Seriously Late Quilt Retreat Update

Yes, I know. Pathetic. But better late than never, eh? So.... here are some photos from our fabulous quilt retreat back in February - or was it January? I can't remember now... Funny thing is I couldn't even find the photos I took of my group of gals at the retreat. I actually had to Google "Camp Blanding Quilt Retreat" to find photos that hopefully someone had posted online, and as luck would have it, I found some!!! These photos are not mine. Once found, I had to phone the owner of these photos and ask permission to use them and after I left a rather long, rambling voice mail, I received an email and was granted permission by the wonderful Julie, from Stitches of Love. If you are on facebook, you can find Julie here. I lost several hours of my life drooling over photos in the many photo albums they have on facebook... It's worth the trip...

This is the view in front of the building where we sewed from 7 in the morning (if you were up!) until midnight! It was great fun and a beautiful setting. There were 180 wonderful quilters (not just women!) there and it was glorious! The hum of the machines, the chatter, the cocktail waitresses... whoops! Was I supposed to mention that?

Strolling through the large room to see what everyone was working on was inspiring! I loved it! Again, this was my first retreat and let me tell you, the bar is now set pretty high. This retreat is organized by the ladies of Olde Green Cupboard and let me tell ya, they rocked it! Camp Blanding was a marvelous setting, and boy oh boy did they feed us well. We were served prime rib, lobster and numerous other outstanding entrees. It was stellar. Even the accommodations were wonderful. Clean and incredibly comfortable.

A marvelous time was had by all and we fully intend to do this again as soon as possible!

My First Quilt Retreat - Camp Blanding, Here We Come!!

I know - it's been forever since I had a chance to write a blog but here I am, excited as can be to tell everyone that I am going on my first quilt retreat to Camp Blanding in Stark, Florida. I am going with 5 wonderful Quilty Chicas and I am so excited I can't even sleep. Seriously! Roni posted some of the details here. When I return I will post photos and let you know what I think of quilt retreats.... something tells me I am going to love this. Wish us luck and have a great weekend!

New Doggy Bags

I have been working like a dog making these custom Doggy Bags for customers. I just finished a few more and realized I hadn't done Show and Tell yet. I have been making these for sale in my etsy shop as well as here locally. Here are photos of the first two that started the craze...

Their "Grandma" is going to put them under the tree with a bag of their dog food, a few treats and maybe a few other items. Now when they travel to Grandogs house they will do so in style!
No more plastic store bags for these dogs!

New Grandbaby!!

Introducing my newest grandchild, Jackson Scott. He was born on Saturday, October 9th and let me tell you, he's a big boy! His momma was quite a trooper and she put in an amazing two days of labor to bring this wonderful little man into the world.

Look at that hair!! He sooooooo gorgeous!

And there he is, on the scale proving that he weighed 9 pounds, 13.6 ounces!! He looks three months old! I get to meet him on Monday and I can't wait! Just look at that face! He needs to snuggle with Grandma, don't you think?

Penelope! The Easiest Quilt I Have Ever Made!

I know that you are all shaking your head. I am not kidding. This is the easiest quilt I have ever made and believe me, it doesn't look it when it is finished. The designer is Patricia Pepe and let me just say that her work is fabulous! The blocks are literally strip cut squares, that are then trimmed a bit to make the angular pieces, that are then transformed back into simple squares yet again. It sounds confusing, but it isn't when you are reading Ms. Pepe's instructions. The trimmings are then used to make that amazing border. I put my quilt together in two days! What you are looking at here are photos from McCalls Magazine and the designer's website. My version is on display at Country Quilts and Bears in Clearwater, Florida and I forgot to photograph it. If you are in the area, they stock the pattern, too. They also stock the most amazing batik fabrics if you are looking to make one similar to the one in these photos. I have already packed my camera and intend to go there tomorrow to snap a shot or two or three.... Can you see the secondary patterns? Isn't it great??!!!

I will be teaching this class in October and if you are interested, shoot me an email and I will give you all the details. I believe the class date is October 23rd. If you are not in the area, here is a link to the pattern. The pattern that was in McCalls magazine did NOT call for the X-Block Ruler, but the pattern itself (which seems to be identical) calls for it. I did NOT use the ruler and construction was easy. The results will speak for themselves...

Do You Think It's Time to Clean the Machine?

My beloved Janome 11000 was acting up. Believe me when I say that this is very rare behavior for her. She NEVER gives me trouble. I typically clean her out very quickly every Sunday, but I guess I have missed a few cleaning sessions....Wow. I nearly choked when I unscrewed the needle plate and found this nest beneath it! Really, it did seem like just yesterday that I cleaned her out.... When was the last time YOU lifted your needle plate and gave your machine a good dusting and a thorough vacuuming? And while I am at it, when was the last time you changed your sewing machine needle? Just like a good man, a good sewing machine needs a little attention and love once in awhile. Make today the day!

Monsters, Piranhas, Dinosaurs, and Rock Stars!!!

Yes, Grandma has been very, very busy! As I mentioned in a previous post, we are happily expecting a new grandson. He and his parents live in New York and I have flown up there (I wrote this blog before I left for New York) for a visit. This is my "show off" post. I hope it inspires some ideas in addition to stroking my ego....

The denim shirt you see above is one of my favorites - I bought the shirt and embellished it with designs I purchased from my favorite machine embroidery website, Emblibrary. Isn't it just darling?

Here is the quilt that I made for Jackson. I have to admit that currently this quilt is classified as my "Most Fun Quilt Ever." I drew the biggest piranha by hand and then copied it, making it smaller by maybe 20% and then smaller again by another 20%. I say "maybe" because honestly I don't remember exactly what the percentage was but in my mind (and that's a crazy place to be sometimes) 20% seems to be about right... Then I designed and built it as I went along, literally with no real plan, until I ended up with what you see in the photos. The best part (I think) was when I decided that the quilt needed more "teeth." Finally, I was able to put Prairie Points on a quilt. Aren't they the perfect piranha "teeth"? I had never done Prairie Points before... and for the record, I can almost guarantee I won't do them again... but that is another post.

Then I found these plain white bibs (below) at Babies R Us.... so I embroidered them with a design or three that I got from my fav machine embroidery website, Emblibrary. When I finished embroidering them I thought they were still too white, so I sewed a coordinating row of stitching around the outside of each bib. Then they were finished...

Then I found this newborn onsie (below) at, yes, you guessed it, Babies R Us. There were actually three in the package but I was still learning to properly embroider on fine knits and well, two of the onsies didn't make the cut. Also, I decided that the embroidery design couldn't touch Jackson's skin because it would be too rough, so I embroidered it onto the butt of the onsie (over the diaper). And FYI, there is great iron on interfacing called "fusi-knit" that my friend, Alison, of SewBeeItClothier on Etsy turned me on to. When you are done with your machine embroidery design, you can iron this wonderful product onto the back of the design to make it silky smooth next to baby's skin. And that's a good thing...

And then the fun really began and I got to make some of my Quilted Toddler Bibs for the little peanut. Since my red-headed step child said I couldn't embroider a bib that said, "I probably will not like Country Music," I compromised and embroidered the bib below. Yes, you guessed it, I am not a fan of country music (that blog link sums my feelings up nicely, and is hysterical!). I have asked my Grandbaby Momma to lay pillows over her belly to muffle the sound while she and my son are listening to country music.... Sadly, I doubt she complied.

Then I found the FABULOUS fabric below and made another bib.

And then I found this fabulous turtle fabric and, yes, I made another bib....

And then I started digging in my stash and I made this one....

and then this one...

Yes, Grandma has been very, very busy!