A Quilting I went....Retreat Time

Photo by RR Retreats

Two Weeks ago I was so busy trying to stay caught up at work and at home all while I was trying to pack up fabric, and necessary equipment needed to sew for a week long retreat at RR Retreats by Margie. 
Friday before I left work we surprised my co-worker Ashley with a little Graduation party. She's the first one in her family to graduate from college. She ran into a couple of obstacles a long the way and having a two year old running around made it interesting but she succeeded and she should be proud of herself.  
So while I was busy packing my car and grocery shopping for me and for David she was walking across the stage in Austin getting her BS in Information Technology. I was there in spirit for her.
Way To Go!



I headed out on Sunday the 17th to spend the week with a few of my quilty friends.  Yep I left the Husband and my Fur Baby to hold down the fort at home while I went to sew, laugh, drink some wine and try to finish up some old projects that have been sitting on the shelf, the table or machine for way way toooo long. 
Plus I had to finish my Round Robin Medallion before our hand off on Tuesday. 
As I was driving along thru Fayetteville I saw this little self serve Library. Too cool. I had heard about them on the show Day Tripper and Country Reporter but never seen one until now. When I go through next March I'll have to stick a couple of books in there and if there's one I just really want to read maybe I'll help myself to it but for sure I want contribute a couple books to their library. What a great way to share the love of reading.
Whew I did it. I finished 97% of my medallion. LOL. I won't see it now for a year and then it will be a finished quilt top.  I knew I wanted a more rustic kind of Santa and I found this picture on pinterest but couldn't find the pattern. Of course not. That would be too easy. So I had to trace the pieces I wanted and figure out how to applique it on my fabric.  I left the rabbit off and I wanted a different type of truck. Thanks to my friend Sandy B. for finding a picture of a truck that was more to my liking. And here's how my medallion turned out. 
Now I was asking Margie how to put bows on my Christmas packages and the cactus and she started showing me but then she stopped and said just make a note in your book for "me, Margie" to embellish the packages and cactus and then I add to added the please embellish the windmill too. 

Then David came up with a good idea and asked if I could somehow put our Rockin K symbol on the truck. Mmmm and I thought yeah I can embroider it but I'll need to do that after I get the quilt top back since I forgot to do it before the hand off.


Wal-Mart and HEB got plenty of business this week from us at retreat. It seems everyone either needed or forgot something. I went with Donna Marie the first night while she picked up a couple of things and I looked for the dice game Left-Right-Center. A must have for this week. I was feeling silly and the display of silk flowers called my name and well a crazy picture. And No I did not have too much to drink even though that's what many thought. I hadn't started yet. LOL. 







The next morning Sandy was up early as usual and took these great pictures.  She said at one point you couldn't even see our cars in the parking lot the fog was so thick.







Here's Denise working hard on her medallion. She just started it Sunday evening. Holy crap and we're doing the hand off on Tuesday. The girl is crazy but good.

And here is part of a block that Sandy is working on. Can't wait to see how it all comes together and by the end of the blog I will have a picture of her putting the block up. This girls completes more quilt tops I tell ya.

And now it gets real. The last 2 of our 6 member Round Robin team arrived. Margie has helped us all sort though our fabric and complete our books,  fill in any blanks and now it's time for us to talk about our block and pass them and our suit case full of fabric off. Oh Boy here goes nothing.

So this below is how it's gonna work. I'll pass my medallion and suitcase of fabric that I bought to be used in my quilt to Mary Jane and she'll add the first border to it no bigger than say 2-4 inches. She can piece, applique, whatever floats her boat. And she passes to Margie and so forth. We won't meet again until November for the next hand off but we're not allowed to see our own medallions from now on. We'll see everyone else's but not our own at the next hand off.

We'll have to leave the room while they talk about our individual medallions so the final quilt top will be a total surprise a year from now. Oh our group is call the Reluctant Round Robins. We were Margie's Misfits but Margie said "No!" LOL

We each talk about our medallion, our inspiration, our wants and our don't wants. Margie went first. Her medallion is Mrs. Claus to go with her Bubba Claus that she did in another Round Robin. 

Then here's Mildred.  This is the medallion I have to add the first border on. I actually already have an idea and ran it by the gals after Mildred left the next day. She and her sister Mary Jane couldn't stay for the retreat. They just came up for the Round Robin hand off.  Now I have to figure out how to make my idea work.

Our 3rd Robin is Donna Marie. She did a pieced medallion. I'm not sure but I think she kinda getting into this Round Robin thing. She was giving me a bad time about even considering the possibility of liking this quilting adventure even as scary as it is.
What's scary you ask? The idea of messing up someone else's quilt that's what!





Then it was my turn to talk about my medallion. Here's what a couple of the pages look like in our book. Then there's a page for me to write about my medallion and then there's pages for each person that adds a border to write about what inspired them to add the border they added. 
This is Mary Jane and her block. She like me created a Christmas medallion. And the funny thing is that neither one of us typically applique but go figure that's the way we both went.



And our 6th Robin is Denise that I volunteered.  LOL  That's what happens when you don't come to a retreat and travel to Japan to see your new Grandson Henry. Who by the way is one adorable little guy. Any arguments? Didn't think So. Back to Denise and her medallion. As I said earlier she just started her medallion Sunday when we got here and she's left on Wednesday. 
In this picture on Tuesday the day of the hand off she wasn't quite finished but later that afternoon she finished up so she could work on something else for a while before packing up so she could go home the next day. Here's what the final medallion looks like. 
We had three new gals join us this retreat but 2 of them were leaving Tuesday and Alice one of our new gals wanted a group picture. Alice is the one on the far left and Debbie the one hiding behind her is also new. They were lots of fun but had to leave too soon. Now our third newbie wouldn't get in the picture because well she used to be an under cover cop. 

So I decided to make her our Mr. Wilson. Did you ever watch Home Improvement with Tim Allen? Remember the neighbor Mr. Wilson you never saw his face well you'll never see Ms. V's face either.  Problem solved. LOL
Cute bag!

Projects being completed or started.
I was able to make 12 wine bottle gift bags. And Ms V. work on her 4th or 5th friendship star quilt. She had gotten into a block exchange and had hundreds of them. She was on a mission to get them put into quilt tops.

Beginners luck. We played the Dice Game Left Right Center with Batik Fat Quarters and she was the last one standing and won the basket of fat quarters. And she loves batik fabrics.
Always have the greatest sunsets up there during retreat.

Donna is having laptop issues. Not a good thing. V. is trying to help. She's very helpful and so much fun.

Margie pulled out a Round Robin Quilt she had for someone to pick up. This is my kind of quilt.  Love love the quilting too! It might have disappeared if the owner hadn't showed up when she did. LOL

Here's some blocks by Donna Lynn. She was just sewing away. Couldn't believe how many blocks for this quilt and a flag block quilt she was working on and completed.  The flag was made out of 1930's fabric I think. Thought I had a picture but don't. 




A tiny block that Donna Marie was working on.

One Morning we had a Hoot of a breakfast. Jane gave us everything we needed to create cute little owls for breakfast.

It was all about OWLS

Someone decided to to go for a mouse. Sandy.

Remember that single block next to the iron in the beginning of the post? This is what a bunch of those little blocks together create! Cool block and look it also creates a cross in between each colorful block.

Every evening Margie cooks us a yummy dinner. This was Wednesday's dinner I believe. Sooo good!

We're so easily amused. Jim and Margie came in with a bubble coffee maker. It was very interesting little gadget. Looked like a science project.





By Thursday night we had two more new ladies join us. Linda and Rhonda.
Fun Gals. It was Great meeting them.
Rhonda hid away when we went out to take another group picture. The retreat had come to an end and it was time to go home. Bah hum bug. We still have projects to finish and wine to drink and stories to tell. 

I can post this now . This is Margie's Round Robin Quilt top that she got to see for the first time since Saturday after we left. It had been a year since she handed off her center medallion Wow! Awesome quilt. Not my favorite color of course.  It would have been better if it had been maroon and the horns sawed off. LOL. 
Just kidding Margie! They did a beautiful job on each and every row. I hope our Reluctant Round Robins live up to your expectations.

Until next blogging adventure....

Music, Babies and Wine

Well I was on a roll last week end trying to keep up with posting and then poof. Oh well.
After Friday night's anniversary celebration on the 2nd we decided to go to Kenney to the Kenney Store to listen to a group called 

Picture from Blue Grooves Website

The Blue Grooves. One night when at Main Street listening to a band they had a guitar playing who said he played with the Blue Grooves sometimes and we should check them out so we did. This I believe is a picture of him on the far right but he wasn't with them Saturday. The guys there were good. They played a range of songs and they all sounded great! Some times you thought you were listening to the band who originally sang/played the song. They also had a gal named Rita from the Kenney Store come up on stage and sing. Wow she was good too. The one song they played by Linda Ronstadt called Blue Bayou, well they should of had her sing. It wasn't bad but it just needed that female voice to make it right. We hollered at some friends of ours who lived just down the road from Kenney to see if they wanted to join us. And they sure. Mark and Kathy joined us for a tasty dinner and some good music. Did I mention the Kenney Store serves good food? From hamburgers to grilled or fried pork chops to fried fish. They have a little of everything. And Ice Cold Beer. We'll definitely go back there again. And we'll try to catch The Blue Grooves again. Fun Nite.
Sunday we were gonna get up and go to breakfast at our favorite hole in the wall place and David was gonna smoke some ribs and brisket butttt that didn't happen instead we took it easy. He actually relaxed which he rarely does. He can't sit still. He thinks he has to work himself to death but he actually took time to watch some racing and I did some sewing on my Round Robin Block. Grrrr. It was just a very lazy day. We might of had a nap in there somewhere. Monday was the BBQ day. David did good! mmm mmm good. We had ribs one night and brisket the next. So tasty.


This past Saturday the 10th Pamela came home so we could go to a baby shower together. It was the son of my sorority sister Sheryl. He and his twin brother have been friends with Pamela since they were babies. 
This is the Momma to Bee, Hailey. Isn't she a cutie. She hardly looks pregnant.

 

The young lady in black is one of the hostess's and the one in white is my daughter Pamela..



The Daddy to Bee wanted to make sure I got pictures of all the gifts so they could share them with Hailey's Mom who couldn't make it and neither could his Grandma.  He was so funny. Holding up that bottle pedialyte up like it was special drink just for him. I heard Pamela tell him it was good for hangovers. Which he already knew. I learned something.

Love this shirt they got as gift. 

If you can't read it.... "Super Handsome Like my Uncle"

Not sure which Uncle got that shirt for them but I have an idea. LOL

And this shirt is perfect.

Then this older brother/Uncle to Bee got to babysit a doll for a little girl who just adores him. LOL Not married, no kids but he is great with kids and I caught him with the doll via the camera. I'm sure his brothers won't let him forget it then who knows. Isn't he cute? 

After the shower Pamela and I went home to grab David to go get a bite of dinner. Then a couple my friends from work came over. And that means wine. Yep we had wine. We also played a friendly game of Cards against Humanity. This not a game for the faint of heart and if you're easily offended it's not a game for you. But leave it to me, Samara, Ashley and my daughter to have endless laughs over this crazy game. 

I believe Pamela was trying out her Spanish on Samara at this point. She tries to tell me she can't speak Spanish. Okay so maybe not fluently but she can speak enough to get her point across. She's such a goof ball.  Gotta love her.

Pamela provided this picture via snapchat of her and Samara. 

 I don't think David took time to count the wine bottles in the trash can this time. He was home this time. He stayed in the den and watched football and racing while us girls got crazy.  He said he didn't even want to bother us when he decided to go to bed. We were having to good a time.  What happened at that table that night will stay at that table unless.... 


I decide to blackmail them. I remember everything that happened unlike .... mmmmm  Call me Crazy

Until next blog....Friendship is a tapestry woven through the years with threads of joy and laughter, happiness, and tears.

Quilt Done and 38 years

Okay so I've been teasing you with tiny pictures of a quilt I was working on but now I can show the whole quilt. It's complete and the recipient Hudson has already had he's first picture taken on it. 

Isn't Hudson just the cutest little guy you've seen today. It's hard to image his momma having a baby. She used to babysit my daughter back in the day. Rhonda took these photos and shared them on facebook. My daughter and I had been tantalizing her about what the quilt looked like and when she'd get for a couple of weeks so when I called to confirm her address she goes "are you mailing me a package?" LOL

I always put a label on my quilts to give credit where credit is due plus a little message to the recipient of some kind along with the date of the finish.

My friend Donna Marie was my Quilt hanger for the below pictures. Sorry I couldn't just pick one picture. 

 I found the pattern on Clover and Violet blog with a tutorial called pinwheel toss with a disappearing 9 patch. I made a fairly simply quilt more difficult than it had to be. Out of the 18 pinwheels only 5 of them went together right the first time. The other 13 I had to 'un-sew' them, a quilter's favorite thing to do. The cutting and twisting the 9 patch part was fine. I did have to be careful and not put the same fabrics where they would end up together. Rhonda had told me her idea for the nursery was geometric shapes and the colors back when she announced she was pregnant in October 2015 so I had grabbed my daughter when visiting in Bryan so she could help me pick out fabrics. She has a great eye for color. We we trying to figure out which fabric or fabrics to put as the backing when I saw the fabric with the fish on it and I knew immediately that was the backing. You see Rhonda's Dad was a big hunter and big fisher. His nickname was the Redfish King so the fish backing was perfect. Just a little way to add a piece of the Redfish King. Grandpa Ronnie passed in March 2015. We sure miss him.
I did tell Rhonda to not look real closely or she'll find my mistakes.
I fixed most of them I think but I there's at least one still there that I could fix so easily.
The quilting was done by my friend Donna Lynn from Donna's Lavender Nest. She even trimmed and squared up my quilt for me since she knows I have an issue doing it. Love her for that.

September 2 was mine and David's 38th wedding anniversary. That's a lot of wine drinking. LOL Of course we've had our ups and downs but somehow we've  manage to work through them and not kill each other even though I know at times he wanted to and vice versa. Just 
saying. 
He came home the night before from work with this big bouquet of roses with yellow lily's. They are beautiful. They are all starting to open now.
We had decided earlier in July that this anniversary would be a stay at home kind of anniversary and we'd wait until cooler weather to head out to the hill country to meet up with some friends. 
So Friday we woke and decided to drive to New Ulm for well we were to late for breakfast so we stopped at the Texas Star Cafe in New Ulm for lunch. They even have live music on Friday evenings but we already have plans so we'll settle for lunch. I got a homemade jalapeno cheeseburger and David ordered the jalapeno chili cheese burger. Holy cow. I'm not sure he expected this. It wasn't just messy but there was no picking it up and eating it. He was full for the rest of the day. After that we stopped at a few antique stores and just drove thru the country side. 
We made a big circle and made a stop at the Rockin K that is still waiting for it's patio cover. It does have deck railing and the frame for the cover. The railing David said was to keep me from falling off. mmm I guess that's a possibility. The contractor said he'd be back hopefully next weekend to finish this and the covers off the barn. Geez I hope so. That will provide us lots of shade. It wasn't as hot this year as it as it has been in the past so it was nice sitting on the deck of the Mini Mansion with our "fema tarp" as shade. The big bulls in the pasture behind us are behind us are gone and now there are Momma cows. 
I tried to make friends but they weren't having any of that. 
The only wild life I saw was the grasshopper on the deck rail who probably wished I'd get out of his face. 
After hanging out at the Rockin K for a while we headed to Pamela's. She had a wedding in Ft. Worth so we agreed to babysit our fur grand baby. 
Sophie was all excited to see us and came willing with us but when we got her in the car I think she began to wonder if her Furless Mom was okay with this or were we kidnapping her.
Sophie's furry Mom Lilley was quite happy to see her when we got home. They went running around the house and then in the yard. They are so funny. They love to play together.

After we got them feed and settled we took off again and headed out for our anniversary dinner to the Texas Mesquite. We had an awesome dinner and drinks. It was an awesome day. Our waiter was funny and prompt. 

What shall we do for the rest of the weekend? Maybe nothing... mmmmmmm Stay tuned.
Until next blog....A marriage is like a quilt, it takes work but is worth it

Out of my Box

Okay I'm way outta my box on this Round Robin thing. This picture pretty much shows my Oh crap What have I gotten myself into?! What's a Round Robin you ask? mmm how do I explain.... 
A Round Robin consists of 3-6 quilters that each create their own center block with the theme of their choice for a quilt no smaller than 14 x 14 but no bigger than say 18 x 18. I made those numbers square but it could be rectangular like mine is. It just has to be divisible by 2. Then each member goes buy enough fabric so the remaining members in your group can use that fabric to add a border that center block/medallion at a given time. On September 20th during my quilt retreat my group will meet up and share our completed medallion and pass it and our suit case of fabric on to the next team member to add a border. That will be the last time we'll see our individual medallions until the top is complete. We'll decided how long we need before next hand off and pass on the suitcase we have to the next member and so on.  We can give our members clues of what we'd like to see on our quilt but they will ultimately be in control of how and what goes into it. I have no clue and neither do 4 of the other 5 girls in the group as to what we're really doing but we're going to try.  You only one gal really know whats going on and we shall call her the "Round Robin Queen".

LOL We wanted to be her Misfits but she wouldn't let us pick that name darn it. She is in like 3 different Round Robins at a time. Holy cow. I'm doing good to be in this one. This is one of Margie's Round Robin quilts from another Round Robin. Each border around the victorian lady was made by a different member of that group.
It's really pretty and this is what worries us. This is outside our box. Yikes
I'm sure I'll end up with an adorable Christmas quilt.
Saturday me and 2 of the Reluctant Robins went to Quilter's Crossing in Tomball for their Open House and big sale. We each found some much needed fabric for our Round Robin projects. The place was packed. The girls and the young man at the store were working hard but they never lost their smiles even with all the people demanding their attention. With all the crowd it took us some time to find what we wanted, stand in the line to get our fabric cut and then stand in line to pay. Then Donna, Denise and I headed to lunch we were starved. We could hear the Whistle Stop Tea Room calling our name.
The food there is so so yummy good. It was a great day!
Since I had Donna in my car I made her be my helper and we went to take some pictures of the quilt I had just finished for a little guy named Hudson. I'll post the pictures after he receives it which should be this week. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. It's not perfect but then neither am I. The quilting is awesome though because it was done by Donna at Donna's Lavender Nest.
I'm busy working on the Round Robin thing and the memory quilt for a former co-worker. She's been patiently waiting for much delayed birthday gift. Of course I did have to wait on her for a while to provide me with some pictures. Hope the quilt is worth her wait. 

Anyway after Donna left I hung out on the patio with my fur baby until David got home from the farm. She's such a sweet girl. There was a nice breeze out for the first time in a long time that I couldn't resist hanging out.


Last week I bought a new wine to try at the suggestion of my co-

worker Ashley called Comal Creek White Black Spanish Viii. So I popped it open while cooking. Those are what my Othermom always called ketchup taters. Except I add onion and bell peppers to mine and fry them up. I've got David calling them that now too. LOL. So bad for you but so good.
Anyway I was only able to drink 2 glasses. Wow 12.5% alcohol.  

Crazy..Got a big buzz on those 2 glasses but it was tasty.

Well that's it for now...Until next blog.....The trouble is if you don’t spend your life yourself, other people spend it for you.