Little Bits Of This...

I know I've said this many a time.

When asked what my favorite kinds of quilts are the one word answer is "Scrappy."

Scrap quilts with multitudes of different fabrics were always the one that captured my fancy.

But if you took it one step further and asked me "If you could only make one kind of quilt for the rest  of your life what would it be?"  The answer would be string quilts.

The options are so varied, the opportunities so vast.

I just can't stop making string quilts.

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Root Beer Floats and Binding!

The only thing that can get me to put my needle down and take my thimble off is the presentation of a yummy root beer float in the evening as we wind down the day.

And yes - that IS a Pepe le Pew conversation glass!

How many remember when certain fast food restaurants give these out with your meal purchase and you got to keep them?

This one was a gift for hubster Dave after he kept talking about "Remember when we had....?"

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Down To The Last Minute!

What fun it was to walk out to the back porch yesterday morning and find folks in a mad game of left, right, center playing for Fat-Quarters!

First thing in the morning!

What a great way to enjoy the cool of the day surrounded by birdsong.

Who says that games only have to happen at night?

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For The Love of Fabric!

I have half a quilt!

That doesn't sound like too much, but it has taken years to get to this point.

Granted - it has been mostly a travel project, and due to Covid there was a 3 year span of time that I didn't travel at all so it just SAT patiently waiting for me to get back to it.

The more pieces I add...the more it comes to life.

Is it worth it?  ABSOLUTELY!

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Friday Fun Day!

Doesn't this look like the best kind of morning?

Grab some hand stitching, a coffee, come pull up a rocking chair on the porch and sit, stitch and enjoy the morning with your quilty friend!

This was the scene as I walked up the front steps yesterday morning to find that while some had gone to the park in search of ponies, others had taken a road trip to the quilt shop leaving only 4 quilty souls unsupervised at the retreat house.

Sounds perfectly relaxing, doesn't it?

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Quilting Station Updo!

I learn the best things from random quilters as they come and set up their sewing stations for retreat.

Did you know that you can double your space and have room for all of your stuff if you bring some simple organizing shelves?

Space above, space below.

When you can't spread wide, go high!

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Small Quilt Satisfaction!

I had a couple of hours of available quilting time yesterday after finishing up things at the retreat while waiting for Chris's Christmas in July group to arrive.

What can one do with a couple of hours?

How about quilt up a very small (26'') little quilt?

Some things just have to wait for the right time, and the right time evidently was yesterday.

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Hexies At A Snail's Pace!

This is the in-between retreats routine.

You know by now that my Tuesdays are full of waving everyone off, starting in on mountainous amounts of laundry and doing all of the things we have to do to make things ready for the next group of retreaters to come in on Wednesday afternoon.

It's a revolving door of whirlwind activity that isn't exactly photo worthy!

Yesterday, I was graced by helping hands of retreaters who started in on laundry loads before I arrived and you have no idea what a lift that was to my whole day! Thank you, thank you, come back any time!

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And, It's A Wrap!

It's been a lovely week having the July Quiltvillians in house!

Every day I walked in there was something new on the design walls.

And everywhere you turn there are quilters helping other quilters - whether with block designs, fabric choices, ideas for borders, fixing issues, helping to seam rip (It goes better with friends to help!) and more.

It was kind of a sad moment when I noticed that things were coming down and being packed away after we did our over-the-porch-rail photos yesterday afternoon!

But they'll be back and are already planning on next year.  And I'm grateful for that.

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Here Comes Monday!

The July Quiltvillians have been on "Cat Watch" and at different times of the day my phone and email are pinging with captured moments of how the guard cats are protecting the inn and all the quilters within at any given moment.

Hahahahaha!  This is the view through the front door window sent to me yesterday evening.

I had taken off a bit early as Hubster Dave asked if I wanted to go to the movies. (Absolutely yes!)

And evidently while the innkeeper is away, the cats will.....snooze?

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Little Things Become Big Things!

I've given updates here and there on what has been happening with the bricks from the wall that fell thanks to Hurricane Helene last year.

Our son Jeff is a wonderful landscaper and his specialty is hardscaping patios, porches, extensions, outdoor kitchens, planter containers and more.

We've been extremely lucky that he has given his time and talents to improving the yard at Quiltville Inn using the old wall bricks to outline bushes and planter areas, and he finished up this little eye sore yesterday.

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Quilts Underway!

This didn't take long!

The July Quiltvillians checked in on Wednesday afternoon/evening and by the time I arrived yesterday morning there was a plethora of projects already up on design walls and being worked on at machines.

The best part?  There was not a soul in the Quilting Quarters - they were on the porch having brunch!

So I did a quick tour around the room to catch some quilting projects in still life.

I love this traditional Barrister's Block presented in this pattern by Moda:

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Quick Fixes & Last Minute Finishes!

The squirrels have been running full force lately.

Especially in my studio.

There are so many things I SHOULD be doing - Yesterday was wide open for getting the house ready for the incoming July Quiltvillians - Beds had to still be made, towel baskets had to be filled.

But what did I go and do? 

I opened the cabinet at my sewing machine to grab ONE thing only to rediscover a basket stuffed full of leftover Old Town pieces and parts, completely forgotten.

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Abbeygate PDF Pattern Gift-Away!

Hey, hey, Quiltvillians!

Guess what day it is?

It's mid-July which means there must be a new pattern release and gift-away!

I know you've been waiting for this one.

And while Abbeygate is not necessarily a "holiday" quilt - red and white quilts are so classic that it easily could be one.

In fact, I did throw in some holiday fabrics, even though it is not strictly a Christmas quilt.

Let's face it.  July is a "hurry up and get started" month for quilters when they want to have something made in time for the holidays.  So here we are!

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Pieceful Hearts Finale!

In an attempt to grab an afternoon with sunshine, in between bursts of rain, we wandered out to the porch late on a Sunday afternoon to get what over-the-porch-rail photos that we could to share all of the wonderful things made by this amazing group of ladies.

Some finished quilts were brought for beds and slept under while on retreat. (I love popping into bedrooms and seeing what is on the beds!) Some mostly finished tops were brought out in the state they were in and later finished with one more full day of retreat left to go.

There were projects in progress that would take more time, both large and small - but it's about PROGRESS, not the finished item, right? All are worthy to be celebrated.

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All Through The Weekend!

Happy Monday, Quiltvillians!
It was a bit hot and sticky here through the weekend with intermittent rain and thunder showers, but the quilters kept on quilting!
At least half the group took off for a raucous round of quilt shop hopping and came back with so many goodies!
I just love the sight of happy quilters coming up the front steps carrying bags of beautiful fabrics and all of the possibilities that kind of fabric acquisition road tripping generates!
The weekend workshop of the "Three Peas In A Pad" bags  produced some wonderful finishes!

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It Must Be July.

A couple of years ago. July.  This same weekend in July.  We had the mishap with the falling tree swing where I broke my foot, and my nose...

I thought we'd had a good run since then!  And then the thing with this falling clock happened....And yes, this is the same group that was here to help me when the tree swing fell THAT July.

But more on that later.

I'm so excited that so many of you have supported Kala in the purchase of your Quiltville Inn Fabric on Spoonflower.

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Pieceful Hearts, Start Your Engines!

I'm thinking back to the time when I was in my early 40s.

We had just relocated from Texas to South Carolina - It was 2003.

I was invited to drive an hour (Not a big thing when things are so spread out.) and come to a Sit & Sew day with the Pieceful Hearts Quilt Guild of North Augusta, South Carolina (Yes, right on the other side of the river from Augusta, GA!) and meet some folks.

I was new to the area. I knew no one.  But a sit n sew day to get to meet folks?  I was all in!

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Halls, Walls & Waiting!

I put the finishing touches on every space at Quiltville Inn while waiting for the Pieceful Hearts gals to arrive from North Augusta South Carolina and beyond.

Thunderstorms in and around our area hampered and delayed their drive a bit, but luckily no rain was falling here as they began to arrive.

There were a few later stragglers that had to deal with a bit, but all are in safely!

I was so grateful for this as I sat at home working on a binding and listening to the summer thunder roll.

With this retreat - being the first one past July 4th, all of the decor needed to be changed out for SUMMER.

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Next!!

Here's the thing about Leader & Ender projects.

There has to be a MAIN project...in order to use a second project as the Leader & Ender for the first.

Unless you are using parts of your main project as your Leader & Ender, but then I was always one to enjoy the "pat my head while rubbing my tummy" "walking, talking and chewing gum at the same time" kind of multi-tasking.

But if I just finished my Flame Azalea top...what is going to be the vehicle for my Four Patch Fun Leader & Ender project?

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Moving On From Quilting Mishaps -

I know I'm not alone in this.

I know I'm not the only one this has happened to.

But at the time I took this photo, I didn't even know what was waiting for me a mere 10 minutes ahead.

I was just merrily going along happily content with how the quilting on my Flame Azalea was turning out just as I had envisioned it.

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Friends, Neighbors & Fireworks!

I mentioned on Saturday that we were headed to a cookout at our auto mechanic's place - one thing he loves to do each year is host a customer appreciation event and this was our first time going.

We knew there would be burgers and hotdogs and games along with the relaxation of visiting with community members and meeting people we didn't know yet.

What I didn't know was that it was much more than just hot dogs and hamburgers.

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A Long Holiday Weekend Exhale -

How did we spend our 4th?

With a taco bar, watermelon, brownies & ice cream and cut throat rounds of Mexican Train dominoes until it was late enough to go sit around the fire pit and just enjoy the fireflies with our neighbor friends.

It was perfect.  Perfectly wonderful!

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Coming Together!

The worst part of quilting?  Top construction!

I love making the blocks - each and every one.

Choosing fabrics to play together, cutting, sewing, pressing, sewing some more.  I love everything about this whole process.

And then the real work comes...there are many ways to sew a quilt top together.

If the blocks are simple enough I can web the whole top in continuous rows where rows are held together by chaining threads between the blocks.  Easy Peasy.

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Quilting Behind The Scenes!

With the release of our Four Patch Fun Leader & Ender Challenge yesterday came so many inquiries of "What Else Is Under Your Needle?!?!" and I think I am finally to a point where I can share what's been going on in the studio for the past many months.

Many months?

Yes...because this project started out on a whim with inspiration from a vintage quilt used as the background of one of my Quiltville Quotes.  A photo I took while antique mall wandering.

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2025 Leader & Ender Challenge: Four Patch Fun!

Hey hey, Quiltvillians!
It's Time! (Finally!)
Our yearly Quiltville Leader & Ender challenge begins today.
Things to know:
Leader & Ender challenges are given so that you have "SOMETHING" to stitch in between the lines of chain-stitching other things.
These little units are made as "sew-betweens" instead of using a folded over, thread covered throw away scrap to keep your piecing continuous and always leaving "something" under the presser foot of your machine to hold your place while you go press pieces from your current project.
If you have this finished in 2 weeks it doesn't count. Please play along with all of us and make it alongside the projects you are already working on.  It is not a race.  There is not a prize if you finish first. We won't be impressed.  LOL!

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Mississippi Meets Virginia!

As I gather and edit photos, plan and type up this post, the Mississippi Quilters are heading out car by car and beginning their journeys back home.

What was supposed to be the rainiest retreat on record turned out to be not so bad - just a few showers here and there, some middle-of-the night thunder bumpers that brought the temperatures back down into the pleasant range -

And nothing disrupted the quilting, chatting, laughing, and of course the eating of wonderful meals prepared by their own hands.

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