Rebuilt Log Cabin -- Finished!

Yes!  What a great feeling to finish this Rebuilt Log Cabin.  It's been a long time in the making. From what I can tell, I started it in December of 2011.  Yep, it is an old UFO.  You can see it progress in posts from 12/5/2011, 12/14/2011, 2/23/2015, 1/4/2019, 1/31/2019,  9/6/2020, 9/9/2020, 9/22/2020, 9/29/2020, and 9/30/2020.  OH Good Grief!  I think I went a little crazy. Many thanks goes to Elaine Adair who blogs at Elaine Adair Pieces, for posting a tutorial on the Rebuilt Log Cabin.  Now on to the finished quilt!  And another thanks goes to Nancy who blogs at Wyoming Breezes who noticed and told me about 1 block that was turned wrong.  Jack and I ripped it out and replaced it correctly! 

It was a beautiful sunny day when Pat helped me take pictures of this quilt.  Rain was coming but not until the next day. 

Well, rats this doesn't show the back all that well.  Except I did piece the back together using a 3 yard piece and then splitting a Kona black 3 yard piece in half  to put on both sides. 

The photo op was finished and Pat was tired of holding it up!  I can't say I blame him -- it's a twin size quilt.  I was worried because he had to stand on a little ladder to make sure the quilt was totally visible. Thank goodness he didn't fall off.  Nice to see the butterfly bush and some day lilies in the picture.

Next up, (a couple of days later,) I took some pictures of the quilt on the twin bed it is going to be living on. My doll Kirsten just had to be in the picture. 

And how about a close up of the backing. You can really see the quilting well in the black part of the picture. And, if you ever wonder about "hiding" your quilting -- use a really busy backing fabric. 

Details: 

Quilt Pattern is Rebuild Log Cabin by Elaine Adair

Quilting Pattern is Fern Gully by Hermoine Agee 

Thread White So Fine (sorry, don't remember the specific number.) 

And a few odd ball things.  I purchased the "ladies" print from my friend Nancy.  She was having a sale to rehome fabrics, notions, patterns before her impending move. Pat and I drove up to Maryland to see what she had.  I thought the fabric was cute but it didn't dawn on me to use it for this log cabin until several weeks after we got it home. Many years ago I bought a nice black and white stripe I had planned to use for the binding.  Nope, didn't do it.  The red binding worked much better.  

Some time in the next week I'll finish doing my stashbusting statistics for June.  This quilt busted some serious stash! 

Here's my Friday linky parties.  Midweek Makers, Needle and Thread Thursdays, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?, Finished or Not Fridays, and Beauties Pageant. Enjoy surfing -- quilters are creating all over the Internet.

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie  

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

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!  

Monday Meanderings 3 - 14 - 2016

I was very successful with my goal list last week but I really don't have a lot to show for it.  What I did work on outside the goal list (I forgot to list it!) was some sample Disappearing 4 patch blocks.  At guild on Saturday we had lessons in 4 patch.  Dorothy showed us how to make multiple 4 patches with Fons and Porter called Easy Peasy 4 Patches.  At the end of the directions is a link to get a PDF with the same instructions.

I showed how to make 2 at a time 4 patches. I haven't been able to find written or video instructions on the web for this method. This link shows how to make multiple different 4 patches.  (Hum, sounds weird.  How about different fabric ...?) I learned the 2 at a time 4 patch from a Billie Lauder book if I remember correctly.  Here's a video that Billie made to share making multiple 4 patches.  Someday I'll write up a tutorial for the 2 at a time 4 patches.  Sorry, it's not going to be today.  Check out her Magic 9 Patch instructions too. Missouri Star also has a video on making multiple 9 patches but done same as the first link in this paragraph. 

The next part of the presentation was what do you can do with all these cool 4 patches.  So, I searched the web and found 2 different types of disappearing 4 patch designs.  The one on the left is the basic disappearing 4 patch. Directions are at Material Girl Quilts. I love the clean, crisp look of this design.  

The block on the right is an alternate method for a different disappearing 4 patch. It was called Disappearing 4 Patch with a Twist.  You need to be very careful on your measuring and cutting.  If not, you're points won't meet perfectly.  

One block I didn't show was the 4 Patch Slice.  I thought it was pretty cool too.  I have no idea what I'll do with all of these blocks -- I had to have several in-progress steps for all the blocks I showed. Time will tell, or I have a new UFO! 

Yea! Very successful goal completion last week! 

March 7, 2016

Quilt 2 charity quilts√

Finish the 5 strip pieces for Slide Show√ close

Continue to work on “boy” challenge quilt√

Continue to work on OMG quilt√

Prep backing for antique quilt√

Quilt Antique quilt √ started

And hopefully this week will be just as successful. The highlight of the week is the third annual In Home Retreat.  Sharon, MaryBeth and Nancy are coming down to sew like fiends.  They learned last year it made a lot of sense to drive down Wednesday after work because then we had 3 1/2 days of quilting.  I'll be getting the space cleared up and ready this week along with all my other goals. 

March 14, 2016

Sew OMG quilt to top stage

Finish quilting antique quilt

Enjoy at home retreat

Keep working on the Slide Show quilt

Keep working on the “boy” challenge quilt

Prep two more quilts for FCQ show

That's it for me today.  I must get started on the putting things away and also get back to quilting the antique quilt. I'm linking up with my two favorite Monday Linky Parties: Monday Makings and Main Crush Monday. 

Happy Quilting All!