Quilting ...Bug... Rocking K

Whew what a week. Fun, Laughter, lots of Quiltin going on, a little wine or a lot depends on your definition and good friends. We all
arrived about the same time at Las Fuentas  Mexican Restaurant in LaGrange for a bite of dinner and a margarita Saturday the 14th. Once dinner was over  Me and 12 of my besties were headed to RR Retreat by Margie for a quilting retreat. Our cars were loaded down with more material and projects than we could ever finish but you never know so it all had to come.
We unloaded our cars and set up our sewing area and immediately started sewing cutting and pressing. I had several games and prizes to play and win for the week. I had the Margie tape a tag on the bottom of a chair and on the 2nd day I had everyone turn their chair over to see who the winner was. I didn't know which chair was the winner either except I thought I checked Donna's chair.  Well the winner was Donna of Donna's Lavender Nest and she was the one who donated this prize. So then we had to have a drawing for the prize.
For a little distraction we took a field trip to Smithville to a new Quilt shop called Making Memories Quilt Shop and then over to Giddings to All Around the Block Quilt Shop. I mean a quilter can never have too much fabric. The new shop in Smithville is semi small but has room to grow and they are really friendly, helpful and generous. If you're in the area you need to go check them out. And of course All Around the Block quilt shop just goes on forever with fabric. They have something for everyone.

This is one fantastic group of gals. Unfortunately when we took this picture the sun was blinding us.  Oops! Never a dull moment with these gals.

We welcomed to new retreaters with us this time. Pam and Carla R. Yep that makes 2 Carla's and we have 3 Donna's.. Everyone completed at least one quilt top but most complete more. Tuesday night one of the girls, Ellen started feeling bad and she went to bed early but all was good by the next morning. Well at least for her. Right before lunch one of the girls Denise tells me she's not feeling well. What I didn't know was how bad she really felt until later that evening.  And by dinner time another retreater didn't feel well and she headed to bed early. What the heck is going on.....???

Here's a few pictures of the good times.  If you want to see more pictures you can click HERE

An Ellen creation
Texas Blocks

To the right is Carla R and her finished top









Below are blocks for Pam B. Quilt top

A great finish for Sandy.










From these 10" Squares AKA Layer Cakes Donna V. created the below
using a unique sew and cut then sew and cut again etc method 




Several of the girls took a crayon coloring block class from Margie of RR Retreats


As you can see it was taken on St Patty's Day.
One of our leprechauns joined the class.

I finally finished Jaxon's quilt based on Dalen Keys book "Just a Quilt". Started 2 years again









And here is my Aggie quilts I finished using the tumbler block from Accuquilt Go. Sew simple but the quilting from Donna Moore @ Donna's Lavender Nest. is the perfect finish.

Connor's Quilt  - no flower quilting motif This one has a scroll motif 

Kate's Quilt and floral quilting motif

Snapped a picture of Retreat owner Margie setting up the salad area for dinner one evening. Can't not mention that she feeds us really well and she's a great cook.
She had to leave us one night in the hands of her helpers and I saw her note that "You fix it they will come" I cracked up laughing because she is so right. No one wants to miss any of her meals. Oh and I can't forget her awesome tasty deserts at every meal. YUM YUM

And another great treat ...The sunsets






Our youngest retreater Megan advanced from making simple fleece quilts to piecing together a really cute top


She did a great job making points and corners match.
This picture was taken before she added sashing.

She was almost finished when her mother yells very nonchalant "Oh Shit I just cut my finger off".

Now I didn't take her serious until I looked up and saw all the blood. Okay this is not how I want our retreat to end. I jump up and get to looking for her finger thinking I'm looking for a
 huge chunk. I'm looking and can't see anything and I'm going Ellen how much of the finger am I looking for. Crap I can't find it! Ellen calming goes "look on the rotary cutter and sure enough there is the pad to her finger. Ewww what to do with it. Any size of finger cut off is not good and I wasn't sure if the hospital could do anything with it but we took it anyway. The whole time Ellen is remaining calm and putting ice on her finger and wrapping it up. Her daughter is our youngest retreater runs and  grabs her purse, keys and her Mom's purse and we head out the door at 11pm to the hospital. Ellen is treated by being given a tetanus shot and some antibiotics and I believe one stitch with heavy duty Tylenol. We get back to the retreat after  at around 2:45am. 
She had Megan take a picture while they are in the treatment room but not of the actual side of the finger missing. She cut the pad of her finger off that just missed the bone.
At about 8:30am Thursday the 19th I hear Ellen going Good Morning ladies. She was up and perky. The finger was all bandaged up in it's goth black bandages.

We could have used one of these but we finished most of our wines up by Tuesday besides being really tired after the run to the hospital ER. Really glad none of us had been drinking when the accident happened and had to drive.

Oh and for those folks who don't sew this is a rotary cutter that has a super sharp blade

Unfortunately Donna was still feeling bad and left early to go home. Denise felt some better but tired. At this point I was just hoping no one else got sick. Unfortunately I did get a text from one of the other girls that she got the stomach bug later Thursday night after she got home. By the time the weekend rolled round I still felt okay and no one else had texted me so I thought the rest of retreaters had avoided the bug or so I thought......................

Rocking K Farm bound.
I woke up Sunday feeling so so but was ready to ride up to the farm with David. 
He loaded up the zero turn mower so he could try and mow. We sure couldn't mow at home. This is what our yard was looking like just 3 days prior.
David got the mower stuck twice the yard is so wet.

LOL it wasn't much better at the farm. He almost got stuck a few times up front and then when he 
tried mowing the area to the right of the barn he sunk real good.  So much for mowing. He still had the trailer hooked up so he backed it down the hill and we attached a tow strap to the mower and trailer and pulled it out. He almost got the truck stuck when trying to position the trailer in line with the mower. He gave up. Before cleaning up the mower I got on and learned to drive it. I'm ready to help mow now when things are dry. We cleaned up the mower and he parked in the barn. 
While mowing David had about 3-4 bunnies jump out of the tall grass and hop for the fence line. I only saw this one. 

He also saw a tiny tiny little field mouse running for his life across the tall mounds of grass.
Yep We're in the country.
While sitting in our rocking chairs the Milan Cty Sheriff rolled up our driveway. Uh Oh we're in trouble now. Not really he was looking for a cow that the railroad had reported standing next to the tracks. Not ours. While he was standing there talking to us David asked if it was okay to shoot guns on our property and the deputy told us sure that's the benefit of living in the country as long as we didn't shoot toward traffic, neighbors house or the tracks. No problem with that. The sheriff bid us a good day and down the road he went.
We decided to walk down to the pond to feed the fish. The really big fish. Had to be careful because it was really wet and soggy down there. Fun! I need some rain boots for the farm. David had the gun with him just in case we saw a long slithery creature.  When we finish feeding the fish David asked if I wanted to shoot the 357 magnum. Yeah but uhhh not sure. I was afraid of the recoil from the gun. I figured with my luck it would throw my hand up and the gun would fly into the pond behind us. I let David shoot first. Damn that thing is loud. Made my ears ring. So I took my turn and it wasn't so bad. We didn't have targets we were just shooting into the big mound of dirt from when the previous owner dug out and made the pond bigger. 
On Tuesday the 24th at 2 am it hit me. Hence why the girls at work felt I needed an appropriate name for this post. I got the stomach virus. NO FUN! I haven't gotten back to a 100% yet so my goal of getting this post done right after the retreat and weekend didn't happen.

My
2015 UFO's Update

last 2 handmade items from FB post. Finished 3 of 5
Jaxon's quilt - put on last sashing, at quilters, ready for binding
2 flannel baby quilts - one ready for binding, one heading to quilters
Sandy's memory quilt - bought fabric, photos ready, need a good pattern
Texas Flag quilt - red and white section ready, work on blue blocks
Antique Sue Bonnet Sue quilt - at quilters 

Pamela's quilts

• #1 in process for guest room, center section done, piecing border blocks heading to the quilter
• #2 t-shirt quilt
• #3 black/white/teal
• #4 kit we bought in Missouri a few years ago

Aggie Quilts - One was done until I had to rip out the borders

Nickies Tshirt quilt

Mom's 

• flannel quilt - pieced, add applique
• fleece quilt

Ongoing projects

• postcards
• bookmarks
• mug rugs 
• read. Where o' where is my reading mojo? grrrr

Allan's quilt - fabric bought
Phi Mu auction quilt - fabric bought

valances

• den
• breakfast room
• dining room
• master bath

Hobo Quilt - picking up fabric

Bible Quilt - fabric bought, 1 block

Special Quilt for a special grandma (JLK)

Open a pattern I bought and and make it

Got home from Book club meeting tonight. Tonight we discussed an interesting book called "Raising My Rainbow" by Lori Duron. The book is about raising her son who is gender nonconforming. It was a great night. I'm gonna go find her blog and follow this family and their journey. General consensus was the book was worth reading and provides lots of conversation. 

Well that's it for now. I'm sure you're bored by now
Until next Blog Post....Whoever is happy will make others happy too. ~Anne Frank