Back from quilt retreat

Oh I had a wonderful week in Wisconsin at a quilt retreat. Thanks to my friend over there that invited me. What a wonderful group of friends that attended this. Twelve ladies in all made for the perfect size retreat. Here is the outside of the cottages. There are two identical cottages, each holds six people, attached by big sliding doors so we could open it up to interact with each other. It was just a beautiful cottage.

Just inside that sliding glass door was the sewing area, that's my area right next to the door. See I am working away on table runners.

Here is the dining room and living room. I forgot to get a pic of the kitchen.  There were three bedrooms that each had two twin beds. 

And now you probably want to know what I accomplished while there. Lots of laughter, chatting, and I really did get a lot of sewing done. Remember this pile contained 22 projects to work on...

I worked on 21 of them, getting them all to the farthest stage I could do at the retreat. Since returning home Friday morning I finished up five of them and got them listed already.  Here's one of them. This is my Tilting Trees pattern that can be found HERE.

I'll share more in the coming days. 

Linking with Sew and Tell , Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings. Have a great week everyone!

All things orange

Last weekend the youngest grandson (10 yrs.) stayed with us. The oldest was supposed to come also, but he got invited to go up north with a friend at the last minute. We missed him, but it was peaceful with just one too!  

Saturday morning I went to my long arm meeting while he was with grandpa and in the afternoon we had time for him to make his first pillowcase. I did the cutting and he sewed everything himself.  When he sews I turn the speed down on my sewing machine so it is easier for him to control and get a nice seam. He did an awesome job, I am so proud of him.  We had a fire and roasted hot dogs, and played lots of games. A good time was had by all;)

Also in orange is another type of pumpkin table runner. Another UFO out of the closet! I am guessing this one was pieced a couple of years ago and I wasn't inspired to quilt it up for some reason.

But it is all done now. The pattern is from Primrose Cottage on Etsy. 

This next one was also a UFO. Not sure when I pieced it but let's just say a few years ago. Fall is time for orange and pumpkins so I decided this was the year to finish it.  Good thing I did as it sold in a day!

The pattern for this one comes from Cottage Rose Quilts. 

I enjoyed the custom quilting with lots of ruler work.

It's been a busy week because I have been preparing to go to retreat next week. Back in August my friend in Wisconsin, that I went to the quilt show with a couple weeks ago, asked me if I would like to join her group for a quilt retreat.  I was undecided for a few days because this is my busy season in the shop. But I also needed something like this as it has been many many years since I went to a retreat. She also pointed out I could be working on items for the shop while there. So I said 'yes'.  It starts Monday and I will be back on Friday.  

Would you believe this stack holds 22 table runners to work on!  The top stack is seven runners that I cut, pieced and quilted this week. So I will applique and bind them there.  In the container resides all the rest of the ones I will work on. They are precut so I can applique and piece them there. Then quilt and bind when I get home.  What do you think, how many will I get done?  If the WIFI is good there you might see a post or two on my progress.  I am so excited to be getting away for a few days. 

Accuquilt is having a flash sale on 9/23: FLASH SALE! -- 20% off Your Order (use code: TEXT20)

Linking with several Friday linky parties: 

Peacock Party

TGIFF

Off The Wall

Whoop Whoop

Finished or Not

Beauty Pageant

Jack-O-Lantern and pumpkins

Ten days ago I attended the Great Wisconsin Quit show held in Madison. I always go over and stay with a friend and we go to the show together. It's been 4 years since I went to this one. Of course we had a nice time both at the show and then going back to her house for tons of chatter and laughter.  I really didn't buy a lot at the show, a few patterns from Buttermilk Basin(BB) and a set of fat quarters at another booth. The truth is I didn't need anything but inspiration;)  The BB booth was great, I couldn't help myself when it came to her Halloween display. A few days later I had this little guy all stitched up. 

At 16"x12" it makes a great wall or door banner.  The pattern didn't call for the orange or candy corn borders, but that made it a bit to small for my liking so I added them.  The pattern also has a larger size included.  Great way to use some orange scraps! 

What a fun little cutie to work on. I appliqued the nose and mouth on after quilting. Buttons for eyes were machine stitched on after quilting also. 

                         Triangles added in each top corner to insert a small dowel rod for hanging. 

All things pumpkin, it's the season and I am loving working with fall colors once more. 

The pumpkin applique are a free pattern from A Bright Corner blog.  After determining what size background fabric I wanted I quilted it on my longarm. I actually did two on one backing to save time. Then I bind and applique it. 

I like to find other ways one can display a runner or quilt, we need options, right! So open a door and hang the runner over it.

Oh I am not done with pumpkins yet, more to come this week;) I hope you'll check back in a few days. 

Linking with: Oh Scrap, Monday Musings, Design Wall Monday, Sew and Tell.

Pumpkins a plenty

 It's finally here...pumpkin season! Seriously I love anything pumpkin whether it is something pumpkiny to eat or if it's a quilt/table runner. And what's more, it is great if it was a UFO and now it's finished.

I wish I could remember whose pattern this was but I don't. It's been pieced and in the closet for a few years awaiting quilting.

This one is not a UFO but it's my September squirrel. I saw the pattern online and snatched it up at Ten Cow Quilts on Etsy.

Accuquilt has a nice sale if you are interested.  9/14-9/18 for both of these sales. 

24% off Ready Set GO! and GO! Cutter Starter Sets (use code: START24)

and

24% off Block on Board Dies, Setting Triangle Dies, and GO! Qube Products (use code: BLOCK24)

Linking with NTT, Put Your Foot Down, Finished or Not Friday, Whoop Whoop, TGIFF, Off The Wall Friday and Peacock Party

Fall is in the air

Does it have the feeling of fall where you live. It does here, you can just feel it in the air almost.  I am knee deep in creating fall table runners and wall hangings. I'll share a couple today.

Here is the panel itself...and then you can see how I added to it in the photos below.

And on to the next one... Here is the panel.

And the fun additions I did for the borders...

I was pretty happy with the quilting on the above photo. I had a template that was meant for a snowflake but it also looked like a sunflower to me. So I used part of it in the gold border. 

And the finished wall hanging. The quilt hanger was made by a friends husband many years ago and resides in my family room with a modern quilt when I am not using it for a prop!

Thanks for visiting my blog, I always appreciate your comments and try to reply to each one. But if you are a no-reply I won't be able to. 

Linking with Design Wall Monday, Sew and Tell Monday and Monday Musings.

Catching up

I have a bit of catching do to do as I pieced a few wall quilts using panels before we went on vacay.  And since being home I have quilted them. It feels so good to be catching up! But you will be seeing several fall wall hangings in the next few posts.  Here is the first.  As you can see this is how the panel started.

The first sashing I added is the green to bring it up to a size that worked for my HST units. Well it wasn't coming out quite right so you will notice that I added a gold polka dot fabric right in the center of each row to make it work. Then a black sashing all around to separate the sunflower outer border to make it stand out more.

Off to the longarm for some custom quilting. I always enjoy that;)

Ta Da all done! Some one will love seeing this hang in their home for Thanksgiving I hope. Yes it is listed in my Etsy shop.

Linking with Design Wall Monday, Sew and Tell Monday, Monday Musings .

Accuquilt is having this sale all month long...SEPT DAILY DEALS! -- 50% off Deals Every Day! So click this link every day and check to see if you see something you just have to have! 

By clicking on my link and purchasing I will receive a small commission. Thanks to you who have done that!!

Halloween #3 and fireworks

These Halloween panels have been so fun to work on. It all starts by cutting out the small panel which is approximately 9" square. Well I make it square by spritzing with water, starch, pulling here and there to square it up while pressing it into submission. I didn't get any progress shots but you will get the idea of how this came together while seeing the quilting at the same time.  

The panel had the little teeny black and white checked sashing along with the orange around it, so that is where it all begins.

The row of mummies at the top and bottom were on the selvedge sides of the panel of six blocks. I utilized them by adding them too.  

From there a coping strip of black sets it off before I added the purple pieced checkerboard outer border. 

I found a couple of cute buttons to add more character to this 17"x23" wall hanging.

Onto the last leg of our summer vacay-the fireworks.  Back to Oshkosh, WI for the Pyrotechnic Guild International(PGI) week long fireworks event.  We enjoyed lots of fireworks, there were 2 nights where the public can attend in addition to the PGI members.  The above video gives you an idea of what we were treated to.  We are members so we could attend more nights where there was competition and these were awesome. Also Junior PGI members made them and showed us a wonderful display one night. Of course the hubster attended classes and seminars and he made a rocket and then got to fire it off, it was very neat to watch it go off.

When he had some free time we went out for a relaxing kayak ride on a lake. Just look how smooth it looked. We packed our picnic lunch at at on the water. 

We spotted this cool little lighthouse at a park, so we had to investigate, it didn't look like it was in service anymore.

In case you were wondering what I was doing while hubby was attending classes etc.  I spent some enjoyable time at the sewing machine in the fifth wheel.  I had the back patio opened up and all of a sudden a lady from across the way came walking up and we started talking quilting, yes she was a quilter spending the summer in WI from Florida.

On our last day we had nothing planned in the afternoon so I got to go to Primitive Gatherings quilt shop! OMG, OMG, what a treat. This store is huge and packed with fabric, patterns both quilt ones and wool related. Samples of everything all over the place.  It was warm outside so hubby came in, even he was impressed!  If you get the chance to visit in the area of Larsen, WI you should go to it!

All in all this summer was unusual for us. Out of 6 weeks we were only home for 4 days!  It was fun but we are also glad to be home and returned to a normal schedule. I can hardly believe it is September already!!  And guess what...I am returning to WI twice this month, LOL.  This Wednesday I leave for 3 days to go see a friend and we will then go to Madison to the quilt show. I haven't been to it since before Covid so I am anxious to immerse myself and hope for lots of inspiration.  And of course spending time with a friend is a benefit!

Linking with Friday Foto Fun, Finished or Not, Whoop Whoop, Peacock Party and Off The Wall Friday

Remember that Accuquilt has a great sale on until Sept. 4th.  LABOR DAY SALE! -- 25% off Sitewide (use code: LABORDAY  This is an affiliate link where I receive a small commission for each sale. 

Halloween #2 and more vacay photos

Let's start with the quilting since this is mainly a quilting blog. However this was pieced while on vacay:) It's definitely time to get Halloween items listed in my Etsy shop so I am on a roll.  The center of this is one of six panels on this piece of fabric. Each piece is approximately 9" square and is from Henry Glass. 

I was so focused on this wall hanging that I forgot to take in progress shots. But when you look at the photos you can see I left the original orange fabric around the panel.  The little green faux piping is where I started doing my own thing with the borders. Including another faux piping border in black and white stripes before the final ghost fabric border.

And before long Halloween #2 was all done and it waited to be quilted when I got home.  

Lots of stitch in the ditch (SID) occurred and then some fun U turn quilting in the polka dot white triangles. Cross hatching on the diagonal on the panel square itself. Piano key spaced at 1.5" on the outer border.

Before long it was all quilted, bound, and listed in my shop.  And onto Halloween #3, I'll save that for another post;)

So this leg of the vacay was all about the ATV trails in the Lakewood, WI area. We had a week there. Here is a sampling of one of the trails we took. This one had very sandy trails and hubby was having lots of fun driving on this one. Lots of curves too!  Along this trail we started seeing wild black berries. But most of them were green yet.

But on the next trail in a different county they were ripe!!  We might have eaten a few and we might have brought home a few for the freezer. 

You never know what the trails are going to be like until you are on them. A few bridges to cross on this one. I have to say the weather sure cooperated with us and we were surprised that there were not many bugs. 

Linking up with Monday Musings, Design Wall Monday  Sew and Tell Monday., and This and That Monday.

Labor Day sales at Accuquilt start Aug. 29th thru Sept. 4th 2023... LABOR DAY SALE! -- 25% off Sitewide (use code: LABORDAY  This is an affiliate link where I receive a small commission for each sale.