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.