Jackson's Mill Quilt Retreat

It never seems like we get to stay at Jackson's Mill long enough. I kind of wish it were a week long event rather than just a long weekend.  I'm already counting the days until next year!

Me and my friends Debbie and Susan went up on Thursday.  We managed to make a two hour trip in to an almost 6 hour trip!  We had a wonderful time!  We stopped at a couple different quilt shops, had a great lunch, and stopped at an outlet shop.  We got checked into our hotel room and then had a bite to eat.  Then it was back to the room to get rested up for the next day's festivities!!

Friday we had a nice leisurely breakfast and then went to check in at the retreat itself.  We met up with our friends Teresa and Kristen and then got everyone settled in to their classrooms.  I failed to take any pictures all weekend.  I'm really bad about that!  I need to do better.  My Friday class was an Iron Pad Caddy taught by Brenda Casto.  I made it on my Featherweight.  It didn't turn out half bad, but I have to say my Featherweight struggled with the walking foot and all the fabric layers.  I may not have had something adjusted quite right.  I need to play with it some more.  Here's my finished product:

It's going to be perfect for my little antique iron to carry back and forth to classes.  Brenda had drawn all of the sewing lines with arrows to follow on freezer paper to iron on our fabric.  This made it possible to finish this in just a few hours -- aside from hand stitching the binding to the back. 

Friday evening after dinner we started on our main class for the weekend.  Mine was Lucky Stars again taught by Brenda Casto.  I went totally scrappy with it using the Old Glory Gatherings line by Primitive Gatherings.  I was a little nervous that I wasn't going to like it when I first started putting it together, but I think it turned out fantastic!!

Brenda handed out some finishing directions that were slightly different from the pattern.  She had added a narrow inner border and then an outer piano key border.  I'm still debating on whether or not I want to add that.  I'm not sure I have enough reds and blues to do it which means I'd need to buy more fabric.  Fat quarters would be too much and it's hard to find some place that sells fat eighths.  I just don't know what I want to do with it.  

Saturday afternoon we took a little break and made a Snappy Bag.  Brenda had everything pre-cut and ready to go.  All we had to do was sew!  I thought they turned out super cute:

These are the little bags that have the tape measure pieces in them to make them "snap".  It was easy to make.  I may make a couple more to carry my sewing supplies in to classes. 

I'm anxious to register for next year!!  Come on June!!

Weekend Wrap Up

I didn't get much sewing done this weekend.  It seems like it just flew by!  

Friday:

I got my centers done for my Lucky Stars quilt.  If you recall I had mentioned that I couldn't stand using a plain square in the middle and had decided to string piece them.  It got worse from there .... then I couldn't decide on one style ... so now I have 3!

Lucky Stars Centers

Then I did this week's Modern Half Square Triangle Quilt-a-Long block:

Block 25 -- I think

Saturday:

We attended the funeral of our good friend's family member.  It was very sad and I just wasn't in the mood to sew when we got home.  Very sad.

Sunday:

Today I finished up the next two blocks for the Civil War BOW.  I'm all caught up with that now until Primitive Gatherings ships the next 4 weeks worth.

Block 7 -- Strength in Union

Block 8 -- Fox and Geese

The rest of the day was spent on errands, cleaning and laundry ... YUCK!!  This evening though I started gathering all of my things for Quilt-cation .... my name for Retreat at Jackson's Mill!  I cleaned my Husqvarna machine and changed the needle while my Hubby did some maintenance on my baby, Plum Crazy:

She's all ready to go for this weekend now!  And I can't wait!! Quilt-cation here I come!!

President's Day Weekend Wrap Up

I love, love, love these extended weekends.  I've had time to do all kinds of things plus sew! Tomorrow back to reality though.

There was no sewing on Saturday.  Saturday was car shopping day.  I placed an order for a 2013 Plum Crazy Challenger to match my machine and my tattoo of course!  And in honor of buying a purple car, I give you my purple dog:

Mercedes had fun at the groomer.  It was supposed to be streaked, but apparently she isn't frou frou like her sister, Harley.  She DID NOT like the foils in her hair!  I think it's cute though.

Sunday I started getting ready for Jackson's Mill Quilt Retreat.  It's coming up fast!!  Nala assisted by inspecting my ironed fat quarters:

I got all of my fabric cut for both of the classes I signed up for.  Here's my Lucky Stars fabric:

It doesn't look like much ..... but it was 40 fat quarters. All I have left to do is string piece the twenty 4.5" center squares because I'm crazy that way.  I just didn't like them plain.  I also signed up for an Iron Caddy class.  It's just an afternoon class, but I already had the fabric and pattern sitting in the drawer so I figured it was a good opportunity to use it!

 And just for good measure I made Block 2 for the Civil War Sampler:

Block 2 -- Star of the West

Today was cleaning day, but I still got some sewing time in!  Here are my Unit 3s for Lazy Sunday:

And my Unit 4s:

And my Unit 5s:

I also got two more Civil War Sampler blocks done:

Block 3 -- Barbara Frietchie Star

Block 4 -- Catch Me If You Can

And last but not least, one more block for the Modern HST Quilt-a-Long:

Block 20 (?)

Oh and I got the binding sewn on one of the baby blankets so I could take it with me this week to stitch on while I'm in the car for work.

Next weekend I have that Shadowbox quilt class.  The instructor called tonight and gave more directions of things to have done.  Kind of short notice for me.  Had I known earlier today I could have done it, but now it may not happen before class.  I'm kind of wondering why she didn't call us on Friday or Saturday so those of us that work could have an opportunity to get it done.  It will all work out though.  It's an easy pattern.  I'm just taking the class so I can sit and sew with other quilters.  I love the company.

Jackson's Mill Quilting Retreat 2012 --- March 9th-12th

Another year at the Mill has come and gone.  I had a fantastic time as usual.

First let me say that I did a horrible job taking pictures.  It was pretty much an after thought on my part.  I need to try to do better.  Secondly, we encountered several very "interesting" people this year and I'll just leave it at that.  For now .... 

My adventure started Thursday evening when I met my friends Debbie & Susan Smith at our hotel in Weston.  It was nice to be able to just relax and have dinner that evening.

Friday morning we had plenty of time to head the Mill to registrar and meet up with our friends Teresa & Kristen and then go to The Stitching House in Buckhanon. There I saw my "next" .... or one of my many "next" ... projects.  It's Moda's 30s Playtime.  I bought a few fat quarters to start it over the past few weekends.  It will be one of my ongoing projects.  That afternoon we took a mini-class. This was the first time I've taken a one and I rather enjoyed it.  Debbie, Teresa, Kristen and I all took a class called "Sweet Mint" taught by Ann Kessel.  It was fun.  Susan opted to venture out to a yarn store nearby to buy knitting supplies.  She's not a quilter but more of a handwork kind of gal.  This class was my first attempt at curved seams and I learned that I needed yet another new foot for my Featherweight to sew the seams correctly.  I got it together though and it didn't turn out half bad:

Before dinner we went to the Quilter's Mall.  The vendors were very sparse this year evidenced by the fact that I only came out with a kitty cat candle mat kit and a table runner kit. I did comment on my evaluation that they needed to do better especially if they want to do a "Vendor Hop" next year.  They will need not only more vendors but a better quality as well.

Friday night we started our main class, 45 & Life to Go which was also taught by Ann.  I love Ann!  She was a great instructor.  I would not hesitate to take a class from her again. That quilt is my cutting nemesis.  Most of my dark fabrics came up short and I ended up having to order more of each.  It was kind of frustrating so I was a little discouraged out of the gate.  I sewed centers most of the evening in between bouts of being amazed by some of the people around me.  That evening back at the hotel, Debbie showed me how to hand piece and since then I've been experimenting .... but I'll save that for another post!

Saturday was a full day of sewing.  Debbie showed me a block:

Kristen and Theresa were also busy sewing:

This was the maiden voyage for my featherweight and she did great!!

And after a few hours sewing Sunday morning,  I finally finished two of a gazillion blocks!

This quilt is getting put on hold for a bit now while the featherweight is being repainted.

I've got a lot to get caught up on here on the blog .... one post at a time.

National Quilting Day

It would be wrong of me not to post on my quilting blog on National Quilting Day so I've thrown together a little something here to shock and awe.

Last weekend was the Jackson's Mill Quilt retreat.  I had a fantastic time and I promise a post dedicated solely to that sometime this weekend.  Real life intervened when I got home and between work, physical therapy and doctors visits ... and my secret project ... I've hardly slowed down 10 minutes.

Today I plan to visit my local quilt shop, Quilts by Phyllis, and pick up a few 30's fat quarters to work with.

So on to my "secret project" ... I have to say I'm so proud of myself for not spilling the beans on this one.  This has been in the works for several weeks and I've not uttered much of a peep about it which is completely unlike me because this project has to do with something else I'm passionate about ... tattoos. 

So in honor of National Quilting day I'm proud to unveil the first of three sittings for my new tattoo .....

Two things near and dear to my heart ... Simba (at the top) and my Singer

Yes, I'm crazy .... yes, it's huge .... and YES, I LOVE IT!!

Happy National Quilting Day, Folks!!