I'm a quilter!!!

So tell me.....

how do these things follow me home?

My sister-in-law convinced me this one (Flirty) is quick and easy. 

I picked this merino wool in a colorway call "solitude".  

When I went into the yarn shop, I saw Peacock's Pride made up and just had to have it.  

I still need to go back and find a contrasting yarn that will go with this beautiful turquoise. 

But...this one is done in brioche knitting.

I don't know how to do brioche knitting.  

What was I thinking?

But.....I want it.

Oh...help me.  

Rainbow's Pot of Gold

See that?!!

The pot of gold is right on the beach outside the penthouse condo I spent a week at in paradise (Luquillo Beach, PR).  

Then there were the three days afterwards spent at Gran Melia in Puerto Rico where we just relaxed. 

I am still basking in all that warmth and sunshine (even though it is just in my head).  

Oh....I could just live at that resort! 

I have been away from my sewing for two weeks now and didn't even think about it while we were gone, but I have two retreats coming up and I need to start thinking about getting prepared for them. 

So, today the quilty chics and I went on a little excursion and went to Mabelena's in Ortonville, MI to look for some solids for the Garden Chevrons quilt that I am prepping for one of the retreats; and this is what I came up with.  

The print in the upper left is the backing and the small print on the upper right is the binding.  ohhhh....I am getting excited about this quilt. 

Also, picked up a few 30s  and some other small prints to go along with the jelly roll  that I received that inspired this quilt to begin with.  

For the second quilt that I need prepped for another retreat, the Diamond Detour, I picked up a background solid.  I decided on a lighter gray making it look even more modern with subtle changes in the grays rather than going with a deeper gray or white.  In my head, I envision this to be really contemporary.  We will see.  

I need to start cutting out my pieces and then I will be all set for my upcoming retreats.  I have time, but we all know how time flies.  

Also, I picked up a dot fabric for the scrappy setting blocks for my Halloween Cats quilt.  

Ok...back to those warm memories.

See the bird?  That's what happens when you sit still too long.  

Retreat #2.....planning ahead

Garden Chevrons is my next retreat project that I am going to get prepped.

This project is from Fons and Porter "Quilty" magazine, the March/April 2015 issue.  

I had made a baby quilt from this magazine so I figure if I can find more than one pattern in a magazine that I want to make, it is well worth it.  You can find that baby quilt here.  

Anyways, I had received a jelly roll from a friend (Sandy) called Bunny Tales by Robert Kaufman and I am going to use it for the printed strips.  

I will need to make my shopping list of solids to add to this quilt AND this quilt is paper pieced, so I will have to run copies of all the blocks.  

So....I am thinking this quilt might just be easy peasy and very do-able at a retreat along with my other long-term projects.  

First before I go shopping, I may pull a few more prints from my 30's collections.

Then my shopping list consists of; 

3/8 yard each of red, blue, lavender, yellow, green, peach and aqua

 1/2 yard navy solid for block centers

1/2 yard  aqua solid for border

5/8 yard aqua print for binding

3 1/2 yards backing fabric (ooh...I'll have to find something unique)

Now those colors are subject to change depending on what I see when I go shopping AND what I find to be more predominate in my jelly roll.  

Ok.....now to start thinking about retreat #3's new project that needs to be prepped.  

Retreat #1.....planning ahead

With retirement in the near future, I have planned for myself three quilt retreats......so far. 

The first one will be in April.  Second one in May.  Third one in June. 

Wow...I have never done that before! 

So, I thought I had better get busy and start planning some of my projects.  

I want to do this diamond quilt called Diamond Detour.  

I have been collecting fabrics slowly for the last year. 

I need 13 pieces or fat quarters.  I have 14, so one of them will have to be eliminated.  Which one would you eliminate?  I am thinking that maybe my big check might not work depending on how big the pieces are or maybe the fifth fabric from the left as it has a little bit more of a "dirty" look to it.  

Earlier this Fall I stopped in at a new to me contemporary quilt shop and found the big dots with the yellow background and thought it would make a great backing.  I NEVER buy yardage unless I have something in mind and I didn't have the pattern with me, but I normally would have bought 3 yards.  Well, this project requires 4 yards.  How lucky am I?.....I bought 4 yards.  yeah!!!

Anyways....back to my planning projects.  My whole point in pulling things out was to make a list of what I still need.  I need a background for this quilt.  

Do I do white? light gray? dark gray? light gold? or a darker gold?

Any ideas?

I probably will have to take some snippets to the store and interview them.  I had a gray with tiny white dots in my stash and  I thought how great would that be to be able to use from my stash, but it has more of a "dirty" gray look, so  that is not going to work.  

Oh well, 3 yards background goes on the shopping list. 

There are always other things to work on at retreats that I have going.....those are called long term projects, but it is always nice to make something new and something that you can actually complete at retreat.  

Stay tuned for the next project for retreat #2. I already have something in mind.  

One Christmas quilt down....

Just took this one off the longarm.  

The quilting on it is hard to see because I used Green Glide thread and the fabric is pretty busy, but I think the panto "Flurry" was the perfect choice for this quilt.  

The quilting shows up well in shadows.

You can really see the quilting on the backing though.  I used a dk. green Fil-Tec thread in the bobbin.  Makes for an interesting back.  

Now....trying to decide if I want to put another Christmas quilt on the long arm.  We will see. 

It's Christmas today.....

Yesterday was Halloween for me.  Today is Christmas.

Although I got to enjoy  Christmas somewhat this past December, it got cut short with the two funerals, so I am still in the Christmas mode along with Halloween.

So, I have loaded a customer quilt which has Christmas themed fabrics onto the longarm and am doing a snowflake panto on it.  I figure that is still within the realm of reality since it is still winter. 

I am doing a panto called "Flurry" on this one.  

Here is a close up of one of the snowflakes. I just love these snowflakes.  

What's really going to be interesting is the backing.  I am using a dark green thread on the cream backing.  Here's a little peek at that.  

This one will be done very soon and then I can show you the whole thing....front and back.  

I don't care that I am behind on the holidays, but what I do care about is that I am back sewing.  It is such great therapy and I certainly need that about now.  

I hope to stay on track now and get caught up with my quilts and customer quilts, too.  My time is mostly mine now.  Just need to retire and my time will be ALL mine. 

Soon.... 

Time Warp...

Yes, life for me has felt like I have been in a time warp.  If you have read my last couple of posts you will know what I am talking about. My time warp started mid October and has really just ended ....maybe somewhat hazily....this week, since I am still dealing with "paperwork"...ugh.

So since I totally missed out on Halloween, I cut out a quilt that I have been wanting to try.

Here are my blocks. 

Definitely looks Halloween-y, doesn't it?

I've laid out my blocks in order.

Now my rows are put together.

Are you getting the idea?  This will be one of those lil' twister quilts.  

Rows are sewed together and this is the center of the quilt. 

Borders need to be attached.

Then there is the lil' twister ruler. 

.....and this is what your quilt top starts to look like when you cut out blocks using the lil' twister.

Swiss cheese.  The whole quilt top will look like this in the end. 

I couldn't wait to sew together a couple rows.  Not only to see them, but to keep them in order since they are so small and I didn't want to get them messed up. 

Here you will see the first  of the pinwheels.

This is a time consuming little quilt (VERY time consuming) but I think it is going to be so worth it.  

Yup...it's worth it.  

Those light colors in the pumpkin are a whole lot lighter when using the flash.  They read a little more subtle in real time.  

Next project is a Christmas one.  Stay tuned.  

I am so glad to be back to sewing and quilting