QUILT RETREAT

Well I went to my first official "Quilting Retreat" this last weekend and had a BLAST ! It was very well attended 28- 30 depending on the day. Met some old friends and made some new friends. The G-Town Girls were a good group to have sitting next to my table. We all kept each other a laughing....who knew quilting was soooo much fun !

I signed up for 3 classes prior to the retreat and ended up taking 4 classes. The retreat was well run.....hats off to the "Stitches" crew for all the hard work!Here are some pics of the gang

The Scene

                                

Meet Chloreena
 I love this woman
she kept us all in "Stitches"
 most of the weekend.

Sharon & Jan

 This retreat is held in a old Church and this is the gym/cultural hall.

I'm not sure we could have fit many more quilters in here  

Thanks Again to Stitches

                     

                                       

Checker Boards

For our Family Reunion we have a auction each year to raise funds to pay for the next

 Family Reunion.

Last Year I made Checker boards out of wood that were really cool !

Now that I'm a quilter so I wanted to do checkerboards out of fabric.

 This one is a very scrappy and very cute checkerboard. The labels were attached later due to a " Name that Checkerboard" contest. We needed to conceal the winning names for the big announcement and prizes. I tried to make each label unique either with a scrappy border around the label or something. Next time I will make the labels a little smaller...they just seemed too big for the board.

This was the most girly of the Checkerboards.

Each checkerboard comes with its own coordinated bag to hold  the checkers in.

.I love the fabrics in this one !

 I hand painted each wooden car wheel checker...this was a very long project from start to finish

The sock monkey checker board was made from the 5 Funky Monkeys Line by Erin Michael for Moda You can pick some up here HERE ! The sock monkey and Boy Scout boards I added Tic Tac Toe to the back of the board/quilt

 The Sock Monkey was definately a favorite and brought the most money of the checkerboards !!!  YEAH !

 The Scout Quilt was also a Huge favorite since I am from a big scouting family.

The Scout Quilt was also made mostly from the Boy Scouts of America fabric line by Robert Kaufman.

Here they are all packaged for the ride up to the Reunion !

Don't they look cool all bundled up !

As usual the fabric I purchased from the wonderful Fat Quarter Shop !

Beginnings of my First I-Spy Quilt

So a friend of mine asked me to make a quilt for her 3 year old grandson. I struggled with pattern ideas and it finally hit me to do a I Spy Quilt. My sister has been telling me about these quilts since my interest in quilting started a little over a year ago.

What do you think?

I'm thinking of using a grey/gray sashing and maybe a piano key border....What would you do ?

Wow that was a REALLY long break !

Okay so I haven't added to my blog for a very long time.....for alot of reasons. My Dad's health had been deteriorating for the last few years so I had made a conscious effort to visit him frequently over the last year. I started those trips around this time last year using quilting as a excuse to go home.

In January I went home again to visit for their anniversary and the signs were clear to me ......I knew we were getting close to the end of his journey here on earth. I believe that trip was when I did my disappearing nine patch.

In March when I went for another visit & to quilt ...he was very sick my trip extended from 1 week to 3 weeks....I quilted in a rush a "quilt for my Dad"...I used scraps given to me in plaids that a friend had given me and my sister Nancy gave me the backing and I quilted him "BLOCKS OF LOVE" ...It is definately not my best work but I will REALLY remember this quilt and the many emotions of that trip......I didn't get to quilt anything that I had planned to quilt on that trip.......but a day or so before I left I threw together another unplanned quilt .." Rainy Days and Mondays"....this will also be a quilt long remembered and full of emotions for me.

When I left Arizona in April I knew I would be moving home to care for Dad soon...and that happened in a week or two. I packed up and left Texas within a couple of weeks and started taking care of Dad.

He was a great patient and very easy to care for......he died on May 31st Memorial Day at 5:30 while I was by his side.

I took a break from quilting....still ordered lots of fabric but just couldn't get out of the funk I was in.....Well I am out of that funk and back to quilting....

I will post the pic's of the quilts named in this very long blog and then add what I have done since.

Thanks for reading.

Oh My Dog Baby Quilt

This is a quilt I made for my neice's baby while she was still pregnant.....It was cool because she was there while I was making it but didn't know it was for her daughter....My first quilts I made were Layer cakes or rag quilts....so this one was the first time using this particular pattern.

I think the pink thread Merlene (Nelda's Quilt Shop) picked really stands out....I also had her pick the quilting design.

I love the labels that Nelda at Nelda's quilt shop makes for my quilts.

Chocolate Mint Disappearing Nine (Scraps)

This is my first disappearing nine patch quilt ! My sponsor thought it would be a great one to utilize my scraps. It is at the quilter now and I can't wait to see the finished product.

It is being quilted by Merlene at Nelda's Quilt Shop and she has done such great work with my other quilts. This quilt I will keep for myself and will match my current surroundings very well.

I am so excited.

Secondary Pattern

Disappearing Nine

Quilters Anon Meeting # 2

I am so excited for my 2nd official meeting of course my sponsor... & other addicts will attend it seems this addiction is hereditary. We all have been looking for places to score our product....at deep discounts anything to feed our addictions....

Well I have found alot of fabric for a great price, and I am bringing it all with me. We have also discovered some good places to buy fabric at a discount online as well as my local connection. Its been fun conference calling with my fellow addicts....discussing fabric, patterns etc.

Hope to finish Love is in the Air and start on a new project

Finishes

Well I guess I'm supposed to document my finishes...

1 Bag
2 Rag Quilts
2 Quilts

Almost done !!!

1 At Nelda's Quilt Shop
1 Need to finish the binding

This is my first Quilt I made it for my Mom. It is from the Love is in the Air Layer Cake

So this is a new hobby/addiction of mine. I decided to practice on my nephew's kids....so here is oldest girls quilt. Her sisters isn't quite finished yet so I will post it when it is complete.

1st Quilters Anonymous Meeting

My first rag quilts were made for my twin nephews. I didn't want my first rag quilt to just be a typical 6 inchs square quilt. So I saw a pattern online with varied height blocks. So the finished blocks are 3in, 6in, and 9 inches tall. I also stitched with a 1 inch seam allowance. Of course I was constantly on the phone with my Quilters Anon. Sponsor. Of course they must both also include labels which my sponsor totally believes in and now I am too a believer. She also made me a believer in borders for rag quilts. These borders are in the same pattern just one in blue and one in green.