Quilting and Quilt Retreat

 My sewing friends and I decided to get away for a few days to sew at the Passionate Quilters retreat. We ran into a snag when they wanted everyone to make all day, every day at the retreat, so we went to our friend Tammy's home. She kicked her hubby out and we enjoyed 4 days of sewing. I worked on several quilts. 

This is a picture of all of us together. It's been 8 years since we all got to sew together for a weekend. 

I finished the Swoon 16 top. 

I also finished the Harmony top in Nova. My SIL thinks it looks like barb wire, so I'm going to make a quilt for them in these colors. 

I made the Threadology top and planned to give it to my hubby's aunt, but my MIL loved it, so I made it a little wider and she received it for Christmas. 

I finished Mathew's quilt top Marina and quilted it with a blue minkee backing and wide back flannel. 

I made this RWB Jelly Belly quilt for my co-worker Myron who is a veteran. He does so much for me, that I thought he would like it. 

I finished the inside of Frolic and am working on the border. I'm doing it as a leader ender, so it's taking a while. 

I finished the Hey June top. This one doesn't have a home yet, so I'm not sure what color I'm going to use on it. 

I finished the Phoenix top in Little Snippets. I quilted this one with a red minkee backing and I gave it to my MIL for Christmas. 

I finished my Meadowland quilt top and I got it quilted before Christmas. I just need to get it bound. It's for me. 

My dad's wife wanted a baby quilt, so I quilted up this panel and she was able to gift it the next day. 

I quilted a couple of Quilts 4 Kyds quilts.

I quilted a couple of Quilts 4 Kyds quilts.

It was a very successful retreat and quilting day at my dad's house. 

This weeks sewing

I've been busy making more masks. I made the dog one for Mikaela and then I made myself a Bernina one. While I was at it I made a few for my sewing friends as well. A FB friend liked the pins, so I made her 3 more and sent them out to her this week. 

Then I made Mikaela another dog one and another Bernina one. 

I made my friend bags and just showed the inside. I'm not a bit orange fan, but I think she'll love the outside fabric. 

These are the bags on the outside and since her last name is Fox, I hope she will get a good laugh out of them.

I threw in a mask as well. 

Mikaela got her hair cut the other night and her stylist did a 5 strand braid. It turned out so cool. 

I made her a bag out of leftover fabric. 

A mask for each kid last night rounded out my week. I have a bunch more masks, but I'll have to work on them this weekend. 

I'm working on a baby quilt and it's coming together pretty well. 

Today I laid out this Hope quilt and hope to get it sewn together this weekend. I think it will make a great teacher quilt. 

 

April Quilting Accomplishments & A Year of Lovely Finishes

This month I easily met my goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes. I had my little helper rearranging the blocks on the floor at the beginning of the month. We were able to get them into a pattern we liked and I sewed them together one evening.

The first weekend of the month we spent a day at my dad's house and I was able to quilt it up. I used a pink cowgirl minkee on the back.

I put the binding on the second week of the month and she's been sleeping with it ever since. She went with me to Club Sew last week and showed the new quilt she helped mommy make for her.

I am still working on Winding Ways blocks. I finished about 6-8 more this month. I figure if I can do 4 a month, that is a good number to work toward. They are easy to do, once I get in the groove.

I have also been working on TATW blocks. I have 10-12 done so far and 4 more cut out.

I also quilted up the giant star burst quilt. It doesn't have a home now, so it still doesn't have binding yet.

I finished the top of my Mystahhhhry quilt. I did some quilting, but am not sure I like it, so may take it out and start over again.

I also quilted and bound my mom's Loralie quilt. I gave it to her sister for her birthday this month.

On another day I got out to dads and quilted up the scrappy Swoon. It needs something else before I bind it, so it isn't done yet either.

I made my friend Nicole a drag blanket for her new baby.

I finished up three bags for Mikaela's friends.

I finished a second drag blanket as well. This one will either be for Mathew or a gift.

I also finished Mikaela's giraffe. This is the picture before horns, but it is done now. Although my friend says it needs a tail.

Mikaela showed her drag blanket at Club Sew the other night. It was so fun listening to her talk about sewing her first blanket.

My girlfriends and I had a surprise baby shower for our friend Nicole B. who is having a baby in June. It was a sewing night. FR: Gaila, Nicole B. Jenn., BR: Me, Emilee, Tammy

We were pretty silly even though no alcohol was involved. It's amazing how fun my sewing girlfriends are when we get together.

This is my favorite of us. Just being goofy. It's so good to have close friends. We all have kids, several around the same age, so we share a lot in common, in addition to sewing/quilting.

Girls Sewing Night

Friday night I got together with some good girl friends to sew. We sewed up a storm and I feel like I was really productive. I started with this Chevron quilt made with a Max and Whiskers layer cake. It's for a class I am teaching in August. I was going to baste it and then hope to quilt it. I didn't have quite enough backing fabric, so I went and got more. Then I layered it with an 80/20 batting and basted it. I quilted it with a medium gray Aurifil on top and a light gray Aurifil on the bottom. I used mom's Bernina 730 to quilt it, as that is the machine I had that night. It worked really well and I was able to get it completely quilted. It's so weird to quilt a large quilt on a home machine after using my frame for so long. I needed the sample done by June 29th, so I just had to make myself do it. I'm happy it's quilted and hope to get the binding on yet this week.

After I finished quilting, I didn't have the binding fabric with me, so I finished up this block for a friendship block exchange I am doing with my sewing friends and the girls from the hospital. Since Tammy was giving me such grief about how hard my block is, I made a challenging one for her as well. I had all but about 4 seams done and just had to finish them up. I turne out well for a block with that many seams.

I also made her this memory block. She gave us 3 fat 1/4's each and these are the 2 - 12" blocks I came up with using the fabric.


It was lots of fun sewing together and I really enjoyed getting so much done. I felt so extremely productive and now I feel like I can get the Chevron quilt finished before the preview party.