Welcome to all of the Visitors from......

Stitch-n-Frame

Glad to have you visit my little blog, take a moment to read a few post, enjoy the music (or turn your speakers off).  I'm honored to be this weeks Blog of the Week.

If you are a regular reader and  haven't visited the Stitch-n-Frame shop, I invite you to do so, simply click on this link, or any of the Stitch-n-Frame names that I have conveniently linked back to their site.  Once you get to the main page, click on the On Line Catalog button (I hope my link works) and it will take you to a huge host of fun places to hang out for a while. 

If you are new to my blog, I am a Wife, Mom to 4 teenagers and a longarm quilter who tries to make enough spending money to not make a serious dent in the old checkbook! Let me try to explain my math, it goes something like this:  Honey, I went to the quilt shop today and it only cost you $25.  Wow! that's good sweetheart (he is a doll and never complains), but if you only spent $25 why does the checkbook say $75?  Oh, I finished a quilt and I made $50, so it only cost you $25.  Makes sense to me.....

Grace passed along my blog info to Stitch-n-Frame, and if you would like to see some quilts that I have done for Grace click here: Insanely Cheap Quilting this will take you directly to the quilts that I have done for Grace.  She is such a sweetheart, I posted about the work she is doing trying to get quilts to kids before they go to the hospital. You can read more about Grace and her efforts here.

Speaking of quilts...I've got a few to do, so I'd better get to it!  But before I do, a quick thanks to Sherry M!  We had a fun email conversation about my music and being Blog of the Week at the Stitch-n-Frame Shop.

I'll be back soon with more quilts to share, I've seen a cool quilt I'd like to make and of course I just don't have the "right" fabric on hand.

thanks for checking on me,

hugs,

joanne

love to hear what you've got to say..................

Busy, Busy, Busy....

I know we all are, busy, busy, busy.   With the quilt show behind me I'm wrapping up the final details and laying a successful show to rest.  I'll be sharing a few of the quilts with you soon.  Can't show them all, I didn't get permission from the makers.  But I do have a couple that are amazing!!  Need to get my facts together and write the post. 

Other things....dropped my camera, but I've already replaced it with a beauty! Lovin' my new camera, but with the new comes the learning curve!  UGH!!  But I've got so many huge learning curves in my life right now, I'm turning in circles.

Here's a sneak peak at Tita's quilt....

And then there is a Judy Neimeyer table runner....

I'll be using this picture again in a future blog post.  It's the blue painters tape.  This is what I use when I receive tops which have open seams.  If I am not careful while quilting, I can manage to get the hopping foot stitched into place resulting in some serious ripping out.  It gets hairy and not fun for me.  By placing the blue tape I can stitch right over the open seam without fear.  The tape is easily removed after stitching.  I use this method when I "find" a seam after the quilt has been loaded.  For more pictures hop on over to my other blog, Insanely Cheap Quilting. 

Check out this turkey picture, took it with my new camera.  Isn't it cool??

Alrighty now...I've got quilts to work on, people to call, dishes to wash, laundry to do and I'm still sitting here in my pj's.  Got to get movin'!!  

Have a wonderful day!

hugs,

joanne

love to hear what you've got to say.........................

Kid Quilts

Quick post today, I'm still working on the guilds quilt show and it's eating so much of my "spare" time!  But I am having a blast and getting to know everyone very well.  If you want to get to know people the best way is to volunteer. 

Here's a couple of pictures that I took of Michelle's quilts that I recently had the pleasure to help her get finished. 

And this one for a little girl....

As always, I'll post a couple more pictures of the three quilts at my other blog, Insanely Cheap Quilting. Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Thanks for checking on me,

hugs,

joanne

love to hear what you've got to say......

Retreat - The Fairlee Creditable Bowheads

Retreats!!

We eat too much, sleep too little, make new friends and if we are lucky actually finish something.  Here is the quilt top that I managed to get put together while at the retreat.  Memory quilts have taken on a whole new meaning for me.  I will forever look at this quilt and shake my head, in a funny good way.

It all started with one headband, or a 2.5" strip of my leftover fabric sitting in a bag ready to go to my scrap tub. Melynn didn't have enough hot water to shower before breakfast so she pulled a strip to tie back her hair. Then she decided I needed one, then someone felt left out and away went another strip, and it just grew from there. Before we knew it just about everyone had a headband with a cute little bow. Melynn does a fabulous bow that everyone just had to sport for the day. Here's a picture of Melynn and I...

It simply grew from here, to these....

Just about everyone fell prey to Melynn and her beautiful bows....these guys were really good sports!! Yep, there were a couple of men at this retreat!  This is Andy, he's the delightful hubbie of Sharon.  Andy and Sharon host this first class, fun, exhausting retreat. 

Here's Roger. He brings his camera and video recorder and takes tons of pictures and film, then puts together the most amazing video of the retreat.  The pictures he takes this year we will see at next years retreat.  I think we gave him plenty of material this year!  Roger is a sweetie!!!

Lining up to go to the front porch for the group shot, see all of the Bowheads?

More bowhead victims behind Sharon

Moving on....Here's the main house where we ate and ate and ate, did a little sewing and a whole lot of laughing and socializing...

Beyond the main building were the cabins that we stayed in.  There were 4 rooms with 2-3 people per room, some lucky gals got the top bunk!  Thanks Chris!!!

Of course we were not short on supplies, here's Sharon and Andy's trailer.  Don't you just love the logo??

Here's the setup inside...they thought of everything!!

We took a road trip to the shop...

Here's a fun picture that I managed to get at the shop.

Yep, we had it all....Of course, I just had to pick up some really cute fabric.  Stay tuned, it's going to be in a giveaway!

These cookies were drop dead delicious!!!  Loved the lemon jelly ones, and then the Buckeyes, and the brownies!!  Oh my goodness!!  They were all way too good.....

Here's Donna, she is personally responsible for the extra 5 pounds that I gained from baking all of those delicious cookies!!  It is all her fault, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!

If you haven't ever had the retreat experience here is a couple of shots of our work area, aka the Sweat Shop.

Some really, really crazy people thought it would be a good idea to try the Cathedral Window.  We started at 10:30pm and finally called it quits at 1:30am.  And nope, they weren't done.  Rachael was so patient and sweet, we were so tired we got extremely punchy and were laughing so hard we couldn't see to stitch!

Here's Tita, she did manage to finish this cute little spool block.  She made a lot of progress on a quilt that she is making for her sister.  I've done a quilt and a table runner for Tita recently, keep an eye out for it.

I think that Melynn was just about everywhere!!  Wanted to show that yep, some work does get done, notice the pretty top in progress??

Can't write this post without thanking the wonderful staff, (isn't she cute?) at the Hulbert Outdoor Center.  In this picture the staff member is leading us in a variety of stretches, waves, bends and even the macarena!  Roger will of course use this later against us in his video clip next year!    (just kidding, I've had the pleasure to see last year's video, but it is definitely something the gals look forward to seeing year after year, thanks Roger!!)

Quilters are wonderful people, but we all ready knew that.  This year Rachael coordinated signature pieces that she made into a quilt for Sharon and Andy to thank them for all of the hard work and coordinating that goes into putting these retreats together.  I love this picture of them, they are very special people...

Can't forget to add a picture of the quilt....if you click on the picture

you can see Rachael on the left.

  It was a super fabulous, fun, exhausting retreat, I've already signed up to go again next year! 

Thanks for checking on me,

hugs,

joanne

love to hear what you've got to say.....