Trip for "2" to Boston (the Scenic Route)...

I'm back from a lovely week of quilting in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  Eight of us from our quilt bee were able to make it for our fall retreat and as usual there was a lot of laughter, too much food and, in my case, not enough sewing!  The weather even warmed up enough to make walking on the beach quite pleasant.

The Atlantic Ocean from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

I had a hard time trying to figure out what to bring to this retreat.  Most of what I'm doing right now is machine quilting and that doesn't travel well.  I packed up several new projects, but at the last minute I remembered an old UFO and threw that in my bag as well.

Although I managed to get one quilt cut out and make a few blocks on another, the only real progress I made was on this UFO.  Looking back, the last time I worked on it was in March of 2010!  The name of the quilt is "Trip for '2' to Boston" by Prairie Pieces.  It's an interesting pattern because you make it with a friend.  The packet contains 2 copies of the pattern - one for each of you.  You pick 15 fabrics in 2 color families gradating from light to dark.  Working together, you sew (and unsew) strip sets.  I had all my strip sets going to retreat and managed to put the center of the quilt together.

My next step was to cut off the tips of all the triangles along the outside giving me straight edges to add my borders; however, this leaves you with all bias edges so I waited until I got home to do this step.

Even though it was years ago, I can still remember how much work it was for Jan and I to pick out the 15 fabrics that make up the center of this quilt.  But now that it's put together, it was so worth it.  I love this quilt and wish I hadn't waited so long to finish it,

I have a pretty good idea how I want to quilt it and would like to jump right on it, but I have several other quilts I need to finish first.  I really hope this one doesn't sit around for another year waiting it's turn, but I'm not the fastest machine quilter so we'll see.  By the way, my quilt is 67" x 72", but the pattern includes directions from Lap size through Queen.

I've been extremely remiss in posting pictures of my furry babies lately so here's a snapshot of David.  You can tell he wasn't being very cooperative though.  He really wanted me to stop what I was doing and pet him.

Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 

Philippians 4:6 (NLT) 

A little late...

OK, so it was the last day of the month (again) and I hadn't quite finished my quilt for the AYOS parade hosted by Sinta and Sherri.  I spent most of the month working on other quilts and didn't start this one until late.  It was 8:30 that night and I really only needed to sew the outer border on, but instead I decided to skip it and go to bed.  (That's just how I roll around here.)  I missed the parade this month, but finished the top the next day.

The pattern this time was Harvey by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.  Although it is still made with charm squares, it's a much larger quilt than most Schnibbles at 72" square.

I love the center of this quilt and the border, but basket quilts aren't really my style so I changed it up a little and made a giant star quilt instead.

I used 4 charm packs of Strawberry Fields by Fig Tree & Co. and Bella Solid Snow for the background.  Fortunately, I happen to have a whole bolt of the red polka dot from this line that will be perfect for the backing.

After last month's quilt with the gazillion 1" x 2" flying geese, these 4" HST felt huge!  It went together pretty quickly though and I have a petty good idea how I would like to quilt it (when I can find the time).  This is another bright cheerful quilt that helps me forget it's below freezing outside right now.

As for the bulk of my quilting time last month, it was spent working on this quilt.  I've finished quilting the center of it and have moved on to the borders, but I'll have to share that in another post.

I'm off on a quilting retreat this week.  Although if you looked at all I've packed, one might think I was moving there instead.  I have yet to master the art of packing light!  My husband will be holding down the fort while I'm gone which means caring for our herd of 4 legged creatures.  They have an unfortunate habit of getting sick on him whenever I go somewhere.  One of them woke us up this morning at 3:30 with a hairball.  His only comment was, "And so it begins."  On the positive side, everyone's always so happy to see me return.  Here's a picture of one of the worst culprits, Jack...

“If you want to know what God really wants you to do, ask him ... but if you don’t ask in faith, don’t expect the Lord to give you any solid answer.” 

James 1:5-6 (TLB)