Two Retreats in a Row

 Yes... Christine and I were at quilting retreats two weekends in a row! I had a second set of projects lined up to take to our annual Spring Oxford Guild retreat before the Camp Kintail retreat.  The truth is that I could go on even more retreats and still come up with projects to work on.  Christine is in the same boat!

I finished up my chain link blocks for the vice president's challenge--I have decided to set them on point but have not decided if I want to add sashing or not before sewing them together.  I will have to audition sashing later.   

As you can see, Finn is very willing to help model my quilt blocks, often artfully rearranging them along the way. 

Next, I worked on my red Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks for March.  I put them on the floor for a photo this am and, again, Finn was there to help. 

I sewed the binding on my scrappy baby quilt and got it sewn down by hand at the retreat.  I still need to add a label.   The backing was purchased at an estate sale. 

I started my 12 Green Bottles Quilt, a Threadhouse Academy class with Jo Avery, at the November guild retreat and have not worked on it since then.  I find I need a good chunk of time and lots of space to work on this quilt as I audition colours for each part.  The first picture is going to be the centre block.  I hope to finish it soon.  

This is one of the borders on a corner section. 

As you can see, I have two corner blocks done and two more started.  I was pleased with the progress I made at the retreat.  Our guild is having a quilt show in the spring of 2027 and I hope to have this quilt done in time for the show. 

I will be linking up with the Slow Sunday Stitchers on Sunday morning, with Angela and the RSC group on Saturday and with Frederique too. 

Slow Stitching Saturday!

Today was the annual Vice President's day at the Oxford Guild.  Many quilters were working on Anita's Arrowhead blocks, a pattern chosen by our VP, but I decided to bring along some hand stitching to work on instead.  Earlier in the week, I thread basted my Arizona quilt so that I could hand quilt it.  I am using 28 wt grey Aurifil thread for big stitching.  So far, so good!

I had several opportunities this week to add stitches to my Winter Woods cross stitch project.  The deer is done and I also did the snowflake.  I am working on the part below the deer which includes several trees. I still need to add some stars in the sky and the eye of the deer. 

I also hand stitched the binding on my potato chip baby quilt today.  I had finished the quilting earlier in the week. 

You can see my straight stitch walking foot quilting in the next couple of pictures.  I will block this quilt to get it to lie flat. 

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge colour for February is blue so I put together some light blue hollow nine patches this week.  I may make some turquoise blocks too.  

After several months of not knitting, I decided that the only way my scarf is going to get done is if I try to work on it most days.  I have the yarn bowl and scarf on the coffee table to remind me to pick it up and knit!  

It was very cold today where my daughter and Finn live, but the sun was shining and Finn enjoyed sunbathing by the window.  He likes lots of blankets in his bed as well as some toys...

My daughter's crocheted book blanket will have 11 granny squares for the books she read in January.  

Here are the books she read in January along with their ratings.  She does not give very many 5/5's.  (only 3 books got this rating last year out of the over 120 books she read)

Last Sunday, my husband and I went for a walk at the local park.  I took this picture of a milkweed pod, dried out and cracked open, seeds and fluff still inside. 

 I will link up with Angela for the RSC, Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching and Frederique for her weekly link up. 

Still Binding and Progress on the Sunflowers

Easter Greetings from Finn!  We had our family Easter Dinner on Friday afternoon and Finn dressed up for the occasion!  

Snack time featured a chick cheese ball surrounded by a cracker nest.  

I spend some time doing cross stitch this week and just about finished the lower left flower in this last quadrant.  I have a couple of new projects waiting in the wings when this is done. 

I picked up my modern sampler quilt from the long armer's house this week and trimmed it up so I could sew on the binding.  I don't usually measure the quilt before I cut the binding--I just guesstimate how much binding I will need.  I played binding chicken with this one and won!  My slow stitching this week will be hand sewing the binding to the back of the quilt. 

Here's a sneak peek at the quilting.  Come back to see next week's blog post for the full reveal.

I finished the binding on my scrappy nine patch baby quilt earlier in the week. 

We finished our Stitch by Stitch quilt store puzzle this week and have started another one.  

I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Stitchers in the morning. 

Yet Another Retreat...

 It's true.  My friend, Christine and I have attended two quilting retreats in March, two weeks apart.  (We won't mention that we were away for a week at the end of February at QuiltCon in Raleigh, NC...).  This is the end of our quilting retreats for until November, when we have two more. We are both very productive on the retreats and manage to get lots of sewing done.  It's amazing what you can accomplish over the course of 2 1/2 or 3 days of concentrated time with no cooking, dishes and other distractions!  I spent most of my weekend making quilt backs, pin basting and quilting a wall hanging and two baby quilts. 

This is the rabbit wall hanging I made for my MIL in the process of being quilted.  I used my Hera marker and a quilting ruler to mark one of each of the pairs of lines.  The second line was 1/2" from the first one. The up and down quilting was done with light green thread and the horizontal lines with the blue thread you see on the machine. I finished it off with the binding made from the same fabric as the narrow border.  This has been gifted already and is hanging up in my MIL's room.  She likes to show it to people when they come into her room. 

I bought a panel to make a quilted baby book recently and sewed it together at the retreat.  It has been gifted to a baby that is due in April. 

The walk between the building where we sewed and the building where meals were served was beautiful!

I sewed this quilt top at the previous retreat and quilted it at this retreat.  The binding was added at home this week. There is a baby in mind for this quilt.  She is due in May. The backing is the same as the background fabric in the crumby stars quilt I showed on my blog last week. I had to add a pink stripe on the back to make it wide enough. The turquoise binding fabric was in my stash.  

The scrappy nine patch quilt was quilted with a simple cross hatch through the white and gray squares. Again, the backing fabric was not quite wide enough so there is a strip of light orange added to make it work. I added the green binding at home this week and I'm in the process of hand stitching it to the back of the quilt. 

Our knitting friend, Mary, and I went down to the beach to see the sunset. 

I received some money for my birthday in February and purchased a kit to make a "Sew Together" bag at QuiltCon featuring fabrics with a New York City theme.  I started sewing it at the retreat and hope to finish it this coming week.  

Spring is being a bit fickle this week and so, in anticipation of a snowy forecast for Friday, I cut some daffodils and brought them inside for my table.  

Finn was not happy about the snow.  He likes to lay outside in the sunshine and it has been too cold to do this for the last couple of days.  Thankfully, most of the snow melted today and it is supposed to be warmer this coming week. 

Someone added some Easter decorations to a tree at the park where I walk each morning. 

Finn loves this little squeaky chicken ball.  It is not round and bounces erratically which makes the game even more fun. 

I bought a freshly baked pretzel at the farmer's market this morning...doesn't it look like it is ready to kiss me???

I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers in the morning and with Frederique at her blog.