I can't believe I've been so quiet. Things have been happening, I just haven't felt very wordy this last month.
With my mom's help, I got everything moved downstairs to the new sewing room. God I have too much stuff! Especially fabric! I always "knew" I had a lot, but it wasn't all in one place like it is in the basement. So now I can SEE how much there is. I have decided that for any new projects I start, I need to start using at least 80-90% of the fabric from my stash. It would be much better if I could do 100%, but sometimes you just need a little something that either you don't have or you don't have enough of. I still have a lot of organizing to do, but I actually did some sewing. Luckily I didn't have to cut anything, because the cutting table is piled high with stuff that has to be sorted. But it's a start.
I went to 2 quilting retreats this month. The first was at the Tecumseh YMCA Camp in Brookston, IN. (North of Lafayette) It started on Thursday and finished on Sunday. I checked out a new quilt store in Rossville, called
Rossville Quilts. In November they will be having their first anniversary. It was a very nice shop. I was impressed with the wide variety of fabric that she stocked. Most shops you go into, lean towards one type of fabric usually based on the owners preference; whether it's brights or it's thimbleberry/civil war type prints. This shop had a nice variety of both. It was really great because everyone was able to find something that they liked.
I worked on 2 quilts while I was at Tecumseh. Didn't get either of them done, but I made progress on both. The first was my
Lillibet's Garden quilt. I was working on the machine appliqued flowers in the center of the quilt. I decided to make it smaller, because it's a king sized quilt and I only need a queen. That means I get to leave off the outer boarder strips with it's many flowers and vines. Yeah! less applique to do. I got all the flowers sewn (12) and I got the flowers and vines appliqued on one section of the center areas, before I got tired of it and switched to my other project.
The other project was a "guild" project. There were at least 8 if not more of us there doing the same quilt. And none of them even looked remotely alike. It is called
Mexican Tiles and was designed by Kay the QuiltDiva. Mine of course is kind of on the bright side; go figure. The main fabric is yellow with pink flowers. The center of the flower is kind of turquoise and there are some green leaves in the background. So my supporting fabrics are turquoise, bright pink, light pink, lime green, dark lime green, bright yellow and white for the background. Sorry no pictures yet. It is made up of basically 4 blocks. There is 1 star in the center, surounded by Snail Tails blocks, 80 flying geese and then a 4-patch in a 4-patch block. I got the center star and the 4-patches done while at Tecumseh and finished up the Snail Tail's blocks at my second retreat. I have about 20 flying geese which need the second wing and then I am done with all the little piecing and can start laying it out to piece the whole thing.
I had thought to give it to my BFF McKelle for her daughter Brenna, but Brenna's grandma beat me to the punch. So it will either go into the "top box" or I will finish it for my retreat quilt since it is only a twin size and I don't have any twin beds at my house.
My second quilt retreat was at Camp Fredenswald. It is a menonite camp up near Cassopolis, MI. My Tuesday night quilt group has been going there for at least 10 years now. It is a really nice camp. The beds are extremely hard though. I saw another quilter bringing a 'eggcrate' looking mattress pad, which I am determined to bring next time. As mentioned above, I worked on my Mexican Tiles quilt, but I also worked on a Mexican Stars wallhanging. Carol of Carol's Quilt Cottage was conducting a class on the 3-Dimensional techniques that Annette Ornelas using on her quilts. There were 4 of us doing the
Mexican Stars pattern and 1 doing the
Victorian Tablerunner and 1 doing the
Tulip Bells Tablerunner. We all got the projects pieced, but only 1 of person got the 3 dimensional applique done. And it wasn't me either.
I finally figured out what to do with my
toe-up socks that I started when I was camping this summer in Ludington. I have both feet done, but I just couldn't find a cuff pattern that I liked. I tried 4 different ones, including a mock cable that I had been wanting to try, but nothing looked good. I decided last week to just to a simple K3,P1 ribbing. And I love it! I think the variation of the color was just masking all the patterns. The ribbing is so simple, yet it looks great. I had about 1 1/2 inches done on one cuff, when I switched it over to a circular needs so I could try it on. I wanted footie type socks. But it still isn't long enough. I figure it needs to be at least 3 inches if not 4 inches long. When I switched it to the circular needs, I had to switch sock #2 to the straights, because it had been 'waiting' on the circular. So instead of switching #1 back to the straights I just went ahead and started knitting on sock #2. I have about 1 inch done. When it gets done, I'll go back and finish #1.
And last but not least, I decided I needed a change. So I got my hair cut and colored last night. I am no longer blond. I am now a brunette with carmel highlights. I really like it. I stopped by Liz's place on my way home to get a second opinion. She liked it too. It is SHORT too.
This was taken last night when I got home.
And this is my 1st attempt at copying what the stylist did. OK, she was better, but I still love it.
The next picture shows a closeup of the 3-D effect.
