Pincushions for the quilting queens....

 I have a fascination for small pincushions and if I had more time, I would make more of them. They are just fun to have and to use. I made these to take to my retreat for everyone. Then I made some fancy pins to put in each one. I have seen these lately, and wanted to try making them.

 You just use beads, long pins and glue. On some of them I used hatpins and corsage pins that I had, but I didn't really like the large ball on top.

So I used some of my 1 3/4" glass head pins to make the rest of them. They are fun to make, but sort of messy. 

Some of the other ladies got the quilting queen signs they found while on a shopping trip. We tried to live up to the name!

Have you tried making these fancy pins?

More retreat pix...

Taking a break from quilting for a bit, we went to Stitchin' Tree in Harlan to shop. THere was a class going on there, and I saw a lady who has taken a couple of classes at Hancock. She just happened to have her Black and White Mosaic quilt with her! It turned out so pretty!

 Dianne finished her second Tasty Tablerunner....

 Diana brought a tshirt quilt she has been working on and is finished....

 Rose finished her Sampler 15 quilt top...just needs borders.....

and Dianne worked on getting her 3D quilt sewn together. We had a great time overall and love this new retreat cottage!

Back to work.....

Another project I worked on during the retreat were these new pillows for the window seat in the media center at school. I had made some with circular patterns, and wanted some more with a different graphic pattern. I used the same bright colors, just cut them up differently. I have 5 centers made, so two more to finish into pillows.  I think these will look good with what I have already.

 I finished these woven border blocks yesterday. Now to get the rest of the blocks for this quilt finished.

 Cindy made this beautiful Twister baby quilt yesterday. Love the baby twisters!

 Diana was able to join us Sat. for our last night. She is working feverishly on finishing up her college degree. She will student teach in Aug and then have more time to play with us! She has three kids that keep her pretty busy too! She taught a friend to quilt so that she could make something with her many pieces of African fabric. Diana brought it along to finish the binding for her. It is so beautiful, this pic can't do justice to the bright prints.

Rose is making a quilty shower curtain. She saw one at a friend's house and wanted to try it.

We had so much fun. The kind of retreat we go on takes a bit of planning, but if you can find a suitable place for a group to sew and sleep, the rest falls into place. Now back to work.....sigh....

Today we have to leave.....

 The design wall is getting a workout throughout this retreat...here is Cindy with her Circle and Spin quilt.

She has the rows all sewn together now and is working on a Twister quilt.

 Rose finished her Twister Tree skirt top yesterday too.

 I squared up lots of HST. Lots.

 Cindy won the fat quarter game again!

 Quilty salad anyone?

 I have all the pieces ready to put this pieced border together today.

 Our friend Diana came today...Pat is still sick. We are already planning our next retreat.

 We went shopping at Stitchin' Tree Quilts in Harlan yesterday. The Quilter's Cottage where we are staying is owned by Teresa, the owner of Stitchin' Tree Quilts.

It was a great break, then we were back to sewing.

Fa lala lala

 We are having a great time on our retreat. I worked on these block parts yesterday. Love how these turned out They are part of the new sampler.

 Dianne finished the binding on this quilt as her first project, then put the borders on the next one.

 Rose has her sampler on the design wall. She finished the blocks yesterday and is busy sewing it together.

 Cindy working on her Circle and Spin layout. She made us stay up until she got it sewn together and did the happy dance!

Pat and Diana are coming today to join us. Pat has been sick so couldn't come when we did, but is feeling better now. Diana had commitments so couldn't come til today. I think we are going to Stitching Tree in Harlan later to shop a bit too. I have a lot of HST to press and square up so better get to it!

We're here!

 We made it to our retreat before the snowstorm and have been happily sewing ever since. It doesn't seem like we got as much snow here...people are driving pretty fast down the highway.

 My first project was to get the borders on the flying geese quilt and I got that finished and started on the new sampler. Hopefully I will have some pictures of finished blocks later.

 Dianne finished tying this quilt and put the binding on it last night.

Cindy is making breakfast casserole for us, so we will be eating soon. Better get back to sewing so I have something to show for my day.

Blizzard and retreat

All packed up and ready to go! School was cancelled for today, so my friends and I are leaving before the storm hits for our quilt retreat. We are going to a new place this time. The Stitchin' Tree quilt shop in Harlan has opened Quilter's Cottage near Woodbine, IA. so we are excited to try it out. Plus getting an earlier start will just give us more sewing time! I will take lots of pictures to share with you.

If you were going on a retreat, how many suitcases would be filled with fabric and how many with clothes?

Retreat prep

It was a busy day at school yesterday, finalizing everything from the book fair, recording the books I took for our library, and just Monday in general. After work I went fabric shopping for a border for the flying geese quilt...found a great stripe I think will work well. I also had to shop for fabric for a new Sampler. Had some trouble deciding on that, but I think I did it. I worked on the design all day Sunday so that it will be ready for me to start working on during the retreat. We all work on our own projects on the retreat, so it's a good chance to get caught up.

I'm not even sure we will be able to go now, as  the forecast last night has the snow starting on Wed. night and snowing through Thursday afternoon, with an accumulation of about 10". Since we are supposed to leave on Thursday after I get off work, I don't think it will be happening, but I am hoping for the best.

Have you ever gone on a quilt retreat with friends? 

Love those pillows!

The beginning piecing class, Flop-Easy Floor Pillow, was great fun on Saturday. Learning how to use the rotary cutter and sewing straight seams can be a challenge, but these budding quilters did a wonderful job. Love these pinks and blacks!

This was Whitney's first sewing project, so she enjoyed every minute until she had a beautiful pillow.

Mia took a beginning quilting class last summer. She is getting really proficient at sewing straight seams. It all takes practice.

This is how some folks in my house spend Sunday.... I worked on a design for the next Sampler, finished sewing on a border on the quilt Smokey is sleeping on and did a bit of cleaning. My daughter came over for supper as we celebrated my husband's birthday.

My retreat is coming up this weekend so I have to get ready for that this week. I have a class Wed. night and leave right after work Thursday night. They are predicting a blizzard for Wed. night, so I am not happy about that! I don't care if we get snowed in once we get there...that happened to us last year!  We are going about 40 miles north of here, so it could be a problem. Right now they aren't sure how much we will get, so I hope it is just a few inches.

Saturday is for Beginning Quilting!

I am teaching the Flop Easy Floor Pillow for beginners today. It's always fun to work with people just getting started on the quilting journey. This pillow looks great in any fabric too, and can be "tossed" anywhere! Hopefully, I will have some great pictures to share tomorrow!

It's here!

I had a box waiting for me after work last night....You can see Mr. Snoopy Pants is in the background waiting to pounce in the box. My cats do love a good box.

 It was my Peas In A Pod quilt back from McCalls Quick Quilts magazine.

 They sent me a couple issues of the magazine too! It is will be out in stores Feb. 26.

One more day of the book fair today, and then it's packing it up time. It's been fun, but it will be nice to get back to a normal schedule. I have sold lots of books, so I get to do some shopping of my own now for the library.

Book fair time

 The bookfair is in full swing! We had a great opening day/evening Tuesday. I had to reorder books yesterday as we were out of many of the most popular ones. The kids are having a great time choosing their books and it's so nice to have so many families that want to help us earn more books for the library.

 Doesn't it look pretty? I have to admit that the fair rep did most of the set up as I had kids coming in the library when she came to help. This is the first time I have been able to hold a bookfair for longer than one evening because we couldn't get the books up the stairs easily. So I have always put it up in the gym after school in about an hour with some help, sold books for an hour and then taken it back down.

 So it is really a different experience having it in the library all week. I still have the library open most of the day, just closing for an hour a day so that the kids who have money to spend can come in and buy books. It's been a lot of fun. I have had some great parents helping and some student helpers, so it has gone really well.

The best part is that I have had time to look the books over and decide which ones I want to buy for the library.