The OP Challenge.....

I shouldn't read blogs....really I shouldn't. But I do have my favorite's.....and it seems like these ladies were joining in a virtual quilt retreat/challenge for this weekend. Pat Sloan was hosting.



So the challenge is to dig out the orange you have and use it to make something, anything. She gave out instructions for a block to use in the challenge. I watched the progress on Facebook and Pat's site. I went to bed last night creating in my head.....envisioning the orange I have in my stash. Then this morning as more blocks were revealed I couldn't stop my brain. I HAD to join in.

This afternoon I dug out all my orange, sat down on Jess's EQ6 and came up with......



I believe the fabrics are a combination of two Sandy Gervais lines....yes, I was bummed I didn't win Carrie's giveaway!! I love Sandy fabric! Anyway.....I happened to make this fully from scraps I had. Thus the color placement is based on the scraps. I knew I only had enough for three blocks so I decided on a table runner.

Phew....with that out of my system I can get back to pinning!!

Pinning Progress & Clip Crazy

You can only guess what I've been doing this week. Yes I've been pinning. Well, first I had to iron....which ended up being quite the chore. The instructions don't give instructions for ironing one of the seams in each row....so if you iron one way, you end up messing up the next row, which in turn messes with the next....and so on. Can you say... "a little stressful." I finally gave up and decided some of my seams won't "lock" like they could or should, but it will save me a ton of time and sanity.



I was able to find enough pins in the house to pin HALF of the quilt.....o.k...let me think about that....actually enough to pin 20 rows.....then I need to sew all those rows and pin again...then sew....then pin....then sew. And on it will go. Whew.....


CLIP CRAZY
This is for Carrie over at LaVieEnRosie. A couple of weeks ago she blogged about how she binds her quilts by putting binding clips all the way around the quilt before she starts stitching. Go ahead and check out the blog here. Well, I told her she was insane!! Seriously....if you see how many clips she uses you'd say the same. She does explain herself here.

Wellllll......last night my wrist was really hurting, but I wanted to bind a table topper I had finished. So I wondered if Carrie's method would help out my aching wrist. Normally I only use a few clips at a time and hop around the quilt, but if her method keeps me from gripping too tight, then I'll try it. So here is my mini version of clip crazy.......



I'm still trying to figure out if it helped or not. Not sure either way is better or faster....or? Maybe it's just a preference thing. Although I will say my hurting wrist was my right...it rarely does a lot of "gripping" anyway....more of a motion thing going on. So maybe when my left wrist is in pain I'll try this method again and see if it helps!!:-)

EDIT:ARGH!!! SOMETHING WACKY IS HAPPENING IN BLOGGER!! THE PINNING PICTURE IS IN THE WRONG PLACE AND I CAN'T EDIT OR TYPE UNLESS I'M IN HTML MODE...SO I'M DONE WITH THIS POST....IT'S NOT HOW IT SHOULD BE BUT OH WELL...YA'LL GET THE GIST!!:-)

Quilt Retreat.....

Strip piecing.....oh the many strips I did piece!!!

Last weekend hubby sent me on a quilt retreat. I do mean that literally. He came home one day from work and told me I had to do what he said, and I couldn't argue. I was like, "WHATEVER DUDE!! You can't tell me what to do!!" He then goes on to tell me he signed me up for a quilt retreat and I was going to go and enjoy myself. Oh....well, then....I'll go if Jess can come with me. And she did....

It's always good for this Mom to get out of the numbers world for a bit. At a quilt retreat there are no other obligations other than quilting, chatting, and nibbling....and spending time with my daughter!!:)

The weekend wasn't without it's trials! Jessica's machine freaked out on her. I spent most of Saturday morning messing with her machine. I finally came to the conclusion that it's beyond help....it needs the repair guy! Thankfully I brought the trusty Featherweight.....but I was threading it wrong for the first hour or two and I couldn't get the tension adjusted. So my patience was tried.

Because the projects Jess brought with her needed the Pfaff she ended up making the extra projects I had brought since it was just piecing. She was whipping out project after project while I was putzing on my BIG project.

Look at all these!! Three baby quilts, two table runners and her block of the month. I actually thought I would get to work on these...well, not her block of the month....but the rest!!

I decided to work on the quilt kit Jess got me for my birthday. It looks like a simple enough quilt. It is simple as far as techniques go.....but I underestimated how long it would take. The ladies on Friday night told me there was no way I would get it done...and in my head I thought they were probably right....but for sure I could get the center pieced. WRONG!!! OH MY!! I only got so far as making and cutting out the tubes.

Sunday when I got back from the retreat my husband was in bed with the worst migraine he has ever had. So I gathered the kids in the basement to watch a little TV to keep the house quiet. While watching I decided to begin unstitching my "tubes". It took me until midnight to get the rows laid out and labeled. So here is my quilt retreat progress so far.....

I almost ran out of room laying it out my floor!!

See the little labels? That's to help me when I begin pinning and sewing!

Hubby was feeling better around 10 pm and came down to see how I was doing. I told hubby I would have to pin at least 41 times 15 times 2. He said to me....."Why do you have to pin?" HA!!! Oh......the naivety!! Well, you see all these seams won't magically come together....pinning is the only way to ensure it will line up accurately. If anyone has done the math yet.....that's at least 1230 pins!! Of course I will have to pin in sections, but still...that's a lot of pinning! After hubby gets the idea that it NEEDS to be pinned he says, "Yep, put it in the UFO pile". NO!! Don't say that....I want to finish this one!!

I will end with a few "show and tells" from the retreat.


This was our lovely quilt neighbor, Deborah....she sat just behind us. It was her first retreat. We ended up nicknaming her the Batik Lady....she only likes Batik fabrics!! Aren't they just beautiful!!??


This bear panel was in a shop in McGregor, MN....a lot of the ladies took a break on Saturday to head to this shop. Anyway....aren't the bears just adorable??? It came in a panel and this person ended up putting sashing between the pictures to create a quick lap quilt.


I absolutely love this quilt. I've eyed the pattern and fabrics for a long time.....too long....I'm sure it's not available anymore.....but I do like it. I kept thinking I was going to buy it in bits and pieces and make little wall hangings...but never happened. Oh well....

This is Nancy....she made the above quilt....and on her shoulder is Woody....her sewing bear. He sits on her machine while she quilts. He was "kidnapped" often during the weekend. At one point the kidnapper set him on my sewing machine. I kind of got used to him sitting there....in fact at one point I was talking to him!!!! So I think I should get myself a "woody"....what do you think? I'll have to keep my eye out for the perfect sewing companion!

I took a few more pictures of quilts I absolutely LOVE.....but the lady is a designer and in the process of publishing the patterns and I would hate to mess that up somehow......you know internet design thieves.....I know sad, but it does happen. So....as soon as she has them published I'll be sure to post.