Quilters Quilting Quilts!

Yesterday was a bit of a challenge -

Remember that macular doc appointment I mentioned yesterday?

It wasn't until 11:30 but we left the house early to swing by the retreat, feed the kitties and check on the retreaters as well as check the mail for a package we were expecting.

I arrived to find that the Quilters of the Night had INDEED Quilted late into the night - some were still sleeping, and others were happily enjoying the front porch rocking chairs, which I am always so glad to see.

Read More»

New Door, New Day!

It finally happened!

And it happened so early (8am) that I wasn't even there to see it done.

Hubster Dave and Son Jeff were on hand during the long-awaited installation process, but I was here at home tapping on my keyboard getting yesterday's post out.

It's in!  The new back entry door is finally in!

Read More»

Quilts Over The Rail!

This is the kind of fun we have putting all of the quilters over the porch rail and waving at cars as they drive on by.

The May Quiltvillians have been pedal to the metal all week long and just look at this beautiful array of quilts!

Read More»

Odds & Ends!

There's one thing sure about the weather - it is always subject to change!  

And here in Virginia we can get at least 3 seasons all in one week if not in one day.

A few days ago it was 35 in the morning. Like - WHAT? No, I'm not walking my driveway in that.

Yesterday?  Folks - we reached 86 on the mountain and it was 96 in Richmond. Seriously?

Pack a sweater and a personal fan because you are going to need it!

Read More»

Weekend Walks & Quilting!

Hooray for great weather and willing women eager to get out and get some steps in!

I tell you, though - we are going to have to start getting out just a bit earlier because all at once - it'ss too hot if we wait until 11am!

It's just a short walk. About 2 miles.  Up and back. 

And every two weeks or so, I am amazed at the changes taking place.

Read More»

Good Times & Pop-Up Shops!

The May Quiltvillians are in the house - and they brought with them not one, but TWO pop-up fabric shops!

I love when this happens...the quilters can keep on quilting, and only have to walk a few feet to fit in some retail therapy.  What a wonderful combination!

One gal brought fabric bundles made from a quilter's stash donated by her husband after she passed away.  The fabric is coordinated in bags, some with patterns included and sold by the pound. The proceeds are going to support good causes.

Read More»

Crackers & Jam Gift-Away!

Happy Friday, Happy Mid-May, Happy ALL THE THINGS!

I know you've been waiting for this one and I can't wait to watch you dig in -

If you are on Facebook, I hope you have joined our Quiltville’s Open Studio group so you can share your progress on what you are making.  It doesn't matter what, it doesn't matter who designed it, I love seeing what you are working on and that is the easiest way for me to keep up with you.

Some quilt ideas start on a whim, require immediate attention to get it into fabric, and then simmer into something else altogether during the making.

Read More»

Little By Little -

Yesterday morning, back porch at Quiltville Inn.

I haven't been sitting with Flash every day, some of our mornings have been rainy and cold and I'm not that much of a sucker - but if the morning is fine, I'll come sit for 10 minutes and see if he will tolerate my presence and eat his food regardless.

It's a battle of wills.

Are you hungry enough to let me be here while you eat, or will you sulk off and wait until I leave?

Read More»

Crunch Days!

I'm in the crunch!  But getting there -

One thing I try to do consistently is photograph each part of any quilt unit while in the process of making them - not saving that step for later.  It helps me remember just what I did, how I did it and in my mind I'm going through how I'm going to word things so that even the beginnerest-of-beginners (Yes, that's a word, or should be!) will understand and be able to do each step along the way.

I've heard a lot about poorly written directions, and I'd rather err on the "too wordy" side of things to make sure everyone understands even the simplest of instructions than have it not make sense to anyone.

Read More»

Mostly A Desk Day!

Yesterday was MOSTLY a desk day.

There were a few things I needed to take care of at the inn - the last of the laundry, the making of towel baskets for incoming retreaters, the recovering of pressing stations.  Routine.

I kind of like that routine when the house is quiet and I am the only one there.

But once that was done it was time to get down to business.  Except:

Read More»

A Quiet Mother's Day -

When was the last time you had a quiet weekend for yourself?
It truly doesn't happen enough around here, but on the tail end of returning home from my whirlwind week in Idaho, after blood draw appointments and physical therapy appointments and zoom meetings with publisher stuff I found myself with Saturday and Sunday wide open.
I brought my machine and project over to the Inn and set up to sewing with the ladies - retreat style - and fully enjoyed myself to the point where I didn't take many photos at all!
And that's okay.
What was I working on?  Samples for our next Leader & Ender challenge coming up in July and I can't wait to show you.  But not yet!

Read More»

Misfits In The House!

The Muddy Creek Misfit gals arrived on Wednesday - and the purple and white Dame's Rocket was here to greet them!

I tell my men-folk who take care of the yard that these wildflower areas are NO MOW until the blossoms have gone.

They are such a great place for bees and butterflies - and let's face it - that purple abundance is so great for my soul. It's riotous!

Read More»

Cat's Out Of The Bag!

Some of you have found this already and have been asking me about it so let's just put it all out there, shall we??

I was contacted by my publishers at C&T and asked if we could do a "Greatest Hits" kind of book together containing 30 of my favorite quilts from my previous publications.

I said yes!

Read More»

A Drop In Trunk Show!

Amazing things happen in the most unusual ways!

I met Debbie (on the left) several years ago when she was still living in New Jersey.  She came down to Bedford, Pennsylvania when I was teaching my summer workshop series with Mary Koval.

Little did I know that she would pull up stakes and fund herself living in Garden Valley, Idaho - right where my mom lives!

I received a text message the night that I arrived letting me know that their guild meeting was happening the next morning at 10am.

Read More»

Home And Moving Slowly!

As much as I'm worn out after travel to Idaho and back to visit my mom and stepdad -

Let's triple that with the addition of my mom's two sisters (My aunties!) and a visit from son Jason in the mix!

The weather could not have been more perfect - Spring in Garden Valley/Crouch Idaho is scenic and wonderful and everything is still green yet - for a couple more months or so.

Read More»

A Week with the Bonniacs!

Hi Everyone!

I knew I said there would not be blogging while at my mom's but I have time to get at least these photos out to you - 

Mom's out in the garden watering and we are leaving soon to go pick up her two sister's at the airport and things are about to get crazy here, but for now I have some calm and quiet.

And these quilts deserve to be shared!

Read More»

A Weekend At Play!

Is there any better way to start a Monday than with a gorgeous array of Moonflower blocks from our retreat workshop?  Just look at these beauties!

Everyone just did the BEST job and I love how they have taken their colors and shadings into their own direction for what are likely to be some fantabulous Moonflower quilts!

My hope is that they will bring them as assembled tops (if not quilted and placed on their beds!) for next year's retreat.

Wouldn't it be gorgeous to see them all over the porch rail?

Read More»

A Day To Play!

Somewhere around 6pm last evening.

Taco bar on the porch.  Make it a wrap, or a salad - your choice.  All the fixin's. Wonderful and delicious!

It had been a day of "Do what you want your own way" as the designated quilt shop hop day.

At one point there were only 2 people enjoying the quiet of retreat with all of the others out in search of the perfect fabrics for the quilts of their dreams.

Read More»

Get The Ball Rolling!

Nola's Bonniacs are in the house!

I'm so excited that they are back for another round of retreat fun.

But do you want to know what this getting older thing is like? Or are you already here with me?

Last week I *KNEW* we were having a Moonflower workshop with Nola's group. 

I reconfirmed it with myself.  And then I put it out of my mind - or it fell through the black hole -because I showed up yesterday on what was supposed to be workshop day #1 just  breezing on in, looking at what everyone was making....

Read More»

Pleasantries & Otherwise -

Sometimes living rural isn't easy.  It's not always convenient.

Especially when it comes to health care appointments beyond the basics.

We have a little medical clinic here with a nurse, a PA and they can handle most things like my twice a year blood draws to check for things like my type 2 diabetes. 

They are good for an antibiotic if needed or basic prescriptions for cholesterol or whatever.

But when it comes to the REAL stuff, like yearly paps or macular specialists - It's an hour or more.

Which means we make a PLAN to do other things that are fun, making the unpleasantries a bit more worth it.

Read More»

Binding in the Done Column!

I actually finished the binding and hanging sleeve over the weekend, but our weather!

We went from lovely days in the 80s to back into the 30s and rainy and windy...

I had hoped to get an "over the tree rail" photo of Hello Gretchen, but the universe has other ideas right now.

Before we headed out for dinner with 10 year old Casden to celebrate his birthday, I opted just to do a few quickies over the long arm rail.

Read More»

Quilt District Over The Rail!

Three cheers for these very talented (And absolutely super fun!) ladies and their glorious quilts displayed over the porch rail at Quiltville Inn!

We were discussing how many times they've come - through rain and snow and bouncing around dates depending on where Easter week falls.

We had fabulous weather all the way through Saturday!

Read More»

In Search Of Ponies!

Eight of us loaded up two vehicles and headed out (or should I say UP!) to Grayson Highlands State Park to see if we could spot any ponies along the Appalachian Trail.

Some had been with me before, but it had been a couple of years.

Some were completely new to this experience and their excitement was infectious and Energizing!

We didn't do too bad for a group of quilters also UP there in age!

Read More»

Day On The Run -

We've had this issue with Lola before.

I think it was a couple of years ago while I was on all of the make up back-to-back international trips post Covid.

There was a whole month where I went from Egypt strait to Ireland and did two consecutive Ireland tours to get all of those delayed trips in.

At any rate - Lola developed an intestinal blockage and Hubster Dave had to rush her to the emergency vet.

Read More»

Sew Much Scrappy Fun!

The Quilt District ladies are in the house, headed up by group mom Tara Miller!

And by looking at this photo, you'd think that I pre-coordinated hanging my Dogwood Daze quilt in the front foyer to coordinate with the gorgeous fabrics she's brought.

Oh, my!  The yummy goodness, and the absolute thrill of having fabrics come to ME instead of having to drive to them.

It's kismet!

Read More»

Open Window PDF Gift-Away!

Hello, Quiltvillians!

It's Open Window PDF pattern release and Gift-Away Day!

I know you've been waiting for this one.  It's finally time.

I started my journey with Open Window as a way to use up some recycled shirt strings, and I chose string blocks instead of plain half-square triangles to recreate a design I had seen on a tile floor.

Sometimes the tile designs are so simple, you need to *UP* them a bit and that is where string blocks come into play so wonderfully.

Read More»

Sorting & Sewing!

I finished the desk work that needed to be done!

Our Open Window PDF release and gift-away is ready for tomorrow - all that is left to do is get things ready to go live in the Quiltville Store and do some edits on the gift-away blog post.

I can do that today - but needing a screen break, I did something that has needed doing for MONTHS!

Read More»

Bitter Bees Over The Porch Rail!

Take a look at this fabulous group of quilty folk, displaying their creativity all along this porch rail!

The quilts and projects were many - some finishes from the last couple of years of retreats, some made at home and brought to cover beds while sleeping.

(I love walking through the house and seeing the array of beautiful quilts brought to put on the bed - it's a quilt show all its own!)

Read More»

All On A Saturday!

Saturday was our wrap up of our Scrappy Mountain Majesties retreat workshop!

It works so well to break a workshop into hands-on hours in the morning, giving everyone the opportunity to do other things in the afternoons, whether it be going to hit up a quilt shop or two, take a nap, take a walk, relax on the porch -

There is time for everything!

Read More»

Last Year's Workshop Finishes!

We took a moment on the porch with Debbie's Bitter Bees to share the results and finishes from last year's Spanish Rose applique workshop!

I know applique is not for everyone.  I, myself, don't do a lot of it though it's not much different than hand stitching down a binding, hanging sleeve or label.

This quilt was designed as a hand stitching workshop for our Mediterranean cruise several years back because we wouldn't have sewing machines available. Handwork it was!

Read More»

A Day With Scrappy Mountain Majesties!

Fun was had by all in our first round of Scrappy Mountain Majesties workshop!

Everyone came with their squares pre-cut to we could get down to sewing up a storm.

I call these workshops during retreat a Land Cruise - which means we are not going to cram it all into one 6-hour session, we're going to give a couple of hours of instruction before lunch and the afternoon is free for everyone to do what they want to do, whether it's take a nap, a walk, work on something else, or head to town to visit a quilt shop for more fabric.

Read More»

Quilting Done!

One of the most wonderful feelings has to be advancing a large quilt to the next section to find that you are close to reaching the bottom borders.
As much as I love hand quilting (And I am missing hand quilting but am concentrating on finishing that eternal hexie quilt before I can't see anymore to do close hand stitching) the realization that it would take me 4 to 5 months of evening hand quilting to quilt a quilt that I can machine quilt in two days....
I know they are two different things - hand quilting and machine quilting. But dang!

Read More»

In The Machine

Let the quilting begin!

I'm so excited to get this one quilted - and it was a perfect day for some time in the studio to load it all up.

Housekeeper Susan was next door at the inn, excited about the ew vacuum we replaced the old one with.  It was time.  The beater bar on the old one was worn out and there were no replacement parts available.  New vacuum it is. )Hooray for the small improvements!)

Son Jeff was on hand working in the yard - I turned on some music to energize my morning and got down to the nitty gritty of  loading everything up.

Read More»

More About Purple -

I know this is not the kind of piecing for anyone in a hurry.

It took 3 days for me to get this big purple backing made from my many hunks and chunks that have been stored away, neglected in a bin.

I started combing through the scraps on Saturday Morning, building blocks through Saturday and Sunday and finishing them before dinner time on Sunday evening.

Read More»

Deep Into Purples!

So much for working from the top of the purple bin and keeping things orderly -

It was time for up-ending and digging in because I am sewing this stuff up and saying good-bye to random hunks and chunks that have been sitting around for too long, ignored.

Let's just say that there was a lot of ironing while binging some Britbox and I am amazed at what came out of my Spring Break weekend!

Read More»

Good Golly Gretchen!

I am laughing at the possible names for my Gretchen block quilt -

The best one of all - but one I won't use though I'm still laughing - Fetchin' Gretchen! 

Only because the name takes me to my Dear Jane days where the Dear was relative and interchangeable with things like Dang, Dastardly, Dumb, Dipsh*t and many times found myself saying "That (*&(*& Jane Block!"

Read More»

Antique Junkies On The Go!

I continued my Spring Break stay-cation yesterday by heading out to Boone with a friend!

We did it ALL, you guys!

We had lunch at Taste Grill for wonderful Chinese food. (I am known to schedule my macular check up appointment early afternoon so I can go there and grab lunch before they dilate my eyes all to heck and back.)

And then we did some damage with three thrift shops and two huge antique malls!

Read More»

Border Time!

This finally happened yesterday!

I finished all of the border blocks and it was time to get down to the nitty gritty and get this quilt top put together.

I've been fluctuating on a name - the main block in the center is called Gretchen. (We had a little doxie named Gretchen when the boys were little!) but with the addition of these border blocks it needs a bit of an up-do.

In the running is "Hello, Gretchen!" as a nod to the traditional block center, but a bit more.

Read More»

The Spring Break Saga!

The skies were a bit dark and cloudy -

But the rain never came.  Not a drop.

We were able to get our over the porch rail photos done before everyone headed out - well ALMOST everyone!  More on that at the bottom of this post.

But for now - let's get into the quilts!

Read More»

A Whole Lotta Quilting Going On!

I learn something new at every retreat.

Like how even the pieces that *I* throw away can end up as an amazing useful piece of art!

Take a look at this table mat.  It's like a mini quilt, but isn't.

It's got a layer of batting, backing, and then all kinds of slivers and trimmings placed on top of the batting, and netting/tulle added to the top and  machine quilted through all to hold everything in place like a quilt  and bound!

Read More»

Hello, Monday!

We've had a full weekend of cutting, stitching, pressing and more!

The retreat time really does fly by fast when you are hanging out with your besties and dreaming up new projects you want to make after seeing the beautiful blocks on design walls.

Some went and visited quilt shops on Saturday afternoon, some stayed in and sewed all day - 

It was a wonderful weekend all the way around.

Read More»

Quilting Into The Weekend!

This kind of chilly and blustery has everyone back to dining inside the house -

Come on, Porch Season - Where are you?

And It really doesn't matter as long as there are good friends, good food, good conversation happening all around.

Throughout the day some went to visit a quilt shop, some stayed in their jammies sewing, some of us even got out for a dirt road hike!

When it's your retreat you can do whatever you like however you like!

Read More»

Quilters! Start Your Engines!

Another retreat week was in full swing when I arrived at the inn yesterday morning.

Machines were whirring - fabric was being cut and pressed into submission - another group, another round of wonderful projects just beginning.  Or continuing - 

Projects were already on design walls and all around sewing stations - here's a glimpse at the beginnings of some Scrappy Mountain Majesties blocks (pattern from the Free Patterns tab.)

And I admit - I framed this photo to catch the saying on the mug.  LOL!

Read More»

Cows On The Hills!

I took this photo from the corner of the parking area behind the QPO Studio yesterday afternoon.

All was ready, and I was waiting for the first of the April Quiltvillians (Who are joining us in March because Easter falls on their regular week this year.)

One of my favorite things about living in the mountains - watching things become greener than green, and seeing the cows grazing way on the top of the hills.

Look closely - zoom in - it's the little black dots to the right of the old water tower.

Read More»