Retreat 2

Before I go on and describe some more about the retreat facility, let me show off my accomplishments.

I finished 7 table runner tops. No quilting and binding yet so no pictures. I assembled a "Simpsons" quilt. Because I won't be quilting this any time soon, you won't see it for a while. It's a shame because it is big in the "counted fabric" department.

I can show these ...

The birthday banner. I free motion zigzaged on the applique. I don't like it. The next time I will try Herky Jerky
The two kippot (head coverings) I made for a former Hebrew School student of mine. I made him kippot from matzo fabric (you need to scroll down to see) and he has been wearing them for the last two years....no matter what the occasion!

The pillowcases for the quilt I just finished.(OMGOODNESS! I JUST TRIED TO LINK TO THE POST SHOWING THE QUILT I FINISHED AND I NEVER POSTED IT!!!!! YIKES!!!! THIS WILL BE REMEDIED SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

I also finished 4 wonder wallets but didn't take pictures.....I've discovered that I really stink lately at this blogging business.........I WILL get caught up!

Retreat 1

We were on our way!! After meeting at McDonalds for coffee, we headed to Humble, Texas and It's a Stitch. After doing some damage to our checkbooks we headed to Huffman to The Quilt Room. More checkbook damage here however, the girls at this shop were ready for us. They had coffee and cake and more importantly, lots on sale and a discount since there were so many of us at once! They were sooooo nice and since over at I believe Donna, With Needle in Hand is from that neck of the woods, I thought I'd take a photo of the shop and …uhm… well, I forgot her name!!!!!!! Here is the photo of us. See the bag in my hand!!! I bought the cutest fat quarters!

I took this photo so I could show some of the cute things they have in the shop. All the other photos were unflattering pictures of my friends backsides leaning over the cutting table!!!!

Off we went again. We laugh that it is over the river and through the woods to get to the Red Barn Retreat Center. You decide....Here is a shot of us entering the Sam Houston Forest.....

For a while I thought we took a wrong turn. The ROMAN forest??~!!!LOL!

Through more woods. I was trying to capture the feeling of driving with the trees surrounding you but even after many, many pictures, I couldn't' quite get it.

Have you ever wondered where wooden pallets come from? Have you ever seen so many in one place?

I don't know if these are the trees used to make the pallets or the pallets are for transporting trees but there are alot of trees here!


.....and back into the woods!

I took this by hanging my head out of the window like a dog. I musta looked like a nut snapping and snapping pictures!

When we finally arrived at the Red Barn, I forgot to take a picture of the front!!! You'll need to go to their website to see the full view..... I did get the carport, very convenient when to unload when it's raining....

....and the front door....

....and a few of the decorations.......more tomorrow!

My bags are packed

For better or worse, I'm ready to go to retreat. Better because what could be bad about a 4 day quilting holiday? Worse because I have been a chicken with it's head cut off lately and I'm not too sure I've packed properly. Whatever is, is and I'll make due. Who knows, maybe it's all packed correctly!

I've not had a chance, because of the chicken syndrome, to check out all of the stash reports for this week. I know that I bought but after this week it should be a wash.

I'm hoping that after retreat I will be back to being a good blogging friend and visit all of your blogs. I hope this chicken/head thing goes away so that I have time! In the meantime, have a great week and I'll meet ya back on the weekend with lots of pictures!

Stashbusting

Short report today......Getting ready to go to retreat!!! WHOOOOHOOOO!



Fabric in - 19 yards YTD 1
Fabric out - 13.25 YTD 13.25 Net + 5.75
Ufo finished - 1 YTD 1
Project Finished -0 YTD 1




Look out.... I have lots of fabric and projects ready to be finished this week at retreat! I will have pictures of my finished UFO after I return.........

A mini fininsh

I don't know if I eve showed this little wallhanging. Right now it sits as a table topper. I was too lazy to pick it up and take a photo so you get it at this angle!

I made it a while ago and when I did, I did something wrong and had to remake the hearts. I have been holding on to these little blocks ever since. In July I bought some placemats at Wal Mart for $.10! I put the two together, kinda like chocolate and peanut butter, and ended up with these. It isn't much, but it is one little leftover project that is no longer hanging over my head!

Stashbusting to date

Fabric bought - 0

Projects finished - 1

It's retreat time

Believe it or not, now hold your breath, it's retreat time and my sewing machine is in my house and not at the shop! Last year I had this fiasco which lead to this post before retreat, and the year before,this post which continued with this fiasco. I am not doing anything odd or weird between now and the time I leave!

I am very busy getting ready. Because of my mission to give a gift a month, I am going to work on many small projects. That means lots of pre cutting! I hope CCCat manages to keep her stuff to a minimum because with all of the extra thread and batting I need to take, I'll use more than my half of the trunk! Plus 7 days after I get home from retreat my inlaws come for a 2 week visit! Cleaning supplies abound!

I don't know if you've ever heard of the Red Barn Retreat Center but it is an absolutely divine experience. The food is fabulous, the owners incredible and the facility very condusive to accomplishing goals.

I will have pictures tomorrow as I have been busting away here. I have placemats to show and an entire queen sized quilt! I just need to get it bound tomorrow and I will take pictures. Hopefully at the guild meeting tomorrow night I will get good pics of another quilty gift that I've not shown yet.

Gift of the Month

This is going to be fun....but for different reasons for me. Check out the GOM Blog and join the fun.

I wondered if my girls were thrilled with their gift of a gift each month. They didn't seem as excited about it as I. I was late in getting to the post office to mail Ms. A's January gift. Yesterday I called her to tell her to check her mailbox. She said, It's January 7th, I was wondering about it! I guess they are looking forward to this.

Minkee Monday

I figured out a way to satisfy my need to "cat chatter" and some readers need not to read "cat chatter!" Minkee Monday seems to be the ticket!

Find the cat.

She loves to sit under this table. It cracks me up how she hooks the table cloth under her backside.

Sunday Stash Report

After reading the rules for Judy's Stashbusting Cooperative, I've decided that I would like to join in again. I plan on keeping calculations in a way that I will be able to handle. I fell apart last year with counting yardage. I am really looking forward to this. Join in!



My first report....



Nothing in, nothing out, nothing finished!! Whoo Hoo, I'm off to a great start!!!!!!

Do you Save Yours?

Do you save your posts? I have mine in a file for posterity. But there has to be a better way. I write each entry in blogger. Is that the most efficient method? When my entry is emailed to me I copy it, cut and paste and put it into a Word document. Most efficient?

I totally don't get Picassa and Flickr. I know they are photo storage but I tried to use both and as far as photo storage, I'd rather use Webshots. One of them is tied to blogger and if I try to delete anything from it it tells me that it will delete from my blog (I hope I am remembering right. It was a while ago that I played with these.) I see other blogs with links in their sidebar to pictures....I can't bear the idea of organizing another photo storage (other than on my PC). I want to spend less time on the computer not more.

Any help? How do you do it>

January Gift

One of my goals for 2009 is to give my girls a gift a month. January has been taken care of. February is finished and waiting and I am working on March.

2008 Accomplishments

I may not know how much fabric I bought, used or gave away but because of blogging, I've been able to document my work in 2008. I am amazed at the numbers. My favorite project this year, by far was the Wrapped Baskets. The most tedious project Mrs. S's anniversary quilt because it required long borders.

Quilts

1- Twin
1-Queen
2-Lap
5- Quilted only - some of these were donation quilts that I worked on with Ms. CCCAt

13-Fleece Blankets
5-PJ pants
3-Luggage Tags
5-Totes
71-Cloth Napkins (I need to photograph some of these)
5-Aprons
8-Placemats
2-Locker Hook projects (small)
3-Purse/Wallet combos
3-Pillowcases
12-Wrapped Clothesline baskets
Countless -Wrapped clothesline coasters and trivets
4-Table Runners
1-Wall Hanging
6-Coaster sets
1-Stitchery
4-UFO's

and the most amazing...

1- quilt started but not finished in 2008!

Another gift

Before I explain the photo, let me tell you something about my family. Without using real names, I'd like to explain the guys here. My husbands name is ABCDE. My sister's husbands name is also ABCDE. My brother's name is LMNOP and DH's brother is named LMNOP. My daughter, Mrs. S is married to PQRST (known as Mr. FancyPants) and my other daughter (Ms. A.) has been dating for a long time now,)a boy named , yes, you got it, PQRST! Now both of the boys, PQRST's names start with the letter C. Therefore, Ms. A's boyfriend will be known forevermore on my blog as C2. Add to the mix that Ms. A goes by her given name at home and for legal purposes but her Hebrew name everywhere else and I use the names interchangeably, you really need to concentrate on the conversation if you want to know which ABCDE, LMNOP or PQRST or daughter we are discussing! (For many years my friends thought I had three girls. Mrs. S, Ms. A by her given name and Ms. A by her Hebrew name!!!!)

Sometime this fall C2 and Ms. A came home. During the course of their visit I heard C2 say,
"What does it take to get a quilt around this family!" I cracked up because in my sewing room was his gift. I made this quilt in record time. Pieced and quilted in 3 weeks.

It is free motion quilted on the longarm. I used an allover patter and was amazed by how even I was able to get it. I used Brytes thread. The picture is a bit fuzzy

I am upset that I didn't get a betert picture. It sat there waiting for me to give it to him and get a picture and then I was sick and could have cared less! This was the best I could do. You'll have to believe me when I say the quilting is pretty cool.