Back from Retreat

The Time Travel quilt is finished! Totally finished! I made the binding and sewed it on at retreat. Major happy dance going on. My fellow retreaters reminded me how long I'd been working on this quilt--Gee, thanks, everybody!--since our first retreat back in 2008! Oh my gosh, really? Back at that first retreat I think I was begining to join the blocks together. It was my travel quilt. I only worked on it when I went to sew at Paradise Piecemakers once a month and on retreats. I kept it in one of those Rubbermaid containers so everything would be together and then I could load my machine and thread and go sew. The blocks in the quilt are Fly Foot and Soaring Past Time. The Soaring Past Time blocks have 24 fying geese units. I did count at one time how many flying geest were in the whole quilt and I don't remember. And I'm not going to count again. I'm done. Rest assured that there are around 900. You see those little half square triangle in that border? Those were made when the smaller flying geese were made. I still have a bunch left over! I don't throw anything away--only strips or pieces too small to be able to make a seam and have something left to show after the seam is made.

We had a lot of fun as usual. Good food as always. Recipes requested. There were ten of us. Marie and Sharon couldn't join us this time. Biliie was a new retreater. This particular retreat house is located a block away from a railroad track. There are ear plugs in little jars on the night stands beside the beds. For good reason! Snoring is another good reason. Closed doors help too! LOL I couldn't resist taking this picture. The jar is cracked. Do you think someone may have been groping the dark for an ear plug?

Too funny!

Blessings everyone and happy quilting,

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,                                                                                                                                        

Checking In

I have been neglectful about blogging lately. Sorry. I just got back from retreat and I wish I could say I had pictures. I don't. I took the camera. I didn't take the battery charger. You guessed it--the battery was low. Some others took pictures and if and when they get to share I will post. We did have a good time. There were ten of us -- more than we've ever had. We stayed at LeRetreat House in Gainesville, Tx. It is a nice old house with four bedrooms and four bathrooms. It is always so much fun to see what everyone brings to work on. I took the black and red exploding pineapple project to make more blocks and sew together. Mission accomplished! I will post a picture just as soon as I charge the battery. LOL

We've also had more house guests. Not quite as little as last time. DGD Aimee and DGS Mac came and stayed several days and we had a good time. We sewed. Even Mac! And he is good. I sewed Aimee a tiered skirt from one of the batiks I sell. No picture. I know bad blogger! Maybe I can get her mom to take one with her wearing it. That would be nice. I found this neat tutorial for a cute little girl's ruffled skirt. I can't wait to make her a few of course I will have to refigure for a larger size but it will be easy. Also found this and want to make one. And not to leave Mac out I asked him about making a shirt for him and he picked out a fabric. I guess I better get busy!

I am only going to acknowledge that the temperatures here have been well, AWFUL. Well over 100 degrees for several weeks. The grass is burning. We turned the cow and calf in on the blackeyed peas. The tomatoes and peppers have dryed up. I gave up on them. BUT we are forecast for cooler weather soon. Ten degrees will be so much of a difference. Can't wait.

Ya'll stay as cool as you can, 

Retreat & Progress I made on Star BOM

We had a good time. There were a total of seven.  I'm sorry I didn't think to get someone to take a group picture. Again LOTS of food. I told the ladies--please rethink the amount of food you bring next time. We ate like queens.
Yes, Patsy, there is always lots of talking, too! We call it fellowship. But lots of sewing, too. LOL

I got all the sashing strips, blocks, and setting triangles sewn together and started sewing inner borders before time to go.  I did some sewing and unsewing. LOL It helps to read the instructions correctly. Late night sewing is not good when there are detailed instructions. LOL That's DH holding the quilt top. I will sew the red top and bottom inner border on hopefully tonight and then cut the other inner border that is the same color as the background in the blocks. Then I will start working on the ribbon border as I have time.

Blessings,

Retreat!

Yes, I am going on retreat again! I wasn't quite sure if this was going to work with DDIL in the hospital but I won't be far away. She is in her 32nd week. We went to see her last Wednesday evening and took a crockpot of food for her to have some homemade eats.
I will be working on the Star BOM. Yes, it has become a UFO. I have all my blocks done and I am smack dab in the middle of making sashing. I hope to get a lot done on it. I had to re-read the instructions. It doesn't seem possible that a year has passed. Margo, I think I may have figured out the ribbon border paper piecing. I will let you know; if I get that far and I so hope that I do.

I will post pictures when I get back.

Happy quilting and blessings,

Retreat

Our Kraz-z Quilters had another retreat! We went to Victorian House Retreat in Weatherford Monday through Wednesday. We had a lot of fun. I took the Time Travel quilt for DS#1 to put the last border on to bring it to queen size. One fellow quilter asked me, "Marilyn, do you ever put plain borders on?" Yes, I do but I felt this needed more flying geese. Why not? I haven't been following any pattern so that means I have to do the figuring. Math! I know. So I started cutting fabric then decided I better figure out how many I needed so I wouldn't come up short or make way too many. On Monday I was so tired from the weekend before so I was kinda brain dead if you know what I mean. 8 ) But after a good night's sleep I was good to go. It was my turn to cook lunch on Monday. Pasta salad and I took okra from our garden and fried.

Of course, there is always lots of good food at these retreats.

Gina and Kathleen--my sewing table is in front of Kathleen.

Gina of Busy Bees Quilters from Post Oak joined us this year. She bakes professionally. Oh, yeah! Red velvet cupcakes, coconut cake, and a heavenly blueberry chilled dessert! Forget any diet. Gina was a lot of fun and I believe she had a lot of fun.

Sharon was also a new comer. She joined our Kraz-z Quilters in January and we will be forever grateful! She hand quilts beautifully but most of all she is a beautiful person. AND she is a good cook! She has two sons still at home. Yeah, you know what that means! Cooking and lots of it.

Jan and Dixie busy at work.

It is so fun to see what everyone brings to sew on and watch their projects take shape. And the colors! Dixie, Jan, Kathleen, Sharon, Gina, and I had a blast. If you've never been on a retreat--you owe it to yourself to try one. If you do your homework they can be very affordable. We scheduled another retreat with the Victorian House and received 20% discount on our next retreat. A whole house with all linens, cutting tables, sewing tables, extension cords, design walls, irons and big ironing boards, pots and pans, coffee, etc. with two quilt shops nearby and more shopping available. A bargain!

Back to the quilt, I figured I was going to need 162 flying geese. (There's already 408 small ones--do the math--that brings the total to 570 flying geese.)Better get to sewing. I sewed and I sewed. It didn't look like I was getting much done. UNTIL late Tuesday night. Then Ta-DA. It started coming together. I sewed the two long side borders on and got most of the work done for the other two before time to go. If I have time in the next few days I will continue to work and get it completed. Stay tuned as they say.

God Bless,

Recipe and Retreat pictures

Ziploc Omelet

This is so much fun. It is good for groups. My sister gave me this recipe and it works really good when they go camping with the Boy Scouts.

Have each one write their name on a quart size Ziploc freezer bag with a permanent marker.


Crack 2 eggs (large or extra-large) into the bag (not more than 2) shake and squish to combine them. Put out a variety of ingredients such as: cheeses, ham, sausage, bacon bits, (all meats need to be cooked and I sauted the onion and peppers) onion, green pepper, tomato, hash browns, salsa, etc. Each person adds prepared ingredients of choice to their bag and shake. Make sure to get the air out of the bag and zip it up.

Place the bags into rolling, boiling water for exactly 13 minutes. You can usually cook 6 to 8 omelets in a large pot (stock pot - 7 to 8 qt is good). For more, make another pot of boiling water.

Cut across the top of the bag and slide the omelet out and enjoy.




The bags are in the pot. As you can see I didn't have a 7 or 8 quart pot. I was told by the retreat owner that there was a large pot. Her idea and my idea of a large pot are two different things. If I do it again I will take my own pot.


We had so much fun with these at retreat. Getting the air out is important. I forgot to tell them that part and what will happen is the bag fills with air and takes up a lot of room in the pot. Don't cheat--they need the full 13 minutes.


Jan joined us on Tuesday and brought her Double Wedding Ring she is hand piecing. The colors are fantastic!


Dixie happily working away. This is our raffle/donation quilt and we all pieced a block of this sampler. Then Dixie cut the alternate blocks and she made the center block then set them all together. She then asked for suggestions on the borders. I suggested the putty color. What do you think? If you click on the picture it will make it bigger and you can see the floral fabric has that color in one of the flowers.
And then the next day--the finished project.


I got caught still in my jammies. See my Stacked Moons behind me on the design wall?


Dixie helping Marie sandwich a baby quilt for her to hand quilt.



Priscilla put many many stitches in her doll house quilt before retreat. Continued working on it at retreat.
And on the design wall. With Marie pinning her 4 Patch Stacked Posies on the design wall.


Kathleen with her string quilt. Aren't the colors beautiful? She sewed the blocks at home then brought them specifically to put on a design wall to arrange the colors better. She got the whole thing sewed together and then brought out her Turning Twenty.
Got it all pinned up then we all helped her rearrange as the colors needed. Then she got it all the blocks sewn together then into rows before it was time to go.


If you haven't gone on retreat I encourage you to give it a try. I have been in this group for years and we know each other pretty well. And you get to know each other even better at a retreat. I didn't take a picture of Priscilla's PJ's she made just for retreat. They were black and white striped pants with a black and white print top with appliqued flowers. (She's one of those over achievers.) The rest of us don't let it bother us.

Can't wait to go back.


Blessings,

Another "Mason" weekend

Yes, it was another "Mason" weekend. We enjoyed him so much. I keep saying that he is a sweet baby--but he really is--and I have babysat lots of babies over the years. I got to rock him to sleep! He is crawling very fast these days. He was much better about the cabinets. He knows what the word "No" means. And you know what I am tired!

But he wasn't the only reason I'm tired. Thursday I pulled grass from the rocks in our rock patio. I refuse to use weed killers. We lost a darling Brittany Spaniel years ago to cancer and I read that weed killers are believed to contribute to cancer in animals. I could sure tell the next day that my muscles in my "rear end" had been used to squat and bend. I couldn't stand for our boys to see our patio all "grown up" since they always did such a good job keeping the yard when they lived at home with us.

This weekend we celebrated my youngest son's 25th birthday. I am amazed at him. He is so mature. He was recently promoted to assistant project manager at his engineering firm and he told his dad that he may be made project manager soon. So for his birthday celebration DH grilled steaks; I made a jello salad, homemade rolls, fried squash and a red velvet birthday cake from scratch. "Patting myself on the back". This is the second time this season that I have fried squash. We usually eat them steamed.

Friday, I went to Wal-Mart early. I needed print cartridges for the printer and of course lots of other "stuff". I found this neat stripe fabric to back one of the 4PSP baby quilts I made. I just love the way it turned out.

This quilt or the other one I made will go to Houston to a brand new little girl named Brooklyn.

DIL thinks the mommy might like the one with the polka dots better. This one is my favorite. But it's because I LOVE the shade of pink in the sashing. Click on the photo and look at the itty bitty 4 patches that make the corner stones. Aren't they so fun?

I wanted to post some more pics from the quilt retreat at The Quilt House. Patsy, I learned how to do the linky thing from Split Decisionz. Yippee! The bed to the right is where I slept.

Dixie is cooking lunch for us. Her Mexican dish was wonderful! I gotta get her recipe. Jan is cutting at the cutting table.

Kathleen posing with her Boondoggle quilt she completely sewed at the retreat. Great job! Jan's 4PSP she cut and sewed a big part of it at retreat. Another great job. Click on the photo to see the beautiful fabric. Dixie's quilt (sorry, I forgot the name of the pattern) on the design wall. Before we left she had put all the blocks together and some of the borders. This last Wednesday Jan and Dixie brought their completed quilt tops. I will have photos next post. We had a very productive retreat.

Blessings,

Hello World!

Last week and the three days of retreat went by like a blur! What fun I have had! God is so good! My DH is so good to me.

First off -- I didn't get a lot of pictures of Aimee. We were too busy having fun! Here she is doing a craft for NaNaw.

She made me a 3D paper sculpture of my Max. He is sitting down and do you see his tail in the second picture. She is going to be six next month. I am amazed at her imagination.

And she helped me sort my scraps. She is also very good at sorting.
Her mommy is a dream at organizing. I believe she inherited those traits.


My DH brought these stacked plastic bins from work. He found them in a storage area and they were going to throw them away. And now any thing smaller than a fat quarter lives here except for squares that are already cut down and the strings already sorted for projects. I even got all my bigger pieces folded and stacked. Yippeee!


I also made her a purse from this pattern while she sewed yo-yo's using the Clover yo-yo maker. And you DGMs out there know--it's "NaNaw, my thread is tangled!" or "Nanaw, I don't know what I did, but can you help me?" So the purse took much longer than I wanted it to. But it turned out cute. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture. Bad blogger, I know. I got caught up in the moment. Did I say moment? It was hours. It really is a simple pattern but the whole fitting the side/bottom piece to the front and back thingy took ME a while. And I do plan on making her an outfit to go along with the purse. I got her measurements.

We went swimming at the public pool. There were NO pictures. I (ahem) have gained weight since the last time I wore my swimsuit. So I wore shorts so folks couldn't see where I oosed out of my suit. We had a lot of fun.

Okay, now for the retreat! Oh, my gosh, we had so much fun! We can't wait to do it again. We stayed at The Quilt House in Azle, Texas. It was just what our small group of four needed. She can handle eight but it gave us good room and honestly eight would be a little crowded. It is very affordable! We would like to go back someday soon. But we also want to try out some others. She didn't have an area with a sofa and that would have been nice to relax. But we were very busy sewing, talking, and of course, EATING. Oh, my gosh, I am still so full.
The first picture is myself on the left and my fellow quilter, Jan, enjoying the swing. I finished the Time Travel quilt. Woohoo! And the purple 4 Patch Stacked Posies is on the design wall. I had never used a design wall. Oh, my gosh! Wonderful! There were three design walls. I got all the blocks sewn together for the purple 4PSP and then barely got started with the sashing before it was time to go. On Tuesday we shopped at a local quilt shop. AND Nancy, the owner of The Quilt House, runs an online quilt store from the converted garage in The Quilt House and she is a vendor (Quiltin' Gals) at a lot of the big quilt shows SO we got to shop her store anytime day or night we wanted. She specializes in 30's reproduction prints. She has more fabric than a lot of quilt shops, folks. There is very little walking room in her store.

This is a very long post and I will post some more pictures in another post. Bye for now.
Blessings,