Labor Day Weekend

 Our Labor Day weekend has historically been a family get together at my parents' house.  With Jackson's wedding the weekend before, we didn't do that this year.  This freed me up to attend the Sew Sweet Retreat at the Quilt Barn in Brunswick.

The night before I left, our ac quit during the heatwave.  I threw shorts and t-shirts into my suitcase on Thursday morning, packed my sewing stuff and headed for cooler temps in the quilt barn.  Well, the temps were much cooler there especially since I was sitting under an air vent.  I purchased a nice soft jacket from the quilt shop to wear most of the weekend.  My only other purchases were some quilt labels and a backing for this first top I finished putting together.

This is Cottage Twirl a pattern by Miriam at Stitch Obsessed.  I called the hubs Friday morning and had him measure some of my different pieces of fabric to see if I had something large enough for the backing and he finally said, "You're gonna have to buy some fabric!"  I did find a nice piece in the sale room, and I made the backing and binding for this quilt.

My next top finish was this long time UFO, Jelly Twist.  It had traveled to 3 previous quilt retreats and never made it out of the box.  I did have some fabric at home for the back (thanks to the hubby measuring fabric again), and the backing is made, it's even quilted, and the binding is to the hand binding stage.

And I got all the blocks made for Flower Toss.  I have to say that as I was making these somewhat tedious blocks, I was concerned about my choice of background fabric.  However, once I had all the blocks on the design wall, I did really like it.

I worked on some blocks for another quilt, but didn't get very far on that one.  I left a little early on Sunday so that I could get back and unload the car so that we could take Willow and Friday to the dog plunge at the pool.

This was Friday's first dog plunge.  Willow is a pro though.  She would swim and her hair would float about her like a mermaid.  Friday, not having the amazing webbed paws that Willow has, was not as great a swimmer.  He didn't like the fountains that were spraying water.  He also didn't care for all those other dogs around and stayed pretty close to Willow.  As it was another extremely hot day, we all enjoyed the water.

Honestly, Friday's favorite thing was sitting on the lounge chair.

Well things have cooled down a little and we are getting some much needed rain today.  Piano lessons have begun, and yes, at least 5 of them have already had to be rescheduled.  And the first 2 yesterday came without their books.  Five more today, so we'll see how it goes.  

The hubs has all the equipment ready to go to the field.  It will probably be the latter half of next week before he starts.

We're supposed to be at the Kansas State Fair on Saturday.  Hoping for dry cooler temps, but I don't know if that will happen.  

TTFN,

Christi

UFO Update

Let's take a moment to update the UFO list.  

1.  Proposal  (FINISHED!)

2.  Waverly  (FINISHED!)

3.  Lookout  (FINISHED AND GIFTED!)

4.  St. Pats Pillow  (FINISHED!)

5.  St. Pats Runner  (FINISHED!)

6.  St. Pats Wall Hanging  (FINISHED!)

7.  Jimmy John  (FINISHED AND GIFTED!)

8.  Snailing Around Town  (FINISHED!)

9.  Chalet  (FINISHED!)

10.  Foxes in Flannels (FINISHED!)

11.  Show and Tell  (FINISHED!)

12.  Love in Bloom Panel  (FINISHED AND GIFTED!)

13.  O Christmas Tree (FINISHED!)

14.  Heaven and Nature Sing  (FINISHED!)

15.  Scrap Jar Stars  (FINISHED!)

16.  Hash Tag  (FINISHED!)

17.  Jelly Twist   (All the block pieces are packaged together and 8 blocks have been made.)

18.  Halloween Panel  (FINISHED!)

19.  Thanksgiving Panel  (FINISHED!)

20.  Redlin Panel  (Gave it Away, so FINISHED!)

21.  Legendary  (Haven't even thought about it)

22.  My Kinda Town  (Have copied the paper piecing patterns and sorted into bags for each block)

23.  Turkey Lurkey  (FINISHED!)

24.  Turkey Blocks  (FINISHED!)

25.  Cat Nip  (FINISHED!)

26.  Pineapple  (FINISHED!)

27.  Tea Time Topper  (FINISHED!)

28.  Vintage 30's Blocks 

29.  Great Grandma's Fans  (FINISHED!)

So that's 25 of 29 Finishes!  (ok, so one was actually gifted away, but it's finished for me!)  Only 4 left to go from quilts that were started prior to the beginning of the year.  We'll see what happens at quilt retreat this week.  I'm actually only taking one UFO with me which says that lots of new things have been started.  

Looking forward to retreat.

Christi

 

August Wrap Up

 I KNOW!  It's been another whole month since there was a blog post.  So sit back and relax, there's quite a lot to share................

First, our birthday girl!  She's 29!

She didn't really think candles were necessary.................

And it took quite a bit of effort to blow them all out!

The very first weekend of the month, she asked to go to Bethany to visit her grandparents and go fishing.  As soon as we got there on Friday, she and Grandpa took off to fish before we even went to our favorite pizza place.  Saturday morning, David and I joined them and it was a tight squeeze into the pickup.

We were out all morning and amazingly enough, David was the most successful.  

After lunch, (and a nap for Grandpa..........Sarah, you must wait an hour after eating before fishing, right?)  Grandpa and Sarah went out again.  

Sarah came home again the next weekend to attend a family reunion on David's side on Sunday.  On Saturday, I dragged her to a quilting and sewing expo in KC.  I was paying for us to get in, and the person asked her if she was 16?  Apparently, she could have gotten in free if she said she was under the age of 16.  We didn't lie.  I do think it made her feel better since she has found a couple of gray/white hairs already.  I informed her that her father's side does gray early.  

Here are some of the quilts we saw.............just enjoy the show.

The detail in the quilting was impressive.  This was part of the hexie challenge.

I liked the uniqueness (is that really a word) of this one.

And now, some art quilts.......

And I'm being drawn to medallion quilts too............

And, of course, some animals..............

It wasn't nearly as big a show as I was expecting.  I did a little shopping at the vendors, but not much.  I've kinda been in a cleaning it out mode in my sewing room.  I used up a bolt of striped canvas fabric and some strapping to make 3 large reusable shopping bags...........sorry, no photos.  I also finished this long long time UFO.

These fan blocks were made by my great grandmother, Christina and were set together on their sides in rows with lots more white fabric on them, but were never quilted.  One of my cousins had hemmed it and used it as a table cloth.  It was passed to me and several of the blocks were damaged and shredding.  I took out the hem and took the blocks apart.  After sorting them into usable and discards, I squared all the blocks up, trimming off a lot of excess white.  I can definitely see where my mom's piecing skills come from.  Then I set them on point and added the blue setting triangles (fabric I had purchased for another project but didn't end up using).  I quilted it and I think the front is gorgeous.  Confession:  there is a big wrinkle in the backing which I'm not gonna show.  I almost picked the quilting out, but the fabrics are so old, I hated to do any more ripping, so I'm just leaving it there as my "humility".  It's still such an improvement.  I made the binding from strips of backing left from my Cozy Picnic quilt.  It's now hanging in my sewing room.

Another UFO was finished..................

This is for Sarah's bed.  It's called Hash Tag.  She picked the fabrics and I started it last fall.  When she was home at the beginning of the month, she took some scrap fabric back with her and purchased the backing fabric she wanted.  She brought it back the second weekend, and I got it finished to send back with her this past weekend.  It's gonna look sharp on her black bedroom furniture.

I also created this wall hanging by combining patterns from 2 of my favorite designers.  This is a block from Elizabeth Hartman's Show and Tell quilt.  The inside of the quilt is a pattern from Wendy Sheppard.  I got to meet Wendy at a trunk show she did on August 5th.  She's from North Carolina, but was in mid Missouri to do the trunk show.  I was so impressed with her presentation.  The wall hanging was gifted to my cousin Brenda when we went to Omaha for a visit.

And I finally got this monster quilted for a lady at church.  She had given it to me in May, but the backing she sent was too small.  She finally brought me a new backing, and guess what, it was still too small.  I called her and asked permission to make a backing for it so I could get it quilted.  She agreed.  She is gifting it at Christmas, so has four months to get all the way around the hand binding.

I quilted at least 4 big quilts for my mom.  She has been sending things without backings, so I've had to purchase those, or in one case, I made a scrappy backing from some of the lesser loved fabrics in my stash.  I don't have any photos, but I thought it turned out nice and she liked it.  

So if you've been counting the trips, we were in Bethany one weekend, Omaha one weekend, Sarah was here for a KC quilt show and reunion one weekend, and this past weekend, we were in Jefferson, Iowa for my nephews wedding............ 

It was a large wedding party.

My sister and her baby, Jackson.  I have to say, that my sister looked stunning.  I loved her dress.

Sarah and Aaron came from St. Peters to go with us.

And their older kiddo, Carter.

Sisters with our dad............

And from the ceremony.............my parents walking in.  This was their first grandchild to get married, and he's the youngest.

My sister walking in............

Jackson was very nervous..........

The bride had 4 little nephews and they sorta stole the show.............

And Carmyn, the bride............

And everyone from my sister's side who was there for the wedding.

Is it any wonder that I didn't blog for an entire month?!  I'm either not really doing anything to blog about, or so busy with things that I don't have time to blog.  And what about the pets?  Here are Mabel and Harry doing what they do best............

Esme, Friday, and Willow are still going strong.  Willow has been suffering with an ear infection for about 3 weeks.  And by suffering, I mean she's really been enjoying the extra attention and peanut butter covered pills.  We're so fortunate that my cousins moved to town and seem to enjoy caring for our pets when we are gone.  

That's about the wrap for the month!  Are you tired?  I kinda am.  I'm headed off to a quilt retreat on Thursday, returning on Sunday.  Sunday afternoon is the dog plunge.  And then, on Monday (Labor Day) piano lessons and bell choir start up again.  I'm definitely ready for a more consistent schedule and some cooler temps.  I was so warm yesterday (102 degrees in the shade) that I started getting my fall quilts out to hang up.  

And just to help you get into the spirit, here's what was outside our Tractor Supply early in August........

They have disappeared now, so someone must have purchased them already. I know, I missed out again!

Looking forward to September!

Christi