Getting Ready for another Retreat

Well finally school is back in session, I get my life back, LOL. A routine is already starting gosh is feels so great. I'm getting ready for another quilt retreat, hopefully I can get some UFO's finished & ready to quilt. I'm starting to get my "pile" together to take with me. I'm so looking forward to some time away after the summer I had, no kids, no husband, no cooking, no cleaning, no wanting to change your name from "MOM". Pure Relaxing~~~. The one I'll be going to is in Jackson ohio at a 4-H camp. so nice and peaceful. Here is all of the information about it at www.ohioquilters.com/SeptemberRetreat.html. Want to join in the fun.

Got to finish up my quilt blocks for a swap i'm in call all my stars which is going to be done up in nothing but Kansas Troubles Snow Bloom line. So yummy~~~ can't wait to get these back and put them together.

I should make a list of UFO's and things so i can stay on track. I wouldn't know what to do without my "lists", I'm such a list maker, LOL.

The picture is of some flowers I planted this past summer in an old rustied out double wash tub. I love how the colors just go together. would make a beautiful quilt.

Off to Quilting we will go

Finally have some time for quilting, Yea~~ Hopefully this summer has slowed down for me some. I've got revival all this week going on but so far the day time is looking quite nicely.

I posted a picture of part of my quilting room which is a converted small garage size is 16x24'. I machine quilt on a grace machine frame and with a Janome 1600 DBX. I'd love to have a bigger throated machine but I'm content with what I have. I'll admit I love having the space to work on projects, leave it and come back to it later when I want it. I keep most of my fabric in the cabinets sorted by colors. The drawers to the left in the picture has anything 1/2 yard smaller in there sorted by style, example: civil war, country, w.o.w fabric, 1930's, flannels and mixed. There are 3 scrap baskets under my cutting table once they are full I start cutting them in squares from sizes 6"-1" in size and place them in drawers maked by size.

So now I'm going to put one of my 9 tops on frame to get them quilted, I hope. I'm making a list of them so I can start marking them off as I get them completed.

What to do with These Strips

Well been swapping out some 1930's strips now I don't know what I'm going to make with them. any ideas would be greatly welcomed, so please post away. but please, please don't mention a log cabin quilt, those drive me insane while sewing, my lil mind can't take it, LOL.

I've got a lot of 1930's in my stash I'm willing to cut into more strips if needed, trying to reduce my stash so that isn't a problem.

I need some motivation in getting my butt in gear so help a quilter out here, LOL

Here is a picture of some of the strips. Aren't they gorgeous~~~

another Week gone by

Wow another week has gone by, still not sewing much, just can't get motivated except for some birthday blocks in the Ohioquilters group and Ross County guild blocks for our 2008 raffle quilt.

I'll blame my lack of motivation on the weather, yep summer is here. Our garden is coming along nicely, already eating cucumbers. Nothing like picking fresh cucumbers, peeling it, put alittle bit of catalina dressing and eat away. Tomatoes should be ripe enough in another week or so. I can't wait for them to get ripe, I love getting fresh tomatoes, wiping the dirt off, put alittle bit of salt & have at it. So yummy especially when still warm from the vine. Nothing like a store bought one, that is for sure. We planted pole beans this year & have them on a 4' tall fence in which they've already surpassed & now are growing back down. This is the first time we've planted them I hope they are good coooked up. Our zucchini is coming along nice too, already have a couple tiny ones. Hope this year to can some, haven't done any canning for a long time but am thinking about it this year. My flowers are blooming & the hummingbirds are zooming around. I put a picture of one of the hummingbirds I caught with the camera. So relaxing listening & watching them buzz around. Also a picture of one of my flowers i planted, which I'm considering making this into a wallhaning using fusible applique & maybe embellishing too. I thought it would be very pretty.

We are still looking for some land to buy here somewhere in ross county or close to ross county. Just haven't found what we are looking for at the right price. I'm sure it will come when it is suppose to, if not I'll be content with staying here on our little 1 acre place.

We finished up vacation bible school last week. That was lots of fun, the kids had a great time, & finally my oldest son has taken an interest in going to church which is such a blessing. So we are going back to church more often which is nice, now if I can talk my husband into going. Which will happen in his time. My oldest is doing driving which is going along nice, so far no close calls, so I'm happy with that.

So leaving you with a recipe that is wonderful to snack on or take to a get together.

This is so yummy~~~

Pineapple Pretzel Fluff

INGREDIENTS 1 cup coarsely crushed pretzels 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted 1 cup sugar, divided 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened 1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained 1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

DIRECTIONS In a bowl, combine pretzels, butter and 1/2 cup sugar. Press into a 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan. Bake at 400 degrees F for 7 minutes. Cool. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and remaining sugar until creamy. Fold in pineapple and whipped topping; chill until serving. Break pretzel mixture into small pieces; stir into pineapple mixture.

NQA Show What a Blast

Well went to the NQA show here in Columbus, Ohio and had a blast. Wish I would have felt better but my alergeries were given me a run for my money, they were awful. Wished I could have stayed longer to visit with more friends & enjoy it more but oh well.

I did get to walk around with my good friend Bonnie Graham from Parkersburg, WV. We had a good time drooling over the quilts, trying to find some great buys at the show too.

Met up with some other friends from the Ohioquilters Online group too, which is always so much fun.

Here is a picture of one of my favorites up top, plus the quilting on it. I'm loving the mixture of pinks and browns/ tans. One of my new favorite loves.

I did pick up only one quilt kit, a couple yards of fabric and a few fat quarters. Oh and some machine quilting thread I was wanting to try. Lord knows I need to get going on those tops I have 9 ready to put on my grace frame to get quilted.

My oldest son has gotten his drivers permit, so we've been busy with that with driving school, plus weight lifting for fall football, and normal things. My youngest is signed up for bookworm which he loves to do. Plus this week vacation bible school which is a lot of fun for all, I sit in on adult bible study which I love to do, so interesting & really makes you think about life.

Our garden is coming along nicely we tried pole beans this year, hopefully the rabbit will stay out of them, have 12 tomatoe plants, cucumber which we also have growing on a trelis, zuchinni plants, plus some flowers in between the rows. I'm hoping this year to try my hand at some canning, maybe even go to the amish auction to buy some vegetables to can also but we will see.

Another top to add to the pile

Well I finished an online mystery last week, was pretty fun and turned out great too. We also sent out a package to a person in an exchange I got some wonderful needles, a pattern & everything to make it with also a scrapbag & pincushion. I'd been eyeing one of these for a long time but never made any, now there is now excuse but time!!! Plus she sent me some

5" charms from kT line of aunt purdy, love those charms, and she also makes her own soy candles, so she tucked some in there of them, they are out of this world~~~ wonderful, smelling and burns nicely too. check out her website tell her Carolyn from KT Camp sent ya. www.kskreations.com They are some great candles.

I also got some 1930's reproduction 3" strips from an online centralized swap at the ohioquilters group www.ohioquilters.com and they are great!! Don't know what I"m going to use mine for yet but will come up with something I'm sure. These are some great gals to exchange with. I must say I'll be signing up for the 3" strip swap again. I love the kitty ones, along with the scotty dogs and don't forget the chickens too. My favorites of the 1930's reproductions are the flowers especially daisy's. I love those.

Heading to another retreat

well I'm a week away from heading to another quilt retreat. I'm so excited~~ I'm packing away some UFO's, some other items I'm wanting to get completed ( I hope) and maybe start some new things.
This is my last one before fall hits them one more I'll be done for the year.
I'll be charging up the camera for some great picture taking I hope. don't know if I'll be doing much shopping since I'm trying my very very best to work out of my stash as much as possible.
Gosh that is going to be so hard being up there with other quilter on a buying frenzie and a bunch of awesome quilt shops with some great prices~~

Organization~~~~

Well here it is April and getting into the "spring" cleaning mood and simplify my sewing area. Well I have a 16x24' converted garage as my sewing area. I love it. Clyde my hubby insulated and put up strand board with lots of outlets and lighting. I've been adding cupboards as the extra cash comes available. I've got a L-shaped sewing table and another huge desk to sew or craft on. Clyde even bought me a dorm size refrigerator to put in there as well. Now only if I had a bathroom I'd probable never leave there. I keep my grace machine quilter in there. We were discussing organzation on the ohioquilters list, and I told them about the container I use to keep all of my "feet", accessories, thread etc when I go on a retreat. ( which I'm leaving come May for another quilt retreat, pure heaven) so I've enclosed a picture of what I use. I picked this up in the hardware section it is used actually to put assorted sizes of nail, nuts & bolts ect. Has a nice tight lid on it, plus I can carry pretty much all I need for a retreat. For example extra thread, prewound bobbins, stuff to clean my machine, extra feet, an electric adapter, cutters, sissors, glue stick ( paper piecing), and just about anything. This also fits nicely in my rolling tote that I put my machine in. I love new ideas on how to organize my stuff.

Quilt Retreats~~~ A piece of Heaven

Well went to another quilt retreat the weekend of March 2-4th, 2007 and Had a ball~~. I don't understand why more women don't do this. I had so much fun. Met up with 8 Ohioquilters members there, we laughed, teased one another, sewed, ate, laughed some more and made some lasting friendships. This was such a wonderful weekend. I believe more women should be going to these just to get away from everyday life. You can go there, and be goofy for the whole weekend, guess what no one cares your a little bit nuts, because they are being the same way. The best part is no phones to answer ( unless of course you leave your cell phone on),your not a taxi, your not making dinner, your not cleaning up after others, not being a referee and lots of other things I could list. The best part you can do what you want when you want to. When you are heading home you just feel so relaxed and can't wait to start sewing again on some quilts. I recommend going to one of these at least once a year. You do get to meet some wonderful women that enjoys the same hobby as you plus who knows what other hobbys you might have the same interest. If you get the chance to go to a quilt retreat do so, you'll never regret it. I can't wait until May for my next one then it will on to September for my last one of the year.

A table Runner Completed

Here is a couple pictures of the table runner I completed for a swap in the Ohioquilters Yahoo group. I got my friend Ellen who owns Honey Fork Fabrics, which is a wonderful online & brick/mortar shop here in Logan, Ohio. She wanted an american theme. So I came across this pattern online which reminded me as the fireworks you see exploding in reds & blues. I hope she likes it as much as I liked making it for her.

The Red that looks like dots is actually stars, what looks like black is a dark navy and the paisley is on a white background.

Another UFO Bits the dust

Well yesterday I finished up another UFO called American Crossroads. i found this in the quilt sampler magzine last year, it was featuring one of my favorite quilt shops called Quilt Plus in Indiana. I dug thru all of my scraps done up in dark navys, blues, dark pinks, tans/browns and some shirtings. away i went. Well got distracted bag them up along with the magazine in a ziploc and put them in my pile of kits in the baskets. Well I decided this year I was going to get a lot of those kits etc done. Well another is done, BUT i may put a couple of boarders on it, maybe a pink small one about a 1" then a larger one in blue for the final with a tan binding.

So far I have about 9 quilt tops to get quilted this spring once the weather warms up. With the price of propane I don't want to run it too much out there in the sewing room. I machine quilt all of mine on my grace machine quilting frame using a Janome 1600 DBX which I love. Investing in that has saved me so much money on sending them out. Worth every dime. I send some still out for custom work atleast until I get better, LOL.

The snow has came & gone, but boy do we have some ice leftover. Which I would loved more snow then the ice. Talking more snow this weekend which is a possiblity. Well I'll just put on a pot of soup, warm up some bread & keep on quilting.

Now I'm working on my pedels for a quilt called Aunt purdy's palor. Need some hand work for the evenings so I'm applique them on each block.

Snows a Coming~~ I can Sew, Sew, Sew

Well Snow is suppose to be coming late tonight along with Yikes!! Ice. ( bad,bad word) Let it snow all it wants as long as the electric is on I'm fine. I've dug out two ufo's to work on, plus a tablerunner for a swap I'm in, along with 2 birthday blocks in the Ohioquilters online group. So I'm content with staying home and sewing. I'm hoping this year to complete most of my ufo's that I have in my sewing room. But the question is what am I going to do with all of these quilts when they are done. :0) I'm sure I can find something to do with them. One of the ufo's is called American Crossroads, I purchased the kit at a quilt shop called Quilt plus. I love the blues, pinks, tans and creams. I added to the selection of fabric they sent to me, most of them are vintage looking or civil war reproductions. The other ufo I dug out is called Aunt Purdy's parlor quilt. It was another block swap, need to make some more of the border and add all of the leaves. I believe I"m going to add them buy using fusible lightweight interfacing and machine applique them, but we will see. It will look nice once completed. Why is it we ( quilters) have UFO's?? I mean do we get that bored with the fabric? Don't like the pattern any longer? Are we all adults with A.D.D? Or is it something catches our eye and we hafta start it now!!! I know on a recent trip up to the Glass thimble in Columbus, Ohio with some girlfriends. I saw this quilt called Home Sweet Home done up in creams, dk. muted pinks, robin egg blue, sage green and gorgeous tans. Well I just stood their gazing at how beautiful it was. I knew then I had to make this quilt. So guess what I bought the book, now looking for that perfect background fabric and collecting the other fabric for the houses etc. so I can get started on it!! Yep, here is another one started before long, LOL hopefully not a UFO!!!
Stay Warm~~~ Pray for electric during the next couple days so I can sew, sew, sew~~~~

Another quilt top done, Yea!!!

Well I finished another top. It is called Chelsea's Boutique done up in my favorite lines of fabric called Kansas troubles. It turned out rather nicely and used up a bunch of scraps, which is always a plus. I did this in 3 days while being snowed in with the kids this week. Had to do something to keep my sanity.
Was a very easy pattern, plus i simplified it and instead of uning 4 7/8" square to make 1/2 square triangles I dug out my 5" charms I purchased for another quilt project. Use them instead, which was a major time savor, and trimmed them down to 4 1/2" after sewing them. Now I have to replace my charms to do the other quilt. Don't you love how the colors just go together? One more quilt that went into the "need" to be quilted pile. Now up to 8 boy I wish the weather would warm up so I can go out there & sew without turning on the heaters.

Log Cabin blocks all done

Well finally got all of my 6 1/2" log cabin blocks done for a quilt. I was needing to make 104 of them and 80 flying geese to make a quilt called double duty by mis rosie. I did these all in scraps of Kansas trouble fabrics. Will send some in to swap with other quilters and then once those are returned I'll put it all together.

Spent the most wonderful day on sat with some friends. Visited a quilt shop in columbus, Ohio called The Glass Thimble. It was a shop I visited a while back but the people there were kinda snobby, acted like it was a bother for them to wait on you, stuff every where, and kinda had the feeling of drab unbecoming. Well they sold the shop to some new owners this past fall. The new owners have done such a wonderful Job, Love the shop. It felt so clean, well organized, lite and airy. The gals working were oh so helpful & polite. Wonderful lighting and just gorgeous inside. Will definately return there. I found a quilt top I just fell in love with called home sweet home by blackbird designs, done up in robin egg blue, muted pinks, buttery yellows and lite tans. They were sold out of the book. So started searching on the internet~~~found the book & found out they have block of the month also, hhmmm but every place is filled up, gggrrrrrr. so this is going to be one of my projects to do up my own quilt and hopefully get it completed by the end of the year.~~~~~ I hope.~~~~

Well been awhile since I've posted anything, been so busy with life. Boy life just seems to get in the way of quilting at times. So it is a new year, hopefully a great year. It is snowing and looks so fresh & clean outside. Right now I'm working on so much, lets see~~~ We've got the Ohioquilters retreat coming up in May finalizing things with that, the Chillicothe Guild starting a new raffle quilt, and working on my own stuff. Trying to get done some of those UFO's done up this year. I've got 3 I'm wanting to get done by the end of March BUT I keep getting caught up in some wonderful online projects with some yahoo groups. Hate to miss out on anything with them. Here is a picture of one of those I did, thru an online group. All done up in Kansas Troubles fabric. The pattern is called Itsy Bitsy Spider. Love how it turned out but oh so time consuming. I decided to use up a lot of my scraps and took much longer than expected. But made a dent in my stash. :)
That is one of my goal this year is to cut down my stash, I know such a drastic thing to do but I do have so much. Plus maybe make room for some of the fabric I truely love. I have fabric when I look at it I'm thinking now " What was I thinking buying that? Was I on some drugs?" so it is being used as charity quilts or as backings. Now don't get me wrong it is beautiful fabric, but not my cup of tea any more.
Well off to sew some 6" log cabin blocks with 1/2 square triangle centers used in a block swap. I've already done up all of my flying geese. The pattern is called Double duty, going to be done up in all Kansas troubles fabric.

My newest addition

Here is my newest addition to our family. Her name is Mischief & boy does she live up to her name. She is about 4 1/2 months old, she was another drop off. She loves to play, which I think keeps the other older cats on their toes ( or should i said Paws) for sure. Here is one of her favorite spots to sleep in. Doesn't she look all comfortable? Well getting ready to start sewing my 30's quilt swap blocks that are due end of the week. Only have 12 blocks to make, Yea!!! Also a birthday block swap is due too. Gosh things piled up because of the quilt show, now need to play catch up.

Life back to normal~

Well have the quilt show behind me. Now I've got to get caught up on my two upcoming swaps and a birthday blocks~~ Kids are back to school so hopefully once we get a routine set up will be more time for quilting. Have some christmas gifts to get done.
Debating right now to rejoin one of my quilt guilds there just seems to be quite a lot of drama and high school clicky crap going on, which I hate to get involved in. Plus it is a drive for me 40 minutes one way & gas prices need I say more. plus I'm not really getting anything from it, which I feel is sad cause there are talented people in that group, but don't like to share.
well gotta finish my house work for the week so I can sew, sew all week.

Quilt Show Has begun

Well the quilt show starts today. We spent yesterday with a NQA judge, writing comments for over 150 quilted items, then hung the quilt show after that. Made for a long long day, but learned a lot and had fun too. Plus seeing all of those gorgeous quilted items, makes you want to run home and quilt.

Well I ended up with 3 - 1st place ribbons, 1 - 3rd place. Not too bad for entering in 9 items. I recieved a first place for my black & batik quilt, one for my 1930's miniature quilt, and one for a amish trip around the world wallhanging that was hand-quilted. The 3rd place was for my nine patch on point quilt that was hand-quilted. I was so thrilled. This was my first time entering a show, always have been so nervous & I'm funny about letting other look at my stuff & making comments. Cause you know sometimes those comments you don't want to hear.

The NQA judge we had was Lorraine Covington. She was awesome!! Had a great personality, always had something nice to say about each item, plus commented on where you need to work on. Loved it!! Had a wonderful sense of humor as well. I learned quite a bit while writing out comments for her for the quilt entries. I would recommend her for any quilt guild show that needs to be judged. Such a great lady.

I'll post some pictures lately of the show & my quilts that won~~

Getting Ready for Quilt show

Well I've been getting my quilts ready for our local quilt show. This will be my first one to enter, scared to death. LOL. Right now I'm putting prairie points on my block quilt that is done in spinning star with batiks & black, plus crystals. Boy am I going out of my box!! I'm a primitive folkart type of gal!!
I posted a small picture of it. Love the quilting in it. I've got two wallhangings, another quilt done up in turtles, and one done up in hearts & stars that has button hole stitched them down all by hand. Hope to have a couple of minitures done as well. There is a contest to see who can enter the most. I don't think I'll win but I'm going to try.
The prairie points are going to be a challenge, never done one before so this is all new to me. pressing all of those points I have a feeling is going to take hours. I have 2 weeks till show time. Hope to get them done & ready to go.
I've posted another picture of a mystery quilt I did this past weekend. It was lots of fun. Done in Kansas trouble fabric, which is my one of my loves. Turned out to be kinda americana but didn't mean for it to. Isn't it funny how a quilt takes a mind of it's own. Love to know what you think.
God Bless~~~~

A little bit about me~~~

Well lets see, I live in Ohio and have for all of my life. I've been quilting going on 16 yrs now & still lovin' it. I mostly lean towards traditional patterns with some primitive style thrown in there. I love the soft muted muddled colors and also the deep dark rich reds/mustards/blacks and such. I also enjoy working in my flower gardens i have, a small vegetable garden, and primitive doll making. I belong to a couple of quilt guilds which are a lot of fun. I'm married for 16 years have 2 sons ages 15 & 8, which my boys are a handfull in themselves. We also cater to our babies which are our 5 cats. hhmmmm let's see I'm a stay at home mom going on 8 years which is a job in itself, gosh working outside the home seemed a lot easier in a lot of ways. I have a 16x24' sewing area all mine, my sweet husband converted one of the garages on our property in to my "quilting" area in which i have my grace machine quilter, all of my fabrics, vintage trims ect and filled with things that make me smile~~~