An Unplanned Break

What a month! I totally did not plan to abandon my blog this month. January has just been different:) I feel very behind in my posts, but let's just jump in and begin. 

My first finish for 2011!!!!! 

I've been working on my black and white version of Scrappy Nines for months and months. This pattern is wonderful. Lots of nine patches, but a great project for lots of sewing while visiting with other quilters. I had planned to work on other projects on my UFO list, but this project was actually under the needle of my machine and all over my sewing room. I didn't complete the numbered quilts from Judy's UFO challenge (Saturday Sampler) or Nancy's challenge (Christmas Lights), but a finish is a finish:)  I have begun cleaning my sewing room. I'm trying to do major cleaning while sorting. I've located the projects on my UFO list and placed them where I can easily reach them. 


More later....   Have a wonderful Friday!

Friday Night Sew-In

"Friday Night Sew-in" is a virtual sewing event hosted by on the blog Handmade by Heidi. It's a monthly event where quilters/sewers join together to sew their own projects on a Friday evening. On Saturday, participants post photos of their Friday night accomplishments. For many months, I've read about other blogger's progress during the sew-ins, but wasn't able to participate. This month, I marked it on my calendar. Even though, I wasn't home sewing I was able to participate. The third Friday of the month is our Silver Thimble Club weekend. I was able to sew with other "Thimblettes" for several hours on Friday evening. I continued to sew on the components for the blocks of my black and white Scrappy Nines quilt top. 

Bit by bit, this quilt top is coming together. One small step at a time, it might be completed in time to become a Christmas gift for my SIL.

Virtual Sew-Along

Last night as I was reading blogs, Thelma at Cupcakes 'n' Daisies mentioned on her blog that she was participating in a virtual quilting retreat beginning today. The event is hosted by Blackberry Creek Home Arts. The quilt-along appealed to me. I immediately clicked over to Blackberry Creek and signed up to participate. I knew I had some appointments this morning. I had an appointment for my mammogram and planned to get my annual flu shot. I wasn't able to begin sewing until a bit after noon.  The first thing I had to do was get organized. I pulled out an older project, but knew that it would take some time to figure out where I was in the pattern.

Just doing that is a big accomplishment.t I must do a better job labeling a project when I put it away. I plugged in my Itouch. It's loaded with audio books and podcasts. Listening to books or podcasts is my favorite thing to do as I sew. Today was a podcast day. I listened to  several of Pat Sloan's radio shows.

I sewed components of my Scrappy Nines in black and white. I'd like to finish the top for my SIL for a Christmas gift.

Between sewing parts of Scrappy Nines, I pieced some string blocks. Bonnie Hunter has a system with leaders and enders. Probably because my job required multi-tasking, I tend to multi-task while sewing. String blocks or rag quilt blocks work for me instead of leaders and enders.

I'm now at taking a break. I'm finished in the sewing room for the day. I have parts that need to be pinned together. I'm a BIG pinner. I also have one last section of binding to sew on my Autumn Ridge quilt. Friends still can't believe that I haven't completed it yet :) Last year was a very non-productive year. Enough said.

Before I begin, it's time for a snack:) Chocolate muffins and diet root beer. Yum:)

After my break, it's back to pinning and hand-sewing. I'm hoping to squeeze in some sewing tomorrow. My honey has some medical procedures scheduled for tomorrow. I'm his designated driver. If it works out, I'll report back tomorrow evening:)

Mountain of Sewing Fun

 The past three days have been filled with friends,  fabric, food and fun! It was our second annual sewing trip to Brenda's mountain home in Blue Ridge, Georgia. We brought cooked food, lots of sewing projects and lots of laughter.

Brenda's home is definitely in the woods. It's about a two hour drive from our homes, off the main roads, away from everything. Once we arrived at the cabin, the only other living creatures we saw were deer (Brenda put corn out each day for them) squirrels, birds and bugs. WONDERFUL! It was so quiet. Each afternoon it rained. Love the sound of rain on a tin roof!

 We did communicate some with nature. Brenda and I changed from our PJ's on Tuesday afternoon and took a walk to the next home in "the neighborhood." But what we really did was

 SEW! SEW! SEW!

Pat shared some of her designs in progress with us. She has some AWESOME secret projects in the works. The three of us were  ready to purchase those yet to be written  patterns and begin those projects.

 Kristie was super productive. She completed several projects like this Moda kit. Kristie began her blocks for The Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along in a luscious jelly roll, Nest by Tula Pink.  

Brenda worked on her blocks from the kit Pinwheels on Parade. Most of my sewing was on the tiny nine patches for my Scrappy Nines project.

Brenda, Kristie and I all worked on a swap project we participated in with Karin, Gretchen and Cindi. We traded light and dark Civil War reproduction fabrics to make Patches and Pinwheels, a project from Bonnie Hunter's website.  It seemed to be days of sewing half-square triangles for both Kristie and Brenda. I'm still working on the strips for the 16 patches.

Because we had the table filled with sewing machines, we ate our meals and had our Happy Hour out on the screened porch.

Parts of the first floor of the cabin were decorated with bear items. The upstairs had Moose items. I especially loved the bear towel holder:)