Done

The Retreat quilt is done, but I'm not going to show it yet.  I'm going to show you after it's quilted.  I love how it came out.

Pulled more stash and made another table topper for the Retreat.  

The white fabric I used for the star points will be the border between the corner stones.  I even pulled more fabric for the next 3.  And then I'm done!

I had this kit for some time waiting for me to sew it up.  Since it's the same pattern I'm using I did it along with the one above.  They go together so fast and look so nice.

The bird fabric is the Iowa state bird, the gold finch.  Not sure when this fabric came out, but it's been some time ago.  There wasn't a date on the piece of fabric I had.

Busy Days

I have had some busy days the last few days. Monday and Tuesday were rainy than hot and humid so pretty much stayed inside.  Saturday a couple of friends and I went shopping.  I found this wonderful batik for backing of my Retreat Quilt.

Monday when the directions came out for the Red, White, and True QAL I was able to complete that. Thank you rain.

I love how this is looking.  I picked up some really cute red, white and blue polka dot fabric that I thought would make a nice border, but it was really too busy with the background fabric.   So I need to find a border fabric before next Monday so I can complete this when the directions come out. Have you checked out the Quilt Along?  Go - right now, I'll wait until you come back.

I also have made these 4 table toppers.  They are waiting for a friend who will be doing some embroidery work for the four sashing that go around the toppers.  It's been fun putting my stash fabrics together to make these.

Lots of quilty sewing fun going on during these rainy, hot and humid days!

Cutting

I have really been in the mood to cut fabric.  Not sure why, but I'm going with it.  (Could be those overflowing drawers of strips.)  Last year when Bonnie Hunter issued the Leader And Ender challenge, Lozenges I started cutting and something else came along and I put it in a shoe box bin and set it on the edge of my cutting table thinking I would get back to it.    So yesterday I did.  I started counting how many Lozenges I had cut and how many more do I need. So cutting more.  One of my fabrics is a golden oldie:

I also finished sewing my "B" blocks between cutting.  This is going to be fun to set out the rows and start sewing!

Switching gears altogether now, I changed thread and I'm working on my Red, White and True QAL.

Go over to Jean's blog and check out the twin size Red, White and True.  So cool!

Look At This

Look at this!  I made a 100 patch block as a leader and ender  (a la Bonnie Hunter ) while sewing my blocks for the Retreat Quilt!  How cool is that!

At the Guild meeting last night, Denise had a great suggestion, use one of the guild Quilts For Comfort kits as your leader and ender. You get 99 - 5 inch squares in a kit and you can use them any way you want.  Fun to see what people come up with.

Back to the sewing machine, I have to get those "B" blocks done!

Progress

I feel like I made some progress.  I have half of the blocks done for the Retreat quilt.  Yeah!

All of the "A" blocks are done, on to the "B" blocks.  The "B" blocks are the pile on the right, waiting to be created.  Love when things come together.

Next Step

The next step of  Jean's QAL is finished.  This was super easy!  Just like sewing a nine patch.

Are you sure you don't want to join the fun?????

Clink on the link if you do!

I Have Been Sewing

I have been sewing.  Last Saturday at Quilt Day, my friend Rachel mentioned that we have only 2 months until the Quilts From The Bluffs Retreat.  ACK!  I promised to make two items using precuts.  So the first one up is an older pattern I had printed off of Moda Bake Shop.  It's called "Avignon Picnic Quilt" by Andrea Harris.  The original post was in May 2010, five years ago!  I love the pattern and I had a batik jelly roll and bought some yardage to make my own black jelly roll.

Ready to start making the blocks.  Hope it looks as good in real life as it does in my head.

Row, Row, Rowing

This past Tuesday a friend of mine and I went out Row, Row, Rowing.  The Row By Row Experience that is.  Kathy was looking for kits for the rows as she wants to make a summer quilt for her bed.  I was more into collecting the license plates.

I'm hoping to pick up a few more plates and I want to use my Iowa fabric from last year's All Iowa Shop Hop with it.   We had a wonderful day, thank you Kathy for inviting me along.

Oh MY!

Oh my!  I can't believe how many little squares you can get from a strip of fabric.  I did see a chart on Pinterest that stated you can get 99 two inch squares from a fat quarter.  Still have a ways to go!

A small basket of squares, 4 sandwich bags with 100 squares each.  I did get the rest of the strips out of the drawer and crammed them into the bag.  At least I can shut the drawer now.

I also finished filling this little case with squares for 9 patches.  I did do a few as leaders and enders (you can see those in the other part of the case) when I was working on my Hard Tack and Coffee blocks.  But I forgot to count them.  The cutting doesn't take too long.  The bagging the 100 blocks does as I'm trying to have only one of a fabric in each bag.  This will be a good task for in front of the TV.

In Keeping With Cleaning Out Strips

So, in keeping with cleaning out strips and making room for new ones, I found a couple more patterns I want to try.  First, this is the 2 inch strip drawer.  See how it's overflowing?

So are my pincushions!  Need to get those straightened out!

 And I have this bag of 2 inch strips.  

I found 3 patterns I want to make.  The first is from Bonnie Hunter's book "Adventures with Leaders & Enders".  The pattern is called "Rick Rack Nines" and I only need 2,610 squares.  

I also want to make "100-Patch Quilt"  by Wedding Dress Blues blogger, Deanna.  I only need 2,000 2 inch squares for that one.  And she has another quilt I want to make, "Growing Up Odd".  That quilt needs 2,500 squares.  It's amazing how many I have cut from the 2 inch strips.  As I'm cutting up the strips, I thought about 2 bags of scraps I have.  I'd get more variety from that.  May switch to that once I can close the drawer.

I also have been working for some time on a "Scrap Vomit" or "Technicolor Yawn" by Katy at "Monkey Do" blog  I would share the pattern but she has currently taken a leave from her blog and you can't reach her tutorials.  You can see the quilt here

Guess I need to get cutting!

Jean's QAL

I finished Sewing # 2 this morning.  Love how these are looking.  I could almost make a whole quilt of these.  They come out so cool.

Kind of fun how changing the layout changes the whole look.

Love how easy this has been!  Jean writes great directions and so far I've been able to keep up.  Seriously, you should join in!

Rainy Days and Mondays......

Monday was a rainy day.  We really didn't get too much rain, but it was perfectly timed for the garden and for me.  I decided to finish my "Hard Tack and Coffee" blocks and I did!  All 99 of them are done.  Each block has 15 pieces and measures 5 inches.

The one with the white label is the one that has 9.

Whew!

Now for the setting squares.  I originally thought I wanted "black coffee" so I bought the dark brown fabric.  But here they are against the "coffee with cream".  Not sure which one I like the best.  I have all the fabric I need if I go with the dark brown.  But if I go for the tan, I have to go buy more fabric.

Decisions, decisions decisions.  

Guess I'm going to let it "brew" for a while and see which one wins.  Which one do you like best?

Table Runner

Along with catching up on my Red White & True QAL, I also made this table runner.  I bought it on the All Iowa Shop Hop.  I didn't do many stores, just a few, but it was still fun!

I bought the kit at Threads, Etc. located in Glidden, IA.  Small little shop and mainly I think she does longarm quilting,   Such a nice owner!  Perfect for the Fourth of July!

All Caught Up

I'm all caught up on Jean's Red White and True QAL.  Yeah!

This step was pretty easy, which is good, as I needed to get caught up.  Hope you have a wonderful Fourth Of July weekend!

Jean's Quilt Along

I'm still playing catch up on Jean's Quilt Along.  I did get the cutting done today!  So now I can start the sewing from this past Monday's post.  I should be all caught up by next Monday's instructions.