The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get......

That old Pennsylvania Dutch saying rings way too true, especially these days. We had the grandchildren for the weekend, which means we didn't get much of our stuff done. Miss Thing and I did work on her quilt blocks, but this time we didn't quite finish, so no pictures of them yet. I still haven't gotten around to putting borders on the two quilts I assembled at retreat. I'm trying to catch up on some chores around here, however, I did get some sewing done. Back in the spring I showed some pictures of Fabric Art Postcards that I am doing as part of a birthday swap. Well, we are down to the final two people, one in November and one in December. I decided while I was making one, I might as well make the second, because this time of year I may just never get the chance again! Here they are.

Retreat part deux

Thought I forgot to include what we actually sewed, didn't you?? Here are just a few of the projects being worked on, some folks pieced blocks, some assembled blocks into tops, some added borders to tops, and some basted tops for quilting. We all brought more quilting projects than we could possibly work on and precious few clothes! Here are Murrell's lavendar and green blocks, Carols lively pastel blocks, Jane's top, Pegs pieces on her design wall,and Ann's spectacular dahlia, which she intends to hand quilt. I didn't get pictures of everyone's projects, and one picture that I haven't included is Ellen's new design. I didn't include that because she may publish it. I also haven't taken pictures of the two tops I worked on. I finished making the blocks (about 140 of them) and put them into rows and it is now ready for borders. I had brought the border fabric with me, but when I laid it out, the fabrics just didn't seem like the right choice, so I moved on to the next project. That next project was Judy's Winter Break that I started way back when. I'm down to the last of the borders on that one- pictures when I get that far.

Retreat !

My guild just had its annual retreat, and for the first time I was able to go- color me a happy girl! We met at the FFA camp in Covington. What a nice place that is, I'd love to go back again, soon. There were ten of us for two and a half days of sewing and eating. We sewed from breakfast to bed time in a room below the dining room. That was so convenient, only having to go up the stairs, have our meal ready for us, and return downstairs for more sewing. Here are some photos of the facility, which was well off the beaten track and manned by some of the nicest folks you could ever want to deal with. Our cottage, the dining hall, different angles of our sewing space and an early morning shot of the mist rising from the lake behind our cottage.

* FFA is Future Farmers of America

New Quilt for new baby

My brother has recently become a grandfather! We just won't say what that makes me......shhh! Anyway, when we were at his home last summer to bury mom, I saw the preparations for the baby shower and absconded with one of the napkins. Since we live so far away, we all knew I wasn't going to the shower, so I guess having a 'souvenier' didn't seem odd to any of them. My newphews wife said that the baby's room was going to be blue and tan and that they were going with a cars and trucks/transportation type theme. The napkin was a train. You quilters know what I am getting at, I made an enlarged version of the napkin into a crib quilt. I did make a few changes, but basically, I think it looks a whole lot like the napkin. I'm about halfway thru the quilting.