Farmers Daughter

Here are the quilt samples of the quilt I am working on right now. I love these colors. I have nearly finished cutting out the pieces with the exception of a few that I picked up fabric for yesterday. So today I plan to get those few pieces cut out and start sewing. And I have got to work on cleaning house some of that time as well. I have planned on sewing all week, but it just never happened. I managed to waste a lot of time running around instead of staying in one spot very long.

I will post progress later tonight or tomorrow.

Quilt Power Layout

I have just discovered a handy way of laying out quilt blocks that have multiple pieces. I am working on a quilt with 46 blocks that end up as stars after the blocks are placed together. There are literallly hundreds of pieces. When we scrapbook we do what is called a "Power Layout". This is a way to pre-layout your photos on a spread adding the papers and stickers you plan to use. Creative Memories has plastic guides that are made to hold a 12x12 page. I realized that I can use these same guides and they will fit inside the 2" deep boxes that many of us use. They only thing with using something different that the box that was made to hold these guides is that if you drop the true power layout box and guides, there will be no shifting. Everything will stay right where you put it.


Check out what I have done here. It's works extremely well in the way it would for a scrapbooker. You can stack these and then just work out of the box as you are sewing along. I can't wait to finish laying out my blocks so I can start sewing with confidence that I am picking up the correct pieces and sewing them together as they should be. Hopefully it will eleviate any mistakes in grabbing the wrong pieces. We'll see. But so far, so good.




1. This is one plastic 12x12 guide


2. Here I have layed out the center 9 patch edge to edge.

3. now I have added the outer corner blocks and rectangles.

4. Now I have added the dark square that is going to actually form a triangular end to the rectangle. So I am laying it down right sides together.

5. Now you can see where I added the square on the rectangle right sides together. I did this on all four sides.

6. Now I will lay another plastic guide on top of the block I have just finished laying out.

7. The guide is now sitting nice and flat on top of the other block

8. Now I start to lay out my next block on the second guide. You just keep layering until you have layed out each block you need or until you run out of guides.

The best thing about this system is that these guides can fit into the black box they go in perfectly. There is no room for movement. So if you drop the box, or it falls off the table, etc, everything stays in tact. Originally I thought that you could use these guides in the plastic boxes we tend to store our finished blocks in, but the guides are about 1" smaller than those particular boxes. So that leaves room for movement which will cause shifting.

The Power Layout box and guides are available from Creative Memories for $25. Now of course this particular one (size) is discontinued as we are waiting on the updated size. But there are many out there that I can hunt up from other consultants. These kits include box and 15 guides for $25. Additional guides are also available for $12 for 15 guides. These things will last a lifetime.

Farmer's Daughter

I was at the office all day and finally got my quilt cut out that is called "Farmers Daughter". I am making it out of the fabric that Wendy had a store challenge on. I won't win, since that has already over, but I would like to enter it in the fair. The funny thing is that Deanna told me today that she is working on a quilt that she would like to enter in the fair. Just think that a fair entry just over a year from the date she started learning to quilt.

If the kids don't have school I am already prepared. I brought my stuff home. If they do have school, I will just take it back with me. I'm excited to get it started.

The Keyhole Quilt

I finished the Keyhole quilt from a class several months ago. But I decided to use this one for the Hopeful Hearts Silent Auction at their fundraiser for Ukraine orphans. We have gone to most of these dinners, since the beginning. They are always on the Saturday closest to Valentines Day. Which of course is also my anniversary. Anyway last year I donated a quilt that I pieced and Mom quilted. It brought in over $200. I thought that was good for a lap quilt.

So this year I have closen the Keyhole quilt. Size is 63x63 in size. I really thought it turned out well. I can just picture it on the wall of a newly adopted Ukrainian girl. I loved the lavendar thread Mom used to quilt it with. It has such a soft look to it. Good choice Mom!

I made out a label for it. It already had the floral design on it, but I wrote the information on it. Using a permanant pen makes it hard, because you know that if you mess up, you get to start over again. But it gives the needed information on it. This quilt took one jelly roll.

This is the quilt I made for last year. I think it was called Cookie Sprinkles. It was fun to make. It was charm packs and a jelly roll. Mom quilted a heart design for "Hopeful Hearts". Cindy Meiners won this one. I was happy for her. She told me she was determined to win it because it matched her living room perfectly.

What a fun day I had yesterday. I got up and remembered I needed to go to AF to get my block of the month. Last year I had to pay for all of them because I never seemed to remember to go on the scheduled days. If you go on their specified days, you will get your block for free. They have a short meeting telling you about the club, and of course show new products and lines of fabric. Well 4 hours and $600 later I am finally out of there. But boy do I have some projects to work on. As if I didn't have anything to work on.

They had gotten a new line in that I loved. It had my name written all over it. So they were offering a challenge. First person to get a pieced quilt top in the store using that line will get a $25 certificate. It wasn't the $25 that got me, it was more that I would have a quilt top in the store. So I got to thinking of which top to make. I finally figured it out. But I wanted to make a king size. So that meant altering the pattern and amount of fabric. Audrey was considering it too. Later Audrey came back in and said she is very competitive and was considering it too. So she decided on a baby quilt. Chances are she will get hers done way before me. Mainly because I have to have a fund raiser quilt complete and ready to turn in on Thursday. So mom is about to ring my neck on that one. She is doing the quilting.

But whether I win or not, I will definitely be posting the picture when it's done. I can't wait to finish it. I also got two finishing kits for 2 block of the month quilts. I thought I had better get the fabrics before they go away and I can't find it easily anymore.

I think I have just talked myself into setting up my sewing machine to start working on some things. So I had better get my rear out of this chair.

Wooded Glen Scrapbook Retreat

Wooded Glen here we came and went!

Wooded Glen Retreat and Conference Center, Henryville, IN

1) Main lobby area with lg screen TV, sofas, etc.

2) Snack room upstairs w/ 24 hour snacks available

These are photos of the actual retreat where gals are working on their albums. Although this group of photos are from last years retreat. I didn't take updated group photos this time.

I am still trying to recoup from the retreat this past weekend. I had a total of 57 women (50 of them were my customers) who brought everything but their kitchen sink. Scrapbook retreats are fun and a lot of work as well. But they are so worth it. By the time the ladies were done and packing up for home, they were signing up for the next retreats coming up. So that means success!

Deanna and Margie came up to me to let me know they had packed up the inventory room for me and it was ready to take to the car. I was so excited! Because when there aren't many consultants participating, it means more work for fewer people. So I was thrilled to hear them say that. Suanne offered to help me load my car at the end. I was grateful for that too. That brought back memories because when she was the main consultant, I would help her do the same thing. Below is a picture that is so typical of our loading and unloading. It doesn't always go so smoothly. We are talking a mini van (with seats removed) completely full of boxes. That means you can't see out of the mirrors at all, boxes are bungied to keep from falling forward injuring the driver. Every nook and crannie is completely filled with something. You have to be careful opening doors as to not have things on the ground. I told Suanne I had to take a picture so everyone could see who actually did it. When the top container started to fall, I was trying to bump it back onto the cart with the container I was holding. Instead when I realized it wasn't going to work, I had to throw my container to keep from getting hurt. Remember it was verrrrry cold. We both just stood there and laughed! Picked it up and on we went.

Pictures

I have completed the Tshirt quilt for Anne. It turned out so good. I was very happy because I have heard several horror stories that they move, stretch, etc. But I had not problems at all. It looked nice enough that I can't wait to make more of them. So if you know anyone with a lot of shirts from races, ball, etc, I'd love to make another one. The cost to have one made is about $15 per square. So you can control the cost by knowing the amount of Tshirts you plan to use.

The front of this quilt has tshirts from running races. I debated what color to use for sashing and borders, but I finally decided on a lighter shade of blue. It seems to bring all of the tshirs together.

I put a backing with hot air balloons on it. It reminded me of the mini marathon for derby. Even though these shirts didn't come from one of those races.

Mom did the quilting for me. Great job! It was just an all over meander. I knew the quilt would actually be used, so didn't want to get so fancy with designs.

Below are the Christmas stockings I made for our family. I made the cuff on top a different color on each one so we could tell them apart. I was very happy with how they turned out. They are about 18-20 inches long. They are wide enough that you can put things in them without worrying that it will fit inside.

Upcoming Retreats for Quilting and Scrapbooking

I am working on a retreat for our quilters at the Horse & Buggy Inn in Liberty, KY. This is a cabin in the middle of the country (and across the road from a quilt fabric shop). It's quaint and will sleep approximately 10 people. There is space to place tables so we can sew or scrapbook. I can't wait to go. This area is a largely populated with Minnonites. So you see horse and buggies all around. Go to their website to see the pictures.

Next weekend I have a large retreat at Wooded Glen in Henryville, IN. This is a retreat and conference center with meeting space and 50 lodge rooms. The owners are very nice. The best part is the FOOD! There has never been a complaint about the food. This is truly homemade. They have a 24 hour snack bar (at no additional charge) that is stocked with fountain drinks, chips, candy, ice cream, etc. They put put fresh snacks (i.e. cheese balls, veggie trays, etc) twice a day. And finally the bring out warm cookies and milk late in the evening. You just can't beat this for a all inclusive facility.

So if you are interested in any of my retreats, please email or give me a call and I will get you registered.