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

 

Monday Design Wall

I am doing the happy dance this morning.  I have been working on a quilt top for my friend, Kelly, for over two years and I finally have completed it.  The story on how this quilt began can be read HERE.  The quilt is 105" x 110"

We get a little silly at our sew days, so I had to strike a pose.

These were also a project for me.  These two blocks will end up as pillows.  They are made from leftover fabric from my parents' quilt.  The block patterns are out of Lori Holt's new book, Vintage Farm Girl.

I was also working on the small barn quilt, quilting it on my domestic machine.  This is a quilt commissioned by my neighbor.  It is also a Lori Holt pattern that was free, at the time I printed it.  It feels good to be working on UFO's and  making progress at getting them finished.

Congratulations to Suzy for finishing her row by row quilt.  Love the colors!

Cathy C was working on quilts of valor.  This one is called Letters from Home.  It is hung upside down.  The blocks look like envelopes with the top open, when turned right side up.

Another quilt of valor by Cathy C.

This is a memory quilt in-the-making by Nancy B.  She was using ties, boxer shorts, and shirts for fabric from the gentleman who had passed away. 

Linda's quilt from a layer cake.  This is a Missiouri Star Quilt Co pattern. 

Way to go Wanda!  She finished her first quilt.  She had one more border to add at this point. 

Its beautiful, Wanda!  Congratulations.  Before she left she had the backing, batting, thread color and quilting pattern picked out.

Suzy made a beautiful blue snowflake quilt.  She had been shopping for and saving fabrics for a while for this project.  It was stunning to look at and we were encouraging her to keep this one and not give it away.

Yesterday started the Row by Row experience.  This will be the block pattern and kit available from Susan's Calico Creations in Fulton, IL  The shop is two blocks from the mighty Mississippi river and the windmill you see in the quilt block.  The windmill still works and they grind flour inside.  When the weather is nice, we take a walk along the river's flood control dike.  Its a beautiful view.

 

Today's schedule is busy.  This morning I am off to agility classes with Indy.  Then headed back home to help Corry finish quilting her king size quilt

At 3pm, the farrier will arrive to trim and put new shoes on our horse, Hoot.  After that will have to finish laundry and re-pack my suitcase.  Tomorrow morning I am headed to Shipshewana with my friends for the quilt show, flea market and shop hop.  Its a busy week. 

 

Today I am linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

Work in Progress Wednesday

Today's work in progress will be learning the new update on my Handi Quilter Avante.  Monday, June 15th, Handi Quilter released a new Pro Stitcher update with skew 2 and 500 new patterns.  Before we left on vacation, I had updated my Pro Stitcher in order to be ready for this update on June 15th.  It was a huge change for me and I am having to learn to use my Pro Stitcher all over again.  I had a quick lesson from my friend who works for Handi Quilter.  Today I will have to go it alone and possibly watch some of the You Tube videos to understand everything.  I have also signed up for classes from Elaine Gilmore, National Educator for Handi Quilter, the first part of July.  The update along with the training will take me into a new adventure of providing custom quilting for my customers.

Last night I was the guest speaker at the River City Quilter's Guild in Fulton, IL. 

Carol and her mug warmers. 

Carol's quilt made from a layer cake from Missouri Star Quilt pattern.

Cute tote made from Iowa Shop Hop fabric

Red button mini quilt

Susan from Susan's Calico Creations' strip club, Dropping Diamonds.

Cute pillow sham and an antique quilt tucked under arm.  The antique quilt was given away to one lucky guild member.  This guild was busy preparing for their quilt show in September of this year.

 

Today I am linking with Lee at Freshly Pieced.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

 

Design Wall Monday-Oil Change, Secret Clues & Shop Hop

I have some back-tracking to do.  I did not post my visit to Fulton, two weeks ago.  It always seems a little funny how some of my shop hops develop.  I mentioned to several of my "quilty" friends that I was going to D & D Motors to have the oil changed in my vehicle.  Then I planned to head over to The Quilt Box Quilt Shop in Kewanee.  Kathy O and Maribel K decided that they wanted to accompany me on my journey.  The day was easily made into a multiple store shop hop. 

Here is a clue to a future story:  Before heading out to Kewanee and picking up Kathy O and Maribel K, I shipped a quilt to Houston.

When I headed out to pick up my friends, the roads weren't the best so it slowed me down.  We were a little late arriving for the oil change.  I think we made up the lost time quickly as the mechanics wanted to go to lunch, so tire rotation and oil change happened smoothly.

Arriving at The Quilt Box was a warm experience.  The girls who own the shop are always happy to see us.  We took in our template for English Paper Piecing the Patchwork of the Crosses.

We used the above template to audition different fabrics and to imagine how we would cut out the different designs.  I found a bargain bin of $2 fat quarters.  (Did the happy dance!)  After leaving our money at the store and taking their fabric, we headed out for lunch.  We voted on an economy style lunch saving more money for future shopping.

A quick selfie after picking up sandwiches at Subway.  We headed for LeClaire, Ia, for Expressions in Thread, not.  I had "sometimers disease".  I forgot the turn off for LeClaire and drove straight to Fulton's Susan's Calico Creations.  The girls didn't act like back-seat-drivers and question where I was going.

 

We spent the rest of the day at the sewing day in Fulton.  I was excited to introduce Kathy and Maribel to all my friends that meet at Fulton several times a year.

Congratulations on your beautiful finish, Susie!

Below is the back of the quilt.  Just stunning. 

 

Below are Susan's Patchwork of the Crosses blocks. 

This is an example of why we audition fabrics with the template.  Notice how the stripes are used in each block.  Also, the placement of light and dark fabrics changes the block design.  You look at fabric very differently after taking a class in this technique.

 

Susie made this wonderful Quilt of Valor for a man in her town. Susie designed the center block as the man was in the Navy.  It was going to be presented at his eighty-something birthday party the following weekend.

 

There was another Quilt of Valor that was a surprise.  I will have to get more information about it before sharing the story.

 

Today I am linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times, Nurdan at Hug-a-Bit Quilts, and Beth at her scrappy blog Cooking Up Quilts.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

 

 

Walking through Fulton

Saturday started out with RAIN.  Its been so long since we've seen rain, I just wanted to do a happy dance.  We had a very nice shower in Fulton but called home and no rain at home. Bummer...
Anyway we had granola, yogurt and fruit for breakfast.  That was a good start and felt like a walk next.  Susan suggested we walk down to Heritage Canyon to view the little village.  Cathy, Sherri and started off on our trek.  It was a little steamy after the shower, but we were determined to check out the village.  We arrive at the visitor's hut but no one was available and we found the trail on our own and were off on a self-guided tour. 

Walking to the gate to get started we saw this waterfall.

It was a little slippery from the rain and moss on the walkways.  We picked our way into the valley of the village.  The village is built in an old quarry.  There is a log cabin, covered bridge, church, mill, stable, blacksmith shop, doctor's office and villager's home to view.  I don't have pictures of everything but here's the highlights of our walk.

Cathy and Sherri in the Covered Bridge

Stable and Blacksmith Shop

Sanctuary

Adorable little Church

This church holds about 25 guests.
Its just adorable and even with
cloudy skies the inside was illuminated and the stained glass windows were beautiful. Can't you just imagine a storybook wedding here?

From the church we moved on to the mill, villager's home and doctor's office.  Notice the doctor's name, Dr. Love.  I will do another post to show the rest of the pictures as they seem to bump in and rearrange what I already have posted here.   So stay tuned....

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