Quilting Retreat

Last weekend I met my best friend, Marcia, for a quilting retreat. It was on a product called Quilt Smart. There were about 30 people there and we all worked on our own project using Quilt Smart. Marcia worked on a Lone Star and I worked on a

Mariner's Compass. It was great fun! It was wonderful spending time with Marcia. We don't get to see each other as often as we would like. We lived in the same small town southeast of Kansas City for years and became best friends. Since I moved to the other side of the state, and we both married, it is hard for us to get together. So, this was a great weekend for us to get together and "catch up".

These are some pictures of the Mariner's Compass that I worked on. The wedges are not sewn together, but were done and put on a design wall. One picture is of Mattie (from Quilt Smart) and me beside the Mariner's Compass.

Since the retreat, I finished the Mariner's Compass and I have sewn it to the background piece. Here it is on the background. I need to add borders to square it up.

What better way to spend a weekend? Quilting with your best friend! Thanks again, Marcia, for going to the retreat.

Don't Fence Me In Quilt

This quilt pattern is called "Don't Fence Me In". I love the fabrics. I pieced this quilt about 3-4 years ago (before Chris and I got married). I finally got it quilted.

This picture is of it while I was quilting it.

This is a close-up of the borders. I quilted feathers in the outside border and leaves in the inside border. They were done free-hand. I think they turned out pretty good.

Here is a close-up of the blocks and how I quilted them. I did a continuous quilt design in the blocks. There are flowers in the center of the block and I did swirls in the corners.

Here is a close-up of the back of the quilt. I used blue thread so the quilting would really show. Let me know what you think. They are not perfect, but I enjoyed doing this design.

Quilting Pictures

I took pictures this week of some of my quilting. Also took pictures at our Guild meeting Monday night.
This first picture is of me showing my quilt at the Guild meeting. It is done with a Jelly Roll. The fabric is Cabbage Rose. I love the colors and the design. Stephanie, who works at a local fabric shop, came up with this design and I "borrowed" it. I am going to loan it to the shop for their Shop Hop next month.




This is the second quilt I started today using the same pattern, but with the Wildflower Serenade II Jelly Roll. I have the blocks sewn together, but did not get another picture. It is ready for borders, but I have not bought the border fabric yet. Maybe next weekend I can get some.
Next weekend is the retreat in Joplin. Really looking forward to it and spending time with Marcia.
I have some other pictures to upload, but will do it tomorrow.
Happy Quilting!

Beautiful Day!

Today was a beautiful day! The weather was wonderful! I hope it stays this way, but I'm afraid it won't. Went to Bible Study after school and then came home. Kayla had to make me supper. They made Spring Rolls in school today. She had some stuff left over and made me one. They were really good! I had to make me another one. She is excited that she is learning to cook more than toast, Hot Pockets, and Easy-Mac.
I tried to quilt last night, but my machine sounds aweful! It was making a terriable grinding sound. I called Gammill this afternoon and the tech said it sounded like the belt was slipping. I took my machine apart to get to the belt tonight. When I took the casing off, I turned the wheel and it turned just fine. I put the case back on and if I tightened it, it make the grinding sound again. So, I made adjustments and got it fixed. I was so excited! I fixed it! So, I got to quilt for about an hour.
Tomorrow is Friday and we have a long weekend. We are out tomorrow and Monday. The teachers have a work day on Tuesday, but the kids don't go back until Wednesday. Five days without kids. I have a lot of quilting to do this weekend. I have a big list of UFO's to work on and they want me to do a quilt for church. I bought fabric for it yesterday. I want to cut it tomorrow so it will be ready to sew when ever I get a chance.
It's time for bed. I'm tired, but get to sleep in tomorrow. I'm excited about that.

Terrific Tuesday

Today I took my 3 quilts to school that I finished in the last 2 weeks. Tina's quilt is so big, I wanted to use the tables in the library to trim it. So, after school, I trimmed all 3 quilts. They are ready to sew binding on. I am excited to have these 3 quilts almost done. I will try to post pictures soon. The binding is ready for Tina's quilt and one of the others. The third one, the binding is almost ready.
Not much else is going on. I didn't do any quilting today. I got home late and then had to go pick up my daughter. Chris got home not long after we got back. We had supper, cleaned up and now I am watching TV and relaxing. It seems like I don't do that much. Again, not much else going on.

Weekend is over

The weekend is over. It is time to go to bed. Tomorrow will start a new week. It will be a long week at school. We were out of school Tuesday-Friday of last week. We still have snow on, but will go back to school in the morning. I guess we have to go back sometime. I have enjoyed my days off. I got to do a lot of sewing and quilting. I have one month until Track starts. Then my time at home will be really short...even less quilting.
Went to the Southwest Longarm Quilt Guild meeting on Saturday. That was a good time of learning some new stuff. We have a meeting in the morning, eat lunch, and then get on the machines in the afternoon. A few of the ladies showed me some new quilting ideas that I am anxious to try. I was tempted to try one today, but I will not quilt on Sundays. I did pin a top on my machine this morning. I woke up at 4:45 and couldn't go back to sleep. I finally got up at 6:00, ate breakfast, looked over my Sunday School lesson, did some stuff on the computer, got ready for church, and still had time to pin that quilt on.
I have 3 quilts to trim before putting binding on. One is king-size. I am going to take it to school one day this week and use the tables in the library to trim it. I don't want to fight with it here.
Well, it's off to start a new week. Hope everyone has a good week! Even though the Cardinals lost! :(