I had a wonderful time in Phoenix at retreat again this year, although my knee was less than cooperative. I usually don't get a whole lot of sewing done, preferring to socialize more than sew. I also did some swimming and soaking in the hot tub.
I did finish my sweatshirt jacket, and Dale was good enough to put it on after I got home so I could get pictures of it. I put a band of black fabric across the bottom to give it some additional length.
My first shopping spree was Savers which is conveniently located to the hotel. I did find a great king size 100% cotton sheet, along with some black fabric that will make a good backing. It was priced $1.99, and I also found five yards of black flannel which had no price tag, and the cashier rung it up for $1.99 as well. Woo-hoo!
My next shopping was at IKEA! They had this canvas sturdy fabric with graphic apples--99 cents/yard. I bought five yards. I thought I'd make a picnic quilt, but then decided it would also be great to cover my ironing board as well. I also couldn't resist this wonderful graphic batik with circles and koi...five and a half yards for $20! Maybe I can talk daughter Jackie into it for the grandsons' bed quilts. If not I like it well enough for a quilt for me!
Then I hit the jackpot. Tove who is my birthday twin--same day and same year--took me shopping to SAS. I did pretty well last year at the SAS store near Pat's place. Tove took me to the store in Tempe, since she knew they had gotten a new shipment.
I now have a Kaffe Fassett stash along with some more batiks to add to my collection. I enjoyed getting it all washed and ironing it all, fondling each piece as I went along! I got it all for $3.99/yd. A couple of the batiks are extra wide--backings!!
I'm getting my sewing room back in order so I can get back to quilting. I came home with an abundance of tops for Dr. Kaufman thanks to all my generous friends at retreat. They'll keep me out of trouble for a long while. Dale replaced the original recessed fixture in my sewing room with this fixture. Why I didn't think to have him do this a long time ago, I don't know, but we now have some great LED bulbs in it as well. I like good lighting.
Seems like Pat and I have established Mondays as sew days--and it's a great way to start the week!
Pat put together two Hungry Caterpillar quilt tops.
I loaded and quilted another from the pile-o-tops that she has made possible! The moon looked so pretty in the late afternoon.
I'm afraid those clouds moved in and Tuesday has dawned dreary. I need to hurry up and finish my bright sweatshirt!
Winter sunrises are the best! We seem to frequently have clouds in the eastern horizon that make for a colorful dawning of the day!
I finished the Superman quilt using a planet and stars pantograph. Starting what I hope will be a big new stack of quilts to deliver to Dr. Kaufman.
I've also been working on a sweatshirt jacket for me. It's coming along, and now I need to make a concerted effort to get it done since the fussy parts are finished.
I'm hoping it will bring brightness to dreary winter days, which we have very few of here in NM.
It's a bit cold, 3 degrees this morning, but I'm not complaining since we finally got some snow. The last measurable snowfall we had was before Christmas! We have had some very light, corn snow that never even dampened the ground since then.
This is so much needed moisture! We made it to town and back yesterday--I closed my eyes on the canyon part of the drive home, but really to an experienced snow driver, Dale, it was nothing. Now it can snow a foot, since we don't go back to town for another week, and the fridge and cupboards are well stocked.
I finished the quilting on this one last fall after Melody put it together using some Route 66 fabric I had been aging in my stash. Our longarm guild decided not to do any more raffle fundraisers, and Melody's husband loved the quilt, so we bartered and she kept it. I hadn't gotten a picture of the finished product.
I was surprised that he could identify the cars from the quilting with the pantograph. Melody's sister, Janna, made this QOV (Quilt of Valor) for Eddie, and I was happy to be able to quilt it using another Judy Lyon design, Star Banner.
Meanwhile, Pat has been putting together lots of tops for Dr. Kaufman, and I have a pile-o-tops to be quilted now. Fortunately, they are smaller and go pretty quickly, since I'm still struggling with my "despicable knee." Need to sweep a path out to the sewing room and get busy.
