I Love Retirement!!

Life is good.  Since my last post, there has been a Retreat, a short vacation, some kayaking, some wildflowers, lots of stitching, good food and good friends.  How did I ever find time to work?

I managed to make two small quilt tops at retreat, but I'll wait until they're quilted to show them.  I also worked on some blocks for an ancient BOM.  My plan is to have all the blocks finished by the end of the year, preferable sooner.

I tested this pattern for a quilter/designer friend, and as a thank-you, she quilted it for me.  It's the first time I've ever had anything quilted.  I've had the fabric for ages, and it went together nicely.

Finally finished my RSC17, yes, that's 17!  I put this top together as all one quilt at an earlier retreat, and decided the size was ridiculous, so I carefully separated it into two tops, and they finally made it to the top of the to-be-quilted pile.  They will be going to the Sheriff's Department for the deputies to hand out as needed.

Next up is my May Heart quilt.  The challenge was to applique one heart per day during the month of May,  I made a few extras and I'm very pleased with the result.  The sashing/binding/backing was a chunk of fabric that a friend gave me a couple of months ago when she was cleaning out her stash.  Perfect for this quilt!!

And these little pretties were made for the 4th of July/Independence Day.  Pinterest can be a dangerous place.  I have at least two more on my list for next year!

I'm back in quilting mode, so should have a few oldies to show soon.  One is my UFO for our next meeting, so I have to get busy.  It's not going to be quick and easy like most of mine.

Did I mention vacation and kayaking and wildflowers?  I'll leave you with a few of my favorite images.

Woodland sunflower

This was taken the day that the final group of boys were rescued from cave in Thailand.  So appreciative of blue sky, fresh air, sunshine and clean water.

Cincinnati skyline at dusk

Skylift to Natural Bridge in Kentucky

any ideas?  Natural Bridge Kentucky

Another view of Skylift on the way down

View from overlook in Daniel Boone National Forest

Fleabane and bug

And now back to stitching....... Sunny

Best.  Cheeseburger.  Ever!

Let the Commenting Commence!

Oh Happy Day - Blogger has fixed the commenting problem!  If you haven't read about it yet, you can go here for full instructions.  Shez also has the instructions if you're a follower of her blog. 

I have been so busy stitching while I wasn't responding to comments.  I've made 10 more name badges for retreat friends to put on their machines.  This has become a never-ending project.  Every time I say it's the last batch, someone else asks, or we get a new person at retreat. 

A couple of years ago, I made these 16-patches as part of a larger project.  Which never happened.  I can't just discard all this hard work of course, so I made a doll quilt.  This will go to A Doll Like Me, and they have a need for quilts for boys as well as girls.

Naturally, the remaining patches became part of a place mat for Meals on Wheels.  More place mats were made with the trimmings from the backing of a quilt.  Said quilt will be making an appearance here soon, as it is near the top of the to-be-quilted pile. 

I have been quilting like crazy this past week, and here is another one of my finishes.  This is the result of our block exchange at another retreat.  This was the first time I participated in this exchange, and I love the result!!  They always choose a scrappy Civil War style quilt.

Last and least, here is my Challenge Quilt for guild.  We had to draw our inspiration from a magazine page.   I had a lot of fun with it, but didn't win any prizes this year.  Already looking forward to the next challenge!

I've also quilted 5 other small quilts, and will be binding like crazy in the days to come. but first, I have to go on a little  weekend retreat.  I've been cutting and prepping and packing, and hope to accomplish a lot while I'm away.  I don't really know most of the people, so I plan to choose a nice quiet corner and just sew away like crazy.

Keep on stitching......Sunny

May highlights and OPAM

I am not too happy with the changes to blogger, and hope there is a fix in the works. 

May was a busy month.There were two quilt finishes.  First was a nine patch that I made from a friend's scraps.  I actually got two from her scrap bag, and showed the other one last month.  I really love this one, and may decide to keep it.

I was so worried that the backing might fade, so I washed them with color catchers, and everything was fine! 

This next quilt used up the last of a pile off pink hexies that I've had for several years.  I made one larger quilt about 2 years ago, then a doll quilt in March, and now a baby quilt.  I think I had to add two hexies to the pile to finish this.

I'm not sure why my pictures are all coming out to dark lately.  Maybe because it's so cloudy and gloomy all the time?

I also put the finishing touches on two baby afghans that will be donated to our local hospital.  Crocheting is my craft of choice for car trips.

I signed up for a project in May to make one heart block each day, and I accomplished that, plus a couple of extras to have an even 36.  I'll be looking for some sashing fabric on discount day at the LQS this week, and have another donation quilt for the pile.  These were all made from a charm pack that has been collecting dust for awhile.

I've been keeping up with this small mystery BOM on Kathleen Tracy's FB group.  The June border was added yesterday, and I believe there's one more border to come.

My June blocks for RSC18 are also finished! 

There are a couple of larger pieces of aqua fabric somewhere in my stash, and I'm hoping to find time to make at least one baby quilt from them before the month is over.

DH had a birthday at the end of May, and he wanted to go to North Carolina to eat at a restaurant that is featured on a TV program that he watches.  He loved every minute of the visit.  I didn't love the restaurant, but the rest of the trip was fun.  A few highlights follow.

These fields were like being in a water color painting!  So incredible.

Cape Lookout National Seashore

Southern Magnolia

The birthplace of Pepsi Cola

We rode ferries, toured a fort, spent time on the beach, and ate lots of good seafood.  It was a beautiful area of North Carolina, and we will return some day!

Keep on stitching....................Sunny

April OPAM

What a busy month!  It's past my bedtime, but I have to post a few projects for OPAM.

 A couple of years ago, a friend gave me a bag of scraps, and I managed to make 81 nine-patch blocks from them.  I thought that would make a nice size quilt, but I actually ended up with two quilts!  This was the second one that I put together, but it is the only one quilted so far.  It's hard to see the actual nine-patches in this photo!

The color for RSC18 was yellow/gold in April.  After I made my very simple regular blocks, I wanted to make a doll quilt to use up some more scraps.  I've had 4 of these hexies leftover from a quilt several years ago.  It was finally time to put them to use.  I made 5 more, and a doll quilt was born.

I made another version of this quilt last year, and gifted it. Then I decided I liked it so much, I should make another.  It's from Gail Pan's Christmas book.

And shortly after I began stitching this, another Gail Pan pattern was published in the Primitive Quilts magazine.  I was instantly in love with it.

And last but not least, an altered version of a Pam Buda Prairie Women pattern.  We had 8 people in our Prairie Women group, and most of us decided to make this smaller version of the original quilt.  In my sewing room, the sashing was gold, but outside in the daylight this morning, it somehow turned green!

We escaped to the Smoky mountains for a few days, and as usual, were just in awe of the natural beauty.  Here are a few of the highlights.

Okay, off to bed so I can get up early and get back to stitching!                 Sunny

March OPAM

Easter Sunday is winding down at our house, following a very lazy day and a delicious dinner prepared by my personal chef.  I hope all that celebrate had a blessed day.

I started seeing OPAM posts early on the 30th, and after looking around, realized that once again, I did not have a finish for the month.  At least this month, I was close, and didn't have to start a new project.  I spent the better part of two days quilting this little guy.  It's very dark out, and the quilt holder has gone to bed, so I'll try for better pictures tomorrow.  Unless it's snowing. 

It's wool applique on cotton, and after I started quilting, I realized that I had never added the outer border!  I went this far, added the applique, put it aside for a couple of weeks, and forgot that it needed another border.  Maybe next time.

Most of what I"m working on are blocks for BOM's and mysteries, so I don't have a lot to show.  But I am making progress!  Now that retreat season is over, I hope to get a ton of quilting finished, and finish some small quilts.  I don't quilt or bind at retreat, so I get a backlog.

There is snow in our forecast for tomorrow, but since it's 11 pm and 49 degrees, I don't think the roads will be a problem tomorrow.  We had our first major snow of the season about 10 days ago, amounting to about 12 inches.  Lucky me - I got to shovel it!

The snow is all gone and yesterday was a beautiful day, so we went for our first wildflower hike.  We actually spent much of our time driving down dead end roads trying to get close to a very elusive flower that's found in only one area in the state.  The nearest parking we could find was a 4 mile walk one way, so we didn't tackle it.  Yet.  Maybe Sunday, armed with a new plan.  We did find a few flowers though, and were just happy to be outdoors with our cameras.  More flowers should be blooming soon.

Lesser periwinkle

common grape hyacinth

speedwell

bloodroot

I was especially happy to find the bloodroot, since it's usually finished blooming by the time we start hiking and looking.

Off to bed now.  Another very busy week on tap, and I need my beauty sleep.

Stitch on.............Sunny

more bloodroot