Wonderful Weekend in Hamilton

Just a few more days of summer vacation left for me, ugghh!  I have gotten a lot of quilting done in the last couple of months and that has been wonderful.  I haven't given school much thought other than, "not thinking about it right now." However, it's almost time to start thinking about it.  Thinking about what I want to do differently, how I want to change up some things that went well, but could be improved upon. Things like that.  I love my Facebook group of FCS (Family Consumer Science) Teachers and reading everything they are doing in their classrooms, but man oh man, there are a lot of beginner and second year teachers on there!!  Plus, they come from all over the United States so their curriculum is a bit different from ours here in Texas.  Still, it's a great source to pull things from.  I guess since it's almost time to go back, I need to get on there and start downloading files of things I want to do and plugging them into my plans.  (not that I always write down plans, but I do have a file in my head.  Things would probably get done better if I actually wrote down the plans from my head, LOL) 


Got back a few days ago from a quilt retreat up in Hamilton, MO with my mom's quilt group from Northwest Arkansas.  My mom and I had a great time up there with 35 other women.  We sewed and shopped all day, played games mid evening before everyone gave up and went to bed and then for us late nighters, we stayed up and sewed into the wee hours of the morning most nights.  Fun, fun, fun!!  If you ever get the chance to go up to Hamilton, do it.  It is something every quilter should have the chance to experience at least once in his/her lifetime.  13 stores full of fabrics, notions and fun fills up the entire town.  It's wonderful.  Plus, if you are lucky enough to schedule a retreat there, it's even more fun to watch and experience the town life.  (Friday nights the farmers and Amish have a small farmers market - don't miss out on the hand pies, fresh breads, fresh fruits and veggies and homemade noodles.  (last year they even had two kids for sale, baby goats)  Now, I haven't tried the noodles yet, but we got some this year on the word of one of the ladies that purchased some last year that raved over them and then proceeded to purchase all they had except for the one bag we happened to get.  Now I have to decide how I want to use them. 


This is the only one I have access to.  I had to download it from a Facebook page, but you will be able to see something that I worked on over the weekend.

She wanted to make sure she could see me, but left off one entire column of blocks.  Oh, well, it still needs a couple of borders which I hope to get on this weekend.  (if I can ever unload my machine from my car) 

New Blocks, Quilt Tops and More

I showed a picture of the first block earlier in the month, but here are my two blocks I made for my KFC Block Exchange group. The blocks are starting to trickle in and I thought I had taken a picture of the other two that Pat had made for me, but unfortunately, I didn't have it on my camera.  (might have taken it with my phone or tablet.  I will have to check and see.)  As soon as I have 6 + blocks, I will post another picture.  I might have to sash this quilt so the blocks stand on their own, but  I will think more about that when I get a few blocks up on the wall. 

 

 

One Friday on a Missouri Star tutorial, Jenny showed how to make little chicken pin cushions.  I have seen these pin cushions all over the place for many years, but have never made one myself.  Until now.  Below is my chicken pin cushion (or will be after I stuff it) without her tail feathers.  I totally forgot about that part of the video.  This one is made with leftover made fabric from the blocks I have made in my KFC Block Exchange group.  When I get to a point where I don't know what I want to work on, or am trying to avoid something that I need to do, I pull out some scraps and make some fabric to use in a project.  I had already used some of this made fabric in another project, but had enough to cut out a couple of squares. Check out the Missouri Star tutorial and make one for yourself.  I will definitely be making a few more of these to give as gifts.



 

 

Speaking of Jenny Doan, early in June, I went to Arkansas to visit with family and got to attend a Jenny Doan trunk show with my mother and take one of her quilt classes with my sister.  Paige and I worked really hard and fast and made many blocks in the short time we were in class.  We had a great system going and were cranking out the blocks.  I didn't realize that Jenny would be leaving at noon from this "full day" bring your own lunch class that I had signed up for.  Apparently everyone in the class knew and some had made plans to stay there the rest of the day and sew and some left at noon to go do other things (some even had to go to work).   Since the teacher was leaving, Paige and I decided to leave pretty soon after she did.  So, I packed everything back into my car and went back to my mother's house.  I left all the blocks I made in a tub until yesterday when I decided to get them out and finish putting them together.  I had already started sewing them into rows during the class and had two rows sewn together and another completed and ready to add when I pulled them out of the tub.  30 blocks!!  Can you believe that we made 30 blocks (31 really) in about 3 hours time?  We did!!  Did I mention we had a system going?  It was fun.  Paige said I was the better sewer and kicked me off the cutting detail at one point  That didn't hurt my feelings - I had previously been kicked off another cutting detail many years ago when my mother, a friend and I made my bulls-eye quilt.  (I can't free cut a circle out of a square of fabric to save my life. They were more a fat football shape)  When I put the remaining blocks together, I only had to make one more "dark" block to make the pattern work.  I have two leftover "light" background blocks and they may have to go on the back somewhere.  This is probably a crib size quilt (about 45 X 52 or so) and I wasn't sure what fabric to use for the outer border.  I auditioned about 10 different fabrics and only two of them made the cut and I wasn't totally sold on either one of them.  I am glad I chose and stuck with this one.  It makes the quilt cheery and fun. 

 

 

The only other thing I am going to type about tonight is the little quilt that is to the right of the exploding block quilt.  That is made from trimmings from a company in Australia, Umbrella Prints.  They have a challenge every March - June and they send you (for a small fee) a packet of fabrics and you have to make something out of it.  I didn't learn of the challenge until late and by the time my fabric arrived it was toward the end of school when I got very busy, so I never put anything together until now.  Here again, like making fabric, I just pulled things out of the packet laid it out on the table and started sewing bits together.  Where I thought I might be going with the fabric and design, doesn't even show up here since I cut that up and sewed it all back in.  It looks like I was making a couple of log cabin pieces, but I only made one.  I was crossing my fingers on the border because I wasn't sure I would have enough fabric to go all the way around.  I am really enjoying this little piece and can't decide how I want to quilt it.  Either by hand with pink pearl cotton or by machine with pink or khaki thread.  Oh, yes, these fabrics are linens or have a rough feel to them so hand quilting may be a bit much, but it might just add some fun if I big stitch.  Until I decide, I will enjoy it on my design wall.