Virtual Retreat 2016

[Scoopie]

Marianne, you are one busy and productive gal! The skirt is my favorite! The embroidery is beautiful. What machine did you do the enpmbroidery on? I recently bought a plain lavender t-shirt that would probably look really cool if I put some embroidery on it. I'll have to see what my new machine can do with a t-shirt!

I hope your husband is much better by now, Geneva! My daughter cracked a rib when she had a coughing spell during a cold. (And, she still had to care for her three kids and her DH.) I love the "nice quilt" comment. My female primary care doctor still calls what I make "blankets!" I made her grown twins T-shirt "blankets." And, now she wants a "blanket" made from all of her mom's old clothes. :side: your quilt is great!

Rosemary, I'm glad everything is moving along with the remodel of your lounge! I don't have the energy to do anything like that, but would love to ooh and ahh over yours. Pictures, please!

I spent the weekend sewing about 150 of my circles together (think clamshells here) and am super pleased with the results so far. I'll post a photo tomorrow. They are going to be fun to quilt, too. Easy peasy!

Good to see you checking in, BJ! What have you been up to? Are you doing the Hoffman Challenge this year? Are you designing digital embroidery? I have the software for that, and a couple of Craftsy classes, but haven't gone any further.

Annis, I admire someone who isn't afraid to try the insane! Your mini is going to Wow! everyone at the quilt show!

Guess I need to watch Jenny's TQS show, so I can see Nancy's smiling face again! :P

Dawn

[Scoopie]

Geneva - glad to hear DH is on the mend.
Annis - love the quilting can't wait to see the front side after the show!
Marianne - fun to see your Christmas orphans!

Barb

[twiglet]

Hey was that Nancy I've just seen on TQS on the Jenny Bowker show

Yep, that was me, chubby cheeks and all! I think I attended the tapings of the last 3 shows that were aired. I'm really looking forward to a new show!

:lol: and now I see you on the Mickey Lawler show. What a great life you lead!!!

[idaho]

Lotsa pluses living that close in Colorado ! :woohoo:

[Ladywingnut]

Good morning all,
I have wanted to join this retreat for a while, but you know how life can throw you a curve! I brought my father in law to our our home, (southern Arizona), for the winter, when he became terribly ill. He's still not out of the woods, & who know if he will ever be, (probably will spend the remainder of his days in a nursing home), but he's not as critical as he was. I had spent many long hours in his hospital room, (he had been in the hospital for close to a month), just waiting, when I decided to bring in my machine in & sew, which I did. Sewing made me feel better, I could my eye on him, & when he was awake, he could see that I was there & not feel that he was so alone.
I had been working on 2 projects that I wanted to enter into a local quilt show, but they will not be finished in time, which is fine, (there's always nest year), but I thought what a great way to show off my progress to you quilters out there. The jacket is an old UFO that I had inherited & pretty much finished except for little things, I had never quilted clothing before, this might be a new thing for me! The quilt that I'm working on in a Jenny Beyer kit, Lotus Quilt...it is turning out so cool!!! I really learned a lot making that quilt. It will be a wedding present for my nephew, (lucky boy), who's getting married in august. Thanks
Anne

[twiglet]

Sorry to hear of your father in laws I'll health. Great idea to take your sewing in and a comfort for him. Hospital visiting can be very tiring and draining.
Now I love your colour choices and beautiful work. I hope you're going to wear your jacket but not sure Arizona is the right climate, do you get cool weather?

[Ladywingnut]

Southern Arizona gets very cold!! Last we were in the low 30's! When the sun drop so does the temps. We are at 4000 ft altitude, so we do get snow here on the Mexican boarder, fortunately it does not last more than a few hours, & it can last for weeks up in the mountains! Sewing/Quilting has been my sanity for most of my life, I pretty much sew every day, I even take sewing to my work, (I have a fair amount of downtime).

[Ladywingnut]

My precious mountains of southern Arizona

[twiglet]

Wow the mountains are so beautiful. What a fabulous place to live.
I haven't been that far down. My visit was to racing in Phoenix then we went north through Sedona and up to Williams where the steam train to the Grand Canyon starts. We woke up in Williams to snow it was lovely but down in Phoenix it was hot. This was November but I guess Phoenix is in a valley. Such variation of scenery and climate within one State. Fabulous

[twiglet]

Annis, beautiful quilting.

Ladywingnut, Love your jacket. You are lucky that you were able to take your machine into the hospital. I doubt that it would be allowed here in UK.

And here is our newly decorated lounge - this was taken before we got the curtains hung so DH had put the strips of spare carpet along the bottom of the windows to try to keep some of the warm is as they are original to the house and are not double glazed :dry: Unfortunately, what you cannot see is that the top section of them is made of stained glass panels, which is one of the reasons we haven't got around to changing them for double glazing because we want to keep the stain glass in situ and to do that is definitely outside our current budget.


And the reason for lack of sewing currently is......

[Scoopie]

Well, Rosemary, at least the lounge is orderly! :lol: :lol: :lol: But, you can relax in the new lounge, during your breaks from reorganizing your sewing room. That's got to feel good!

Lady....your jacket is great, and way beyond my expertise! And, I'm loving the quilt! Beautiful colors, and beautiful appliqué. I would have a hard time letting that one go. I hope your FIL will be happy in whatever nursing home he finally goes into! Such a hard decision! Such a clever idea to take your sewing machine to the hospital! I'll have to jot that one down, for future reference!

Here are about 170 of my circles, hand sewn (appliqué) together. As you can see, I work it as a unit, and not onto the background.



And, here is the backside. I feel the stabilizer is going to make the quilt too stiff, since there are so many small, overlapping pieces. Sooooooo, I am trying very hard to remove the "fusible" stabilizer. Fortunately, most of it is coming out. It's leaving my edges a little raggedy, but that may make it even more soft.



It's slow going, but I'm having fun with it!

Dawn

[genevacarroll]

Anne, your jacket and quilt are wonderful! Love the colors. What a smart idea to take your sewing machine to the hospital. Good for both of your souls. If you need help deciding on a nursing home you can go to the medicare site. The info is dated, but it is at least something to go on. If you need help deciphering the info, I'm happy to help. www.medicare.gov/nursinghomecompare . (I hope it's ok to put this in this setting! hmy: )

Rosemary, love your new carpet. It's so nice and colorful. I can see what you mean about all the books. At least they are safe now. May we see the stained glass windows? And well, the mess isn't so bad. At least the iron is readily available!

Dawn, your circles are amazing! I can't wait to see how it all turns out. I admire your patience.

Just finished quilting the bed runner. I will get the binding on soon I hope.

Today is my mom's 87th birthday. We will have a nice cake-a-party for her tonight. I love cake!!

geneva

[genevacarroll]

I knew as soon as I mentioned the stained glass windows someone would be asking to see them - when I can get a photo in daylight which will probably be Friday at the earliest. And the mess & stereo is there sitting on top of my cutting mats - got to be shifted before anything can be cut for sewing, first two items Lotti's row & Terri's mystery quilt, plus lots of 3 d grapes for embroidering for an EG exhibition.

Dawn your circles look luscious.

[Ladywingnut]

Thank you Geneva for your link for nursing homes, I will be investigating that site.
Arizona is an beautiful state, we have only lived here for 9 years, but feel lucky to have landed where we have.
Any of you want to come visit, I will be happy to show you around!
Dawn your circles are absolutely wild!! What will you be doing with them? For my applique, I have been using Alex's 'Select Print & Piece', I got it free with my membership renewal, I am able to leave it in my applique, when I wash the quilt, it dissolves & my applique is completely soft, (I did samples 1st), Ricky has his 'Stable Stuff' as well as Sharon Schamber has a similar product, I have been really happy with the results. No worries about removing any of the backing!

[Ladywingnut]

Anne - really like your jacket and your Jenny Beyer Lotus quilt looks fabulous! (Great idea to work on projects while at the hospital).
Rosemary - the lounge looks great, I'd love to see the stained glass windows too!
Dawn - love the circles too.

Barb :-)