Retreat Report!

Retreat was AWESOME, as usual. I'm so lucky to be in a guild with very sweet and talented quilters. I took several projects to work on, including some old UFO's. But I ONLY worked on my Sadie portrait quilt. I finished 3 diagonal rows, which I thought was wonderful progress. Once I got to the green and white striped pants....it was very tedious and time consuming.  Some of the two inch squares took an hour or more. But I love the way it looks! I'm obsessed with Timna Tarr's technique!

Here's a photo of the partial quilt top against the paper photo to give you a better idea of how I'm doing. The next row will have some of her face in it! Woohoo! Once I get past her head (about 5 more rows), it will be smooth sailing.

I did do a bit of cross stitch in the evenings- I'll share that later in the week.

Here are some other quilts being made at retreat that caught my eyes.

I love the quilter's bravery to use that bright raspberry in the sashing. It makes the quilt sing!

This quilter had used half square triangles for leaders/ender for more than a year to make this beauty.

This cute center was surrounded by hand embroidered blocks.

Looks like Harry Potter to me!

I'd never seen a bow tie quilt like this one in progress. It's made from tumbler blocks - I may have to make one of these!

The pattern for this strippy quilt is in a Diane Knott book. What a great use of leftover strips!

This is definitely a little girl's quilt - sweet and lovely.

Another half square triangle quilt - a pattern by Laundry Basket Quilts, it was made after an online swap of half square triangle units.

And don't you love these Tula Pink pineapples? Each one was fussy cut and all were fun fabrics.

There were so many other fun projects that I didn't photograph. We ate very well and laughed a lot. Only wish we could have stayed a couple of more days!

But I am glad to be home and to get back into my normal routine. Wishing you a wonderful day!

 

Cross Stitch Update!

Alrighty! Here's the progress on the May block. There will be another row of windows at the top of the house before the roof is added. I'm going to personalize this one for Daughter 1, adding her name at the top of the block. I'll have to get some graph paper out for that.

I told myself I would never get sucked into watching floss tubes....

But I did.

(If you don't know, floss tubes are Youtube videos that cross stitchers make and put on Youtube. They talk about their projects and other things in their lives.

I'm hooked on Brenda and the Serial Starter. Find it on Youtube. Brenda and Laura have such a nice demeanor and I  love watching them. They post every other Sunday. That's doable for me to watch with my limited time. 

Of course, when they show things they are working on.... I want to do it, too! And so I've acquired some new patterns. Brenda is running out of wall space in her home for large samplers, so she's focusing on smalls for a bit. 'Smalls' are small projects that can be finished as little pillows, pincushions, etc. Here are some patterns I've bought after seeing them on their floss tube.

Can you see a theme? All are sewing related! I'm looking forward to starting these, but I'm telling myself I CAN"T until I finish Anniversaries of the Heart. I'm really trying to be a monogamous cross stitcher! I'm afraid if I take a break from A of the H, I won't pick it up again. So I'll keep going along on it and look forward to the smalls to come!

Many stitchers display their smalls in a dough bowl. Yes, you guessed it! I have ordered a dough bowl from Etsy for my future smalls. I tend to plan ahead. Haha!

No, I have not started building up a stash of linen and various threads....YET! Quilting will always come first for me, but I'm really enjoying my little jaunt into cross stitch.

Enjoy your day!

 

Lots of Fabric Cut!

I didn't sew much this past week, but I cut a LOT of 2.5" squares. This is the kit I have prepared to work on the Sadie portrait quilt. I did sew a couple of new squares for the quilt over the weekend, and it is so much easier and faster to work from this bin! In the past I was going through piles of fabric looking for the perfect color. What a mess it was! 

I know that I cut way too much of some colors, but I want to have plenty to choose from. And I'll save the rest for future quilts. I love the Timna Tarr method and can see making more of these.

Over the weekend, I also packed all my sewing things for retreat. The orange thing on the left is a fold up wagon. When we unload the car, I can put my stuff in the wagon and pull it into the retreat center. The navy cushion is to put on the chair for more comfy seating. The empty tissue box? That will be my small trash can for little threads and bits. 

Now I just have to pack my clothes - and that will be easy!

If you're wondering why I didn't post a Cross Stitch update this week - well, I didn't do very much cross stitch. But I'm back at it and making progress again. Will post on Wednesday.

This was little Mickey yesterday morning in my lap. I was scrolling Instagram and he was trying to wake up. Sweet thing is 14.5 years old now, and still doing well.

I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. I certainly did! Yesterday we swam and sat by the pool at Daughter 2's home. They put in a gorgeous pool over the winter. The entire family is enjoying it.

Have a great week!

 

Sewing!

I added another row to my Sadie portrait quilt. Slowly, but surely. Two inches at a time. I really love working on this. If you zoom in, you can see that I did a bit of the Ked's label on her shoe. It's starting to take shape.

I'm going on a quilt retreat in a couple of weeks (squee!) I really want to take this project to work on. BUT, the piles of fabric I have surrounding me for this quilt are a bit overwhelming. I was thinking today that maybe I should cut up a bunch of them into 2.5" squares. It would be easier to take to retreat and it would be easier while working on this at home, too!

So this afternoon I made a start. I think I have enough greens - 3 piles of them. But I need to cut more blues. And I need to cut hair colors - various shades of brown with blonde highlights. I also need more white and skin color. And more gray.

So for the next couple of weeks, I'll be in cutting mode. I can tell already that this will help loads! And I know the friend I'm riding with will appreciate it....

I'll also be taking a couple of UFO's with me to retreat. And a bit of hand sewing. And a bottle of wine to share? Can you tell I'm excited?

What are you sewing these days? Any long term projects? 

Enjoy your week!

 

Cross Stitch Update

 

I had a productive week in the cross stitch arena. I FINISHED the April block, early! Woohoo!

And then I went back to the March block - remember that big blank space I had left empty? A high school friend suggested I add Sadie's birth year there! Perfect! Thanks, Joni H!

And I made a small start on the May block. I love being ahead!

With the finish of the the April block...I'm a third of the way finished with Anniversaries of the Heart! I finished the top row of blocks and the May block has started the second of the three rows. 

I'm a happy camper. 

Today I went shopping. i was again getting desperate for come new clothes. I have no summer clothes that fit. I'm basically living in one pair of jeans and assorted t-shirts that are a bit too big.  I went to Dillard's and had some good luck. I bought plenty of new summer shirts, some pants, some cropped pants, and a skort. Again, I'm a happy camper! So needed some new things!

I don't love shopping. I like to go a couple of times per year and buy plenty of items so I won't have to go back any time soon. Haha! So glad I found things that fit!

In other news, I keep getting spam comments on my blog. I finally had to switch to moderating the comments. So please don't be put off by this - if the comment is not spam, I'll approve it quickly, I promise!

Okay, then. Enjoy the rest of your week!

Sewing! And a Bit of Golf?

Earlier in the week, I made this Woppet Bucket. I saw it on Pinterest and got the pattern download HERE.

You can pull up the straps to turn the bucket into a bag of sorts. I LOVED making this! The instructions are wonderful and it was a quick project. I want to make more - and change up the handle colors with each one. 

I also added two more rows to my Sadie portrait. It's coming along!

 

Our kids treated Hubby to a fun day at a special Top Golf event here at the Auburn University football stadium. His birthday was earlier in the month - a great present! All six of us went - the daughters and their husbands, too. What a great time!

Here I was, about to begin my turn.

Of course, Hubby is an expert at this!

And here is the current state of my sewing room. Oh dear - need to clean up!

Cross Stitch Update

 I've been making really good progress on the April block of Anniversaries of the Heart. At this rate I'll easily finish it by the end of the month.

I've decided not to add any personalization to this unless I decided to add some initials of my parents and Hubby's parents. Our family is not huge so every block will not need something special added. 

Changing the subject, I'm so tired of the issues Bloglovin has been having as of late. I read lots of blogs every morning with my coffee and I really miss the format! Let's all hope they can fix it soon!

And the bison burger: they were absolutely delicious. From here on out these will be the burgers I buy for our grilling. Fresh and yummy. Tastes like beef, but better and more juicy. YUM!

Go sew something today!