Easy Street Week 6

Bonnie was right! This was a quick and easy step! Ready for Monday!

Last night as I sat in my recliner, both kitties decided they wanted to sleep "by" on me. They stayed that way for at least an hour.

Easy Street Week 5

Yesterday was a good time to sew Step 5 of Bonnie's Easy Street Mystery. Jim and JJ headed back to K'zoo so it was just me and my machine here. (And of course, Jasper and Annie)

My pieces were all cut and in no time at all, the lot was finished.

Ready and waiting for Step 6! This mystery is flying along. I still don't have any idea what it will become, but I'm excited to discover the finish.

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas. We celebrated in Grand Rapids on Sunday with Mike, Simone and JJ. On Christmas day, Jim, JJ and I saw the film version of Les Miserables along with my sister, Connie and BIL Nick. It was wonderful. Kari, Craig, Abby and Ian were at the theater in their town in Wisconsin.

Easy Street Week 4

Bonnie says we are about half-way done with the mystery. It's been a fun quilt to sew and I'm keeping up to date with the steps. I'm linking up with Bonnie's page.

There was enough time to trim up the units. Some needed just a sliver taken off.

Only a week before Christmas and there's still lots to do!

At Fantastic Friday, several gals were making these cute Christmas tree napkins. They are made from a half circle of two fabrics and then folded to make the tree.

                          


Connie made this adorable Snowman pin for our table mates. His nose lights up and the snowflake is embroidered!!

There must be a snowman vibe going around. I made a pair of Snowman potholders for my table mates.

Last, but certainly not least...
It is still difficult to believe the horror that occurred last Friday in CT. Please continue to pray for all those who lost loved ones and all who are affected by this senseless loss of lives.

Easy Street Week 3

Woke this morning to a pretty covering of snow. That's about all I need to see at one time.

The retreat was wonderful, as always. We laughed and sewed for three days. I finished Step Two and Step Three of the Easy Street mystery by Bonnie Hunter. Now it's catch-up time on some other projects until the next clue is revealed on Friday.

Easy Street Week 2

My pieces are cut for Step Two of Bonnie Hunter's mystery called Easy Street. I'll be retreating at The Quilted Cottage on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. This is the monthly 'Sleep At Home" where we sew all day and go home to sleep in our own bed. My plan is to sew my geese units there. Of course, I had to see how they would look. Here's my pieces and three finished geese.

Easy Street

I've been anxious to start the Easy Street Mystery Quilt from Bonnie Hunter. This afternoon four patches began rolling off of my machine. I have more to sew, but it's going pretty quickly.

Wonder what will be next?

Turkey Day

                       Wishing a blessed Thanksgiving to everyone.

Shipshewana, Indiana

And another wonderful retreat with Dear Jane friends is over. Rosemary would tell you that there are only 143 more days until we meet up again at The Farmstead Inn in the spring. There is so much creativity amid the gals in the sewing room. It's one gorgeous quilt after another. We had wonderful weather each day which isn't always the case in mid-November.

I worked on little quilts this time. The first one is from one of Jo Morton's clubs and is named Sisters. It will finish about 12" square when it is quilted and bound. Most of the fabrics are Jo Morton lines and the girls in the center are embroidered over the printed fabric images.

The second quilt is a little quilt that Cheri posted instructions for on her blog back in June. It was a fun one to sew. I used little pieces from my scrap bags but it didn't make a dent.

There were some great show and tell quilts, but it will take a little time for me to sort through them. The kids and grandkids are coming for Thanksgiving so there's work to do!

Little Quilts Link Up

Taryn has too much cheddar fabric (can you do that?) and is offering to share  at her Reproduction and Antique Quilt Lover blog .Post a picture of a favorite doll size quilt for a chance to win some solid cheddar fabric and/or a darling little quilt. This is the quilt I linked.

The Day After

Today I made a few more scrappy stars for Terry's quilt along. They finish at 6" and are really fun to make.

My husband, who is celebrating his birthday today, likes to attend auctions. He is always bringing 'treasures' home for me. Yesterday he gave me a shoebox size plastic container full of old sewing items and pieces of jewelry.
While sorting through it, I found this thimble holder in the form of a hat! It's
in need of cleaning, but I think it's really cute.

Heading to Shipshewana next week for the fall Dear Jane Retreat. I'm making my stack of projects to work on while there.

No! Not November!

Already? It can't be November! The leaves have fallen and the temps are certainly much cooler. Baseball is done for the season...no World Series title in the D, but still a fantastic year. We'll get them next year!

I've been to a couple more retreats and a Halloween party at The Quilted Cottage. At the first retreat, I worked on Lori Holt's "Cheddar Cheese and Crackers" quilt. It's almost a top.This was a quilt-along a couple of years? ago and then was published in a Primitive Gatherings magazine. I loved it the first time that I saw it.

At the second retreat, I sewed the second to last Cotton Club BOTM blocks. Four more blocks and I can begin the assembly of this one.

Had to have some fabric pumpkins for fall, so this trio was sewn and stuffed.

For the Halloween Party, Connie, Helen and I went as the Triple Crown in baseball. We each wore a crown, Tigers t-shirt and had baseball pins with  BA 330, HR 44 and RBI 139.

Today I finished the last quilt square from Lori Smith's #1 Package. Lots of HSTs in this one. Our club meets tomorrow morning, so I just made the deadline.

At my quilt guild, we are making simple applique blocks. For October, the pumpkin was the easy choice. Whoever signed up for this exchange, brings the designated block and groups of the blocks are given to the names drawn that evening. Some of the blocks are kept back for the end of the year. At that time, lucky members will get a whole set of blocks. (One of each design)

A Finish

Done! Finished! Completed! Here is my Gifts quilt made from a Flurry charm pack. LuAnn at Loose Threads wrote the instructions for this smaller version of the quilt. I'm really happy with the results of this one. The background is white, but shows creamy in the photo.

Our group project at last week's retreat was a little thread catcher. I used the same fabric that I used for the tool caddy. The thread catcher squishes down and can be stored in the back pocket of the caddy.

While catching up on watching "The Voice", I ironed my 30 pillowcases. They have been washed, ironed and bagged. On Wednesday, I'll turn them over to the gal who is collecting them.

Slow Stitching Sunday project

A little late posting to Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday, but this is what I'm working on now. Just a few more stitches, and it will be done!

Come back and see the finished quilt, hopefully this evening.

Tigers update: Tigers lead the series 2-0 heading back to Detroit. Verlander will be on the mound! Go Tigers!

Quilt Square

Finished the little square for this month's club using Lori Smith's Quilt Squares #1 pattern. This is the 5th square I have made from this pattern, with one more to go next month. Not sure how I will quilt it or maybe I'll frame it.

Wednesday, we went to Grand Rapids to see ArtPrize 2012. There are so many amazing entries. We walked almost four hours and were able to see, among others, 8 of the Top Ten.

Today, Connie, Helen and I spent a few hours at our LQS tracing Possibilities
calendar month patterns. I'm only a year behind on these, but with the Heat "N Bond ready for fabric, it could move along quickly.

Tomorrow it's off to Comerica Park to watch Justin Verlander and the rest of the Tigers in game one of the play-offs against Oakland.

Have a great week-end!

Back to Back!

                 American Central Division Champs!  I love my Tigers!

30 Pillowcases

Today I finished my 30th pillowcase for the month of September. It's not even the end of the month! I'm early. Will wonders never cease! As I arranged them on my chair, Jasper sat on the floor watching. When the last pillowcase was in place, he jumped up and 'arranged' himself into the picture. They have to all be washed, ironed and put into clear bags before I turn them in for distribution at Mott's Children Hospital so I didn't chase him off right away. Besides, I always think he makes any photo better.

Yesterday our "Lunch Bunch" group met for September. We were asked to make 9 1/2" Sunbonnet Sue blocks. They will be put together to make two quilts for charity. My Sue was picking fall flowers.

The magic number for the Tigers is now 5. Any combination of Tiger wins or White Sox losses that equal 5 will clinch us the Division Title. We're in Minnesota tonight. It's great to hear from those of you in other states who are rooting for the Tigers.

Fall

Fall is in the air and it feels wonderful. Perfect for sleeping at night and warm enough during the day to do things outside.

I'm still making pillowcases and can even detect a dent in my stash of novelty prints. I'll take a pic at the end of the month of all 30 together.

September 'Sleep At Home' was last week. Our group project this time was a roll-up cosmetic bag. Actually, it's perfect for many other uses, too.

My Star Struck quilt is now finished! This was from a Bonnie Hunter class taken in September, 2010. The HSTs around the quilt are bonus parts from making the blocks. I'm very happy with this one.

The Tigers are now tied for first place with Chicago! Keep the wins coming.

Stars and Pillowcases

My sister, Connie, challenged me to sew a pillowcase for each day in September. So far, we have each made nine. That's nine yards of fabric used already and hopefully, nine smiles on some faces of the children who will receive the pillowcases.

I've been wanting to make some scrappy stars for Terry's sew along and have a tin full of 2 inch squares and 2 inch HSTs. Tonight I was able to sew two stars. Each star measures 6 1/2 inches square instead of 12 1/2, but that's okay

Every year we get lots of morning glory volunteers. This year some popped up through the deck and are now blooming nicely. They aren't the blue I really love, but every flower is pretty

.

Hello September

Did you think I got lost in Grand Rapids? It was a wonderful quilt show and we already booked our room for next year. The venue was great and Grand Rapids has many things to see and do near the show. Being held in Michigan, we were
seeing familiar faces everywhere. I heard that the vendors all clapped at the closing of the show because they were happy with their sales. I helped as much as I could.

One of our favorite booths was Primitive Gatherings. Here's the talented Lisa Bongeon in her booth.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching how the Tentmakers of Cairo make their awesome applique quilts. They are mostly men and stitch so fast! There is a book available from AQS if you'd like to see the quilts and learn more.

Among the many weeds in my backyard, the hibiscus finally decided to bloom!

It has many more leaves than flowers, but the flowers are spectacular.

Here are my final two Summer Stars from Temecula Quilts. Now if I could only find the other six so I can stitch them together!

 

Off to Grand Rapids!

Connie and I are heading to Grand Rapids for the AQS quilt show. We haven't gone to Paducah in a few years, so this will be exciting. The show is in GR for three years (at least).

Last week was the August "Sleep At Home" retreat. One of the gals was finishing the borders on a Bonnie Hunter pattern. Lots of gorgeous fabrics in this one.

We try to have a little group project on Saturday. This time we made quilt tool caddies. The base is a stand-up plastic photo frame. These were fun and easy to make. Added 8/26/12: The tutorial for the tool caddy can be found HERE.

Friday was our 44th wedding anniversary. Jim insisted I go to the retreat. In the late afternoon, he delivered a bouquet of chocolate covered strawberries. There were enough to share with the retreaters and still have a few to eat at home. They were delicious.

And finally, here's a little pouch I made using a Sweet Pickins pattern from Moda U.

Off to GR!