Another UFO Bites The Dust

Today I finished piecing the Mystery quilt from the NNNQG 2008 retreat. Now I have both 2008 and 2009 retreat quilts pieced together. I still have to do our President's block for our outgoing President, but after that I plan to do some quilting on these Mystery quilts and my Road to Dixie Quilt. It seems I stay behind in everything from piecing to the finished quilting. Plus I like to machine embroider. I guess that is better than me just not doing anything. I am more than glad to have these quilts put together. Shown to the right is the 2008 Mystery Quilt called "Cat's Meow".

My "Great" Darling

Trey, who is now 8 months old, came to visit Great Grandma and Grandpa yesterday on mother's day. He can now sit up and scoots around. It won't be long now and his Mama and Daddy will be chasing him. When he sees something of interest, such as his Daddy's drink, he will scoot to reach it. He was a joy to watch how he is maturing and growing so fast. He now has his first tooth on the bottom. It is so neat to hear him jabber, laugh, and watching his eyes. He is so observant and his eyes really show his personality.

New Blog Sites

I have posted on the sidebar some new blogs (to me) that I found interesting. Check them out and see what you think. You might find a new idea or project that might interest you.

NNNQG Retreat 2009 Mystery Quilt

Here is my version of the Retreat Mystery Quilt. I have had the focus fabric (outside border) for many years. Phyllis, owner of the Chickasha Quilt Shop, Steelman's, helped me pick out the rest of the fabrics for the quilt. I think she did a really good job. The quilt is called "Trail to Paducah". Believe me I did plenty of "frogging" (rippit) on piecing this quilt. I am doing a "happy dance" now that it is put together. Now it goes in the pile of quilt tops for the final quilting.

More Socks

I finally finished the mate to the first sock I made. The first sock I made to0 big and have since learned where to stop on the foot measurement for my foot. Now that I am getting the hang of it, I am on to knitting my third pair. I am really enjoying making socks now. We have had plenty of rain this morning and now can see the pond from the living room window. It's not a day suitable for outside work, so guess what--that means it can be a quilting or knitting day. Yeah! Doesn't hurt my feelings any. LOL Until next time--Happy quilting or knitting--whichever it might be.

Retreat Has Come And Gone

Our NNNQG Retreat was last weekend and I think we had 21 ladies attend. We all had fun, but don't ask about how we did on the mystery quilt. Several of us had problems turning our blocks wrong and just plain sewing them wrong. Believe me I had my share of mistakes. The quilt pattern was called "The Trail to Paducah". Karen was the first to be done.






Carol finished second.









And for guessing the time of the first quilt to be done, Sue received some trinkets for her ear.







Of course, it is expected at our retreats to pull jokes or pranks on each other. Well, this next picture it sure looks like it, but I really think they were just in a conversation. I interpret this picture as saying--Tina, "honest Sue, I did not do it" And Sue is saying "Uh, ha" But, Tina, you have the wrong hand up because when you swear to something, it is usually your right hand and not your left. LOL


Then there is Sarge and her troops where Sarge is showing the girls how to exercise.



One of the main attractions at Camp Canyon are the goats in the Canyon. The herd has grown now to 17. We have seen the black ram knocking his horns with the others. We love the goats.

Busy Week

I finished a pair of socks today. I wanted to have them done because on Friday it is NNNQG Retreat Weekend and I wanted to be able to wear them. I have been busy packing here and there. I will probably take a couple of projects with me, not that I will get to them. We have a mystery quilt going on for the group project. So I may end up just working on it. But just in case, I have something else to work on. Afterall, I don't want to have idle hands.

Our 3rd Saturday group got our Disappearing Ninepatch going last Saturday. I am making mine very scrappy. That is one of the extra projects I am taking to the Retreat. I am also taking along last years mystery quilt. I did not get to attend last year because of a hip replacement, but I did start that mystery quilt later.

It should be a fun weekend and the weather will be just like summer time. There will be 23 ladies on this retreat. I know I plan to have a good time.

Friday and Saturday Happenings

On Friday I spent the day with Princess of the UFO's and Mama Two. We were gone all day shopping at a couple of Alco stores where quilt shop fabric is very reasonable. They sell pieces of fabric of up to maybe 5 yards at a very good price. Usually the fabric is $3.99 a yard, but I managed to find some at $1.00 a yard and one at $.50 a yard. I think I was queen of the bargains this day. The three of us had a wonderful time.

Saturday was cut up day for me. I cut out the mystery quilt our guild is doing in two weeks at our retreat. I also started cutting scraps for the disappearing ninepatch my 3rd Saturday group is doing next Saturday.

Happy Easter to all.

My Little Darlings

I titled this "My Little Darlings" because I have a friend that says that when she starts talking about her "little darlings". Her stories about them just keep me in "stitches". (pun intended here for my friend) Well, my little darlings are my two great grandsons, Trey and Asher, ages 5 and 6 months. They are now at that age where personalities are showing. Both smile and are happy babies and so is this great grandma. I love this picture and I call it the face off (by the way they are cousins) Great Grandpa is holding Trey and Asher's mama is holding him.
In this next picture it's lunch time as you can tell by the food on his face.
Trey loves his jump toy and is a real show off in it.



Trey decided to let Asher try his jump toy and it did not take Asher long to play with all of the things on it.

Here's Asher hamming it up for Great Grandma.

Tote Bag

I made a tote bag out of the nine patches I made previously. In fact the whole purse is made from scraps left over from my Road To Dixie Quilt. There are two small pockets on the inside along the sides of the purse. One is very handy for my cell phone. Change and business cards are kept separately in small coin purses. And of course there is my Quilt Money purse there also. I made the handles so they are detachable and are buttoned on. So I had a learning process of making buttonholes and sewing on the buttons with my Elegante2.

9 Patches

I had left over strips when I finished piecing my Road To Dixie Quilt. So I decided to make some 9 patches. I'm not sure yet what I will do with them. Each fabric has 3 nine patches and I have several projects in mind. Example, a purse, mini quilt, or even a mini quilt with some machine embroidery in between them. It will be fun to see what I come up with. I just could not bring myself to waste the scraps.

Added New Book To Bookshelf

I just finished reading a book titled "A Single Thread" by Marie Bostwick. A friend loaned it to me and it's about how a single thread can tie quilting friends together and how a personal crisis can them bond them together. It's a good read and I would recommend it. You can see it on my bookshelf that is on the sidebar.

Bluebird

I opened the curtains in the dining room and lo and behold what did I see with my wondering eyes. No--it's not Santa. We blue birds that are always fleeting around the yard. This morning I had two I could catch with the camera through the window that were on the old cellar out back. When I first saw the brightest one, its back was to me and he was so blue. I wasn't able to capture that pose, but did catch a few and some with the female friend.

Stack and Whack Fan Quilt

Yep, I've started another quilt and I don't even have UFO's finished yet. What am I going to do with me? I know---just have fun and that is just what I did yesterday. We had an all day sew-in at the Church yesterday and I finally got the chance to learn about the Stack and Whack Fan. A bestest friend, now called Princess of the UFO's, taught us. And oh, she had Mama "C" as her assistant. (We couldn't make it on our own without Mama "C".) We had 16 ladies present. Now some were working on their on projects, but quite a few of us took the fan class. All of the fan fabrics turned out so pretty and fabrics that you wouldn't think would work turned out so cute. We had so much fun yaking and laughing. There is one that I shall call Mama Two, who tries to keep me in line by reminding me of my age. Mind you Mama "C", Mama Two, and Princess of the UFO's are younger than me by about 20 years. They call me "Queen". I am not sure about that title, but it is all in fun. For lunch we had salads and lots of desserts. Here are some of the pictures of my "fans".