Step by step

I thought I would be further along (read that as DONE) with this quilt by now, but I didn't get any sew time until tonight. I have the borders on and the applique all set to machine stitch. I am hoping to make a start of that tonight after Patrick goes to bed. In the meantime, cutting down more scraps! I have to keep reminding myself NOT to get upset with projects taking a little longer than I expected..just take it step by step and it WILL get done!! Here's the progress so far:

At Home With Country Quilts

That's the name of the book that has the newest pattern I am working on. It is by Cheryl Wall and if you like warm looking, country quilts, this is the book for you! These patterns work wonderfully with plaids and stripes, shirtings, etc. I'm sure they would look just as great in bright colors, they just wouldn't look country! Here is the center of the quilt I am working on, Starry Nights in Winter:

Now I am off to add the borders and start the finishing touches on it. I can't wait to see it when it's done..and can't wait to pick my next quilt from this book!! (Okay, okay....AFTER I get some of my UFO's finished!!!)

Update

Well, after working all day on going through the scraps, here is what I got done:

Sure doesn't look like it should have taken me all day, but it did! Lots of ironing so I could cut those little bits up. There is a big tote full of projects in varying stages I was gifted and miscellaneous blocks, a tote full of Christmas fabric, lots and lots of strings in totes that are not shown, and the wonderful yardage and fat quarters that I gleaned. I still have 2 and a half bags to go through! lol That's it for today, though. Last month, Bonnie Hunter had a challenge of doing an hour a day of hand sewing. I am going to challenge myself for the next month to cut scraps daily. Not only do I have these scraps to cut down and organize, I also have a HUGE moving box full of my own scraps. I am going to shoot for an hour, but will take any time at all. These new meds I am on for my heart are kicking my tush. I sleep 10 hours a night, nap when I get home from work and am zombie like the rest of my awake time. Even sewing is wearing me out, so I am hoping that sitting and cutting the fabrics up will at least make me feel like I am still useful. Not sure I am going to get to work on my Christmas quilt tonight, but I haven't ruled it out yet. Off to see what everyone else did today!

Christmas Quiltalong and the generosity of quilters

Yay!!! Today is the Christmas Quiltalong!!! Elizabeth is our hostess this month over at Sand and Sunshine. Today I am hanging with my Patrick, so I am unable to get upstairs to my sewing room. For those of you that don't know, Patrick is 20 and has cerebral palsy. I'm not able to carry him up stairs, so we will be working downstairs today. For the Christmas quiltalong, I am digging this quilt top back out:

This was made from swap blocks from the Cobble Court Quilt Circle. I am going to get the backing pieced and start quilting it. The machine I quilt with is upstairs, though, so that will have to wait until Patrick is asleep tonight. Quilters are amazingly generous people. Right before my retreat, Judy had done some sorting through her stash and gifted me with these 2 bags of scraps:

Then, at the retreat, Patrice gifted me this bag of scraps:

During the retreat, everyone saved their scraps for me:

Then, after the retreat, when we went to drop Kathy off, she gifted me with these bags of scraps:

It's great to be a scrap quilter!!! The generosity of these wonderful ladies in passing their scraps to me is going to ensure lots more quilts for those in need at the House of Mercy!!!! What a blessing these ladies are!!!! So, while I wait until tonight to get to work on my Christmasy project, I am going to sort through and cut up these scraps today. Looking at this pile of bags makes me realize Patrick and I are going to have our jobs cut out for us today!! Wooot wooot!! I feel like it is Christmas and these bags are my gifts and I canNOT wait another minute more to start diving into them! Catch up with you later!!!!

Back from our Retreat

I spent the most amazing weekend with 20 FABULOUS ladies! What fun we had...sewing, laughing, eating, laughing, drinking, laughing, sharing, laughing...you get the picture. We had quilters from California, Michigan, Texas, Colorado, Louisiana..EVERYWHERE! And all just to spend a weekend together. These ladies have gotten me through some rough times and I hope they know how special they all are to me! There is tons to share with you from the retreat, so I am going to do it in bits and pieces. Today I am going to share a few pics of the hikers as we took a wonderful walk through the great colors of a Connecticut autumn:

A nice hike was just what we needed to stretch and get those kinks out after sitting and sewing so long!!! Here is what I worked on:

It is Bonnie Hunter's Nifty Thrifty pattern. I know it's crazy with color, but I made it with strips that we swapped at last year's retreat. We all brought fabrics that represented ourselves, so, of course we had lots of color!! I had all but the last row and borders done this weekend, so this top finished up pretty quickly when I got home. Even better, I am now super motivated to get moving on some other projects! Well, off to start unpacking...yes...3 days later and my sewing stuff is still packed up. Will share more tomorrow!!