Post Creative Passions Retreat

It. Was. Fun. BUT...I'll probably not be retreating there again. 2 1/2 baths with a group of 12 women? Cheap soaps (Dollar General), Cheap foods (Our Family), and Cheap Coffee (Folgers) to me does not warrant the $210 I had to spend for the three nights. We had to make a meal each lunch and dinner as well as clean up from said meal. The hot water upstairs where I stayed was not very hot and our room faced M-57 (Broad Street) which was very (very) noisy throughout Friday and Saturday night.

I came home yesterday and didn't even unload the truck. I was that tired! In fact, Jim had lunch ready when I arrived around 1:30, I ate and then promptly snuggled up with the dogs and took a 2 1/2 hour nap. Which, as you know, I never do.

On the flip side, I did get to know my Hale quilters much better, I got some things put together, we had some real good stories that we shared, and, laughed a lot. 

Here is what I did the past four days...

Love the quilt, but not the fabric

This was the kit I picked up at Pieces on Wednesday night at their tent sale. Don't they look like flannels? They're not. They are fabrics by Wyndham and I'm not impressed. They feel cheap and flimsy even after I treated with Acorn prior to cutting them out. I had enough left over to make a pillow to go with the quilt though.

That was Thursday night and Fridays work. I did wander down to the Creative Passions quilt shop on Friday afternoon. The weather was nice and the walk through Chesaning was pleasant. The shop was okay, but again, I'm probably a little spoiled having Pieces of Thyme right just a shot distance away. 

Friday night, after finishing the top above I started in on the puppies. When I left yesterday, late morning, this is what I accomplished...

A Quilt for Paul

There are a lot of seams in this so when I quilt it, it's going to have to be pretty tight. And, as I look at this, it appears I've reversed the middle puppy's neck pieces. UGH. I'm not pulling it apart. Paul (who is four) will never care. 

Back to the usual today as well as unpacking from retreat. Jim has hauled everything in for me. Laundry is in the dryer and it'll be good to get back on the big machines. I needed the time away more than anything to remind me how well I have it here and how wonderful my life is having my own business, my own bathroom, and to eat my own food when I want to.

Good-bye Summer

While our summer is quickly fading with our fall rains finally arriving and colder temps starting to show themselves, I'm preparing for next summer. Now that we have an actual dining room table, I made this Tuesday/Wednesday...

Ready for the lakes return

From there, I assembled the new baby girls Spartan quilt. I didn't snag a pic of it but while parading it around the retreat floor, I fired up the Spartan fight song and danced with it in my hands. It was a big hit!

And what a GREAT bunch of ladies I was privileged to spend four days with. I'm hooked and I think I found a wonderful group to share our love and passion of quilting with.

Today is leggings and sweatshirt day since I'm not appointment obligated. Some of my retreat stuff is staying in the truck and I've brought in about all I'm going to need until I have to return to the Quirky retreat on Monday morning. 

The Halloween quilt should be finished today and I'm overseeing Jim attempting his second quilt on DW.

Retreat Week(s)

This week, starting last night, is the week for the Hale Country Quilters retreat. Everybody (well almost) had their stuff set up and were sewing by 7:00. We weren't to arrive before 6:00. I hadn't planned on sewing last night, but just setting up for today. 

And then we got to talking and I figured, as long as I'm here...

Just half of the room

There is more 'room' behind me and more again off to the right there where people are sewing. There are 36 of us this week.

Next week will be the Quirky Quilters Quilt Guild retreat at the same place. That one doesn't start until Monday morning (instead of Sunday night), but again, goes through Thursday. I don't know if we'll be down here in the main retreat room or if we'll be upstairs in the sanctuary, since there's usually much less in attendance. 

For both of these, I'll be here in the studio working in the morning and then heading to the retreat center after lunch.

Jim is at the doctor this morning for another follow up appointment from his fall. His DM still hasn't returned his phone calls and neither has the co-worker that was with him. The customer whose property he fell on said he'd send a statement about watching him take his tumble, and yet, a week later and nothing has come through his email. I smell a rat.

At any case, Jim has an attorney doing some investigating and is pitching for our team in getting this settled. It's a shame when the honest person gets punished for bad people in the past. 

I'm going to be working the Halloween quilt on Bernie this morning. Once Jim has returned we have a lesson on how to load and start/audition a motif for the quilt going onto DW. We may or may not start it today, but if not today, then tomorrow we'll get the Pro Stitcher going. 

Enjoying a Beautiful Autumn

The drive up and back to Hale yesterday was gorgeous. Temps peaked into the mid 70's and it was sunny all day long. The leaves have kind of slowed in their turning since our daytime temps have been pleasant. But there is still color out there, especially in the low lying areas along M-61. 

Jim was home early from work yesterday and then got called back into work so his DM could observe how Jim was walking. He took a tumble on a job on Tuesday and has been struggling since then to walk and not groan. He's going to the doctors office this morning so he's home with me now too.

Both of our appointments are at 9:00 but we can't ride in together as he may be going back to work. And, I have to run back here to receive a couple of rounds of customer visits throughout the day. Once I get done with Marges quilt on Bernie (hopefully that'll happen today), I'll be shifting over to work on Joyce's quilt on Marty...

Wensleydale pattern

This one is going to be custom quilted but I have another identical patterned top right behind this one for Mary that she wants E2E put in. I've sketched some things out and really, don't care for much of what I'm coming up with. Maybe it's time to hit SM and see what others have stitched out on this. 

See, not all of my job is just putting thread into quilts. There's a lot more to it and that's okay. I love all facets of what it is I get to do for a living. Happy Friday!

Decisions, Decisions

Isn't it nice to have such easy decisions to make rather than life-altering decisions? So many people have much harder decisions to make and I am grateful mine are as easy as they are. I decided to do an E2E on the Tula Butterly...

Watching DW work

The motif going in

I remember when I bought DW back in '13 I asked the dealer about this ProStitcher thingie. I'm glad I listened to him because while DW was back there finishing another quilt, I was binding and recording the previous quilt last week (donation quilt)...

#114

This is a very soothing log cabin some girl should love. After lunch I remembered I needed to complete a block for next years raffle quilt for the Hale guild. I did that...

For the Hale Country Quilters raffle quilt next year

...and then moved on to working on my Tilda piece. I have the scissor handle and then the blade sections complete. I just need to join them together and then add them to the pincushion section. Pics to follow tomorrow.

This morning, after scheduling my mammogram (Wednesday afternoon) I also signed up for this years Quilting Summit...

Last year I purchased the extended pass, but hardly used it. I didn't do that again this year, but will later if I find there is invaluable information I won't be able to live without. 

Today I'm hoping to get those scissors put together as well as the pincushion section added on. I may also get the binding made for the Tula butterfly, but getting it bound today probably isn't in the cards. 

Happy Seventh Birthday Hazel

She was born seven years ago and she's one of the best and goofiest dogs we've ever owned. She's my constant reminder to take breaks in the studio and has to come and check on me often throughout the day.

Taken early spring

She loves pillows as you can see as well as the water and playing "glove". Happy birthday my precious girl!

After the guild meeting up in Hale, of which I became rather emotional talking about donating all of those quilts, I scurried home after making a quick stop to pick up softener salt at the Standish Milling company.

Let's side track for a second. Standish Milling is worth the trip over! Their salt is less costly than anybody here in Gladwin, not to mention a better quality. But that's not the shout-out reason. Their service to their customers is OUTSTANDING! I no sooner pulled up by the salt and a guy came over and loaded it into the truck before I even finished paying for it. The cashier was extremely pleasant and made one feel at ease. They have a large variety of items in their store and it's a place we'll be patronizing in the future!

Okay, back to quilting. Jim was already home for lunch but had to scoot out to a dentist appointment and I scooted out to the studio. While I was quilting this piece...

An E2E was requested in here

DW was over stitching out the Soothing Log Cabin. Once I got the wall hanging done on Bernie, I got it off and started loading the next back. Meanwhile, Marty's back was finally dry and I was able to get this one set and ready to go for today...

The next one up on Marty

DW finished his thing and he did fine, so I'm not sure what happened to Linda's stitch out on DW previously. It was probably something I did. Who knows? Anyway, I pulled another one of mine out of the tote and am now frame ironing for the Tula Butterfly. That ones going to take a while I'm afraid.  

I was supposed to have a customer come and pick up yesterday, but that never happened. Maybe today?

What The Heck?

Two finished quilts in one week that needed to be reloaded onto the frame...

Filling Gaps

This is why I really don't like doing digitized work. Despite my doing a drag and drop on each pass of this quilt, the last two rows separated themselves more than what my screen was showing and it was clearly visible. The customer had to bring it back for me to fix.

She had already bound the quilt so I had to load it as-is and fill in with swirls and pebbles; the same elements in the motif that went into it.

Guild up in Hale first thing this morning and then back here to get started on two new quilts. Yes, the two Tilda Samplers were finished late in the afternoon yesterday which is how we're seeing the above quilt on the frame.

After I got the above quilt fixed and the Tilda quilts billed and put away, I got the next two quilt tops out and started frame ironing backs. The first one is pretty small so I'll be starting on that when I return later. The other is flannel so the backing is taking a while to "dry" between each roll. 

Happy New Cast

NOT! This cast wasn't put on like the previous as it impedes my third finger movement much more than the first cast. But, good news. Only two weeks for this one!

See how far over the ring finger cast goes towards the middle finger?

Yesterday morning was spent up in Hale and I'm now a new member of the Hale Country Quilters. They do lots of community work, retreats, and education. They are also really good about eating so that may be a problem.😀 I picked up a quilt top from a new customer while I was there and then headed out after the official meeting for the doctors appointment.

I'm a member!

After the guild meeting, and after the doctors appointment, Jim and I scooted over to Costco to get some sugar for Jims jams and I got a few new tops. From there we headed to Meijer and picked up our weekly groceries. We never got home until nearly 7:00 and we were bushed.

I have one customer coming to pick up this morning. I'll be working on the baby quilt on Bernie during most of the day and then getting Diana's quilt ready for Monday. She called on my way up north yesterday morning to clarify some open ended items on her work order.