Watermelon Friends

I'm still pooped after my retreat weekend, trying to get caught up with a few things around the house. The treat was incredible, being at a fancy hotel is so worth the extra cost. The Harrison Hot Springs Resort has natural hot springs and the hotel sit on a gorgeous lake with snow capped mountains all around, such beautiful surroundings. It's the only hotel I've seen people walking through the lobby in robes all hours of the day. The hotel supplies robes and the guests walk outside for a warm dip, we went every night before bed and sometimes we even went back and did more sewing after our dip in the hot water. The day before we arrived there was a big snowfall, I was a little worried we wouldn't get to go with all the snow but the next day the roads were clear and dry. It was a fun and relaxing.

Here is my finish for the weekend, I had some of the blocks done ahead of time but still needed to make about 35 more at the retreat. I'm so happy with how it turned out. I also managed to sqeeze in a couple of small projects, a toiletry bag and cupcake pincushions which I'll have to show another day since I didn't take pictures of these yet. I brought along another quilt to work on but that didn't even come out of the bag. Oh well...it will remain a UFO for a little longer.

Socks and Stitching

You know that "lone" sock that you throw out because you no longer have a pair, well....now there is a use for them. I recently discovered the world of "stupid sock creatures". I made these funny looking guys from socks. I now have a new appreciation for socks that can be recycled into something cute and funny. I had such a ball making these, cutting and sewing bits of socks. Some of the other girls are "experienced" and made some pretty amazing creatures and much more advanced then my simple guys. My daughters will get a hoot our of these.

I've also done a little stitching over the last few weeks, meet Lilly she's been out in the garden picking flowers. It's too early for any flowers in my garden, so it was nice to spend time with needle and thread. I'm not sure yet if she'll be a small wallhanging or maybe she'll be a pillow.

I'm off to my retreat in a couple of days, I hope to have a quilt finished by the time I get home on Sunday. Keep your fingers crossed I'll get some sewing done. The place I'm going has hot springs so I'll be soaking in that warm water for at least part of the time.

Quilt and Stitchery

I wish I could say I've had a busy week of quilting....not. My sewing room has NOT seen me all week, the first part of the week is a blur and the last couple of days I spent working at the quilt shop. I was going to show you a "thimble quilt" that I just finished. I took it to the shop yesterday and now I can't find it this morning, I must have dropped it or something. I hope it's there somewhere. So instead, I'll show a quilt I did last year as a swap with Darlene, we swapped the 9patches until we had enough to make a lap quilt. Darlene can you spot the blocks you made? When I showed it last year the quilting wasn't done. I love this quilt and I had a wonderful time making all those 3" blocks. I use this quilt for my occasional naps.

I did some stitching this week, a finish for Feb free BOM (link is in my side bar). I think this will be a very sweet little quilt, I'm looking forward to March block coming soon.

I'm going to a retreat next weekend, so I'll need to get ready for that. I've decided not to bring too many projects this time and instead focus on one or two quilts I have in progress and maybe I'll come home with something finished....woohoo.

Happy Valentine's Day

Just a little note to wish you a very Happy Valentine's Day!
I hope you'll have lots of yummy chocolate today, dark is my favorite.

How are you spending your Valentines day?
DH and I don't usually do anything too special for Valentine's Day except for maybe a nice dinner out, a little wine and some chocolate, which we did last night. It's way to crazy busy at restaurants to have dinner out on the actual day, so it works out nicely for us this way.

Have a great weekend!

Making Layer Cakes

Wow...2 posts in 2 days, that's a record for me. I made this layer cake pincushion yesterday. It's so cute and sweet, look girls you can have cake and not worry about the calories. I had plans to make the cupcake pincushion in the book but when I read the directions and there was a margarine container in the supply list and then I kept reading about easing the fabric to fit the container...yuck, I quickly decided it wasn't going to happen...way too fussy for me. I'll pick something that I know will be fun and easy.

You can find the pattern in this book. Have fun making "cake". I think I'll make more cake today.

Birthdays and Shopping

Everyone loves pictures of food especially when it's a dessert. These yummy looking treats came from Trader Joe's and they were waiting for me at Two Thimbles. The owner (Lee) of this shop really knows how to treat a birthday girl. She offers a really good deal, if it's your birthday month, she'll give you 25% off for the day and if you bring friends they also get a discount of 15%, pretty sweet deal. If you live near by give Lee a call to book your birthday, it's well worth it!

Since we all love photo's of quilt shops here are a few to browse through.

Don't you just love that antique quilt with the pinks and browns. Does anyone know the name of that block? I love it!

Some fabrics to give you inspiration for Valentines day, it's coming up very fast.

Wagon of fabric, I'll just wheel that out to my car...LOL

More pretty fabrics. Two Thimbles also has a huge selection of Jo Morton, Sturbridge Village and other reproductions. I didn't get a good picture of them.

Some goodies I received from my wonderful friends. I don't think you can see them all but there are 18 of the balls of Valdani variegated embroidery threads.....I love them!

And these are the fabrics that found a way in my bag...I don't know how they got there but I found them hiding in my bag when I got home...LOL. The larger piece with tiny red flowers is for a backing on the medallion quilt I finished a few months ago.

Have a great day!

Tablerunner Done!

I finished the table runner I've been working on and it's now at the Quilted Bear being displayed. My DH doesn't usually say much about my quilts, he might ask "who's that one for" or mostly he will say "that's a nice quilt" or sometimes doesn't notice a new quilt in the house until I point it out laying over the couch. When he saw this table runner, he not only immediately noticed it but also felt the need to give me his opinion...I thought it was very funny what he said. "That's not staying here is it?" No it's a sample for the store. "You can tell Jenny that she can keep this sample, we don't want it back". It made me laugh to think he was telling me how much he didn't like my newest project. When I was finishing the binding, he said "when are you taking that runner to the store?" Hmmm.....I think he was trying to tell me somthing....don't you think???

A small quilt I've been working on as well, this is a smaller version of the one I saw on Darlene's blog a few weeks ago. I loved the black, beige and red combination and just had to make my own version.

Happy Stitching!