Hello, hello!

Well, I'm back from the retreat. This one was SUCH A GREAT time. We laughed and ate, and laughed and ate some more. I only wish we could see this group of people more often than once a year. 

And, I was very, very productive. Day one:

First to be put together...the orphan block baby top

My Creative Grids pineapple blocks baby top

The QOV from just a jelly roll and a few yards of fabric

And I was thinking to myself I was way (way) ahead of schedule in my head. 

Day two:

Produce Section is a top

Day three:

Notice the 3-D napkin hanging

And day four:

So cute!

All of these but the table runner need borders and/or setting pieces put into them but they are constructed correctly and are ready for me to make them whole. Look at all these new quilting projects I have just created for myself. I had one of the retreat members give me a quilt to take home to work for her, so it wasn't just a 'vacation' for me but also a working situation. 

Here's day five (because technically, the retreat was still happening):

Taking the morning slow

I finished crocheting my slippers and did nothing else but put everything away and sort out the many lovely gift bags we received. 

So warm and comfy!

Today I'll be working on Bernadettes Tilda Sampler on DW while watching the snow falling slowly from the sky. Not expecting any customers with the snow/freezing fog we had last night and the continued snow we're getting today. 

Health

It's funny, how when we get older, our health starts to get stupid. Jim had an anxiety episode on Saturday morning so we found ourselves at Urgent Care. We wanted to make sure he was not precursuring into a stroke or heart attack. 

He has an appointment with his GP tomorrow morning to discuss this event. At any case, his BP and HR were about normal, so it didn't look like anything too severe.

After we returned from Urgent Care and Pieces (found a backing for my Kaffe top) I did get another Koala done...

The newest on the bottom

For some reason this one turned out a smidge too small. I replaced the seam tape on Ellie, so I'm thinking I got it a little too wide when I set it. I'll have to remake that one and replace it. I'll use this one for a pillow to go with the quilt.

While Jim was watching Spartan basketball I went from piecing the Koalas to Foster to start quilting the Camping quilt...

Love putting in swirls

I was going to custom quilt this (I want to custom quilt all my own quilts), but this one was a bit too whimsical and honestly, I think this was the better choice. And I get to use up all the Omni thread I have in my bin that I want to get rid of.

Yesterday was a lazy day. Jim was still a little tired from his Saturday episode and I was just drained. I was productive however. I crocheted the base and started the first slipper from the yarn we bought last weekend...

A partial first slipper

I'm putting a different colored cuff on these, so this is only partially completed. Hazel seemed to need a lazy day as well...

Isn't life tough?

I'm all recharged today and ready to face Linda's intricately quilted quilt. The sun is shining, the neighbors are gone (I can have the music a little louder) and I'm not expecting any customers at all this week. Which is a good thing because I'll be at retreat from Wednesday on. 

Speaking of retreats. A big thank you to Jim for helping me put in the larger spacers on my SewEZ table because I'm taking Ellie along to this retreat; she's deeper than Lilo so different spacers are needed on the table base. 

A Productive Unproductive Weekend

Nothing was long armed this weekend. Zero! I needed to take the weekend off and recharge. Going as much as I have was burning me out and that's the last thing I want on my big machine. I love that machine. But I want to continue to love it.

We received a storm on Friday night/Saturday

But we picked out our tree before the storm hit

When Jim got home Friday afternoon, I immediately turned off the long arm and we beat feet to get our tree before the predicted rain/freezing rain arrived. We decorated on Saturday, I wrapped some gifts, and I worked on the nine-patch blocks. I crocheted Jim's mom some dishcloths and started a scarf.

And hand made gifts are always the best!

Sunday I needed to do some Flimsy downsizing. They used to be on a large "Z" rack hanging in the spare bedroom. This had to be moved every time one of the kids came to stay for even one night because it was a toddler temptation for sure. And it was pretty crowded in the bedroom with it in there. 

All the tops were folded and put into a tote for safe keeping. I organized the WIP's that were sharing the rack with the Flimsy's and will complete those over the holiday season. Nothing new is to be started until I work through all of those (about five of them...or so).  

Given I needed to finish what I've started after my purge session, I diligently worked on the nine-patch top throughout yesterday afternoon/evening. It is ready for the long arm. Didn't grab a pic before I folded it up and put it in the queue. Sorry. I finished the scarf and started another one. 

Today I feel refreshed and ready to fire DW back up and continue on with the king-size quilt for Cpt. Morgan (see Thursday/Friday post).  If I don't get too distracted and keep my head to the grindstone, I should be able to finish it up today. I have four (Bunny and Mary Kay's) quilts being picked up today, and Bunny doesn't usually stay and chat for too awful long so my goal should be attainable.