Retreat!

 Our guild held our fall retreat last Friday and Saturday.  Two days of sewing and visiting and all sorts of fun!  You might be wondering what happens at retreat...................I enlisted the help of a little froggie friend to share with you.

You could play strip poker (for strips of 2.5" fabric.........what were you thinking?)

He helped hold the ruler for cutting fabric.

He searched for a drink of water in the bee-utiful table decorations.

He helped stir one of the delicious soups.

He sampled some snack mix from the snack table.

He held fabric while it was going through the machine.

He attended to some pressing matters.

He made sure everything was going through the machine correctly.

And by the end of the first day, he was exhausted and there was still a second day of sewing!

I finished 4 small projects and almost all of the blocks for a larger scrap quilt but failed to get any photos of those.  So, stay tuned for a later post that might show what I worked on.

Christi

Quilt Show!

Our guild's annual quilt show was the second weekend in October as part of the Arrow Rock craft festival.  Here are some of my quilts and others that I quilted.

Above is my River Path quilt.  I was proud of all my curved seams.  Below it in the photo is my friend's bunny table runner that I quilted.  In the photo below is another of her table runners, a patriotic one, that I just gave advice on.

In the photo below is the same friend's Christmas Lights quilt.  I picked up the backing for her at Marshall Dry Good this summer.

Below is my log cabin star.

And Into the Woods

Below is the farm animal panel quilt that I made using the Circle of Nines book.

And this is a quilt I quilted for someone else.  It was mammoth flannel on the top and the back was a cuddle fabric.  It is a very heavy quilt.

And my Vintage Christmas with the trees and red trucks.

Upscale Plaid......

The Snowmen embroidery blocks......

Solstice............

And a challenge project that I quilted for someone else...........her catchphrase was "A Dime a Dozen."

And of course, my challenge quilt.

And those were all my photos from the quilt show.  It was a beautiful weekend for the festival.  I'm ready for some cooler weather and we really need rain.  Hopefully that's coming in the next few days.

Christi

Of Cats and Dogs

 I know everyone is missing my furry friends............

Esme is always ready to help in the sewing room.  She is especially helpful in using her long hair to sweep the sliver trimmings off the cutting mat.

And she can hold a pattern for you.

She and Cici both volunteered as color inspiration for this quilt called Cat Scratch.

She will even hang out in the kitchen........admiring her belly reflection in the frig.

Sarah's cat stayed with us for a week while Sarah had some painting done at her house.

She would turn up in the most interesting places.

She liked to hang with Cici, but I never caught her with Esme.  I think the amount of fur Esme has was a little disconcerting.

I learned that this pose means "Rub my belly, please."

And Willow...........

Her most recent checkup at the vet revealed that she has topped 100 pounds!  So I used her to show just how large my pumpkins were.  I raised these myself!

One night this week, Willow did some a lot of barking at something in the yard.  The next morning we found this booboo on her head.  

I cleaned it up with some peroxide and applied antibiotic cream (same thing I do for the hubby).  Now she looks like she either has a third eyebrow or that she's arching that brow.

And that is all I have of cats and dogs!

Christi

Last UFO and Retreat!

 I finished my last UFO for 2024 in August before going to the Missouri Star Retreat in Hamilton.  I had made a list of all of my unfinished projects at the beginning of the year.  I have done this for the last few years, but this is the first time I got everything on the list completed.  Last year I worked really hard and got all but one completed.  That made it possible to get everything done this year.  I took the quilt to Hamilton with me to photograph it there since it was a Missouri Star pattern called Solstice.

This quilt was also part of my goal to work on curved seams in 2024.  I was really happy with how it turned out.

While at the retreat, I also pieced another Missouri Star pattern with curved seams called River Path.

I pieced the center at the retreat and then added the black border when I got back home.  I was really happy with how this turned out.  I love the striped binding as well.  This hung in the quilt show and now it's headed to Sarah's house to hang there.

I also pieced the blocks for a quilt called Marbled Cheesecake while at the retreat.  This one is now waiting to be quilted.

Another person from Florida who was at the retreat shared this quilt that she had pieced.  

We got to tour the quilt museum in Hamilton.  This was the most unusual quilt.  You had to stand across the room to see Einstein.

One of the workshops at the retreat was for this quilt called Into the Woods.  I pieced the entire thing at the retreat.  I love this quilt.  The sample quilt was made in Christmas flannels, but I went with a fall vibe.

I got it quilted and finished in time for the quilt show.

I did a mystery project at the retreat.  It was this table runner.  I made one in patriotic fabrics and one in fall fabrics.  

The retreat was fun and I'm really glad I did it.  

Christi

Through Thick and Thin

I should take a moment (or an entire blog post) to share about the guild challenge project this year.  It was called the catch phrase challenge.  Everyone drew a catch phrase and then made a quilted project depicting that catch phrase.  Mine was Through Thick and Thin.  

I chose a very literal translation of the catch phrase and used the Mobius Radial pattern.  The Mobius strip, discovered by mathematician Ferdinand Mobius in 1858, is a non-orientable two-dimensional surface with only one side, often referred to as the impossible shape.

This first step was creating the 2 paper pieced panels.

Then there was the paper removal process which was completed under the supervision of my trusty sewing cat, Esme.

Then I had to cut the center piece and the outside piece to fit the paper pieced sections into.  At this point, I had 4 pieces to sew together.

Lots of pins were used to fit those circular seams together.  You can see that this was exhausting for Esme.

And then it was a flimsy!

I did some straight line quilting in the background and followed the black segments of the Mobius Strip.  

I didn't win the challenge, but it did hang in our quilt show.  It's hanging in my sewing room now.  I'm still amazed that the pieces fit together and it worked.

Christi