Saturday is my guild's Nat'l Quilting Day's celebration. We celebrate with Quilt-In: an entire 13 hours of quilting. We have 6 workshops to choose from, or we can just work on UFOs. Breakfast and dinner are provided, there's a mystery quilt if we choose to do it, block lotteries, notion basket lottery, FQ lottery. There will also be a vendor for shopping!

I'm planning on spending my day in the UFO room, working on a new paper pieced project. I intend to eat well, spend good time with friends, and not worry that DH has to cart kids around to Charlottesville to drop the oldest at an afternoon camp.

Now, to just get everything I need packed up!

Yes. As soon as I finish breakfast, I'm going to get a couple of tops sandwiched. Hopefully I'll get to quilting one of them this evening. Not likey to get much done tomorrow(road trip) but Sunday I hope to get back at it.

Linda...hope your quilt kit works up into a nice-sized for KQ.

Jennifer...enjoy your NQD..sounds like it will be a good quilty time.

Everyone have a wonderful weekend.

~Geraldine

I started assembling a QOV wall hanging the other night, so I plan to finish it this weekend and mail it off to the quilter on Monday.

Next up is to sandwich & quilt the 2 tops I made for our friends (Blackford's Beauty and the colorwash landscape). Hopefully I can at least get started on one of them this weekend.

Jennifer, your quilting day sounds like so much fun! Is there a cost to participate? My guild does a retreat every year but it seems pretty expensive to me and I can't see shelling out $300 or so to not even leave town. But I think I would do a one-day thing like you describe.

Donna

Donna,

Ours is $40. We use in-house members to teach the classes, and they get paid a little, and there may be some additional costs for rulers or books, etc. We hold it at a local church and the guild budget handles the nominal 'rental' fee for the space.

People volunteer to bring breakfast foods (donuts, bagels, egg casseroles, etc.) Lunch is on our own (bag it, or go out), and dinner is also by volunteers (soups/chili, salads, rolls, and desserts).

It's a lot of fun! And since I'm not taking a class, I should get a considerable amount sewn. I've decided to work on a small project (or two).

Jennifer, that sounds great. I will mention it at our next board meeting. We do sit-n-sew 2 Saturdays a month (which I think don't have great turnout), and we also usually have guild members teach at a few Fun Nights during the year. I'm thinking maybe something like this could combine sit-n-sew and a few Fun Nights into one day and would appeal to people who aren't interested in the 2-3 day retreat.

Donna

I went to a Pampered Sit and Sew today at a friend's house. I got a block made and some cutting done. Not much but it was a complicated block made of all HSQs. I don't tend to chain piece these blocks because I don't want to chance turning one the wrong way so I work on small units of the block making sure everything is in the direction it is supposed to be. Takes longer but then I don't have to do the frog stitch....rip it, rip it....lol

Jennifer your Quilt-In sounds like a lot of fun. Well I have spent the last 3 days doing spring garden chores in my large back yard flowerbed and got to the point that I was able to transplant some plants into the bed today. Still have a little room left to plant some more things, but will have to give that some more thought as to what I want to plant. I have been working on Cards Tricks blocks for my parents' queen-size quilt. I have finished hand-sewing 87 C.T. blocks out of 100, so just 13 blocks left to make, so I will be working on that project this weekend. Hope everyone has an awesome weekend! So glad spring is here!

Best to you,
Sandra

Not here yet. Still cold and with flurries, but I know it is coming! ÃÂHalleluia!
And my gardening chore is scouring the garden catalogues. Must finish that this weekend so no sewing.
Theresa

Jennifer - your quilt in sounds like so much fun. I love retreat and having others around when you sew is really fun - even if you don't do the classes!

I went to JoAnn's today and got backing for 2 quilts and hope to get them sandwiched tonight. We thought about going to the hockey game tonight, but it's snowing (a fitting end to spring break week!) and I am still cold from walking the dog in this mess and don't really want to go out again! (I'll listen to it on the radio,)

Will get a little quilting in tomorrow and Sunday, I hope.
Sue

I am going to a quilt show tomorrow in Maryville, TN. I hope to come home and work on my challenge quilt. I finally finished the quilt for my nephew and his wife. Only 3 months late. :)

Jackie

Today I finished hand-sewing Card Tricks block #88 and #89. I only have 11 more to go. :-)

Best to you,
Sandra

It's neat that so many of you have guilds in which you can participate and share. I know there is a spinner and weavers guild here, but I am not aware of one for quilters. I'll bet there is, though.

I've been following your progress Sandra on the Card Tricks quilt. It's one of my fav patterns, but one I don't do well and what a treasure a hand-made quilt shall be. I've always thought about doing a GFG in English paper piecing, but then I come back to my senses. LOL. In my dreams, maybe. But, perhaps a baby quilt?

Yes, I'll be doing a little quilting this weekend. I just finished block 36 of the wool crazy quilt last night. Six more to go to bring it up to size. I've been spring housecleaning for the last couple weeks, so my visits to the sewing room consist of an hour each morning after breakfast when I go upstairs to make the bed. It's just a pleasant part of my morning routine. I can get very A/R with projects, and tend to be driven and doing it this way gives me 'permission' to put my work away at a set time and forget about it the rest of the day and not stress over it. At the end of each month, it's like a new quilt top just appears. ;-) Today, I think I'll work on on tidying up my stash a bit.

I hope to get some sewing/quilting done today. But first going shopping with my sister for something to wear to my niece's beach wedding on April 6. Still cold here so we'll see what we find. WHEN I do get to my sewing room I plan to make another block for the Underground Railroad quilt I'm making for my hubby. Rain expected all day tomorrow so I'll have more time then.
Darlene

Calliope, I made 6 GFG placemats...now I can say I did it, and I don't ever have to do it again. That was plenty!

Donna

I worked on my pineapple quilt last night. Only a couple hours of quilting, and it will be done. Then just to bind it. Yay!! I've got to hit the LQSs today to find backing for my beach glass quilt that I finished piecing earlier this week. I haven't decided whether or not I will quilt it or take it to the LAQ. It needs a pretty dense quilting pattern because of the hundreds of little pieces in the top. We'll see.

Thanks Calliope. Today I finished hand-sewing Card Tricks blocks #90 and #91 - just 9 blocks left to make! I am so excited to be this close to finishing this project. Once I get the blocks made, will set them aside and make a baby quilt for a friend, and then after that is done will later in the year hand-sew all 100 blocks together - the points are so thick where the triangles meet up that I am afraid it would break needs if I sew it on the machine and by doing it by hand I can make sure all the points turn out pretty. Calliope what does GFG stand for? I am still trying to learn all the abbreviations on the Quilting Forum. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Best to you,
Sandra

Hundreds of little pieces, Lois? YIKES!!!

I have half the Twister Heart together and maybe will be able to work on the other half tomorrow. As I was sewing it together, I noticed I apparently twisted a couple edge blocks the wrong way, but since they're all white I hope it isn't too noticeable......my eye sure didn't pick it up when I laid it out.....another frustration...but, this too shall pass. After this is off the wall, I hope to put up the Zig-zag Rail Fence and get part of it sewn together.

I was thinking the other day that the next retreat I go to I'm taking backing, batting, quilt tops and a ton of pins!

SharonG/FL

Sandra, GFG is grandmother's flower garden, a design made up of hexagons, typically made using the English paper piecing technique.

Donna

Thank you Donna. :-)

Best to you and thanks bunches,
Sandra

No sewing this weekend. Yesterday I was at a Proven Winners gardening event all day. It was a lot of fun and met some nice gardeners.

I started a GFG to work on when traveling, so I don't care how long it takes me to make. No pressure. I wish I could say that about everything I do for fun! LOL

I did start cutting out two D9P (disappearing nine patch) tops from my stash for charity this week. I was only going to do one, but found the color schemes fell to pink or green, so am doing one of each.

I'm afraid I am joining many of you in making the tops, but not getting around to finishing them. Is thrse a name for this sickness?

I finished piecing the QOV top! :) I don't think I feel like ironing and trimming 5 yards of backing fabric today, though. Maybe I'll go crochet.

Donna

Very nice!
Theresa

I like your QOV Donna, it's pretty. Hi Bev, good to hear from you. Well I am excited, I just finished Card Tricks block #92 out of 100, just 8 more to make! :-) Fixing to start the next block, but know I won't finish it today.

Best to you,
Sandra

I love the QOV. Bright and cheery!

Got no sewing done yet. Gotta get the lotto blocks done now so I can send them tomorrow!
LindaB/CA