Quilt Retreat Part 2 retreat #26 and the Landscaping continues

Donna Marie was my roommate and one night when we got in bed we started breaking down each block of the quilt hanging in our room. Donna asked went into the shop the next day and asked if the pattern was still available and it is. Now to buy it and decide when to make it. It has so many elements to it and the colors drew us in. 

Also in several of the rooms there was this cute picture. Do you see the face?  LOL  It's the flowers the way they look.  

The Two eyes and a little nose over my bed.

These Ladies are up to no good I tell you.  LOL  They were behind me and when I turned around you could tell this little group was enjoying their conversation. And then they all started cracking up.  It's great to see everyone have a good time.

Barbara is so funny. She's Thelma's Louise. She's so quiet and then she has you laughing. I got a picture of her UFO she was working on.

  

Me and Donna Marie left the store and stopped for a photo and then I started taking some selfie shots. Can't have too many shots of our friends!

    

  Eventually we played Left Right Center dice game. Just when you think you're out of the game someone next to you has to pass their token back to you and you're back in the game.  We play with 5 one dollar bills usually but this time I told the girls I had coins to trade for their $5. There was always someone who forgot to get change and have one dollar bills ready for our game.

Coins were easier to toss in basket too.  But when the person wins I put the dollar bills in the basket so they can play with the money and count it. This retreat it was Robin who was the winner! She was so funny. She decided to try and hide the money but Donna Lynn as usual was trying to steal it.

   Yes we are crazy but someone always walks away with the pot at the end of the game. They use it to shop for fun stuff or out to eat.

Several of the girls chose to hand out little gifts to everyone. My picture is missing my pretty blue sewing machine earrings.  I think I had them in my ears.  And before we knew it our time was up.  Maybe I'll work on a return return in the future.  It was fun, relaxing, productive and roomy.

On the way home (10/18) I found a good spot to take pictures of a couple quilts I finished. This one is a quilt I made for David to donate to a Breast Cancer Awareness Auction that one of the race promoters puts on.  Hope it raises some good money for a good cause. The auction will be held at the final race and awards night sometime in November.

Made a special label for the quilt with my embroidery machine. Love the flame looking quilt theme that Donna @ Donna's Lavender Nest chose.

 

And this quilt was made for our newest great nephew, Huxen Krewe. It's okay to post now that they have received and Huxen can be wrapped in love.  You can see the bear and deer quilting theme in the close ups.

   

 I have a couple more quilts being finished but can't post yet since they are to be gifts and other one is still in progress.  I better get busy.

While at retreat David was still working on the landscaping. This on the North side of garage.  Sadie liked laying in the dirt there but she can't do that now. He's trying to use Texas native plants for easy maintenance plants.

  

Then the day after I got back from retreat he planted in the bed on the east side of house. I can look out the Texas themed Bedroom or my sewing room to watch them grow. 

These two helped their furless dad. They wanted to make sure he did it right. 

So I'll was home for 2 1/2 days and then David drove me down to Kaleb and Pamela's to ride with them to Missouri. They're going to go visit my adoptive niece Hannah and her family but they'll drop me off at my Sister's Barb and Cresia to hang out and drive them crazy for almost 8 days....  I've never been gone from home this long. David is staying home to entertain the our pups and the grand pup Bri.

Better stop for now because I have lots to share from the Missouri trip. 

Until next post...n  Addicted to fabric and proud of it.

Oh the Fun. Dogs, Reading, Boys, Landscape and Quilting!

 These two hounds are so cute. They seem to like each other, What do you think? 

October 9 we had our G3 bookclub meeting and discussed our latest read "The Women" by Kristen Hannah. The book is based in the 60's about the women vets that served in the Vietnam war. YES there were women in Vietnam. And as the main character says "if you didn't see me that means you came home"  We all really liked the book except for a couple but that's okay. We met at Texas Steak & Seafood in Caldwell. Who knows where we'll end up next. Wherever it is we have fun. Our next book will be "It Girl" by Ruth Ware.

So Killian did a quick 5 second ride in the Mutton Busting Contest recently.

Braxton was a tad too big to ride. Darn it. Killian was pretty proud of himself.  If you click on HERE the video of his ride will pop up I hope.  

Before leaving for quilt retreat David worked on the flower bed on the eastside of the house. Sadly something killed all the roses over there so he has reworked the bed for a new design.  Can't wait to see how it turns out with new plants. No roses this time.

Tuesday (10/14) at 8:15 am I headed out to Quitman, TX for Stitchin Heaven Quilt Retreat with some of my quilty friends. The 14 of us had lots of fun, plenty of table space, lots of laughter.. 

I'm all smiles when I first get there then overwhelmed when everyone starts showing up. We had never been there so we all needed some directions. LOL  But it's all good because I love my friends and now I have 4 new friends.  It's two ladies to a room with a full bath with beautiful quilts hung on the walls in the rooms and in the halls. 

Our group for this retreat. All with their own personality, creativity and talent.  If you don't know how to do something you can bet one of these ladies can help you or we'll figure it out together.

Do you know who Achmed is? He's the dead terrorist puppet with comedian Jeff Dunham.  He made a guest appearance at retreat and he even served a purpose.. He became the charcuterie board one evening

Thank you Donna Lynn and Kim.      

I knew a former guild member from Cypress area had married and moved to Minneola area but never expected to run into her at the quilt store.  But first I ran into her, Doppelganger I think it's called. When I arrived at retreat I went in to check in and ran into this lady that could have definitely passed for a sister but I thought it was Mandy and said Hi and asked her how the kids were and she's like I only have one. Ding Ding Ding this isn't Mandy. LOL But the next time I went into the shop I saw the real Mandy.  As soon as I heard her voice I knew it was the real Mandy. 

She had just started working at the shop. 

Will the real Mandy stand up.. It was great seeing her! 

When you go into the store you can have a photo opt with Gus.

Yolanda, Judy then Donna Lynn and I took our photo with Gus. Yolanda is one of my new retreaters to the group. She's a Vet and learning the quilting game. Thank you for your service Yolanda. She was a lot of fun.

This is one of Judy's projects she worked on.

Fair Warning...This post may be on Photo overload but it's hard to choose which photos to post.  Here's Sandy working hard on one of her quilt top projects. And next one she had started last July at another one of our retreats. I think she might finish this time.

 

Got a few shots of the ladies working hard on projects.

Donna Marie who's been with me since 2013 and Thelma one of my new retreaters. Glad to have her with us.

One of Thelma's UFO's she worked on. That's Judy's bag below the block work.

Now another of my new retreaters is very creative and fun. And she's also a vet.  Thank you Dottier for your service.  She designed her own embroidery of baby dino's. Very impressive.  She also designed a cool decal for her car and some for T-shirts. I might have bought a couple decals from her for the T-shirts I just bought at Hobby Lobby while in Missouri. I know drive to Missouri and buy blank T-shirts. I'll share once I get the decals pressed on the shirts.  This is Dottie. 

 Kim came all the way from New Mexico. She joins us at least once a year for retreats. And then there's Donna Lynn who we tend to call Donna Lavender because she loves purple. I'm surprised she didn't make Achmed purple.

 

Bekki had some great finishes within the first couple of days. She hasn't retreated with us for couple of years but I'm glad she came this time. She was a busy girl.

 

Bekki had quite the set up for her project work but she did take time to go out to sit out by the pond in the Adirondack chairs. The fun part was getting out of that chair. She almost had to call for help. LOL

I got a picture of Jane working but can't find the picture of her cute Halloween quilt. Bad BPO Bad. Ahhh found one. It's patchwork behind Sheryl. I thought I took one of it by itself but it's gone now.

Then here's Robin. She comes in from Colorado. She's not a quilter but she very artsy. This retreat she made greeting cards. And they are intricate. Sheryl is my other non-quilter who with Robin worked on greeting cards.

   

 Great work ladies.

 

Robin was also our Chef Thursday (10/16) evening. She prepared Chicken in a plum sauce, Baked squash, green beans and Hello Dollies for dessert.  

It didn't take time for us to line up for our dinner.

 

  

Robin did a great job on dinner. Can't thank her enough for volunteering to cook one evening.

Well unless I totally overload you with more pictures I'll stop for this post. So watch for part 2 of the retreat with silly pictures soon. We had too much fun and the 4 new ladies, Thelma, Barbara, Yolanda and Dottie fit in great. They are a nice addition to my Material Girls.

So Until Next Blog Post...“Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you; spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.”