Exploding Pineapples and Retreat Pictures (ABOUT TIME)

Here it is--my Exploding Pineapples. This is such a fast and easy technique. And very striking. You can click on the picture to enlarge. The red print is a western with boots and horse shoes. I thought I was being so smart (beware, Marilyn) Sunday before retreat I sat down and figured (I thought I had it figured out) how many of what size blocks to cut so I would be all set to cut at retreat. Not so. I totally forgot that the first two squares are cut the exact same size. Duh?! So I cut everything wrong. Fortunately I took plenty of fabric and recut (can you say daylight burning (or retreat burning). Do you see the blocks behind my quilt? Jan and Dixie came up with this design while at retreat. A very contemporary quilt with bright colors. I had taken a fat quarter from all my fabrics and there was one batik that had all these colors in a tie dye fashion that went perfect. So she came by the next week and bought enough for a border. Begorgeous!                                                                                           

Marie attended this retreat and we had a lot of fun and laughs with her and at her. She is 84 years young. See that little Elna sewing machine? Dixie brought it to retreat for me to look at to buy. Yeah, I bought it. It is an Elna Lotus SP. I was looking for a small machine for the grandkids to work on and for me to take on retreats. It needs a trip to the sewing machine repairman for a good cleaning.










Sharon and Bonnie deciding which way to sew the 4 Patch Stacked Posies blocks (yeah, I have another one addicted, terrible aren't I?). This was Bonnie's first retreat and from what we heard not her last! Beyond them into the next room you can see Dixie at her machine and a peek at the design wall. On the far right you see a peek of Sharon's
quilt on the design wall. She used charm packs and made the Pineapple Chunks from the Sew Simple Pineapples book by Karin Hellenby.
                                                                                                                

                                                                                                                                                                      And here is Ann at the cutting table. This was Ann's first year to join us. She and Gena belong to another group that I mentioned on my blog before-- the Busy Bees from Post Oak. They were a lot of fun. There were ten of us this year. Ann, Anna, Bonnie, Dixie, Gena, Jan, Kathleen, Marie, Sharon and myself.

And guess what? We can't wait for the next one!

Blessings,