"Brown Bag Retreat Time!"

I'll be able to finish some projects for sure this month since I'll be attending a "Brown Bag" Quilt Retreat in Buellton, CA, hosted by The Creation Station Quilt Shop. I've been attending at least two Brown Bag Retreats per year for several years now. It's three days of all the quilting you choose to do and the best fun!!

One of my closest friends, Nancy, works and attends these retreats, so I join her, often spending the weekend with her. Other times Nick and I take the RV and stay at the Flying Flags RV Resort with our friends, Lynn and Rick from Redding. The guys hang out at the campground, go fishing, play horseshoes, etc, while Lynn and I meet Nancy and quilt away the hours for 3 days! For this retreat we're taking the RV, meeting Lynn and Rick at Flying Flags, so it's going to be a great weekend for sure!!

As any quilter knows when attending a quilt retreat it's best to take several projects to do, because you never know how much you'll get done or what you'll feel like working on. You wouldn't want to run out of options, should you find yourself stuck on a pattern, or just in the mood to work on another project, so it's good to have choices and a variety of projects just in case!

September projects to do (as a member of CGQC and OPAM):

1) from my August to do: finish my All American Tablerunner-just needs the label actually! 2) also from my August to do: pin/baste, machine quilt, and bind my Mary Engelbreit "Tossed Nine Patch" Lap Quilt! 3) McKenna Ryan's "Moose Junction" Quilt (my friend, Lynn and I both bought this kit on our Alaskan Cruise last summer, and we plan to work on it together at the retreat!) 4) McKenna Ryan's "No Trespassing Tablerunner, block three of "Calling Me Home" Quilt (also bought on my Alaskan Cruise last summer--I just love McKenna Ryan's patterns!) 5) If I still have time, I'd like to finish my Quick Trip lap quilt made with Robin Pandolph's line of fabrics in soft reds and greens--( I pieced the top in August) -- just need to pin/baste, machine quilt, and bind! I'm really looking forward to making my McKenna Ryan patterns!!

PS Another quilt reveal: here's the front of the "4 Squares and Animals" Baby Boy Quilt I finished in July for my friend's daughter, due in a week or so.....I was able to find fabrics that matched the colors of the baby's room. I appliqued baby animals in the solid squares and surrounded them with 4 squares and a pieced border. I made a personalized label too!

A Productive August!

August was a busy month and a productive one for me. I finished more projects than I expected I might! I completed my lap size "Nine Patch Party Christmas" Quilt which now hangs on display at the the Quilt in a Day store where I work part time. It was a fun quilt to make, easy and quick! I did some basic quilting through the nine patches and free motion quilting around the poinsettias in the border.

(Here's a close-up of the quilt front)

Since this is a Christmas quilt I thought it only fitting to do a special backing, one with a cross in the middle, made from fabrics used on the front.

While I didn't finish all the projects I set out to complete, as mentioned in my previous post, I made a few I hadn't anticipated doing, including a re-useable tote, new valances for my master bathroom, two small pieced baby blankets, and a summer dress for Gigi (I fashioned a pattern from one of her other dresses!).

(It's next to impossible to catch Gigi smiling
when I snap a picture of her these days!)

(Notice her quick moving in this shot?!)

I've got another one of these cute dresses cut out to make in a pink Hawaiian fabric (one of my September projects to finish).

This month I also designed, appliqued, pieced and quilted a small wallhanging (this is a surprise gift).

I got my inspiration for this wallhanging from a napkin,
shown above with the fabrics I used.

I machine appliqued this mini quilt, with a palm tree, beach umbrella, sun and a 'surfer,' and used fabric with beach umbrellas for the border. (Machine applique is so easy when you use paper backed fusible.) I shadow quilted around the pieces appliqued and stippled in the border. My daughter loves this wallhanging so much I will most likely make her one. Actually, it looks so cute on my quilt hanger in my hallway, I think I will also need to make another one for myself!!

Oh, and I almost forgot, here's a picture of one of the quilts I finished in July:

"Our Quick Trip to Novato Quilt"

for our friends Nancee and Marc