Retreat Report

I had a fabulous time at quilt retreat.  The days went by so fast that it didn't seem like we spent three solid days and one partial day sewing.  Ginormous thanks to Pat Wys for organizing this fun, productive, wonderful retreat.

Pat had a few demos for us including this great block board inspired by Lori at Bee in My Bonnet. 

Remy is hard at work inspecting my blocks for another project made from French General's Maison de Garance fabric line.   He must be checking my 1/4"seam.

"I don't approve of this block!" 

Here is another photo of my finished project and a detail. Can't wait until next year's retreat!

On Location

Hello from the North Georgia mountains!  I am on retreat at a gorgeous location with about 30 other quilters from the Silver Thimble Quilt Club.

Beautiful view from our sewing area.








Here is my little station right next to Karin.

Thursday I worked on an old UFO from the book Layer Cake, Jelly Roll, and Charm Pack Quilts called "Damask Rose".  The fabric is Windham's "Clara Barton" fabric line.

This is a quilt on my 2012 UFO list and guess what...









Ta da!  It's done.  (not the greatest photo from the iPhone but you get an idea.

OK time for lunch and back to sewing.

January Blahs

Oh I haven't posted in awhile.  Last week was just one of those annoying hectic weeks at work filled with a million aggravating things and this weekend I seemed to have a case of the January blahs.  I don't know about you, but I always get blah in the winter, even in the South where there is more sunlight. After all the excitement with Snowmaggedon, it seemed last week that it had been January forever...at least 2 Januarys long.

So while January blahs do not make for good company (gray, cold, wet, wool blankets come to mind), I was productive over the weekend, keeping to myself and my sewing machine.

 I finished up block 3 for the Civil War Quilts Block of the Week.  My needleturn applique skills were a little rusty so the stars are kind of wonky.  This block is called Seven Sisters.

Let's just say it has a Folk Art element instead of crisp pointy points shall we?

 This is block 4 called Texas Tears. I am having so much fun with this block of the week project.  Every Saturday I grab my big box of Civil War reproduction fabrics and dig through, cutting little bits of this and little bits of that.


I bet I have eleventy-million weeks worth of Civil War fabrics in there if I keep using bits and pieces.

I also realized I better get cracking on my January UFO project for Judy's challenge or else!  I definitely don't want to fail on the challenge the first month so I put aside my Roll Roll Cotton Boll quilt and worked on blocks for my Clara Barton quilt. 

One of my favorites is this block with the purple and cream fabric.

1-1-11

Happy New Year everyone!!  It is raining here in the ATL but that is fine because I'm staying in my pjs and sewing all day.  I hope you all are doing the same. 

Yesterday, I dragged took S. with me to Sweet Home Quilt Co. for the last day of Melisa's end of the year sale.  We walked in the front door and saw lots of friends with big bags of goodies and stacks of fabric waiting in line.  How fun!  Becky, Kristie, and Brenda were there as well as Jane, Sharon H., Sharon B-A. Needless to say, we stayed longer than the "real quick" time I had given S. LOL!  I signed up for a block of the month and bought a few yards of this n that.

Last night was quiet and I fell asleep before midnight for the first time in decades.  Oh no! I guess being wrapped in quilts, watching movies, and Prosecco will do that. I think it was around 11 or 11:30 oh well.

Today I am all excited because Judy at Patchwork Times posted the number for the 2011 UFO challenge (#6) which is my Clara Barton quilt.  I had to search my own blog to find out the last time I worked on this LOL! It was in  June. Here is the photo from June of some of the blocks.  Time to dig this project out.

Another exciting (well for quilters anyway--the term exciting is relative ya know) happening today is the announcement that Barbara Brackman is posting a block of the week commemorating the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War on her new blog.  She is posting history, historical photos, and a block each week.  I hope some of you will join me in making this quilt!  Or at least follow along to enjoy the stories and photos.  I'm a big fan of hers because of her dedication to researching quilt and social history.  Besides sesquicentennial is just fun to say.

And thirdly, I am excited because Bonnie Hunter posted Step 7 yesterday of her RRCB mystery and I LOVE this quilt!  It is worth all the gazillion of little pieces.  I started putting some blocks together (even thought I haven't completed all the previous steps) and will post some photos soon.   

OK I'm excited, at least for today right now 1-1-11 (that's fun to type), and I'm headed to the sewing machine.

Sunday Halftime Report

A rather quiet weekend around here (except for the World Cup games playing in the background). Yesterday was my sewing group (Silver Thimbles) meeting. It was great fun catching up with everyone. Becky is busy enjoying her retirement (she is also having a great giveaway! Visit her blog for your chance.) Karin shared her photos from Alaska. Cindi is going to visit her family soon and make an envious trip to Homestead Hearth. Pat, as always, was in rare form wearing a sparklingly pink crown.

I decided to work on a new (old) project from this book.
About a year ago, my mom and I split a purchase of 5" strips of Windham Fabrics "Clara Barton" fabric line. I had all the strips cut and paired to make this quilt called "Damask Rose." I thought the central cross-shape in the block reflected Clara Barton's life as founder of the American Red Cross.

So here is the first blocks I made yesterday.
The fabrics were based on items in her house and a quilt she received from veterans of the Civil War. Here's a reproduction fabric of some of the quilt blocks from the quilt.


Today was another day of staying inside to avoid the very humid, mid-90F degree weather. I am over summer already here in Atlanta and it's only mid-June! Tomorrow is supposed to be hotter (95F which means it will feel like 100+ YUCK!)
I finished sewing the borders on the Fat Quarter Shop's Designer Mystery quilt.
Hooray! Finally a finish. I probably won't be able to get it quilted anytime soon but at least this project is in the nearly finished stage.