Judy's Stitchers Are Stitching!

This is the kind of fun and creativity I walked into yesterday!

Color color and more color!

Fun projects up on design walls and scattered across all flat surfaces including ironing stations, cutting stations and sewing areas.

It's a whirlwind of creativity - of the best kind!

From beginnings to bindings, it's all happening this week at Quiltville Inn!

When the summer heat and humidity is oppressive outside, we are cool as the proverbial cucumber inside.  

I know James Taylor's "Millworker" song is about the oppressive life of a widow with children just barely getting by working in a shoe factory, but these lyrics come to mind when I think of my quilting passion:

"Then it's me and my machine

For the rest of the morning

For the rest of the afternoon

And the rest of my life"

Judy's got some neutral string fun going on!

There is a Rhododendron Trail gaining ground!

Beautiful Castle Wall blocks!

What a great block to focus on some fussy cut centers -

This one's a mystery - 

She doesn't have the next installment, but she is going as far as she can go with it.

And a fun I Spy quilt will always bring a smile!

I love to see the abundance of vintage machines at retreat!

Any guesses on this one?

If you guessed Garlic Knots you are right!

Ruby Jubilee from Quiltmaker is looking great on this wall.

And we all oooh'd and ahhhh'd at Judy's Fish School top finish!

Giggling at Judy's feet below.  I will always get a kick out of quilt photos showing nothing but feet.

My own job?

Dealing with this shirt mess.

There are a couple of bins of cut apart shirts that have not been processed down into strip widths yet.  I've been digging through them to find the colors that I want to use in my sawtooth star blocks, but the process was very slow working on one block at a time, and I knew I needed a day just to pull shirt parts, press, and strip them down.

Once I get enough variety I can then speed up the process when it comes to cutting the triangle pairs I need for kitting up the blocks.

Pressing and more pressing.

And pressing some more.

I used my multi strip size die to cut them down.

All the Scrap User's System Sizes are now ready -

From here I can cut my block parts.

For those asking - Yes, I do look for 100% cotton when working with shirts.  I also avoid well-worn shirts as the fabric may be a bit thinner in places and the weave a bit wobbly.

I love working with plaids of all sizes and don't fret too much if something is a bit "off grain".  I am making scrap quilts, not matching a plaid on a skirt.

And yes, I feel perfectly confident in mixing my shirt stash with my off-the-bolt fabrics.

And I tried something else for the first time.

I cooked dinner at the QPO Studio!

Meal time at home is always a bit of a scramble. (I'm trying to choose my words kindly here!)

I'm the one that works "out of the home" while The Hubster is home all day working remotely.

Trying to come up with a meal after I return home is just not a fun chore.

If I don't know what we are having for dinner before I leave in the morning - nothing will be thawed out, nothing will be planned in any way, and we'll resort to things like burgers. Not that anything is wrong with that.

So I'm trying this - and it was a success.

I gathered up what I needed for a simple "stroganoff" type crock pot meal (Beef chunks, dried onion, cream of mushroom soup) and took it with me in the morning.

At lunch time I browned up the beef in the kitchen at the inn, put everything in the crock pot with a bit of jarred minced garlic and Worcestershire sauce gleaned from the inn fridge and carried it back to the QPO to cook through the afternoon while I worked on all of this shirt prep.

The QPO has never smelled so delicious!  It was a win.

By the time I got home all I needed to do was prep the pasta, add some sour cream to the crock pot to cream up the gravy and prepare a veggie to go with it.

I think the traveling crock pot will be happening more often. Especially through the winter when we love soups and stews and all things hearty.

Anyway - it made me feel like I wasn't falling into Camp Lazy Bones when it came to having fulfilling meals here at home after a day "at the office."

This morning:  The Quilters are going to get a WALK in!  It's been a couple of weeks, and I'm sure I can get a shoe on the foot I banged up a couple of weeks ago.  I am due for a walk.

And the cool of the morning will pass quickly, so as soon as I hit post on this, I'm off.

How about you?  What do you have on your plate today?

Did you enter to win the July/August '22 Quiltmaker Gift-Away yet?  The drawing happens on Monday 7/11/22 so get that entry in!

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Vintage quilt found in North Carolina.

I sure love a good ole scrappy nine-patch, don't you?

Be a better YOU today than you were yesterday!

Have a marvelous Friday, everyone!