Tuesday

Yesterday we had a Farmer's Wife sewing day at The Cottage. The tables were full of gals cutting and sewing with all different kinds of fabrics. I set up my machine and had all of the necessary tools ready and couldn't find the six blocks I had cut out the night before. Did I leave them home? Yes, I did. Luckily for me, my husband delivered the missing baggies to me at the shop and I was all set. He's a keeper. I managed to finish four blocks and parts of the other two.

I mentioned before that our guild was doing easy applique blocks for the year. Last month I was fortunate to win a set of snowman blocks.The guild supplies the background and pattern. Here is my heart block for February.

During the last storm, I tried to take pictures of the snow flying in the air. Can you see the tree in the photo? I thought that turned out kind of neat. I love the mornings when I wake up to scenes like this outside.

Sleep At Home Retreat starts tomorrow. I need to get my things together so my husband doesn't have to make any 'emergency' trips to the shop.

Wednesday progress

My Cheddar Cheese & Crackers top is complete! I wanted to do this quilt since Lori (Humble Quilts) posted it as a QAL almost three? years ago. I even had many of the pieces cut and the sewing steps were printed. Everything was assembled in a large zip lock bag. I tried working on it at a retreat, but it required more space than I had to lay out the blocks. Thank you, Lori, for providing such fun quilts to make. If anyone notices any piecing errors, please don't tell me!

These pretty FQs had to come home with me last Saturday. They are Nib & Quill by Sara Morgan for Blue Hill Fabrics. Aren't they yummy?

The weather forecast says we are going to get some snow for the next two days. I'd kind of like to be snowed in for a bit as long as the power doesn't go out.

Slow Sunday Stitching

I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching  because I finished the binding for my little Abundance doll quilt made from Lori's (Humble Quilts) SAL. I need to find a bigger doll or a king sized doll bed!

The pink fabric is the back side since the front was too bright. An instructor once said, "You pay for both sides of the fabric." Don't be afraid to use the back.

More Little Stuff

 I finished the second part of Lori's (Humble Quilts) little doll quilt. The pink hourglass blocks have been replaced with blue ones which I like much better.

 A couple of years ago, I started the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt. After about a dozen blocks, it was put on the back burner. Our Civil War group at the shop has decided to work on this quilt at our monthly meetings. It's not a civil war quilt, but lots of us are using civil war fabrics. We were each given two blocks to do for the first meeting. Mine were 23 and 98. They will finish at 6 inches.

 

I finally found a frame that fit the little 5" house sampler that I cross stitched back in 2007. I could have bought one, but it's more fun to find one at the thrift store or a garage sale.

At Christmas time, I finished the little sheep and Santa ornaments for my grand children's money gift. Last week I did three more. These are like envelopes in the back so you can include money or a gift card. Just need to finish the snowman before December.

Yesterday I took a class to make a Mondo Bag. I didn't quite finish it, but it was a fun bag to make. Photo soon, I hope.

Little Blocks

Lots of little pieces on my cutting table in the last few days. I was able to catch up with Pam Buda's little blocks over at Heartspun Quilts. These blocks will finish at four inches.

I especially liked how she made the little four patch units. This was new to me. Check it out here.

Library Additions

I love books! Here are some of the latest titles added to my library of quilting books.

The bottom book which has the light reflecting on it is special because I had a small part in making the quilt. Rosemary Youngs is a very talented quilter and author who kindly asked several quilters to help with the blocks. We were each given the patterns for nine blocks and fabrics to use in them.

At the November Dear Jane gathering in Shipshewana in 2011, a group picture was taken of all the gals who made blocks.

This book was extra special for Rosemary because her father fought in World War II. She had a great time collecting letters and stories. Thank you for letting me 'help'.

I was able to sew the first part of Lori's (Humble Quilts) quilt along. There was a slight snag, but I worked it out. The photo colors are another story. The first is too bright and the second too dark.

And finally, here's the piles of Easy Street blocks all sewn! Now they head to the ironing board for pressing and then comes the assembling.

M.O.B.

M.O.B. Missing on blog..
I'm back to catching up, as usual. The last couple of weeks have been busy. It's the second half of January already!

I finally had a chance to make the little Mountain Trail quilt from a previous    quilt along that Lori hosted at Humble quilts. Once the squares and logs were

cut, the sewing part was pretty quick. I love how it turned out.                    

There are six more Easy Street blocks waiting to be assembled and then I can put the whole quilt together. I was seeing green, purple and aqua in my sleep so I needed a short break from the mystery. Hopefully, I'll have a finished top very soon.                                                                                              

Last night was our guild meeting. One of the activities we are doing this year is an easy applique block. Lucky me! My name was drawn for the snowman     blocks. The second picture shows the blocks that I made for the drawings.    

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.