Nine Days Until India!

All of a sudden we are at the end of August.

I thought August would last forever - but no. It passes just as quickly as everything else.

Kids are already back to school.

You can feel the season change coming - it's darker later in the mornings and I'm finding it hard to get out of bed until it is light outside.

I just looked at the calendar thinking that surely I have another couple couple of weeks before I leave for my India tour, but no!  I leave a week from Saturday?!?!?!

Yesterday's main job in between getting the retreat ready for the next group was to kit up those hexie kits I'm going to need for travel stitching.

Read More»

So Much To Show!

They filled the whole porch!

These wonderful ladies who came from Missouri, Ohio, Virginia, Georgia and beyond.

We had a wonderful week, and while I missed most of them on Monday due to my early morning airport run, I came back to find all of the kind things they did for me to make flipping the house so much easier.

The rain laundry!  They cleaned off the design walls with sticky rollers.  They recovered the pressing stations with new freezer paper giving me one less thing on my to-do list as a welcome home to Dave.

These little things.  They mean so much.  Thank you ladies!

Read More»

This Was Our Weekend!

I'm just going to put this right here front and center.

If you go hungry at retreat, it's your own doing.  LOL!

This was our Sunday lunch spread - as Sunday was the last full day of retreat, everything came out of the fridge for the best snacky kind of lunch you could ever have.

The last day of retreat is the best day to revisit all of the leftover tasty morsels from the previous days of plentiful food.

There's something here for everyone!

Read More»

Friday In The Rain!

The rain came in torrents yesterday morning.

I had finished writing yesterday's blog (my desk is in the basement) and when I went upstairs it looked like 5pm in the winter outside.

I texted over to Jen - no walk, rain incoming!

And right when I sent the text, the sky opened and whooo-doggie! It POURED!

Thus began my "accomplishing little to nothing" day.

This was the scene I walked into later as everyone was on the porch for lunch.  Rain had moved on...

Read More»

We're Just Getting Started!

Well this makes things interesting!

I'm really excited to see my "Just Another String Star" coming together.

I was a bit intimidated at first - not that I haven't done Y seams before, but it had been a while and there was the additional stretch and bulk of diamonds with bias on ALL edges, and also all of the seams in the diamonds from the string piecing.

I've developed a system and things are now coming together smoothly!

Except for Hazel. Always Hazel!

Read More»

Sew Fabulous!

This week got a little bit hijacked with our Gift-Away Trifecta and the drawing sign-up snafus...but here we are, all of the quilts and projects over the porch rail with the August Quiltvillians 2.0!

We worked around the weather, finding an afternoon full of sunshine so we could get these photos taken.

We had so many newbies, and that was exciting! I always love seeing things and feeling the excitement of first-timers as they discover the fun we have here.

Read More»

Days Filled To The Brim!

This is what happens when a hand stitching date is accepted!

And it came right on time because some really weird storm system blew through and blipped the power (Thank you Generac for doing your job!) and the rain came in torrents.

We were cozy in the Hen Den!

Of course, what is a girl to do with a hand stitching invite, when she has nothing to hand stitch??

Quickly grab some papers and pieces and get started on a new project.

Read More»

A Gift-Away Trifecta!

There is a lot going on today!  My head is spinning!

But it's all coming together in a VERY VERY good way.

It's Sunnyside pattern release and gift-away day and we've got lovely Notable Neutrals fabric rolls from Cotton to Quilts to include with THAT event.

And my publisher C&T is also hosting a gift away for my new book Scrap-Savvy over on their site! (More details below, keep reading!)

And we'll top that off with my friend Bruce Leonard's newest Hadley Carroll Quilt City book release also happening today! It's called Payment Declined and you are going to love it!

Read More»

Can't Believe It's Monday!

So much for the weekend!

It was gone in a flash -

And speaking of Flash....he has started to exhibit some new "normal" cat behaviors after being with us for about a year and a half now.

Learning is slow when you don't have a mama cat around to teach you -

Read More»

Rain, Shine & Quilting!

Who wants to start the day with a dirt road hike?!?

I found five willing quilters eager to get some steps in.

No rain in the forecast? Great! Let's go!

It was a beautiful morning, a bit overcast, but we didn't mind.  And this route is mostly shady by tree cover anyway.

Only one vehicle passed us as we headed up the long and winding gravel/dirt road in between two mountains and alongside a creek.

Welcome to a Virginia holler, ladies!

Read More»

A Full Up House!

This retreat is off with a bang!

A bang of laughter!

This is what I walked in to find yesterday morning as the August Quiltvillians 2.0 were just sitting down to brunch in the dining room due to rain.

2.0??  Yes!  Because we have 2 groups of Quiltvillians from my Quiltville’s Open Studio group that visit in August.  The first group is at the last few days of July and crosses over into August, and these lovely ladies come about 2 weeks later.  

At  any rate, we have 6 from Iowa, 3 from Illinois, 1 from Wisconsin, and the rest is a partridge in a pear tree!

Read More»

Lost In Strings -

I am back in the string of things!

I found myself with a couple of hours yesterday after everything at the retreat was made ready.

All of these little bits and pieces and strings and strips have got to be sewn into something.

The best thing about string piecing?  ANYTHING can be made with strings.

You can cover any shape.  You can color it anyway you want.  There are no right or wrong ways to do it as long as the seam allowance is enough to hold it together.

It's fun.  It's rewarding.

And yes - I even LIKE the tearing off of the paper when units are trimmed up and done.

And in the case of these blocks - I even like sewing the Y seams.  There.  I said it.

Read More»

Binding Bliss!

I already knew that Bliss was a heavy quilt.

Seam allowances are about 3/8'' instead of a 1/4'' so they wrap around the hexie papers enough to hold it more securely.  This puts the basting tacking stitches closer to the center of the hexagon on the back to firmly hold them in place.  

These are small pieces, and with all of that folding of corners on the back side, there is more fabric on the back of the top than is showing on the front, or at least it feels like it.

Add a batting and a backing to the whole thing and this beast is HEAVY!

Read More»

Quilting With the TaDa's!

It was short, it was sweet, it was crammed full of quilty fun!

The Tada Quilters were down from Erie, Pennsylvania and beyond and through they were only with us until Sunday morning, they packed a full week's worth of activities into their stay.

Not only did they quilt into the wee small hours, but they took time out to cook amazing dishes, while others headed out on early morning dirt road hikes, or even took off early Saturday morning to go hike 7 miles on the Appalachian Trail.

I couldn't keep up with these ladies!!  They knew what they wanted to do and they just did it.

Read More»

All Through The Weekend -

Why this photo?

Because I found the car on empty - warning light on and everything and I had to go up and over and around to get to the nearest gas station.

Still - everything has become the deep green of August and I love this view in all seasons so I had to stop on the road, roll the window down and take a quick snap before moving on.

It just never ceases to catch my breath.

And I'm just really glad that I don't have *that* driveway in the upper left.  Mine is bad enough!

Read More»

Running This Way & That Way -

Yesterday was one of those days where I had only a certain amount of time to try to fit it all in within a certain time frame and it felt like my feet were running from the moment my feet hit the floor.

Or more like - from the moment that son Jeff dropped off grandson Casden and our crazy day together began.

We needed to do all of the morning things before 12:15pm so we could go back to the cabin and pick up Grandpa Dave and head out toward the airport in Blountville, TN so he could catch his flights to Atlanta and then on to Boise.

Feed Hazel. Done. (It's great to have a bit of help from a willing grandson!)

Read More»

Hanging With the Tada's!

Lunch on the porch while the thunder rolled?  Yes, please!

They arrived late Wednesday afternoon - I really didn't have a chance for much visiting while they were moving everything on in, so seeing everyone busy retreating yesterday morning was wonderful.

And an invite for lunch? Accepted!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - to walk in through the back door, make my way through the kitchen to the hallway leading to the Quilting Quarters and hearing the sound of machines humming and the conversations and laughter overriding everything - it's just a wonderful feeling!

And to see new projects out and being worked on:

Read More»

That Last Stitch -

I took the last stitches in my hexagon quilt assembly.

Stitched my way to that last corner, did a couple of stitches in the corner to anchor it tightly, and then did what I always do when ending an EPP seam...take a few stitches back again toward the center of the seam and knot away from the corner to keep the corners secure and tight.

Two stitches in every corner, then stitch away from the corner for three stitches and then knot.

There is no way my corners are ever going to gap.  

And then...it was done.

Read More»

Where Did Tuesday Go?

Sunny then rainy. Sunny then rainy.  Such was on repeat-for-days during our retreat.

But the needed rain was a welcome event, and even those attending said how much they enjoyed the sound of the rain while sitting on the porch - just listening to it "ting" on the metal roof above.

Rain in the night sure makes for some good sleeping too when you hear it above your head all while you are tucked in cozy and warm beneath a quilt with sweet dreams of future projects dancing in your head.

Read More»

To The Last Minute

You know that feeling when you finally see the last border when quilting?

Or for those who are quilting on a domestic machine, or hand quilting - when you finally move to the last section and the end is in sight!?

It's hard to stop.  Just two more rows, please. Can't stop now. I'm almost there.

"Hi honey, dinner will be late tonight!?"

Let's get this thing off of the machine!

Read More»

Weekend Quilt Warriors!

What is happening on the porch?

Something I haven't seen done since I was in Camp Fire Girls in the 1970s.

Decoupage!

The ladies were applying little dried and pressed flowers and other fun motifs to Oui yogurt jars and turning them into the prettiest of votive candle holders.

So easy and fun for all and everyone has a little memento to take home after their fun week on retreat.

Read More»

Dirt Road Hikes and Quilt Borders On!

This is what a quilt GANG looks like!

We had so many opting for our morning dirt road hike that we had to take two vehicles to do it!

That's the thing about living where we do.  The two-lane highways are fairly narrow and winding, blind curves included. There are no sidewalks, no shoulders to the roads that are walkable really, so we have to load up, drive to where we can walk safely, do our thing and drive back.

But it gives me the opportunity to share a bit of our "Road Less Traveled" area with folks who are visiting from other places.

Read More»