A few pictures from retreat.

One thing I forgot to tell you about was this Christmas card holder/wallhanging.  I finished this one completely....This was a really fun project and I can't wait to use it this year....You cant tell it but in the green portion, there are two pockets to hold the Christmas cards.

Here's my beautiful One Block Wonder all together...

I added a few more rows to this little quilt...still more to go. These are small 5" squares and are so easy to make. I love doing these little squares. This is called a floating four patch.

And, this last one is a hidden four patch...this was the fun block I told you about earlier. 

I'll tell you how to make this one soon. I'm going to do alot of these to make another scrap quilt.  These are fun to make too. So, come back and I'll tell you how to make it.   Until next time, happy sewing.

What a week!

This has been a very hectic but fun week.  Every night has been busy and I've had things to do or meetings to go to.  I went to my small group meeting Thursday night and it was alot of fun.  If you want to see what my quilt group is up to, go to my other blog-the Sew What's on the side of my blog, you'll see a link.  We are a very productive group and have alot of fun together.

Friday night, I went and sewed with some friends at the church. I worked on my One Block Wonder and got alot of it done.  I only had a few rows left to do by the time I headed home....Lots of progress.  I got up this morning and finished sewing the last 4 rows into rows.  I have worked on it today and am now sewing the rows together.  This quilt will be beautiful when it's finished...Here's how it looked this afternoon with all the rows made....

I worked on it a little tonight and am sewing the rows together now to complete the top.  I hope to have this one all sewn together by next week.  

 I stopped and worked on another little quilt this afternoon too.  It was my Snowman quilt.  I don't know if you remember or not, but I made 20 snowmen.  2 different snowmen but 10 of each....I was participating in a swap with 9 other ladies and they also made 2 different snowmen each and we swapped.  One lady couldn't make it to the sew day to swap, so I can't complete the quilt until I get her snowmen blocks.  I had been thinking about how I wanted to put the quilt together and just couldn't decide.  I thought about it quite a bit.  The pattern calls for 8 Tree blocks (I made the tree blocks today) and 28 alternate blocks.  Some of the girls have made their other blocks.  One made log cabins (that's what the pattern suggested), and two others made a 9 patch variation block.  All of these looked good but I was still having trouble deciding, until yesterday.....I went into the new Joann's store and found the solution.  Yes, that's right, we have a brand new Joann's store right in my very town!  Woo Hoo!!!! I am so excited!  Anyway, let me continue....I went to the new Joann's and found the perfect fabric for this little quilt.  I was willing to make blocks but I didn't want to take away from the cute snowmen blocks. I found this fabric and I just had to get it.  I cut the fabric up and I'm using it for the alternating blocks.  I'm not even making anything, just the fabric and I love it.  Here it is and here are the cute blocks too....

See??!  Didn't I tell you it was cute fabric?  I'm leaving it unsewn until I get the last two blocks and then I'll put it back up on the design wall and decide if this is how I want to put it together.  Well, that's what I did today.  I didn't finish anything but got a lot further along on both projects.  Hopefully, these will be done sometime soon.  I really enjoyed working on these projects today.  I have some other cute things to work on tomorrow after church, so please come back and see me soon. Til next time.....happy sewing.

Fun times with friends

I went today and sewed with some of my buddies. We met at  a friend's house and sewed together. My buddy, Sharon, has a great big craft room and we got together to cut out a new project.  I didn't take my machine.  We met together to cut out a One Block Wonder quilt.  This is my first on this quilt. I've done a stack and whack and it's very similar.  It was alot of fun to get together and learn the tricks and do the project quicker.  There were four of us that came early to work on this project,  the others came later during the day. They decided to work on other things  besides this project so they brought their sewing machines.  Anyway, my friend Martha, has made four of these (OBW quilts) and she was teaching us to do this.  It went very quickly with her telling us what to do.  I love this...I didn't even have to read the pattern, she just walked us through it....

I had been worried about doing this project as I had not been able to find enough fabric for it. I knew we would be doing this project for about two months and I've looked all over.  I found lots of fabric that I liked but there wasn't enough yardage of any of them. I was looking for a blue fabric.   I didn't find any blue but I did find a beautiful black fabric and I am so thrilled with the way my blocks are turning out.  

I got all of my triangles cut  and I'm  able to start playing with the triangles to see how I wanted them to be sewn together.  Martha called it twist and twirl....anyway, I was sitting and pinning my triangles together to sew at home. I told my buddies I felt like I was having withdrawals from not being able to sew.  Sharon had her machine set up already and said, here, sew on mine....ahhh, relief!  Anyway, I twirled the blocks around and put several together while I was there.  I have about 85 more hexagons to put together.  These are so much fun to do. I love seeing how each one is coming together.  This is what I call mindless sewing,  I'll put a tape on tomorrow and just sew these little jewels together quickly.....We will be getting together again in September to sew the quilt top together.  We have to have all of our blocks ready for this and we will play with the arrangements together.

  Did I tell you that we eat at these gatherings too?  Wow, talk about great food!  These ladies can really cook.  Sharon made pickles for this and she's going to teach me how to make her pickles and "can" them too.  I can't wait!  I've wanted to learn how to do this for awhile and she has said she will show me how. 

Judy shared her recipe for Pimento chesse with me today too.  I love her homemade pimento cheese and now I can make my own...It's so nice to have sweet friends like this.  I love getting together with these sweet women. I didn't take any pics today as I had left my camera at home...

Ok, here's the blocks I worked on today.  I have them pinned together.  These will be sewn together in strips and that's why I have not sewn them together all the way. You leave them in this condition and we'll play with the placement, then we sew the strips all together matching your other hexagon side...I'll show you that later when I do that....

I  was also able to put the final border on another quilt today too.  I had put this top together a few months ago and really wanted a border on it.  The problem was I didn't have enough fabric for a border.  I was short about one strip of fabric (I estimated this- I never measured. )I knew one of my buddies had some of this fabric so I begged her for some.  I asked her for a 6 1/2" strip and I thought that would be enough.  She was generous and gave me two strips. Boy, was I glad she did.  It took both strips and I only had a piece of fabric left that was less than 2" wide.  Woo, there for a while I thought I was going to have to beg some more! I am so much happier with this quilt now.  I liked this quilt but I really wanted a border. I had been thinking about this quilt or maybe I should say fretting about it.  I had gone online trying to find more fabric and it was no where to be found. It had really been bothering me not to have the border on that I wanted. I'm so glad I have friends that have the same taste in fabric.  Thanks, Judy, I really owe you big time!!!  Here's my Crazy 8 quilt with the border on it...Now, I can get it quilted and it will be just like I wanted it.

  Ok, don't forget about the Pick 4 Blog Hop.  Kim over at Magnolia Bay Quilts is the book reviewer today.  Go check out her post about the book and leave her a comment to be entered for the book drawing.  This has been alot of fun to see reviews of a new book coming out.  What a great way to bring out a book.  Click on the link above to go to her blog....Hurry up! Go now and enter and see what Kim is working on!

 I hope everyone is taking care of themselves and the people in the path of Hurricane Irene stay safe, our thoughts and prayers are with you!

til next time, happy sewing!