Retreat

 Well, another retreat is over.   Wouldn't it be nice if the times that we are enjoying go slower than the times we aren't?  We were at our lovely retreat home Saturday-Tuesday.  And it feels like four hours, not four days.   

We worked on a small challenge since last fall.  Here are pics of the projects everyone created from their piece of fabric provided to everyone last fall. The challenge was simple.  Giver everyone a piece of fabric (small) and if you had specifics then say so, if not then have free reign to make an 8.5 inch block using the fabric provided.  

But first, the bad news.  This is how Barb limped into the parking area.  She hit a deer not 3 minutes from destination, there are hunks of fur in the center if you look closely.  The grill is somewhere in a ditch and she isn't sure about the outcome for the deer as there is no blood.  But it took a toll on her nerves on day one.  By the time she left Tuesday a tow truck had come to take the car and she was given a ride home from one of the other girls.  Surprisingly, the car repair place said it didn't look like the car would be totaled.  What a way to start, huh?  Good news, we kept telling her, was SHE wasn't hurt.

OK, here is Ines' project.  She gave small pieces of her focus fabric.  I mean small. Like little paint swatches and we were on our own.  I think we all did a good job of it!  She is so good at paper foundation piecing, look at those points on her corner squares!  By the way, Ines is 85 years old.

Jan made this table runner.  Her focus fabric is the background behind that tulip just at the top.  I found it hard to imagine using a busy fabric but she said to go for the colors in it, and that helped.  It's beautiful!

Joyce's focus fabric was the background piece.  We were told "do fall leaves" and she put it together immediately.  The only part she had to do at home was quilt and bind.  Her sashing between blocks is the reverse side of her binding.

Lisa gave us a lot of red, white and blue fabric choices but asked for stars and she got them!  

Sally's focus fabric was the one most of us used on the background.  She challenged us to use HSTs.  That meant more math for me.  But we did it, there isn't a curve in that quilt!

Barb said "red."  She likes red and works with it a lot. She used our squares and then other orphan blocks she had on hand to make something bigger than a table runner, and it gave her orphans a home.

There is no photo of mine at the reveal but this was what I did with my basket blocks. The table runner goes perfectly end to end on our dining room table. 

So, that's retreat part 1.  

Just a Quickie

 Just a quickie post before I leave for retreat weekend.

This is my April Chookshed Stitcher project...and finish!  Someday I'll remember to straighten things out before photographing them but (there's always an excuse, isn't there?) I took this photo while zooming last night and just kind of laid it on the bed in the sun and  - done!

This is obviously a small one and while I chose projects that needed to be finished this one was a new start.  And finish.  The piece I used for the binding was color perfect with a dash of red and I do love this little thing.  And the truth squad will make me admit to machine piecing and quilting it.  New to me for sure.

I absolutely loved this blue strawberry for years and just didn't want to cut it up.  But as we said last night during zoom, we aren't getting any younger, we have a lot of money tied up in our stashes and in the end our kids would rather disperse our finished quilts than put our stashes in an estate sale. I decided when choosing this little piece that if I used the blue strawberry it would not get lost. 

Wonderful zoom last night, too!  Now, off to retreat weekend.

Milestones

 Well, looky here.  Somehow fifty years have passed.  They say the days are long but the years are short and they aren't kidding.

 Our daughter arranged for the marquee in town to announce to one and all we've had a milestone anniversary. It didn't take long, those fifty years.  No, we didn't join the line dancing.

We had a very nice dinner at one of our favorite places, even sat on the porch because the weather was so nice.   After all this time he still gazes at me this way!

Tuesday we waited for the eclipse.  Here we were supposed to have 95% coverage and because it was a gorgeous day we sat on the porch playing cribbage while we waited, checking with our safety glasses every few minutes.

You can see by how much shadow there is we still had a way to go, but even with 95% coverage we had quite a bit of light and never felt like it was even twilight. Still, it was a milestone event for the entire U.S. and the anticipation was fun.

April Number 9

It looks like my number 9 is a simple project even though it's a new one, not a finish. It's a small one, too. 

I printed the pattern and it's still dark here this morning so the colors aren't bright but you get the idea.  It's a small wall quilt so I could actually finish this!  I AM also working on those yellow daffodils from the previous two posts, too. I started cutting them the other day.  They don't even have a number but my thumb split and that prevented me from getting March's project pinned.  It's layered but folded and waiting for the thumb to heal. 

We are expecting the usual spring break weather, the first half of the week is going to be rainy and cold so I do believe I'll get these cut.  

On your marks, get set, go!

Katy Did it!

 I wasn't kidding when I said I can't do nor "see" math.  I've always said I can't "see" it. And even though I stared and stared at the Twelve Inch Square block, even measured and drew it all out, I really still didn't "see" it. 

But Katy did.  

Katy commented on my last post that the true block is the yellow and THAT measures 8 inches.  The sashing with the green points is just that. Sashing.  Take those away and voila! an 8 inch block.  Thank you, Katie.  I do appreciate the second set of eyes.  Bloggers are so cool!

I hope everyone has a nice Easter, for the first time in forever I am not cooking. We are the guests. 

Twelve Inch Square

 Over at The Polka Dot Chicken the other day I saw a quilt that really hit me. Go over to Carol's post and look at it.   I don't know if it's because we were staring down a cold snap after a beautifully balmy porch sitting week or that I've never made a yellow quilt or whatever the reason, everything about it just said 'yes!'  I saw daffodils, I saw sunshine, and after enlarging a square and staring at it I saw the pattern. 

   Now, I'm severely math challenged.  I can barely count my change. If left alone without interruption I can fix the toaster but I need a padded room to work out math.  This, though, I could draft.  I didn't know what Carol's pattern measured out to but I drafted a 12 x 12 finished square.  I can do that kind of math.

   I asked Carol in her comments how big her square is and she said in the post I'm sending you to that her squares measure 8.5 unfinished.  You can see more of the quilt if you go to a couple of the older posts.

   Hmmmm...are my 12 inch blocks going to be too big?  I am looking at using my stash so the bigger block will use more fabric.   Now, of course, I am second guessing myself. 

   Yesterday we had Daughter and family here for dinner.  Elizabeth is a very smart young lady and very good at detail and math.  I thought I would ask her to draft the 12 inch pattern down to an 8 inch because I could NEVER do THAT math.  

Kidding, I said, "Elizabeth, can you use your advanced trigonometry skills and make this twelve inch pattern into an 8 inch?  

     When she tried to explain her calculations to me I said, "is that the sign for square root???"  

     "Yes," she said, "and this is the hypotenuse of the triangle and..."   I know I looked like a deer in the headlights.  I thanked her profusely and told her I'd go with the twelve inch square.

Chookshed Challenge Number 4 Half Finish

 Half month, half finish, this is my number 4.  I am not sure how much farther I am going to get with this, if anything it might be layered and pinned but we'll see. I was just so happy to get this far I whipped it off the machine and onto the floor for a photo.  Not ironed yet.  Don't look too closely at the placement of the patches.  I thought I did pretty well till I got it finished and looked at it.  Isn't that when just everything wrong shows up?  I don't care, it's a finish.  Also not thinking I'm going to border it.  When I get it ironed I'll decide.

I used the stack of already put together nine patches I inherited from Friend Sally and there are STILL more left.  It's a bit like dealing with the loaves and fishes.  The more I use the more there are. I used these in TWO quilts now and I have no idea what to do with these.  Pillows?  

While rummaging around my project pile I found these Dresden plates I put together last summer, again the petals were all cut and part of the 30s stash from Sally.  I sat on the front porch last September and put them together into plates with my crank sewing machine.  My plan was to do all of them in yellow and make daisies out of them.  There weren't enough to do the whole thing in daisies but too many to separate them well.  Upon looking at them closely many of the yellows are combinations of yellows to make a full plate/flower.  Again, all of these were from the stash of 30s Sally gave me - all except the sashing.  I WILL put a border on this one but again, I'm tired and called it good for now.  In person it really is a sweet top.

After battling with my back for two months I came down with shingles and have been dealing with that the past week and a half-two weeks.  It's better now, just a little twingey reminder now and then.  And I'm tired.

Today is Pi (e) day.   I had just a small container of black raspberries in the freezer and since I'm home alone for a couple of days I thought I would celebrate.  Black raspberries are too hard to come by to waste them. We go through a lot to pick them wild so each berry is cherished.  I knew because it was going to be a rainy day today I was going to devote it to my Chookshed #4 and didn't want to be distracted.  I went to the store and bought a pie shell.  I NEVER buy pie shells.  NEVER.  But again, I just wanted to get this in the oven with a minimum of fuss and distraction.   I will probably have this whole thing eaten by the time PH comes home. If you celebrate, Happy Pi Day.