Back From Retreat....and ready for the next one!

Hi there! I went on retreat this past weekend. There is a group of five of us who go on retreat together once a year (except this year. We enjoyed it so much we went twice. LOL) We rented a cottage in Poynette, WI on a river with incredible scenery and lots of sewing room. I got back Sunday night, and my hubby took me out to dinner right away. What a blessing, cuz I did NOT feel like cooking!
What a great weekend! I finally got my "Women's Voices" BOM quilt finished. It is a BOM from the Keepsake Quilting catalog and I've been working on it off and on for about three years. It's a Civil War Quilt and the patterns were done using templates in the "old way". Trying to avoid the templates, I converted to rotary cutting technique as much as possible and I used Thangles when I could, but some of them I HAD to use the templates, so of course I saved the hardest blocks for last. My bad. But it's finally done and all my retreat buddies celebrated with me because they've been watching me struggle with it at the last three retreats. I will post a picture as soon as I get a chance. Right now, I am knee deep in quilting. Got three quilts to longarm by the end of the week.
We were near an Amish community this weekend so we took one afternoon and visited a few Amish businesses...a bakery (Yumm), a grocery store, and a quilt shop. The owner had one shelf of 100% cotton, one shelf of flannel and the rest was cotton/poly blend. She had maybe 3 or 4 prints of Christmas fabric (very curious) and all the rest were solids, no bright colors. It was very interesting to see the shop and talk to an Amish quilter. She asked us what types of fabrics we like and made such a funny face when one of our group said "Brights. The ones that are so bright they make your eyes hurt". We all agreed that if she developed a pattern and kit for an Amish style quilt, she would sell lots of her fabric. We also visited a furniture and basket shop. ALL the shops were so interesting. The furniture shop had the most gorgeous handmade furniture! Too bad I didn't have a U-haul along. Then again, my husband is probably glad I didn't. :o)
We watched lots of movies, ate lots of good food (and chocolate LOL), had a bonfire one night, and just had an all-around great time. I feel refreshed and anxious to do some more sewing. Looking ahead for the next retreat already.
Well, back to the studio. I'll post a picture soon. Have a great day, ladies!
piecin' love,
Terri

Fall has Arrived!

Well, I think summer is finally over in Wisconsin. The fall colors are at peak and we had (I think) our last warm spell last week. Leslie is back in school, enjoying her senior year (and hating all the paperwork involved with applying for scholarships) and it sure is quiet around my house!

News: A new quilt shop opened here in my little home town of Oconto Falls, WI. It's called "Quilter's Escape" and is the cutest little place! I just love it. I'm going to be teaching classes there for the first time ever. My first class is called "Crazy Eights" using a pattern by Bits & Pieces. Here's a picture of my shop sample:The basic pattern calls for eight fat quarters. I added 8" squares to make it a bit bigger.I quilted it with a pantograph called "Cutie Patootie" by Miki & Diane Designs. Here's a closeup:

I'm a little nervous because I've never taught before but excited because it's a new adventure.

I've been busy quilting and helping hubby get caught up on the paperwork for his painting business in preparation for my upcoming quilting retreat weekend after next. I am so pumped! And so READY for some girl/sewing time! WooHoo! (Can you say.....MARGARITA?)

We spent last weekend helping my son move his STUFF out of our house and into his new apartment. He was storing it here in between living arrangements and it was overflowing into the room I want to turn into an extension of my quilting studio. Now....if I can just corral hubby into painting it for me. LOL Yea...ain't gonna happen til the snow flies, I'm sure, because he is busy painting houses in a hurry for people who want it done before winter hits. I'm not gonna complain because I know how slow it gets for him once it snows. He'll be here "keeping me company" before I know it.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

piecin' love,
Terri

Where Does The Time Go?

Holy Cow. Time is just flying by. Seems like yesterday that I last posted and here it's been over a month. It's cooled off and the colors are changing already here in Wisconsin. Mark and I picked the last of our garden last night before the frost comes tonight. Checked the furnace, replaced the filters and we're trying hard not to turn it on yet. Soon, all too soon.

First up...here are some pics of the black & white star quilt from my last post. The customer loved it. The only thing she said was she wished she had asked for a contrasting thread on the back so the quilting shows up. She wanted something "curly" or "circular" in the star blocks. This is what I came up with, and then used the curly theme in the borders. It's hard to see, but the outside border has a feather-like vine with curls instead of feathers.

I tried getting pictures of the whole quilt, but you can't really see the quilting.

I love this quilt.

My daughter and I went on a trip in August. A combination birthday trip for me and a little vacation for Leslie before she entered her senior year of high school. We went to see my parents, who live in Clarksville, TN. On the way we stopped and spent the night in Tuscola, IL and shopped at the outlet mall there. The next day we stopped for a few hours in Paducah to visit the Quilt Museum and Hancock's of Paducah. Wish we had had more time but it was just as well, since the temps were around 105 and Leslie was anxious to get to Grandma's house.
Anyway, both places were absolutely awesome. The museum took our breath away. They had a wonderful display called "Oh, Wow... Miniature Quilts" that was just awesome! And the antique quilts! Oh, my.
My credit cards screamed in terror when we walked into Hancock's. Unbelievable. Half an hour after walking in, Leslie tells me "I can't believe we've been here half an hour and you only have three things in the cart" (drapery fabric to make a valance for her orange bedroom, a yard of chocolate colored fabric with pink flamingos on it and the large rotating Olfa cutting mat which was my birthday present to myself). I said "but I don't even know where to start. If I buy everything I like, I'll need a second mortgage and a U-haul to get us home!". So, I asked her to pick out a pattern that she would like to make (in my undying hope to get her interested in quilting). She picked out a cute wallhanging pattern with appliqued purses and high heel shoes on it and we were off. This girl loves picking out fabrics! We're talking stacks.
A good sign, right?
We got to my mom's without spending all our gas money to get home. The next day we went to Nashville for the AQS Quilt Show. This is the second time I have been. Beautiful quilts, (I especially enjoy the guild challenges) but to me it seems to be mostly a vendor show. We picked out more fabric for the wallhanging. I actually caught Les petting fabric in one booth. I had to laugh out loud. And if you could have seen the sheepish look on her face. She also found a pattern for the most adorable flip flop quilt. We both love flip flops. Old Navy flip flops. It's the only shoes we wear in the summer.
I bought the pattern, but told her I refused to buy fabric for it until the wallhanging was made. Now if I can just get her to help me put that wallhanging together. I also told her that it wouldn't get made unless she helped me. She said "I hate sewing", basing her opinion on the short experience of her 6th grade class. I said, "you don't have to sew, you can learn how to cut and press". I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can make the process of quilting more enjoyable for her than that stupid pillow she had to make. LOL.

She's a senior this year and a classic "girly girl" who is into clothes and music. (Disregard the "convict number" on her forehead. LOL It's a preview from the photographer.
Gotta love those dimples.

As for me, I also got the set of patterns by Amy Bradley for the "Seasonal Quilter", which is a calendar type quilt with little quilts that you interchange on it for holidays, assorted fat quarters to feed my addiction, a handquilting hoop, thread, and some "quilting" T-shirts. I also decided while there that I definitely want to learn needlepunch. I just need to let my wallet gain some weight. It's a little skinny now. LOL
Oh, I also got to test drive my "dream machine", the APQS Millenium, at the show. Sigh. Someday. And I realized after we left the show and I looked in the packet of APQS info, that I had actually been talking to Marilyn Badger, master quilter. What a nice lady.

I guess that's it for today. Hope everyone is having a wonderful day! As for me, I'm off to the studio. Harry Potter is waiting for me to put my headphones back on.

piecin' love,
Terri

Monday Morning

It's Monday morning. Sigh. I hate Mondays. It's so hard to get motivated after the weekend.

I have a quilt on my machine that is challenging me and now, here I sit at the computer when I should be in my studio. Here's a picture of it:

It's a gorgeous quilt. I'm not sure what the block pattern is called but the quilt is so striking with the black and white and a spot of color in the center of each block. The owner wants something "swirly" or "circular" in each block. I have a good idea of what I'm going to do but whenever I am challenged to step outside my box I tend to be slow in starting. And does it have to happen on a Monday? I'll post pictures of the finished quilt when it's done.

Here are a couple of pictures of a quilt I did last week. I love the happiness of this quilt. Scrappy quilts really do it for me. :o) This quilt was made by Gerda's (see my previous post) daughter. I used mostly "line dancing" technique and I had so much fun doing this one. And best of all, the owner loved the finished quilt.

There are more photos in my Webshots.

On Aug. 21, my daughter and I are going on a "girls" vacation. She's not a quilter, but she's a good sport. LOL We are going to Tennessee, via Paducah, to see my parents in Clarksville, and to go to the quilt show in Nashville. She will be a high school senior this year and I figure my opportunities such as this are numbered. Actually, I was surprised she wanted to go but I am not about to question it. I've promised her shopping in Nashville while we are there to make up for dragging her through quilt shops and the quilt show. :o))

SO......I guess if I want to go on vacation, I better head to the studio and get going on that quilt.

piecin' love,

Happy Belated Independence Day!

Hi! I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. Even though it fell in the middle of the week. Don't you hate that? It just goofs everything up. I kept thinking it was Saturday.
We had a picnic in our backyard. Hubby's family came, along with several good friends. We grilled out, played horseshoes, shot off some fireworks after it got dark. Fun was had by all.

Today Mark had a deck to paint so he got up and went off to work and I started on the party cleanup that didn't get done last nite. It was mostly just clutter and a few dishes, and I should have been working in the studio, but I hated the thought of leaving the cleanup till the end of the day because I knew I wouldn't want to deal with it. One of the pitfalls of being self-employed AND working at HOME. Distractions are everywhere. Oh, well. So now it's done and I can relax for a bit. Go to bed early, get in a full day of quilting tomorrow.

Here's a picture of a quilt that I finished this past week.

The lady wanted "something circular". Right away, I thought of bullseyes. The quilting pattern was made with the circle attachment that came with my machine (a Proto Stitch Wizard). It took lots of time, and many starts and stops but I am really excited about how it came out. And Gerda, my client, LOVED it which made me very happy.

If you'd like to see the other pictures, including close-ups, click on the link to my Webshots in the menu on the left. The pictures are in the "Longarm 2007" Album.

That's it for today. Til' next time...

piecin' love,

Terri