Design Wall Monday

It's been a busy week in the sewing room.

After finishing last month's UFO, 

I decided this beauty was next.

The binding is sewn down and 

it will soon be headed to a special girl in Texas.

Shhh, she doesn't know it's coming.

Finish #4 for my goal of 20 Finishes Before 2020.

Next up is Sanctuary from Kim Brackett's Scrap Basket Beauties book.

It was started in May 2013 at a retreat.

It's done with flannel from strip swaps with friends.

At the next retreat, I won 5 yards of red flannel that was used for the border, back and binding.

There is a small piece left that will be cut up into more strips for the flannel box.

WaaHoo for Finish #5!

Trying to get a picture of this was a joke.

Daisy dog plopped herself right down and

Tony had to come and show how to sit pretty.

Little Dog took over the middle of the dog bed.

Saturday morning, trying to be quiet and clean up my messy binding box,

I started sewing the leftover binding hunks together.

After sewing 7 or 8, I realized there was no top thread.

Duh!!! So I put some thread on, threaded the machine and started again

only to realize the bobbin was empty!

While stitching down binding on the Dresden Plates quilt, 

I discovered where I had run out of bobbin thread.

7 Inches from the end and I didn't even notice!!

Joke's on me I guess.

So now I have my binding box nice and neat again.

I like having the black bindings all together.

The red on the right is all the same fabric. 

My heart sings at all those leftover pieces. 

I can't wait to use them.

The others are for specific projects and each are labeled.

This is why so much quilting is happening.

I'm perfectly content to stay inside and 

make pretties happen while we wait for round 2 of this "5 part weather event".

Check out the fabulous design walls at

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday.

Design Wall Monday

I sewed this week!

Not a bunch but I sewed and accomplished something.

This is block 2 for Fun On the Farm by Eleanor Burns.

I love Dresden plates!

I loved doing free motion applique on the leaves and stems. 

Now I want to do a project with lots of free motion applique!

Oh dear, is that a squirrel I see?

This is called Mini Birds.

This is a free tutorial and download by Connie Kresin Campbell

of Free Motion by the River.

Connie has lots of great tutorials.

I love matchstick quilting on small quilts.

I have several of these kitted up ready to sew.

Then a cute little 6 years old asks

"Gramma can you make me this owl? I got a book for you."

Of course I can.

So Mr. Owl became my focus.

And he's so cute. 

I can't wait to give it to him tomorrow.

See what others are working on at

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday.

Design Wall Monday

Recycling this picture to show you the fun I will be having at retreat this week.

I can't wait to dive into my red and neutral parts.

These are my mistake blocks from Garden Party.

All of the dark corners have now been replaced with neutral corners.

I honestly don't know how I missed that part of the directions.

I also cut and kitted up the remain blocks I need.

This will be my main retreat project this week.

These Dresden Plates are now a quilt top.

I need to trim the setting triangles and add the borders.

I can't wait to show you how awesome it is.

I need to get my machine cleaned and oiled 

and check my to go supplies for this week.

I love this time of year when the retreats are happening.

After this weekend, the countdown to the May retreat will begin.

The May retreat/birthday party that I will be spending with Bonnie.

Oh I cannot wait!!!

Check out great design walls at Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday.

Beach Life

Our beach property is a no hunting zone.

This makes my hunter a bit anxious.

Not really.

We see deer all over, I've heard there are bear.

I saw a porcupine.

I want to see a bear.

From the pickup window.

This fat coyote was standing in the middle of the road one day.

He finally moved to lay down under this tree.

Boardwalk Quilts in Long Beach is closing.

I am sad to see this happen but the owners want to retire.

I understand.

So I helped reduce the inventory on a recent trip to the property.

The scrap bin was my first stop.

Do I have a scrap problem.

I don't think it's a problem.

I filled one lunch bag with neutrals that will be used for my On The Road Quilt

and a table runner that I will quilt and use in the bus.

This time I went to the scrap bin and loaded up my lunch sack with all kinds of zip baggies.

Open the baggie to get all the air out and roll.

I stuffed that bag full. 

I guess I could have emptied the baggies but it was more fun squishing the air out.

I saw this fabric and passed on it.

I had Ernie stop on the way home because it haunted my dreams.

I bought 3 yards.

 I love it so much.

Retro typewriters bring back childhood memories of my Aunt Sharon.

Walks on the beach are nice.

Tony dog runs like a crazy dog.

My little Brother machine now lives in the bus.

I took a few projects to work on.

I needed to applique some blocks for a swap.

Then my Dresden Plates were all appliqued down. 

I wish I would have thought to use the walking foot sooner. 

It made the applique so much smoother.

The blocks were sewn into rows.

I brought them all home because I need a good hot iron.

That has now been added to my bus bag.

Some of the items are already to go on the next trip.

I love this beach life. 

I'm so glad we finally achieved my dream.

I really happy that it is now Ernie's dream as well.

He took a long time to think about it.

Like 40 years. LOL

OK, when's the next trip???

Design Wall Monday...

...and Retreat Report

This past weekend was our annual quilt retreat.

Most of the quilters have been coming to this retreat for several years.

I always look forward to spending time with my friends and 

sewing with my daughter.

Numerous hours of sewing, talking, laughing, eating.

Definitely having fun!

  

I mostly worked on quilts in progress.

These Garlic Knot blocks will complete my quilt after the blocks swap next month.

I can't believe I have them ready ahead of time.

Unlike these log cabin blocks that I made to complete a top from a swap earlier this year

I now have enough to put my blocks together.

 I started these Dresden Plates at our May retreat.

I put them in the box at the retreat and promptly put them away

and didn't even look at them until this weekend.

Now they are ready to applique to the background.

I'm pretty excited to get this one done.

I must have leaders/enders!

I do that crazy reach for something when nothing is there.

I'm working on Bonnie's Garden Party.

Just the flower blocks are my l/e project and 17 were finished.

I started the connector blocks as my last project of the weekend.

Of course I had to put a few together,

just to see. :)

I have a nice bunch of parts for 9 patches now.

I think red  9 patches might be my favorite.

The weather for the weekend was super stormy.

For a little excitement Friday night,

 this tree crashed into the barn.

No one was hurt.

There was a horseback riding class happening at the time.

The kids kept their horses under control,

the instructor did a wonderful job of keeping everyone calm,

despite "wanting to have a nervous breakdown".

We sew in a huge classroom on the other side of this huge barn/covered arena.

That was more excitement than anyone wanted.

Here's a great video of Royal Ridges where I retreat to 3 times a year.

You can see the covered arena and on the far side is where the tree came down.

We sew on the opposite side.

Despite the storm and the tree,

we had a fabulous weekend.

Great to spend time with friends doing what we love to do.

See great design walls at Patchwork Times.

Edited to add...

I forgot to show you my Be My Neighbor blocks~~

The last one is a tribute to my cat loving friend Sue.

I call it the Crazy Cat Lady's house.

Design Wall Monday

Are you doing the Moda Be My Neighbor Block of the Week?

I was in the not starting any new projects mode when this first started.

Then my friend asked if I was doing it and I said no.

Then I looked at it.......

You all know what happened then.

I have been keeping up with the pattern printing.

I decided it was time to cut some block kits to work on at retreat.

I'm having fun digging into my bigger scraps and chunks.

Sorry Moda, I'm using what I have.

These Dresden Plates were started at the May 2016 retreat.

I haven't opened the box since then.

I am hoping to get all the plates complete this coming weekend.

I'll just have my featherweight so the applique will have to wait.

I'm hoping to have it to that point.

I just love all those batiks!!

Once my house blocks are all kitted up,

my retreat projects are ready to go.

Check out design walls from all over Blogland at

Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday.

Design Wall Monday...

 ...and The Retreat Report

These are ready to be put on the design wall! 

Bonnie of Quiltville fame shared pictures of her progress on these blocks.

I became obsessed with them so I figured out how to make the size I wanted and got busy.

My design calls for 36 of these. 

I had 5 finished because I had to be sure they were the right size and then kitted up the remaining 31.

This was my first project at retreat. 

I love having everything ready to pull out of the bag.

Next I made block 24 for my Splendid Sampler.

My new friend Liatris is also doing The Splendid Sampler.

It was fun to see her blocks. 

Then I started on my Dresden Plates.

I had everything for this kitted up also.

The plate fabrics came from my bin of 2 1/2" batiks strips that I've collected from retreat strip swaps.

I made this one at home to see how it would look.

I have 10 plates ready to applique.

Liatris was working on Jamestown Landing--and it is fabulous!!!

She sewed all of her rows together and 

I couldn't stop thinking of mine sitting at home all alone in the bin.

I didn't have a leader/ender project with me-weird!- so on one of my trips home,

I grabbed my bin and some fabric.

I got busy cutting half square triangles and pretty soon I had a nice stack ready to trim.

We continue to have our strip swaps.

Thank goodness we do, 

I've been using many of my  2 1/2" neutrals and need "new blood" in my own selection.

My friends continue to impress me with their neutral selections.

We also traded out 1 1/2" neutrals , 1 1/2 purples,

2 1/2" batiks and purples.

Another fun retreat in the books.

Now to plan for the next one...but that's not until October!

I have to get these project finished so I can show them off. 

See what else is happening in Blogland by visiting Patchwork Times-Design Wall Monday.

Finish #5

Today is Miss Estella's 4th birthday. OhMyGoodness, that was fast! I decided the Dresden Plate quilt would be the perfect birthday present for her.

I should have worked everyday so it would be ready for her Saturday birthday party but it didn't happen.

Just like most things I plan, they don't always work the way I plan it in my head.

I love that her Great Gramma gave her this cute frog. Her dress has sparkles in the tulle skirt. I thought it was funny my little Princes with her Frog Prince!!!

The back is flannel and it is oh so snuggly. Sweet dreams Princess!

I wonder what I'll pull out next. This 2016 UFO Busting has been fun!

Design Wall Monday

After finishing 2 little quilts and rosette number 6 for Millefiore this week, I decided to set up the tables and get to pin basting the Dresden Plate quilt. The Daytona 500 was getting ready to start as I settled in to baste. Hubby isn't as big of a fan as I am anymore so it didn't matter that I would be right in the way of the TV. He was deeply into his new book.

By the time there were 8 laps to go, I only had this last little bit of the corner to go. I finished before the race did...good timing. I would have finished sooner if I hadn't taken so many breaks!

So why not go ahead and start ditch quilting. I have a good idea how I want to quilt the plates and backgrounds but the sashings are making me ponder....I love that word!  I think I will practice doing ribbon candy. Debby Brown uses it in almost every quilt she makes. So I want to use it too.

 It's raining pretty hard outside this morning so I'm going to fill my cup and take a little tour around Blogland. I'm starting at Patchwork Times and then on to others that are sharing Design Wall Monday with us. And after a few household chores, I'm going to quilt.

Design Wall Monday

2016 UFO Busting is full speed ahead.

I finished the Pine Tree wall hanging Friday morning.

UFO #2 started out as 5 Dresden Plate blocks appliqued the background,

2 plates ready to applique.

The background fabric went missing so I used something else.

After playing in EQ7 for a while,

I came up with a plan.

 Friday afternoon I cut 2 more colors and made the plates.

Saturday morning I appliqued the final 4 plates while watching a weird movie.

Saturday afternoon the sashing, cornerstones, borders and binding were cut. 

Sunday I put the top together.

It's amazing how fast it goes when everything is prepared, ready to go. 

I plan to get some lavender flannel for the back and

quilting will be simple. 

This pile of half square triangles need pressed and the dog ears clipped off.

Then they will be pinned in groups of 10 and put in the Jamestown Landing bin.

I love how fast they add up when I don't pay attention. 

To finish off Sunday evening/night,

I had to make the Hearts Aflutter block for 

The Splendid Sampler.

This morning I'll be hanging around Blogland

via Patchwork Times-Design Wall Monday.

2016 UFO Busting

I've started quilting the next UFO. This one is a round robin from WASIQ  (Washington State Internet Quilters) Yahoo group that started in September 2002. I found it pretty amazing that I still had the original letter and label that I sent out with my starter package.

Three of the ladies signed the label but the maker of border number two is unknown. I guess it will remain a mystery.

I am making good progress on this. The tree, checker board and flying geese are quilted. I have an idea for the 9 patch/rail border but I'm still thinking about the green and cream sections of border two. I'm hoping to have this little quilt hanging on the wall by the end of the week. Darker brown fabric has been chosen for the binding.

The next UFO project to be worked on will be my Dresden Plates that haven't seen the light of day since July 2013.  That's not too bad. wink, wink!  I need to pick up some solid background. I used white for the 5 blocks that are appliqued already so I think I'll use cream for the last 4. Oh boy, that means I only have to make 2 more plates, I already have 2 that need appliqued down. That just made me smile!

I posted the pin basted picture on Facebook and my sister asked about the little colored things. I love those little colored things!!! They are called Quilter's Delight Safety Pin Grip Covers. Previously I had bought a bag of them and needed more. JoAnn's had a good sale so I bought them the other day. Now I need to get one more bag and should have all my pins covered. It sure makes a difference to my arthritic fingers when I use these. Who would have thought that little bit of grip could help so much....probably the makers of these pin grips. 

Have a great Wednesday. I'm going to spend part of it with my Binding Friends.

Design Wall Monday

I have nothing on my design wall,

But....

This weekend included some serious sewing time.

All 10 spool blocks for the Row Quilt are complete and put away.

The blades and center are ready for applique for the Dresden Plate block.

Piece #4 was added to 108 log cabin blocks.

This is too much chaos.

I need to control it.

When pressing piece #4, 

I pressed 10 blocks at a time

and pinned them together.

Now I am sewing and pressing in groups of 10.

I feel better and not overwhelmed.

I need to cut more pieces.

Time to dig into some more scrap bags.

So far I am doing good at emptying one bag a week.

See other fabulous design walls at Patchwork Times.

I love Monday in Blogland.

Scrappy Saturday

The last Saturday of July! That happened really fast!  I haven't been sewing much so I am quite behind on my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects.

This morning Ernie left early to go to the Stream Up. I wanted to go but didn't think it was a good idea to walk around in a giant hay field full of holes with my knee buggered up like it is right now. So I am spending the day doing things I want to do.  I wanted to work on my log cabin blocks and sort and cut some scraps. Then I wanted to water the garden and do my chicken chores. Now that those things are done, I really want to work on my aqua spool blocks and my Dresden blocks.

I cut everything I needed to cut. I started sewing, then I remembered.........I need to ice my knee. So I took a quick picture, am writing a quick post and I'm headed in with my glass of ice water, a pbj and my ice pack to watch some mindless tv, eat lunch and knit for a while.  Then it's back to the sewing room for me!

See other great scrappy, happy projects at SoScrappy.

Design Wall Monday

Saturday I sewed.

Sunday afternoon I sewed.

Right now there is nothing on my design wall, 

but I accomplished a lot!

  

I completed June's step of the Back To Square One Mystery. 

I used the blades for the Dresden Plate block for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge as leaders and enders.

I have to get out my other machine to use the blind stitch to applique this to the background.

I used the half square bonus triangles from Pineapple Blossom #2 

as leaders and enders for the Dresden Plate Block. 

These will go into the orphan block bin.

Under my Sewing Mates table, you can see the stack of 10 finished 

card trick blocks for my Row Quilt.

When I still wanted to sew, I pulled out my Pineapple Crazy blocks to make a few more.

I didn't get very far with those, just a few rounds on one block.

Go to Patchwork Times to see what others have on their design walls this week.