Checking the calendar...

NO, NO, NO, it's way too early to be scraping ice off my windshield, but scrape I did this morning.  Ugh.  At least I finally found a nice warm winter coat this weekend, but I'm still not ready for this weather!

I picked up the Red Monster quilt from the longarm lady this weekend.  OMG, the quilt is gorgeous!  I tried taking a photo, but it really did not do the quilting justice.  This close-up kind of shows what she did - an all over clamshell pattern.  The quilting is dense and just lovely.  I machine sewed the binding on and began the arduous task of handstitching last night.  I hope I can stay motivated to finish this - I only have 2 weeks!

A productive weekend!

I got the blocks finished for my Anniversary Stars quilt.  They are not sewn together in rows, mind you, but they are finished!  As my daughter remarked "That's a big quilt!" but I am happy to report that all of it fits on my design wall - yay!

I also seem to have revived my quilting enthusiasm!  I had 4 packages of Moda Sonnet charm squares, and was pondering what to do with them.  I ended up paging through my favorite quilt books - the Around the Block series by Judy Hopkins - and found a block that will work well with the charm squares.  I made 2 blocks and like the way they look so far.

I will need to order some more background fabric, as my local shop was sold out when I went to get more yardage yesterday, but this one is well on the way and will be one of the projects I take on my retreat in early November.

We're IN!!!!!!

I got the email yesterday confirming our work and room assignments for the quilt retreat in November.  It's always 'hold your breath' time because there are always more applicants than spots available, but we're in!  YAY!

Now to figure out which projects I'm going to bring!

Design wall expansion

Which leads to quilting productivity!  Yesterday I did something I'd been meaning to do for a while now.  I expanded the flannel on my design wall to reach the ceiling so I would have more room to lay out blocks.  All the quilts I've made in recent months have been too big for the current space I had, so I had to make each quilt in at least 2 sections - not fun.  The current expanded wall will now fit the size of most of the quilts I seem to make, though it is a little hard for my 5'3" self to get the blocks way up there close to the ceiling!

It did, however, lead me to feel more inspired about my Anniversary Stars quilt.  I finished the star blocks for two more rows, and also laid out 2 additional rows of stars.  So now I only have one final row of stars to lay out, then to sew those 3 rows of blocks, and then I will be able to start sewing finished blocks together!  Woo hoo!  I think this one may be finished SOON!

I'm trying!!!

Last night I sewed two Anniversary Stars blocks, and one incredibly ugly-looking purple plum pincushion, but I didn't enjoy a moment of it.  What's wrong with me?

Need to stop by the store and get something to stuff the pincushion - maybe it will look better when it's filled.  Stay tuned!

Not a stitch

My quilting malaise hasn't lifted at all, in fact, I think it has gotten worse!  I did get my mess of fabrics that I am hoping to take to retreat all measured and put away, so the mess has cleared.  I still can't get back in the rhythm of sewing blocks, though.

I cut out 3 fruit-shaped pincushions out of some pretty hand-dyed wool that I purchased.  I am kind of stuck on how to sew them together, though, as the instructions are not at all clear.  <sigh>

I did get an email that my retreat registration has been received and they are working on room and work table assignments, so I'm thinking that means I am in?  I certainly hope so - that would do a lot to get me out of my funk, I'm sure!

Mystery package and a big mess!

In Saturday's mail I received a package from Z&S Fabrics.  I had recently placed an order for some Moda Spencer Museum prints, but my order was sent complete, so I was quite curious what this package contained.  Imagine my surprise when I opened it to find this package of 10 Michael Miller fat quarters, plus a $25 gift certificate!

I spent a couple of hours trying to ponder who might have sent me this lovely gift, or wondering if it was just a mistake and they had mailed me someone else's order... well, the fat quarters, maybe, but not a gift certificate with MY NAME on it!

When my husband finally got off the computer, I went to their website and discovered that they were sending this lovely prize to one customer every week in September just for placing an order.  So I guess I won!  Lucky, lucky me!

As for the big mess - my creativity and quilt progress has been stymied by this huge mess in my sewing room.  I'm trying to get stuff ready to take to my retreat in November (there is a sewing room sales area where you can 'recycle' stuff you no longer want).  So I've pulled fabrics and need to sort and measure.  Yes, this is only PART of what I will be taking.  Shameful, I know, but my tastes change or it's something I ordered off the Internet that did not meet my expectations in person.  One gal's trash is another's treasure, after all!  There certainly is a lot of treasure here!