Civil War Log Cabin

Sooo, I went sewing again on Saturday.  I went to my friend Susan's house for a little sew-in, sleepover.  Yes, I am making the most of my time with my hubby gone and her hubby was out of town so what else would two sewing fools do?

Susan is the friend who was also working on the Civil War log cabin blocks with me last weekend at our little retreat.  I think I had about 14 made at the end of last weekend and I got 10 more made on Saturday.  It was a pretty little stack!

I got the rows laid out on the design wall and tried to decide what setting to do.  There are so many choices with a log cabin.  Maybe that's why it's a favorite of so many.  I tried the Fields and Furrows but had already made one of those. 

 

I put them in the Barn Door setting and decided that would be the one to do.  BUT....instead of the center being the dark fabrics, I used the light side for a 'shirting' center.  Man, I just love those shirting fabrics!!!

 

 

That gave me full dark diamond in the middle of the quilt.  For some reason this looked better to me.  I stitched all the rows together and love the scrappiness of this one.  I'm out of batting so it will have to wait for my order to come in.  I'm not sure if I'll grid quilt it or do some feathers.  I have a pretty stencil that just might work but we'll see.

 

 

 

Mini Retreat!



We had so much fun at our little mini-retreat at my friend Susan's house.  It was so nice of her to open her house up to us so we could have a little sew-in at little cost, just gas to get there, food and the shopping expense.  hehe...sometimes that shopping can be bad but we were all good girls.  :o)

 

Susan shared the first quilt she ever made.  She was just in high school when she made it.  We all thought it was a pretty good job, not only for a teenager but the fact that it's still together!!  It's a crazy quilt and it's tied with yarn in the corners. 

 

 

Here is a picture of me, Susan and Neena.  (Nice hairdo, huh?)  We all went through school together and Susan was the Maid of Honor at my wedding.  That's a whole lotta years of being friends!!  It's so fun that we all quilt, stamp or do something crafty.  It allows us to spend time together while enjoying our hobbies.



 

This is a shot from upstairs, where the ironing board was.  After pinning the borders, I would go inside and sew them on.  Then I would trek upstairs to the ironing board.  I did this for 4 borders, 2 sides at a time......that would be 8 times!!!  Repeat a few more times for the backing and the other projects I took.  It was quilting aerobics!!!  :o)  Oh, the lady seated on the left is Judy. She's a nice lady that worked at Disneyland with Susan but recently retired. Lucky duck!  



 

Michael and Nicole made a delicious dinner Saturday night.  Michael is the girlfriend of Susan's son and Nicole is her daughter.  They made Sopes or Mamelas.  They are a corn masa patty cooked and then you raise the edge to create a little dam to hold all the goodies on.  We put beans, carnitas, a little potato and green salsa.  Mmmmm!!  Since we were retreating, we cheated and bought the meat and salsa from the little Mexican market.  It was all delicious!  Especially the margaritas!  hehe  And yes, we still sewed straight seams and no one sewed through their fingers.  ;o)

 

Did I say yummmmm?

 

This little block might look familiar.  I made it when I was at the retreat in Indiana.  I was going to just make a little table topper but Judy said it would make a nice pillow.  I had it pinned and all ready to go so I just went ahead and quilted it and then did a backing with a slip cover type opening.  I just need to buy a pillow and I'm set.  A UFO no more!

 

Susan had her hubby pull the ping pong table out before leaving for his guy weekend. This thing was a god-send!!! I pinned one border on the floor but knew that wouldn't be good for my back. This was ideal. I had to fold the middle of the quilt over so I could measure and pin the borders but that was no big deal. That big beast on the left is Dooley, the sweetest HUGE dog you ever want to meet. This picture gives you an idea of how big he is but his head is down. When he is standing tall, he's probably chest height. Makes you want to get a saddle! lol 

And here is my two year old project, Jared Takes a Wife. My sister Isabel and I took the Bonnie Hunter class at Road to CA a couple of years ago.  Of course, hers has been done for a while.  She made a little bigger than lap size and quilted it herself.  I pretty much procrastinated because I needed a place to spread this out (ping pong table to the rescue!!).  I added enough borders, it gives me the 'drop' I needed so it would cover my bed.  I'm checking into longarm prices to see if I can have it quilted.  I just don't think I have it in me to do it on my Juki. 

 

Here is a close up of the borders.  I didn't follow any pattern and hope that isn't obvious by looking at the photos.

 

I have a couple of craft shows I'll be doing with my daughter so back to the sewing machine for me.

Cabin Retreat

Me and two friends, Susan and Neena, went to Big Bear for a little quilting retreat. We were there Thursday to Sunday. It was COLD but we turned up the heater and had some roaring fires going and got nice and toasty warm. We rented this little cabin from one of Susan's friends. Isn't it cute?
I got lots of sewing done. I took my Juki machine and quilted this UFO. I sandwiched it at home so I only had to quilt it. I stitched in the ditch around the borders and around all the pinwheels. I forgot the binding so I still have to stitch that on before I can call this one finished but I'm almost there.
Here is a close up of the quilting I did on the borders. I didn't mark it. I just did it freehand and it shows! My loops and little curves aren't perfect but this quilt will be for my friend and she will love it anyway! :o)

Here I am sitting in front of the blazing fire, staying warm. A little too warm at some points of the weekend! I had the fireplace on one side of me and the wall heater on the other side. There were some points where that purple top came off and I was sewing in a tank top! lol The only other project I took to work on was my Jared Takes a Wife blocks from my class at Road to CA with Bonnie Hunter. This was a perfect project to take to the cabin. I chipped away at it for two days.

And this is the reward!! I finished 20 blocks. I would like to make a queen sized quilt so I am about half way done. I think I will need about 15 more blocks. We'll see.

Now that I'm home and unpacked, we will probably start making Save the Date cards for my daughter's wedding so I might only be sewing here and there. Hopefully, I'll have this quilt done before summer!

Sewing workout!

Well, this was a sewing trip at a workout place but the only working out was filling the car with tables and chairs, sewing machine, cutting tools, kits, etc.!!! :o)
Me and a few buddies were going to try and go up to Lake Arrowhead for a sewing date but that wasn't working out. Susan, one of the newer quilters and friend, owns a Curves that just happens to be right next door to a quilt shop. We loaded up the cars with tables, chairs and the kitchen sink and had a play day.

This is my daughter Kelley, working away. You can see on the left her scrappy blocks up on the design wall. She is my artsy daughter and there will be "no following a quilt pattern" for her. She likes scrappy.

And she happened to see a scrappy quilt online somewhere that had cute embroidery in with all the blocks so she drew on some bleached muslin and embroidered a block. She'll probably do a few others and then start sewing her parts together.

Below is the project Neena and I worked on. I had no business getting out a new kit but I did anyway. :o) Neena and I went to my quilt guild show last weekend and this was just too cute for either of us to pass up. I think I'll give mine to one of the kids for Christmas.....which means I have to finish it! LOL I loved the colors. It's young and fun. Not like the traditional colors of red and green that I decorate with.

And here I am stitching on another project. I actually handed my camera to somebody else so I can prove I'm there too!

This is Neena. You might've seen a picture of her on my blog before. Look at that face. She's a nut!

And Susan is usally happier than this. Especially when she finishes a project!!! She finished her little Christmas quilt panel. Isn't the little checked border cute? She shared her scraps with me so I could do that on my panel too. Woohoo, another project!

Off to finish some cleaning in the sewing room so I can actually try and cut something on the cutting table!!