Friday Finishes

A couple of weeks ago had a few sew days with my "quilty" friends from Illinois, Iowa, Indiana and Wisconsin.  Betty J. couldn't be with us but she sent 4 charity quilts.

Below is my favorite of the four.  It is a cheater panel that looks like blue work.

Its adorable! 

 

Below, is my little pony and Betty has made several of these.

There are some very lucky children who will get these wonderful quilts. 

Kathy D. and Barb O. are patiently waiting for the distribution of the

mystery project parts, below. 

Below, is my mystery project.  I made to tablerunners,

one large and one small.  I chose my border fabric and will

add it later. 

Below, is Barb O. finished top.

Isn't is unique! 

While we were sewing up a storm,

we had our first snow storm outside.

About 6 inches fell overnight.     

    Everyone posing for a selfie with me.

. 

Kathy C. was working on these make-up bags for Christmas.

This is the Quilt of Valor that I was working on. 

Wanda S. was working on this baby quilt. 

 

Carol O. was working in this Little Red Button quilt. 

Carol O was also working on Row by Row blocks. 

 

Tammy has been working on this wedding quilt at the

last two sewing days. 

Tammy used Pimga pens to transfer information about the wedding,

guest's wishes, and on the back the wedding vows written by

husband and wife.   

 

 

Mary was working on this Quilt of Valor for her husband. 

 

Susie was very busy back in her corner. 

 

Have a great weekend and hope you have a productive weekend.   

Today I am linking up with.....Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Link a Finish Friday, Freedom Fridays, and Crazy Mom Quilts.  

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

Monday Design Wall

Oh my gosh!  I just checked my pictures from the blog design page and my pictures are showing up again.  Oh, Wanda, if you fixed this for me this weekend, I am forever grateful!  I am doing the happy dance.  Yeah!  Hopefully, things will stay fixed for a long time.

I was at a sewing weekend with some awesome ladies and Wanda is retired business skills teacher.
She looked my phone over and didn't know what or if she could help without my laptop computer.  Wouldn't you know it was one of the times I didn't take my laptop with me but this morning I can view and choose pictures for the blog.  Whoopee!

This is Wanda, who is looking at her first quilt which has just been quilted.

Below is Carol Onken, the longarm quilter talking about Wanda's quilt. Many of us gave Wanda advise on how to trim her quilt and how to add the binding.  She went home ready to do the handwork on the binding.

 

Hugs and prayers to Wanda today.  It was one year ago that her husband passed away.  I hope today you can smile at the many memories you two made together.

 

Betty brought some fun show n' tell.  Betty emptied a suitcase of charity quilts.  Notice below the fun way Betty uses panels by cutting them up and adding them to strip sets or by applique.

Betty come out from behind your quilt! 

I am sorry to say, I did not get pictures of all the quilts Betty finished and donated.  They were all adorable.

 

Below is Susan, our hostess, showing Carol Onken's button fabric quilt.  This was a block trade our group completed back in 2011.  Many us are still working on our layouts and sewing the tops.  The white blocks with the X in them were the additional blocks Carol added to make the quilt queen size. 

 

Below is Betty rendition of the quilt. 

 

No sewing day is complete without a food celebration.  Yum! 

Never a bad cook in the bunch and we usually come home with new recipes.

This weekend was no exceptions, I have three new recipes.

 

Kathy was learning how to use her new sewing machine while making this batik beauty.

 

Linda whipped up this batik quilt along with a baby quilt. 

 

Melanie was the UFO Master!  She finished this king size quilt and another quilt called "Twiggy" for her camper's bed. 

 

Sylvia worked on this Doug Leko quilt. 

 

Thank you to Susan and all the ladies for a fun, productive weekend.

 

Today I am linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

 

Retreat Time

This morning I'm up and packing.  I don't know about you but I always pack too much, that includes everything but the kitchen sink.  I will mostly be working but working on a customer's quilt trying to get it done and back to her. I also have several other projects that are started and I hope to finish them up also.

My friend, Cathy, is coming to my house and we will drive to Fulton from here.  We will be headed for Susan's Calico Creations.  Susan May will be our hostess for the weekend.  We are excited that this time I'm retired and can go earlier on Friday.  Many times I have arrived about 7pm in the evening, missing dinner and getting a late start.  One of the things I always wanted to do is stop at the junk barn on Rt. 136.  So we did just that.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture.  You will have to close your eyes and imagine a big ole' red barn.  Out in front of that barn are piles of many items, there are wooden benches, garden tools, enamelware, bikes, washtubs, windows, and screens. There were paths thru this collection of old stuff.  Cathy and I walked the paths trying to see it all.  We didn't buy anything this time.

One the best things about going to the retreats is the great food.  Most of the time, we take turns cooking meals while we are there.  This group was a little smaller and Susan was having a fat quarter sale at the store.  Sue and Barb drove down from Mt. Horeb for the sale and we got to have lunch together.We walked over to the Golden Wok and enjoyed a wonderful meal.



Jean's quilt

One of our fellow retreater's , Carol Riley, taught this class on Friday and the students were working on their projects when we arrived.  They were using the Twister ruler to make Twisted Posies.


Rayann's Halloween center



To the right is Jean's quilt in
progress.  She was adding the
posies.  To the left is one of two
quilt's Rayann was working on.

To the right is Rayann's second quilt in Spring colors.
Below is the finished quilt top.





Several others were working on this quilt with Christmas fabrics which was also a very attractive combination.  Congratulations to Carol and her students!
Have a great weekend!  Terry

Queen Sue's Shop Hop

Our minister and his wife, Marvin and Sue Claassen, have given their resignation as of July 1, 2012.
To celebrate their retirement, we wanted to do something special for our friend, Sue.  We, the quilting friends, had talked many times of creating a shop hop.  So now was the the time to celebrate our friendships with Sue and combine it with shopping.  The invitation was sent out in the church bulletin and by word-of-mouth of our plan. 

Sue was made Queen of the Day along with a tiara and scepter.  The rest of us traveling with her were her princesses wearing our royal rings crusted with diamonds.  Each member of our party received a parting gift of a water bottle to parch their thirst and a Shop Hop Survival Kit (chocolate, pretzels, and a Rice Krispie treat) to keep their shopping energy up!

We embarked on our journey at 7am meeting at the Road Ranger Truck Stop in Princeton.  Heading north we ventured to our first stop of the day at Uniquely Yours Quilt Shop, Orangeville, IL.  We were greeted by Ann who explained the store's layout and the discounts.  Gene, the owner, also dropped in to greet us and explain the Northern Illinois Shop Hop.

From Rt to Lft:  Kathy Allen, Doris Nerhring, Sue Claassen, Lou Tuntland, Mary Wallis, Kathy Closen, Cathy Keiser, Susie McAllister, and Karen Meisenheimer in the front row.  Back Row from Rt. to Lft: Deanna Rockos, Kathy Olson, Lisa Kay, and Terry Johnson

I had a very special visit from my BFF Kelly Bartels, who only lives about 6 miles from the store.

Next stop was Yellow Creek Quilt Designs in Pearl City.  Mmmm...those Civil War fabrics were calling my name.  Ate my Rice Krispie treat on the way there to fortify myself.   Found some delicious fabrics to add to my small quilt stash.  We had a "cool" lunch at the Yellow Creek Inn across the street before heading to Susan's Calico Creations in Fulton.  We were greeted by Susan May, owner and her staff of many.  Susan offers three stories of fabric and furniture.  We shopped our little hearts out and Kathy A. went down the street to check out the other shops. Susan, thanks for the refreshing punch and cookies!

Our final destination was LeClaire, IA.  We had about two and half hours to visit the shops before dinner at Crane and Pelican overlooking the Mississippi River.  We were graciously welcomed by Pam Hughes and staff at Expressions in Thread.  They have their All Iowa Shop Hop going on and were open until 6pm.  Let me tell you, I was getting a little worried how were going to get all the bags home.... :),

We had to stop and see the famous American Pickers. Can you imagine a Queen biker?

We visited Danielle's store across the street, 4 Miles 2 Memphis (named after her children, Miles & Memphis).
Look at these lonely
Singer machines needing
adoption.

This dress was hanging  over the mantel, great way to use up buttons, but pretty heavy to wear.

We finished off the day having dinner at the Crane and Pelican Restaurant overlooking the mighty Mississippi River.  A few of us enjoyed frozen custard at Culver's in Geneseo on the way home.

Thanks to Queen Sue and her court, a good time was had by all.  So....when's the next trip, Girls?

Yours in quilting, Terry