Sometimes Things Just Don't Work Out.......

....the way you planned. I got the latest issue of Quiltmaker a few weeks ago and was a little too anxious to get my Christmas Lights mystery quilt finished.

So what's wrong with this picture? I managed to sew an entire row with the blocks going the wrong direction! That's what I get for being in such a big hurry. Now I have to unsew and fix the whole bottom corner.

On a better note, look what I found when I was cleaning up in my sewing room:

A charm pack with a matching jelly roll. I already know what I'll do with it; something simple enough that I won't mess up!

Happy sewing,

Carolyn

International Quilt Festival

I finally got around to looking at all the pictures I took at the International Quilt Festival in Houston and thought I'd share them here. Keep in mind that I didn't photograph all the quilts that were displayed; just the ones that I liked the best, or ones that I have the pattern for and thought of making. It's always nice to see someone else's interpretation of a familiar pattern.



Close-up shots of the quilt above:

A Dear Jane quilt, which I have no desire to make, but I like seeing ones that others have made:

It seems that I am partial to the medalion-style quilts as that is mostly what I took pictures of; odd that I've never made a medalion quilt......I knew that I was partial to the appliqued borders on pieced quilt, and frequently use that technique.

Here's a view from the second floor of the vendor section. There were literally hundreds of different vendors and lots of nice things for sale.

Here's a picture of me with one of my internet quilting friends, Eileen from New York, whom I got to meet at the Festival on Friday. (I'm the one in yellow.)

I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures, but they really don't do justice to all the beautiful quilts. If you ever have a chance to attend and are a quilter, I highly recommend the trip.

Carolyn

Another Block of the Month

Here's another BOM for October. My goal is to get 20 of these ten-inch blocks made and pieced into a quilt top by then end of the year. I bought a yard or so of fabric that I think I want to use for the sashing; I'll try to remember to include a picture of it with the next BOM. Here's a link to the instructions for this block: http://www.quilterscache.com/F/FarmersDaughterBlock.html

It's easy and there are a lot of great color choices for could use for this one.

I have to be at work early this morning, so enough for now. I still have pictures from the International Quilt Festival that I need to get posted--that's one of my "to do's" for the weekend!

What I Did at Camp

I was MIA for most of September; one of the reasons was that I was able to attend a quilting retreat. If almost takes an act of Congress for me to get away for a few days.....I have to board my dogs, clear my work calendar, reschedule my dad's doctor appointments, and arrange for someone to check on my dad while I'm away. The retreat was three days, included room and meals, and was not that far from down (at the Catholic Retreat Center).


It's a remote enough location that I didn't have cell phone service (maybe a good thing, although it made me a little nervous). No phones, no tv, no computer, nothing to do all day except sew and eat and just generally get myself recharged. I had a private room with bath--I forgot to take a picture of the room, but the pic on the above right shows what the outside of the cabins looks like. We had two large meeting rooms for sewing. Each quilter has a table with electrical outlets and brings their own machine, iron, and all the needed items for sewing. Here are pics of the room I was in with about eight other ladies:

The second room had six or seven ladies. Here they are hard at work (or maybe I should say play):

A beautiful batik paper pieced quilt another quilter was working on. I had to take some pics, but they really don't do it justice........

The meals were okay (especially since we didn't have to fix them ourselves), heavier than what I

would normally eat, and of course, we had plenty of snacks in the workrooms! The second and third days brought heavy rain and thunderstorms. I don't like rain, but can't complain when we've had a drought all summer and are in desperate need of any and all rain. I came home to a green yard full of mushrooms........



Isn't this cool, almost a perfect circle. As for the retreat, I definitely enjoyed it, will go again if I have the opportunity, and best of all, I got a few things finished:

An apron

A pair of pillowcases

Finished a quilt top, about a twin size.....

An on the third day, when my mind was just about numb from hours and hours of sewing, I worked on my normal "mental health" sewing--making nine patch blocks. These are six-inch navy and white to add to my growing collection.

Happy sewing,

Carolyn