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Monday, June 24, 2013
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Summer Camp!
June has been a great month so far - I got to attend Summer Camp at Country Sampler in Spring Green, Wisconsin! This was their Grand Old Flag retreat, held June 10-15, and it was fantastic - 5 1/2 days of quilting, cross-stitch, eating and shopping (not always in that order). We even had root beer floats and S'mores one night, to make a complete camp experience. The weather was great, and lots of the attendees thought they should move to Wisconsin. (PS - The weather isn't always like this!)
This retreat was attended by ladies from all over the country. I shared a table with three new quilting friends - Marie from Texas, Leigh from California, and Jodi from Illinois. We had a great time and hope to go back next year.
All the projects had a Civil War/patriotic theme, and the store made up kits for each of our projects. If you know this store, you know how beautifully they wrap and tie their kits. I never want to take the kit apart, because it's too pretty!
Our project Monday and Tuesday was presented by Paula Barnes of Red Crinoline Quilts. This project was Sampler Star.
This picture doesn't do it justice - it is wonderful, and Paula taught us how to use Star Singles for piecing the half-square triangles. These are square papers, and very easy to use. I loved this method, and this top is done and ready for quilting. We also enjoyed a beautiful trunk show of Paula's quilts, and lots of fun stories behind her company.
On Tuesday evening, Linda Lautenschlager of Chessie and Me started her projects - a cross-stitch box and scissor fob, and a Gettysburg 1862 Sampler. Among other things, she taught us how to stitch over one thread. That's something I didn't know how to do and have always avoided patterns that have it, but I won't now that I know the tricks! We had stitched the pieces for the box ahead of time, so she taught us some finishing techniques for this cute box.
We even got to decoupage some scrapbook paper inside the box to finish it off. I don't think I've used Mod Podge since high school, but it was sure fun! Also fun to bring home a completely finished project. The sampler is still a work in progress, and will be for some time, I suspect. It's a lot of fun to work on, though.
On Thursday, Carol Hopkins (Civil War Legacies patterns) started teaching her two projects. The first was a fun table topper, which I guess I don't have a picture of. That top is also done. On Thursday night, we had a trunk show from Carol and Linda. They showed some current projects, as well as some beautiful and interesting antique quilts and samplers they own.
On Friday, Carol taught her Sampler Baskets quilt. All the patterns were created for this retreat.
These pieces were small - the tiny squares in the top middle basket finished at 1/2". Carol had some good tips and tricks for us, too. My version of this quilt just needs the borders added. I loved all the color combinations the store picked for our quilts.
Then on Saturday, we worked on this until time to go home. All week we had wonderful food, sometimes prepared by employees of Country Sampler, and sometimes we walked to local restaurants. They also had great desserts and treats for us, and lots of door prizes. This store really knows how to put on a party!
All in all, it was the perfect week and I can't wait until 2014.
All the projects had a Civil War/patriotic theme, and the store made up kits for each of our projects. If you know this store, you know how beautifully they wrap and tie their kits. I never want to take the kit apart, because it's too pretty!
Our project Monday and Tuesday was presented by Paula Barnes of Red Crinoline Quilts. This project was Sampler Star.
On Tuesday evening, Linda Lautenschlager of Chessie and Me started her projects - a cross-stitch box and scissor fob, and a Gettysburg 1862 Sampler. Among other things, she taught us how to stitch over one thread. That's something I didn't know how to do and have always avoided patterns that have it, but I won't now that I know the tricks! We had stitched the pieces for the box ahead of time, so she taught us some finishing techniques for this cute box.
On Thursday, Carol Hopkins (Civil War Legacies patterns) started teaching her two projects. The first was a fun table topper, which I guess I don't have a picture of. That top is also done. On Thursday night, we had a trunk show from Carol and Linda. They showed some current projects, as well as some beautiful and interesting antique quilts and samplers they own.
On Friday, Carol taught her Sampler Baskets quilt. All the patterns were created for this retreat.
These pieces were small - the tiny squares in the top middle basket finished at 1/2". Carol had some good tips and tricks for us, too. My version of this quilt just needs the borders added. I loved all the color combinations the store picked for our quilts.
Then on Saturday, we worked on this until time to go home. All week we had wonderful food, sometimes prepared by employees of Country Sampler, and sometimes we walked to local restaurants. They also had great desserts and treats for us, and lots of door prizes. This store really knows how to put on a party!
All in all, it was the perfect week and I can't wait until 2014.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Hands 2 Help Link-up
Can it be June 2 already? It's time for our Hands 2 Help linkup.
Both my quilts are done, and just came out of the dryer. They're both really warm and cuddly!
The first quilt is Times Three, which will be going to Happy Chemo.
I couldn't seem to get the whole quilt into the picture, but you get the idea! This quilt has lots of fun stuff for a little boy - robots, cars, cats, Pokemon and pirates. I hope it makes some little boy's chemo a little easier. It has flannel on the back, so it's pretty cuddly.
The second quilt is going to Quilters Without Borders. This one is full of happy, bright dinosaurs.
I had some fun with free-motion quilting with variegated thread on this quilt. It's not perfect, but this quilt won't fall apart!
So now I need to find boxes to pack these quilts up and send them off to the correct places. This was a lot of fun again this year, so "thank you" to Sarah at Confessions of a Quilt Addict for putting this program together for us.
I have one other finish to show for May. On the cruise last August, we started this wall hanging, called Friendship Garden.
I believe this pattern was in one of the recent issues of Primitive Quilts and Projects, also. The piecing was pretty quick, as it used a jelly roll. We also added wool appliques and English paper piecing. It took me awhile to get it finished because I hand-quilted it. I used to do a lot of hand-quilting, but I haven't done much for awhile, and I was a little rusty. This wall-hanging brings back fond memories of the cruise. This quilt is hanging in my sewing room.
Now I've got to get back out to the garden and devise some way to keep the critters away from my tomato plants. Spring has finally come to Wisconsin, and everything is planted, so the critter-watch has begun!
Both my quilts are done, and just came out of the dryer. They're both really warm and cuddly!
The first quilt is Times Three, which will be going to Happy Chemo.
The second quilt is going to Quilters Without Borders. This one is full of happy, bright dinosaurs.
I had some fun with free-motion quilting with variegated thread on this quilt. It's not perfect, but this quilt won't fall apart!
So now I need to find boxes to pack these quilts up and send them off to the correct places. This was a lot of fun again this year, so "thank you" to Sarah at Confessions of a Quilt Addict for putting this program together for us.
I have one other finish to show for May. On the cruise last August, we started this wall hanging, called Friendship Garden.
Now I've got to get back out to the garden and devise some way to keep the critters away from my tomato plants. Spring has finally come to Wisconsin, and everything is planted, so the critter-watch has begun!
Sunday, April 28, 2013
April Recap
Wow, April sure flew by me! I didn't even get around to blogging once during the month, but now it's time for my April UFO recap and plans for May.
I got three of my plans for April completed - that's probably a record!
This Bricks and Cornerstones quilt is also quilted and bound. This was a scrap quilt from Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville, and I made it as part of our guild's retreat day in March. It will be a donation quilt eventually, but I need to show it in the guild show next April. I'm done a year in advance though!
And all the appliques are on My Favorite Things, all blanket stitched and ready to quilt. I'm not sure whether this will be machine or hand quilted. I love the way Linda machine quilted the model at the store, but I lack that talent, unfortunately. I may give it a whirl anyway.
So, that's three of my April UFOs done! I'm pretty happy about what I was able to finish in April, but things will probably come to a screeching halt quilt-wise now that spring is finally here. We had a cold, wet April (like most of the country, I think), but this weekend has been beautiful. I can't wait to get out and do some gardening, but that's still a few weeks away. I did pick some chives from the garden tonight - they are always the first thing to come up, and it's so nice to have something fresh from the garden.
For May, my UFOs are:
1. Keep quilting on the wall hanging from the cruise - no progress on that in April, other than hauling it on vacation and back. It had a nice trip south to find spring - does that count for anything?
2. Finish the cross-stitch pin keep - no progress on this either.
3. Baste and quilt My Favorite Things wall hanging.
4. Finish my last two blocks from last year's BOW from Primitive Gatherings, called Evelyn's Album. Their Block of the Week usually starts in June, so it's time to get last year's done!
On our way back from vacation, I found a new-to-me quilt shop called Inspirations in Hills, Iowa. It's a very cute shop featured in this year's Quilt Sampler magazine, which is just now available. They were giving their customers a free template to cut shapes for a braid quilt from 2 1/2" strips, so I may have to try that out this month. I have a lot of 2 1/2" strips left, even after several scrap quilts lately. If you're anywhere close to Iowa City, it's worth it to check out this shop.
That's it for April! See you in May.
I got three of my plans for April completed - that's probably a record!
This dinosaur quilt is my second quilt for Hands 2 Help - this one is going to Quilters Without Borders. It's a dinosaur panel in the middle, with some blocks added on top and bottom to make it the correct size. I did a lot of free-motion quilting on this one, and a machine-applied border, so it should stand up to some wear and tear. It's a lot cuter than this crooked picture shows! It's completely done, but I think I need to add a label. I'm calling it done anyway!
So, that's three of my April UFOs done! I'm pretty happy about what I was able to finish in April, but things will probably come to a screeching halt quilt-wise now that spring is finally here. We had a cold, wet April (like most of the country, I think), but this weekend has been beautiful. I can't wait to get out and do some gardening, but that's still a few weeks away. I did pick some chives from the garden tonight - they are always the first thing to come up, and it's so nice to have something fresh from the garden.
For May, my UFOs are:
1. Keep quilting on the wall hanging from the cruise - no progress on that in April, other than hauling it on vacation and back. It had a nice trip south to find spring - does that count for anything?
2. Finish the cross-stitch pin keep - no progress on this either.
3. Baste and quilt My Favorite Things wall hanging.
4. Finish my last two blocks from last year's BOW from Primitive Gatherings, called Evelyn's Album. Their Block of the Week usually starts in June, so it's time to get last year's done!
On our way back from vacation, I found a new-to-me quilt shop called Inspirations in Hills, Iowa. It's a very cute shop featured in this year's Quilt Sampler magazine, which is just now available. They were giving their customers a free template to cut shapes for a braid quilt from 2 1/2" strips, so I may have to try that out this month. I have a lot of 2 1/2" strips left, even after several scrap quilts lately. If you're anywhere close to Iowa City, it's worth it to check out this shop.
That's it for April! See you in May.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
End of March Update
This was a pretty productive month! I always feel like I didn't accomplish much, but when I list it out, it's more than I thought.
For my March UFO goals, I made some progress:
1. Finish Times Three Quilt - done. This quilt is going to Hands2Help.
2. Get Winter Wonderland put together - done. This top is finished, and will be put away until fall and I will quilt it then. I wish the words at the bottom showed up better in the picture - it says "warm winter wishes" and is fine in real life!
3. Hand quilt the wall hanging from my cruise - This is started, and I will continue working on it in April. Speaking of hand quilting, did you know that you can't buy 1" masking tape any more? It's all .94", at least around here. I guess it's not a huge problem, but I was surprised by the change. I use masking tape a lot to avoid drawing lines when hand quilting.
4. Finish appliques on my Favorite Things wall hanging - under way. I'm still blanket stitching some of the appliques, but I think everything is on here now. That big blank area on the right side says "quilting" so there really will be something there! I added the Easter basket, a watermelon, a pincushion, a dog and cat, and my initials and date since last month. I think I'm done adding things.
I also got all caught up on my Bee in My Bonnet row quilt. This was a lot of fun to make.
I'm not loving the basket handles - they are brown and kind of jump out at me, so I'm thinking I'll make some yo-yo flowers and try to cover up part of them. We'll see how that goes. My tulips got cut off in the picture - they are one of my favorite parts! One of the giveaway fabrics I won was perfect for the inner border. I'm excited about the fact that I didn't buy anything for this quilt - everything came from my stash, which doesn't look depleted at all even after all this.
So, what to do for April? Here are my goals:
1. Quilt this dinosaur quilt for my second Hands2Help quilt.
2. Quilt this Bricks and Cornerstones quilt. This was made for my guild scrap quilting day, and I need to have it done for our show in May 2014, so no giant rush on this one. I'm trying to avoid a giant rush next April, though.
3. Finish hand quilting the cruise wall hanging.
4. Finish the appliques on my Favorite Things wall hanging.
5. Finish this cross stitch pinkeep. The cross stitching is done, and it just needs to be assembled. See the little wool thing in the upper left corner? That's a pinch coin purse that was our guild project one month - that got done in March, also. It's the perfect size for carrying a spool of thread, thimble and little scissors. Mine is wool lined with homespun.
That's all - LOL. I need to get these done in April, because when May gets here and our snow is finally gone, I'm going outside and staying there until September! The snow has been melting, but not fast enough to suit me. I'm very envious of the flowers showing up on some of the blogs.
Thanks for stopping by!
For my March UFO goals, I made some progress:
2. Get Winter Wonderland put together - done. This top is finished, and will be put away until fall and I will quilt it then. I wish the words at the bottom showed up better in the picture - it says "warm winter wishes" and is fine in real life!
4. Finish appliques on my Favorite Things wall hanging - under way. I'm still blanket stitching some of the appliques, but I think everything is on here now. That big blank area on the right side says "quilting" so there really will be something there! I added the Easter basket, a watermelon, a pincushion, a dog and cat, and my initials and date since last month. I think I'm done adding things.
I also got all caught up on my Bee in My Bonnet row quilt. This was a lot of fun to make.
So, what to do for April? Here are my goals:
3. Finish hand quilting the cruise wall hanging.
4. Finish the appliques on my Favorite Things wall hanging.
That's all - LOL. I need to get these done in April, because when May gets here and our snow is finally gone, I'm going outside and staying there until September! The snow has been melting, but not fast enough to suit me. I'm very envious of the flowers showing up on some of the blogs.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hands2Help
Have you heard of Hands2Help? It's a charity project coordinated by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. She has chosen two awesome charities this year - Happy Chemo and Quilts Beyond Borders. With Hands2Help, you sign up now, make your quilt, and send it off to the charity by June 2. Easy, peasy and a great way to help others. Sarah has linky parties, tutorials for easy quilts and even prizes a couple times during the spring to keep us all on track! The signup is going on this week here. You can sign up after this week, but Sarah is offering a prize to someone who signs up now.
This is the third year I've participated, and I plan to make a quilt for each charity. I'm happy to announce that one is already done:
For Quilts Beyond Borders, I'm making this quilt
This was a fun panel, and I added a row of blocks on the top and bottom to make it the right size. It's going to be really cute once it's quilted. This quilt is going onto my April UFO list, so I can get the quilting and binding done.
So, if you have time to make a charity quilt, this is a great chance to do it and a great group of people to do it with! Signups are going on here.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
What a Great Week!
This has been a great week at Troublesome Creek Quilts! Last Saturday, I came home to find a wonderful package from Dee at Mike and Gabby. She's been having a series of giveaways, and I was a lucky winner. Look what was in my package - wonderful spring fabrics!
I just love these pretty Moda fabrics. The red rickrack will make a wonderful binding. These are some fabrics I didn't already have in my stash, so I will enjoy using them, and they brought a welcome spot of color to dreary Wisconsin. I can't wait to start something with them. Thanks for your generosity, Dee!
And then on Wednesday, I came home to find a package from Buttermilk Basin - I was a winner in her giveaway, too! This box contained some fantastic goodies...
The pink stripe is a kitchen towel, with a pattern and wool and floss to put the rabbit on it, and some great green rickrack to finish it with. And this yummy bundle of wools, an Easter pattern, and even a chocolate rabbit. I was already a big fan of Buttermilk Basin; I love her wool and stitchery patterns and have made quite a few of them over the years. Thanks, Staci - I'm looking forward to making some fun Easter things, but I'd better get going, hadn't I? I think it's only about 3 weeks until Easter.
I've been working on my March UFOs, but don't have a lot of new progress to show yet. Hopefully I'll have a mid-month update.
So that's my week - it was a good one!
And then on Wednesday, I came home to find a package from Buttermilk Basin - I was a winner in her giveaway, too! This box contained some fantastic goodies...
I've been working on my March UFOs, but don't have a lot of new progress to show yet. Hopefully I'll have a mid-month update.
So that's my week - it was a good one!
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