Quilting Backwards

There have been two instances in my quilting journey
where I have started a quilt with the back. This is the
first one.
Sorry about the wonky photo. I asked my husband to
hold this up as he was walking out the door. So not
only were we in a hurry, but this quilt is king size and
no one else was here to help, so this is it folks!
I saw this cute fabric at
JoAnn's about 5 years
ago. It says "Life is just a
bowl of cherries. They
only had three FQs so I
bought them thinking
that someday I would
make something. Then
I ran across Aunt Sukies
Choice in Nancy Martin's book Make Room for
Christmas Quilts. This was the quilt that I could
make with my cherries fabric for the back. It would
still be red and green but not Christmas. Around the
same time (and I can't remember which came first)
I saw this fabric on a bolt and bought 15 yards. The
quilt was starting to come together. I started collecting
red and white lights and darks and black & white lights.
Then I found the border fabric. Perfect!. I even had
enough to make two pillowcases, and I still have
some left.

So I started with the back and a quilt was born.

Until next time...when I'll show you my newest
backwards quilt...
Susie

Quickie Quilt

I will consider this my two-week quilt. This picture was
taken this morning (Thursday) and the only thing left
to do is finish the binding. (I am not labeling this quilt
because I don't know the recipients that well and in 20
years they won't remember me anyway. They will have
their own stories/history about this quilt). I started it
last Sunday-11 days ago. I
got it all cut out on Sunday,
sewed the center of the quilt
from Monday through
Thursday. I was off work on
Friday so bought the border
and backing, and got those
sewn on. Then I basted it
on Saturday, got it quilted
from Saturday through Monday (I was off work again).
Now I am binding it. Whew, it's amazing what you can
accomplish when you have a deadline. This was a
self-imposed deadline of course. I work in a very
deadline oriented business (magazine production)
so I try not to give myself many self-imposed deadlines.

We have a new assistant pastor at our church and
there is something about this young man that I just
love. (Besides the fact that he is an awsome preacher!)
He and his cute wife are expecting their first baby
(a boy) in January and the church-wide shower is
this Saturday. I know they could probably use
practical things like diapers and gift cards for
formula and stuff but I just had to make them a quilt.
I like to imagine all the many happy hours,
raising a sweet boy, playing I Spy.

Until next time...
Susie

OK, OK, I'm back

Yeah, I know, I've been back from retreat for two weeks
now. And I do have lots of excuses for not posting, but
let's just say I couldn't get to it. It has a little to do with
my sense of rebellion and, well, all those excuses.
So let's just move on.
This was our view from our little cabin at West River
(south of Annapolis). Just one hour after getting there
and unloading the car, and setting up the tables with
Georgia, and setting up my sewing space, the world
just fell away. I mean it is the total opposite of stress.
Four days of it. Four days of sewing, laughing, eating,
sleeping, laughing and sewing. We all got so much
done this year.
I worked on this wall hanging from Pat Sloan. I bought
the fabric kit from Traditions at the White Swan who
vendors at our quilt show. I won't tell you how many
years I've had it. Georgia was making one too.
Loretto finished these cute wall hangings.
Marcie had the best idea of the weekend. She bought
some Vera Bradley napkins and some other fabrics that
coordinated with them and started a quilt with this
pattern. Each napkin will yield four blocks. I just love
it and think it's going to be stunning.
And BTW, Cathy embroidered that cute spider along
with pumpkins and haunted houses and more for
each of us.
Here's Cathy working on her new Grandson's quilt with
Kim watching. Cathy was sooo diligent, working on
that quilt the whole weekend. She made major progress.
Loretto (ironing) and Marcie holding up her cute
TP wall hanging.
Terri holding up a cute purse that Flo made. Here's Georgia sewing on her new machine.
You might recognize her from last year.

We sewed on all sorts of machines from a 25-year-old Singer to the newest Viking Diamond. So now I'm depressed to be back in reality. The next retreat is February. After the holidays I'll start counting the sleeps.


Until next time...
Susie

One more sleep

..before retreat day arrives. Tomorrow's the day.
I really do have alot to do, but it's fun stuff, like food
shopping, laundry, figuring out what to leave for my
husband to eat for four days, and packing.

I bought some of these cake takers at Wal Mart. Bonnie
at Quiltville told us about them and as much as I hate
WalMart I ventured in and bought all they had which was
only four. I figured that I would use two and sell the
other two to one of my friends. That's my brown and
beige Hunter's star in one and my indigo blue double
nine-patch in the other. Hopefully I can show you pics
of these tops when I get back on Tuesday.
Here's my retreat list. You can click on the picture to get
a larger view. I have had this list since my very first
retreat in 2000. I have added to it over the years and the
large pink stickie (with previous lists underneath) has this
retreat's projects.

All this look's like I'm organized but I'm really not. I
hope I can sleep tonight without thinking about all the
stuff I forgot to do or buy or pack or...

Until next time...
Susie

Retreat time!!!

Yes, three exclamation points!!!
I have decided that the anticipation, packing, and
planning for retreat is almost as fun as the retreat itself.

We arrive Friday at noon for our small, bee, fall retreat
at West River (which is conveniently only 40 minutes from
our town) and we will be sewing, laughing, eating, and
relaxing until Monday. (Notice I didn't mention sleeping).
(Someone once told me I write and speak very
parenthetically. (Don't you just love that word?
Say it out loud, par-en-the ti-cal-ly)).

So here are the beginnings of my piles on the dining room table.
The left pile of Royal blues is really an afterthought. I'll
save that for another blog post, post retreat. The pile
under the blueberry pie pin cushions is the Turning Twenty top (see right) that I put together last year at retreat and has hidden in the closet ever since. I will put the borders on. See the Jelly Roll that slid off the pile over there on the right? The page under it is Mary's directions for a cute box block quilt. Get her directions here. Then I have some asian fabrics that I will be making a wall hanging for my office. (I am sick of the
one that is up there now. That will be another blog
post later. (PS-I always say "Asian" instead of "Oriental"
because our daughter is Korean and she hates it when
people call her Oriental. She always corrects them to
say Asian instead).

So I'll prolong the anticipation (mine--not yours) and
post more packing piles tomorrow. Oh, but before I go
I want to show you what happens when my boys come
to visit.
They both had one eye on their lap tops and one eye on
the Redskins game. It was Matt's (left) birthday so all
my children were over for dinner. I was a happy Mom.
(That's Scott on the right).

Until next time...
Susie

Quilt Bingo

I'd better get this post in this week about our Quilt Bingo
we had last Sunday.
We made this quilt with Bingo fabric for Joe, the Bingo
caller, who donates his services. We presented it to him
before the fun began.
This is one end of the stage showing the prizes.
Here are the prizes at the other end.
Leslie and Margaret at the basket raffle table and in
front of the special prizes. Do you recognize the
Carolina Crossroads there on the left? The baskets were
so beautiful. We had an Italian themed one, a
scrapbookers delight, a relaxation one, a reading one
and more but I can't remember any more. They are a
very easy money maker because the guild members
donated most of the contents.

Elfrieda (sitting) and Amy (who designed this quilt) in
front of our 2009 raffle quilt. The theme for our show
and raffle next year is "Down by the Sea".
View from the front of the hall. Some of these ladies
are very serious about playing Bingo. We had a great
time and our guild made lots of money.

This weekend I will be organizing for retreat. I have
some decisions to make about what I will be taking
to work on. (I always take too much).

Until next time...
Susie

Full Quilting weekend

On Saturday I took a class (sponsored by our guild)
from Deb Tucker. She has come up with a really easy,
fun way to make Hunter's Star blocks and some
amazing ways to arrange them. Click here for her web
site. She is a great teacher and made the class fun.
Notice I have said fun alot (well two times). If you ever
get a chance to take one of ther classes I highly
recommend her.
Here she is holding one of her smaller pieces. That's my
friend Debi on the left. (We'll be going on retreat together
in a few weeks, in 11 days exactly-although Debi is going
this weekend too).

Anyway, Deb Tucker brought lots of her quilts for
inspiration and boy was I inspired. I love her tool and
plan on making more Hunter's Star quilts. I also thought
her Tucker Trimmer tool looked interesting too. One
thing at a time though-yeah right!

I had finished a few projects and was (was being the
key word here!) at a point to decide what to work on
next. Well, that is a dangerous place to be girls. I now
have at least five projects started. That means the fabric
is bought, washed, ironed, sorted and designated with
a pattern. Some are just in a pile, some are cut out,
some are half sewn and ...well that's enough huh?!!!
So I am amidst chaos and I am HAPPY!

Now I need your opinion. I really can't decide which layout
I like best for my brown and cream Hunter's Star . I only
have half the blocks sewn and they are just laid out
roughly on my design wall so please use your
imagination. Which one do you like best?
Version 1-traditional Hunter's star lay out.

Version 2-One of Deb's layouts. You can see completed
ones here on her web site.

Tomorrow I'll talk about our fabulous Quilt Bingo
we had yesterday.

Until next time...
Susie