A Little Snow

We received at least six inches of snow yesterday/last night. I say at least because we measure in a relatively concealed area and Jim said, when he went out to snow blow this morning, near the garage we had upwards of 10".

It's so pretty though. 

Last nights snowfall

Yesterday, after running errands and lunch and while Jim was watching MSU basketball, I long armed on Foster the remainder of the Happy Camper quilt. 

Motif going in

And another one is done

The game was finished but Jim seemed less than motivated to do anything so I continued on with a little bag I had started on Friday...

I LOVE THIS BAG!

I'll take it to my next retreat in April (or is it in May?). Speaking of retreats, Paulette mentioned another retreat she attends in Shipshewana but it's at the Farmstead and not the Blue Gate Inn. Quilt n'Go sponsor this one and I just checked their web page. There is no mention of times and/or dates. I'll have to call them later this week. I may be interested in going? Maybe?

After making the bag above I dug through my 'matched pair' tote (where tops are already matched with backs) and pulled out the next one to do on Foster. This too will be getting an E2E with me driving as it is a Kaffe top where no matter what I put into it it's going to get lost. I'll be frame ironing the back today while working on my next project. 

I'm making another bag I think. This one will have clear vinyl on the front so items in the bag can be seen. Great for my ongoing crochet projects. Happy Sunday!

The Last Block

Looks easy enough but this took ALL morning to complete. Isn't it cool though?

See what I mean?

Anyway, the sun came out (shocking) while I was trimming it up and here's a few pics of the finished project...

I'll just let the pics speak for themselves. Let's just sit here quietly and enjoy. 😁

We ran to town first thing this morning to get groceries and menu items for the weekend. Jim is going to turn on his basketball game shortly and I'm headed to the studio once I get this done. I'm working on Foster and another little small bag project I picked up from who knows where. 

It Threw The Chair

I have a pretty heavy chair outside the new studio entrance. I mean, it probably weighs a good 20-30 pounds. The howling wind last night threw it off the porch and with it lies a large branch from the Ash tree right outside the west window. Thankfully, the nasty wind has abated. 

I worked later last night than usual and still have one more block to go in the Tilda Sampler. I'll move over to Millies Dresses this afternoon after getting the sampler off and trimmed. 

More eye candy from the sampler...

I'll get back to this one in a bit

Awww...nuts!

SQUIRREL!

A little village

Okay, back to the bee up above. It looks simple enough, right? Here's what went into just that one block. 

    1) Come up with an idea (honeycombs)

    2) Figure out how to get them in there. ProStitcher didn't even help with this one.

    3) No matter how I tried to draw it I wasn't getting it. YouTube! Eureka!

    4) Grid everything out in 1/2" increments.

Ready to stitch

I started drawing them in just to keep me on track of where I needed to slip in and out of the gridding. 

    5) Quilt it and keep your head in the game in doing so. I pulled threads twice because I wasn't paying attention like I should have been.

Okay, so that's one block. It took, from start to finish over an hour and a half. But, I LOVE IT! I love taking the time to come up with ideas and putting them down with thread to make them come alive. Yes, it takes time, but it's so worth it.

After working on Bernadettes quilt I tidied up the studio, and then made and attached the binding on The Yoder Sisters. It's now hanging on the design wall. I can't bear to put it away because I put a lot into that one! 

Cooking Meat Inside

We don't generally grill or cook meat in the house. The smell lingers and is off-putting throughout the day. But we need chicken grilled for lunch today and I've got to make some on the stove. I don't know how to use the grill outside and I think we're out of gas on it anyway.

While that's cooking I'm blogging. Coffee is perking too. Maybe that will overcome the meat smell?

Here's some more eye candy from Bernadette's Tilda Sampler...

Hippity Hop

Climb those trees

Hot Chocolate anyone?

After working yesterday morning, most of the afternoon was taken up with customers. It was a very nice visit as these two hadn't yet seen the new studio. Two new quilt tops in the queue and only a little more Tilda was completed after their visit.

I then pulled out and worked on getting the last borders on Produce Section. It doesn't look much different than the previous pic so won't share that at this time. 

That's about all of the retreat items and so now can get that binding on the Yoder Sisters, which will hopefully be tonight. No customers expected today meaning Bernadettes Tilda Sampler may be finished this afternoon. 

Yay, Apple!

We often get iOs updates preventing hacking and scamming. This was one of those mornings. I'm thankful we are an Apple family because I've heard horror stories from non-Apple users about getting their phones, computers, and identity hacked.

Here's some more eye candy from Bernadettes Tilda Sampler...

Me and my Dog

Do ya think my tractor's sexy?

Fly away

More on this piece today since these are taking a looooonngg time to work. After working well past "quitting" time I tore into the Koalas and we have a top!

Ready to quilt

One customer expected later this afternoon and the sun is shining (for now). I've opened all the blinds to let the beautiful day into the house so working today will be extremely bright. 

Snowy Errands

I had to run some errands this morning putting me behind my day an hour or so. Nail injury (dumb thumb, again), batting to The Springs and to find my lunch pail from the retreat last week. All that is taken care of so on with my regular day.

I've been taking pics of the Tilda Sampler I'm doing for Bernadette as each block is worked so I know how to quilt it if one of her students want the same quilting done in theirs. Here's a few of them...

The swimmer girl

The cats

The goose

More on that today. The reason this is so defined is because this quilt is double batted. It's going be hung and the wool batting won't stand up to gravity by itself. BUT, double batt and lots of seams results in broken needles. One so far. 

After working on Bernadettes quilt I moved over to the Koala's and have gotten the first row put together. There's still a number of blocks, spacers, and sashings to make so am doing that as I construct the rows. 

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.