Quilts from the At-Home Retreat

Two weeks ago three friends came down from Maryland for our annual at-home retreat.  Ruthie 2 was a popular machine over the weekend.  I finished up a charity quilt that I wanted them to take back up to MD.  And they each brought quilts to long arm. 

Here's Nancy working on her quilt.  She chose Malachite pattern designed by Patricia Ritter. 

It was a lot of fun to see the design stitch out.  I bought the design when I had Ruthie and it was a little too big for her.  But it is much better on Ruthie 2 as she has more space.  Check below for the close up of the design.  It provides a lot of texture.  

Close up of Malachite pattern.

Mary Beth brought a TAPS* quilt to get it finished quickly.  (Nothing like a computerized long arm to make quilting easy!) She chose Ginger Stars by Apricot Moon.  This is one pattern that I have used over and over again. There are other "Ginger" patterns that I use a lot too.  

MB also brought this gorgeous quilt to get finished.  I believe it is a Bonnie Hunter quilt but don't know the name.  (MB -- feel free to leave a note with the name!) Her pattern choice was Easy Peasy Baptist Fan by Naomi Hines. 

After much persuading Sharon decided to quilt a TAPS quilt she had just put together. She made this quilt last year as a block of the month through A Quilting Life blog.

She chose the Ginger Stars design also.  (Sharon -- found another star pattern that I didn't have in my notebook.  Maybe your next red, white and blue quilt will be quilted with it.) 

* TAPS stands for Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. Members of Faithful Circle Quilters have been supporting the program for several years now.  These donated quilts are given to children who attend the program in May in the DC area.  I recently heard how the children (up through the teens) enjoy receiving the quilts, dragging them around the event.  Even returning campers love getting a new one.  I've got my fabrics pulled and pattern picked out.  It will be my next new quilt, eventually.  Quilts are due by mid-May.

I have more pictures to share of projects that were being worked on... I'll try to remember to include them in another post. 

Today I'm linking up with Midweek Makers, Let's Be Social and tomorrow I'll link with Needle and Thread Thursday. I forgot to come back and link this until Saturday morning -- the link was no longer available.  Sigh.  I hope to spend some time today checking out blogs posted on these linky parties! 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

RETREAT WEEKEND!

Sharon and I got to the retreat center right at lunch time Thursday.  Exactly when we could set up and get sewing. We packed fairly lightly and were able to put the pedal to the metal within an hour or so.

I've gotten a decent start on Scrappy Stars.  It's great not having to cut out anything -- I can sew and sew.   Sharon, MaryBeth, Nancy and I took off mid afternoon to find a fabric store or two.  The retreat center is in the middle of no where -- or so it seemed.  45 minutes later we got to the first store, Obies.  No parking so no shopping for us.  Luck was with us as there was another shop minutes away.  Zincks Fabric store was wonderful.  Much of the quilters' cotton was priced between $4.99 and $6.99 a yard. BONUS.  I went a bit wild although I had planned to add to the stash if I found someplace with good prices.  I'll share the fabrics in another post. 

From there we drove to Shady Maple General Store.  You walk in and see seeds, garden tools and the like.  But in the back is a pretty decent fabric department.  I picked up two cute prints off the flat fold table to make pillow cases.  

Next stop was dinner at the Shady Maple Cafe.  Here's a photo of Sharon, Nancy and MB with an Amish buggy. We saw a lot of these on the streets going to and from the retreat center.  We are having fun on the first day of retreat.  

Once we got back we all got our machines humming.  I'm working on the star blocks instead of the 9 patches.  Sharon's doing a cute little wall hanging, MB put the binding on a quilt and Nancy -- er, I'm not sure what she was sewing on but later she was laying out this quilt. 

Nancy talking with Linda about her quilt.

Stephanie was finishing up a Tumolo Trail quilt from one of Bonnie Hunter's books.  She is planning on using a dark binding and not adding a border.  Hum, do I want to make one of these quilts too? 

That's it for today at the FCQ spring retreat. I'm linking up with I May Have a Scrap Problem at Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie

Fun Mail

A few days ago I got this book in the mail: 

I had no idea why it came in the mail.  I didn't remember ordering it.  I didn't think I'd won any blog give aways.  I didn't think it came from either of my kids.  I had NO idea why this book arrived in my mailbox. I definitely liked the book after perusing it.  I even want to make a table runner shown in the book.  The quilts look intriguing too.  (The only issue for me is I don't buy precuts except fat quarters and a few charm packs on sale. I think I've bought 1 jelly roll and no layer cakes in the last 20 years.)  

Fast forward a day or two and I got an email from my friend MaryBeth who had been down for the in-home retreat.  She had seen me looking at it at a local quilt store and bought it as a thank you for hosting the retreat.  She was pretty surprised it had already arrived but thank goodness that mystery was solved. I was happy to add it to my collection. 

My next exciting package arrived a few days after I ordered the items.  I bought  25 zippers for the ongoing pouch project I'm working on. These aren't all 25 as I've already put some with the fabric they will be used with.  I've ordered zippers on line before but the last time I ordered they had color groupings.  This time I had to come up with my own colors.  It was easy to match my pulled fabric but when I had to add more to meet the number I had ordered, not so easy.  

These came from Zipit Zipper Supply. These came to 59¢ a zipper including shipping. Way better price than buying at JoAnns with or without a coupon.  Yes, I ended up with more than I actually need but I don't mind having extras on hand.  In fact, I'll probably make a few extras for me to use or give as gifts. Some of the zipper supply companies on Etsy ship from India which means it takes longer, Zipit ships from the Midwest.  I was tickled to get these within 3 or 4 days of ordering.  Unfortunately, I ordered on a weekend so that probably added to the time it took.  

That's all the fun mail I've received recently.  I do have a new pattern and some yardage coming from Craft Town fabrics.  I couldn't resist an opportunity to buy one of their flash sales.  But, it took almost a week to ship my items.  I wonder if it was because one of the items was sold out.  I guess I'll never know and I wasn't in a hurry.  

I'm going to link up with Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? and Show Off Saturday.  Do you know of other linky parties on Saturday?  I tend to always post on Mondays and hopefully, another day during the week although I'm not consistent with that.  I prefer less "commercial" linky parties as I hate popup ads. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Time for me to head to the studio to work on my zippered pouches and my OMG which is nearly done!  Yea! 

Happy quilting all!  Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings

The In Home Retreat came to an end yesterday about noon.  We had a lot of fun got some things done, me - not so much.  And, we're looking forward to our next retreat in May with Faithful Circle Quilters. 

MaryBeth asked to bring her TAPS quilt down so she could quilt it on Ruthie.  Of course she could after I got mine done!  Unfortunately Ruthie was giving us a little grief -- the upper thread was shredding.  After several investigations I figured out I needed a new spindle/guide.  I need to remember to order one soon although I was able to use a lower guide successfully. 

Here's MB's finished quilt.  (Hum, I'm still playing with a new light to provide better lighted pictures -- it kind of looks like the left white stars aren't white.... believe me they are all bright white!) 

Here's my TAPS quilt, finished on Ruthie before MB's.  I didn't have too much in the way of thread shredding even though I used the same thread. I got the first side of the binding on and Sharon is going to sew the back side down at home. That's why the binding looks a little wonky. (Thanks Sharon!) 

I was able to pull out my OMG project to get some color choice assistance during the retreat.  I'll be beginning the sashing for it next.  I'm looking forward to having it a top so I can start to think about how I want to quilt it. I'll be showing photos of it as soon as I get the sashing done, hopefully this week! 

Goals were missed this last week -- not all but several.  But I did come down with another cold that wiped me out a bit. I did succeed on a few things. 

March 6, 2017

Quilt and bind boxed squares √

Continue repair of afghan didn’t work on it

Work on Tangram blocks √

Make red RSC blocks did get some red fabric out for these but nothing even cut!

Enjoy In House Retreat √√

And this week -- 

March 13, 2017

Continue repair of afghan

Begin sashing the "A Tisket, A Tasket" Blocks

Make a block or two for the stripe challenge blocks

Figure out something to do with the Tangram blocks

Continue working on zippered bags 

Yep, I'm taking it easy for the week.  Part of that is I don't know what I want to work on next.  And, if I actually do the first four things I will be really tickled to finish them! 

That's it for now.  I'm linking up with the regular linky parties: Monday Making,  Moving It Forward Monday and Main Crush Monday (although it isn't up yet so I may remember to try again later or not...sorry!)

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

SaveSave

Retreat Eye Candy!

Here are some of the projects that got worked on during retreat.  NONE of these are my projects but I sure wouldn't mind owning some of them! 

Do you remember this quilt from this post? Yes, you get to see my darling grands again but scroll down to the bottom.  There's the same quilt without borders.  Thanks go to Janice H. for suggesting the smaller pink border.  Sharon took the quilt home with her and happened to read the comments before picking out the borders.  She loved the idea and followed through with it. Janice was definitely right about this one!  I've got it to quilt it and then on it will go to Project Linus. These blocks were won at a retreat lottery several years back. 

Sharon started working on these hot chilies near the end of the retreat.  She laid them out on two different backgrounds to decide which she liked better the black or the red.  She and I both said the black as soon as we saw them together but I'm not sure I don't like the red better.  Glad it isn't my decision to make! 

MaryBeth was tickled to get this top finished -- unless she decides to put borders on it.

Sharon started and finished this cute Fourth of July wall hanging.  Directions were in  one of Quiltmaker's magazines this year. (Maybe the May June issue?) 

Michele made a tuffet for her grandmother. 

Bea put this together.  I'm not sure if it was a kit or not but I do know she started it at retreat and got it this far along. I think some borders come next. 

Dorothy was working on log cabin circles.  Don't you love her t-shirt?  There were a lot of different quilty shirts to enjoy at retreat. 

That's the end of pictures that I took at retreat.  There were a lot more projects being worked on but I just wasn't fast enough to snap pictures.  

I'll be linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday and Can I Have a Whoop, Whoop? (This isn't posted yet so I'll check back tomorrow to update it.) Take some time to visit blogs and get some great inspiration! 

Small rant -- Why does Blogger make it so hard to work with pictures?!!?  I had planned to show these pictures in a different order but as I started at the top I realized I could no longer move any pictures up or down.  Grumble, grumble.  In the end it probably doesn't make any difference at all but really, I wish it worked better.  I probably should look at Word Press one of these days. I know there are a lot more things I could control with it.... Sigh. 

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

In-Home Retreat Post

Wednesday night 2 of my buddies came down for our 3rd annual In-Home Retreat.  Nancy and Sharon arrived around 10:30pm after both had a full day at work.  It's tough on them but then they have 3 1/2 days of quilting.  MaryBeth was able to come down on Thursday afternoon which made us happy.

Here they are -- happily sewing or checking cell phones!

MB was off by herself.  That might explain why she got a lot done.  The weather was beautiful most days and we even left the studio long enough to take a walk one day.

Needless to say I didn't get all that much done.  Here's my project.  I did get the rest of the blocks made and sewed into a top.  I'm going to be adding a bit of appliqué to it to perk it up. Not all of these will be cut into shapes but some will be.  MB brought her appliqué dies for the Go so I'm putting them to use.  This is my OMG project and I need to get hopping on it if I'm going to finish by the end of the month. 

Here are some of Sharon's efforts.  Every time I turned around she had finished something and moved on to another project.  She put together blocks to make two additional quilts that I am not showing. 

These are for an office mate of Sharon's who is having twin girls.  The stripe fabric sure zings in these. The contrast fabrics don't stick out like these pictures show.  A bit more subtle.  

Sharon made this block as a donation to the silent auction for the upcoming quilt show.  I think it was 20" square although I could be off by a lot. 

MaryBeth had finished this one before she arrived with the exception of putting on the yo-yos.  Last year Sharon made one for her granddaughter's twin bed. 

MB worked on two or three other projects and I failed to get pictures of them.  When she has time she will send me photos of them and I'll try to add them to a post. 

Nancy used Ruthie to quilt a stunning quilt.  She was tickled with the results.  And, I was proud of Ruthie for quilting like a champ! 

If you enlarge it you should be able to see more of the quilting.  She chose a strong circular edge 2 edge which looked great on it.  In between rows or late at night she also got these blocks to a top.  Most of the half square triangles were already done.  She played around with the placement and came up with this great border design.  (Hum, wonder where the bottom section is? She must have been sewing it together.) 

Sunday morning we were all sewing again.  But at lunchtime they headed north and back to reality.  I headed to the couch and a nap.  Since Sunday I have had some dedicated time in the studio.  No results to show yet but fairly soon I should have some finished tops to show you.  And then next week I need to quilt some of those tops! 

I'm linking up with Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? and Fabric Frenzy Friday. Take a few moments to see what others are doing in their studios this week. 

Happy Quilting All!