pattern I want to do with some of them. The plain denim color is just a constant filler I bought. I have 5 siblings and want to make my mother one, so I will need a couple patterns. I also have the Dad/Father sayings on fabric if I want to use them. I am really thinking about it for mine. It's just been so hard to actually do these but I will I will.  I am hoping these gett into the bag to go to retreat but I"m trying to precut everything and not sure if I have time, but never fear another retreat in March. 

  

So do we know what show this is from? I'm a little obsessed, even tho I have only watched season One I have done 7 of the books on Audibile. so I bought all three panels and this is the first of the three that I'm working on. I really think that it is the one I want to keep for myself. Oh you know I really will keep all three of them. But if I could only keep one I think it would be this one. So have you figured out the show. Outlander on Starz. No I don't have Starz in fact we barely have anything. We found ourselves paying for hundrreds of channels and watching regular network majority of the time, so why? We got rid of the satillite and have that Roku thing and stream some TV but since I have a Kindle we have Amazon Prime and viola I found it there and purchased it. My husband says we aren't saving much if I am buying shows. And I say well at least what we are paying for we are watching, or at least I am.But I have a couple borders figured out on this panel so it is going to retreat.

So next is these beautiful black and white sampler blocks we swapped out at a local retreat. I was suppose to have these made into a top last NOV but didn't make it. But I swear I will have it done for our March retreat. I have chosen this luscious limey green and regal purple to go with  them. I will be a completed top when I get back from retreat next weekend. 

Have I shown you this one? Oh I just get so lost in what I have and havent't. I doubt it tho. Ijust recently finished it. Once again something that was started years ago. This uses the x block ruler template thing and I would link it but since on my tablet unsure how. After posting this I will work on that and then maybe this paragraph will make no sense. lol So I will stop this post now, I have a catchie on my fingernail driving me insane so I have to take care of it. I will be back after retreat to let you see what I did.Till then Sew On

CHA CHA CHANGES

Youy know life always has a way of  making sure to keep you on your toes. Changes, I never thought I was a stodgy ole fool that couldn't go with the flow but in the last couple years I've struggled. It started with Digital camerra! I loved the one with the floppy disc, remember those yu just took the pic plugged the floppy in and transfered the pics. Then that camera broke and I had to 'upgrade' Life has never been the same. I don't know how manycameras I have went through it seems I'm rough on them and the wires!Oh My Desktop gets old and outdated  cameras break laptop sucks it has a cursor that is from the devil itself. The darn cursor flies all over the page and I could be typing away and then all the sudden the cursor jumps up into previous paragraph middle of sentences and takes up there. Some say its "I'm hovering over the cursor pad so I got wireess mouse and that didn't solve the problem.Now look at the mess. I'm not even sure which goes to which anymore. So to cut this story short I got a new tablet and this cute wireless keyboard to go with thi it. so now I can take the pics witht the tablet and nowmore wires in the drawer they go.

Cha Change the Hubby is without work and only being in late fifties we are not ready for retirement. Ok so maybe we are but finiancially we are not. Far far from it. But for a man that has only been a dairyman working with cows what can he do? Weelll I convinced him that I haad a long arm just sitting there all day long doing nothing. Most complaints from quilters about long armers is the wait! So if he learned to do pantos and gave a quick turn around he could contribute to our finiances. But you have to practice practice practice. So now months later he is building up a client base, yay him, and anytime he does a new pantograph he has to do it on one of my quilts first. Look at this pile waiting for binding now. And last year I had a record amount of finishes. 18! 

Right now with his client list it is taking hime within a week to get his quilts out. Thats one thing I can say about him, he's not lazy and when it comes in he wants it out the door. 

The next change in the form of our new puppy. Dixie. And what a change it has been. Lil Miss Dixie Marie DeLight has been an eye opening experience. 

We got her when she was 4 mos old and now at 9 mos we have found that being a Great Dane mommy and daddy is more trying than a human baby. I never baby proofed a house but I am Dixie proofing this one. Well it's time to get to bindiing some quilts. I have a few 

OOPS I've been lax

I really really try to post but it seems things just get away from me. Last post I was getting ready for retreat. Travelling 650 miles to go to a retreat maybe crazy but I had fun and got to spend time with family. I made new friends and hope to see them again and again. I didn't short sheet anyone and kept my snoring to a mild level.  So all was good.

My goal was to get my newest grandson his quilt made. He's 8 and his mommy married my son last July 4th. He has autism so his mommy wanted the puzzle quilt.

Ask and you shall get. And now it's quilted too. Binding will be fine during football!

I also was commissioned to make a baby quilt. You know everybody wants a handmade till they find out how much it will cost. Since it was a co worker/friend of my hubby I gave her a break. I also told her the prices of fabric at quilt shops verses department store. If course she like something at the department store and I said hold it up if you can see through it like tissue paper, stay away from it. Well she bought it and i was pleasantly surprised at the quality. Yes better than I thought. 

Several years ago I met a wonderful lady, so talented and nice. Never met a nicer woman. She came to a retreat that I host. We became good friends. She was a member of a local quilt club but I'm not. BUT I do attend their retreats. If course I love retreats. Well this sweet woman had a severe stroke after one of these retreats and is in nursing home. She's unmarried and no children. Her family had an estate auction to help pay for her nursing care. I purchased a small tub with fabric and a quilt started in it. So I took this also so I could finally finish it.

 So this it it. 

Add you can tell I'm trying to clean up some UFO's so the next one is a peacock panel I've had for a couple years. Out collecting those  row by row experience rows I saw a package of fabrics I thought would work with this panel. It had a plain blue and a piece with the peacock feathers and some floral and a stripe. So I bought it.  I didn't use the floral and I had to bum a bit of jade, but here it is

Hmm just not sure what I'm going to do with this one.

Then last but not least, I got one of  Quilts  Valor finished.

See I have been doing something. So till next time.

Sew on

Yay, it's blog time.

This week has been full of trying to get things ready for a retreat Oct 13. I've decided I'm going to cut my pieces out so I can spend time sewing not standing at a cutting table.  So

Here's the bag starting to fill up. Have to have the back scratcher. Three projects ready and cutting another one.

This one is for m my newest grandson. He's 8 but just came into our family last year. So when it's completely cut it will be added to the bag. Then I'll just need to get the memory quilts cut up. That should be enough for a weekend of sewing.

Turning over a new leaf, Maybe

I'm going to try and I mean really try to blog at least one day of the week. So here's to trying to catch up. My dear hubby is taking over my edge to edge quilting. Since I work outside the home and he is now on limited days at work he's been learning. No learning is over and he's taken it over. With him being here 80/90 % of the time he can offer an edge to edge at a reasonable price in just a couple week turn around. This gives me more time to piece, sew, cut or blog.  So here's what I've been doing.

These shoes,I couldn't resist. I had gotten a high heel shoe pantograph for the long arm and I knew I wanted some fancy high heels to go with it. Lo and behold I was on a shop hop and there they were. This will go to my step daughter when it's all said and done.

 These cute Sun Bonnet Sues were from a swap in 2006. I finally set them  January 2014 at a retreat. I wish I could show the swappers m my quilt but I haven't been on my Yahoo  in years. When they changed their format I got lost.

Then I'm working on this applique project. The outer blocks were made 4 years ago add a buck a  (I think) at the local quilt shop. I had enough of the purples to make a couple extra blocks. I also on a shop hop found a bolt of the black on sale. Oh not the whole bolt but enough. So now I'm dabbling in designing the center motif. I'll leave it add a surprise se as to what the finish product may look like.

 Then I'm working on cutting strips for a swap at a retreat.

That's my today!

SO WHERE DO I BEGIN

Oh it's been so long just where do I start? Life has been so full of ups and downs and has kept me busy. First my  91 yr old father  diagnosed with dementia just became to much for my mom to manage and after much turmoil is now settled into a nursing facility.

I know it was rough for the siblings living there but it was rough being hundreds of miles away too. I took serveral trips back in hopes if relieving stress on those there. Don't know if it worked but with those trips it did give me chance to do some quilt shop hoping.

Fabric Merchant, Joplin, MO

Sew Natural, hmm I was out by Wichita, KS was this in Newton?

Lane 154,Webb City, Mo

And now one of my most favorite shops, this little place hides away off the Hiway of Exter MO. The owner is one of the nicest ladies ever. First time I went in we talked and she found out I was from Indiana, but originally from close to there. So the next year I walk in and she looks then exclaims "indiana". Ok now that is something to remember my face and where from. It says something of her personality. Stop in to PDubs if your ever in the Cassville/ Exter MO area.

So I finally got my Christmas present. The hubster got it special made to match the new kitchen cabinets. Wait I haven't told you about my new kitchen. Oh my I am so behind. We lived for months without a kitchen. Living in a home thats 150 yrs old, it needed some up grades.  After checking prices, I decided to design it myself. Custom cabinets. We love how it turned out. Thanks to Hilty Cabinets and James Baumgartner for all the work.The ladder is out of the hickory as the cabinets and is wider than a normal ladder. This way I can show off more of the quilts.

Eye Candy

Chickens Rule The Roost. A row x row Robin

I did with a retreat group. I sent the pattern along with pre cut beaks and waddles and their nests. But asked fellow rowers to use their scraps for other parts. The outside border is chicken wire. It turned so nice, or I think so.

Lighthouse from England Designs.my mother did this one.

This is Jeri's, it's all out of Civil War Reproduction fabrics. Isn't it just beautiful.

I don't normally post just the top, but couldn't wait to show this one off. Bought the panel couple months ago on a shop hop. Took me about 10 minutes to figure out what I wanted to do with it and this last weekend at retreat was just the time to get it done.