Virtual Retreat - Ongoing (started January 2019)

[fabrikath]

Dear Sharon
My sympathies and condolences for you recent losses. May you find comfort in the memories of your loved ones and may your mojo return from its sabbatical very soon.
Kath in southern California

[eileenkny]

Sharon, I'm so sorry for your family's loss. My Mom stopped eating about 2 weeks before she passed last year. I think they know when they're ready to go, I know Mom did. Doesn't make it hurt any less. Give yourself time for your mojo to come back. Maybe sew with some friends, take a class. Baby steps. It will return.

Thank you for the tutorial Geneva.

[twiglet]

Sharon I'm sorry for your losses and so sad to hear the stories from all of you of your loved ones. I've seen it many times as a nurse but it doesn't make it any easier when it's your own.
Losing a loved pet is so hard I do feel for you.

[quilting00]

Sharon--I'm sending you a big hug. I am sorry for your losses and missing them is okay. Geneva--those mariner's compasses are amazing and I love what you are doing with them. I've posted regularly on my blog in the last month. I did have some finishes: a machine applique project that I started in a Karen Kay Buckley class; a skirt for a granddaughter--but, I actually had enough fabric to make a second skirt for the second granddaughter; a baby quilt made out scrap flannell bits from my friend, Martha's stash.

I posted about the August embroidery lesson and the September embroidery lesson. I think I might be getting the hang of how to follow the directions for the lessons. Sorry for the sideways image. . .

I started a new project using flannel scraps from my friend's stash. The novel, "Little Women" inspired it and I used some embroidery from one of my lessons! I stitched the secondary blocks for Good Fortune. This was the Bonnie Hunter mystery last November. I wrote another post to support the Bust Your Stash Two Inches at a Time challenge. Is anyone here participating? I set my 4th quarter goals and posted about it. I've been doing better about completing or making progress on projects that have been hanging about my studio for years.

I'm off to a slow start in October; but, I hope to figure out solutions to some of the challenges that have been thwarting my progress! Life is good! At my guild show in September, my "Chickens" quilt received second place as member's choice and first place as viewer's choice. I was tickled!

[twiglet]

Sorry Geneva I missed your compass quilts somehow. They're stunning, I will read your link about the stitching later.

Terry I'm so chuffed for you getting recognition for the chicken quilt. Is the writing across the blocks what you've been learning in the embroidery class?

[twiglet]

Read it now. I'll try the no trim technique and tapering towards corners. Little things can make a big difference. I already sew the edge as in dress making and that's a good one. Cheers

[eileenkny]

Our dear friend, Dana Lynch, is now on her last journey.Hospice has come. Please keep Dana and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

[genevacarroll]

I am so sad to hear this. I didn't know Dana was ill. She makes amazing quilts.

geneva

[eileenkny]

Dana went home to God this afternoon. May she rest in peace and may her family find strength in their faith.
Dana, you were loved by so many. I'll miss your voice on the phone most of all.

[lotti]

So very sorry. Peace for you, dear Dana, and much strength to all family and friends

[quilting00]

I missed my day to report in yesterday. I'm catching up today! Last month, I went on vacation. We went to Maui, Hawaii and we had a terrific time. Our daughter met us at baggage claim. I was gob smacked shocked as I had no idea she would be coming! What a great surprise!! My favorite activity was snorkeling and looking for turtles! I shared four posts about the trip. I can't wait to go back! post 1, post 2, post 3, post 4

I made progress on the Bonnie Hunter Good Fortune mystery from last year. Stitching the blocks together, adding a border set and I can't decide if I should leave it or add more borders to make the top more bed sized! It is a square now. What would you do?

The oldest granddaughter made progress on her mermaid project. I recapped October activities and wrote a post to support my two inch bust your stash challenge.

Sadly, I finished NOTHING! I am making progress on a couple projects so perhaps next month I'll be able to share some finishes.

[eileenkny]

Terry, if you don't make it bed sized, what will you use it for? Are you keeping or gifting it?
I've never been to Hawaii, it's a trip I mean to take Glad you had a good time and a good surprise from your daughter.

[genevacarroll]

Hello my friends!

Terry your vacation sounds wonderful! Your Good Fortune Quilt is so pretty. Whatever you decide about borders will look great. I like it this way too. The colors are great. Are you going to do Bonnie's new mystery Frolic?

I missed my day to blog last week as it was my actual birthday. After going out to a wonderful lunch with my sweetie, I somehow sprained my right thumb. I'm not able to do any sewing which has really been hard for me. And I'm learning how to use my left hand. It's not easy! But I did have a nice day celebrating with my family.

Luckily before I hurt my thumb I made the last two aprons for grandchildren. We will be seeing them all for the week of Thanksgiving. I plan to give them to the far away grandkids, as well as give the Christmas quilts I made for the 4 families, as well as the Santas I made! Finally! I get to give them all away! Here are pictures of the Ninja Turtle aprons for my grandsons, and one for my wild granddaughter.










I am at the point with two quilts that I need to do the hand sewing on them. I'm so disappointed that I can't work on them. I made the compasses, quilted them and then faced each one. Then I quilted the background and now I want to sew them to the background. I did finally find the swirls I want to embroider alongside the compasses. The photo shows the second trial of embroidery which I ripped out. The weird light thing on the left side is the light coming in and shining on the quilt. The little baggie at the top left are the colors of thread I am using to do the embroidery. The fabric on the right side is the backing fabric. The next picture is the quilting design I want to use.









While waiting for the compass quilt to percolate and figure out if I could use the embroidery design, I made random log cabin blocks with the left over fabrics. I went through my stash of backings and decided this next quilt needed to be made. I didn't want to cut up the dots and have them all mixed up (there is enough chaos already going on!), so I faced each log cabin block as well as the three little squares made with a stripe. All of these blocks are quilted and faced. I have quilted the background and backing. Now I'm stuck waiting for my thumb to get well so I can sew them all down. The white and black dot on the right side is the backing.





So that's what's up here at the Cairn Carroll sewing room! I hope you all are doing well and those in America, I wish you a happy Thanksgiving.

Take care, geneva

PS. This took forever to write! I have a new appreciation for left handers! :blink:

[eileenkny]

Geneva, thanks for the shout out to lefties. :cheer: :cheer:
So sorry about your thumb! Did the dr. say how long for recovery? Those aprons are adorable-I'm sure the grandies will love them. I like that quilting design-are the dots French knots?
For everyone in the US, Happy Thanksgiving!

[sewengel]

Hi all. Somehow I missed posting on the 13th, so here goes.

I was fortunate to attend the Houston festival for the week. It was wonderful to catch up with TQS members and see the unveiling of the 2020 BOM. It’s beautiful! I took a full day class and 2 half day class and got inspired from those. Of course, it was also the World Series next door which made downtown challenging and entertaining. Just an aside, they were charging $65 for parking during the games.

The quilts, of course, were amazing and I was honored to have my quilt hanging with the big girls. The Bob Ross quilts were wonderful and creative.

My cousin drove in to spend one day with me. We don’t see each other enough. She just recently retired.



This was my favorite quilt and it was a Judges Choice. In 1980 there was a fire on my in-laws mountain property and this quilt touched home. It’s hard to see, but there are animals quilted in the gray/black fabric.



Geneva, you have my sympathy with spraining your thumb after the same thing happened to me.

It is always great to hear from all of you on this site.

Happy Thanksgiving one and all.

Sharon in, supposed to snow today, Colorado