Happy Anniversary to Me!

Two years ago today I started blogging. Apparently it agreed with me because I've been pretty chatty - this is also my 500th post. No surprise to anyone of course as I've already mentioned this fact a couple times LOL!

If you have left me one or more comments since I first mentioned this then you are already entered in my anniversary give away. If you've not commented yet, or would like to enter more than once, then comment on this posting. I will give everyone a couple more days, then will do the drawing on Tuesday evening. I want to mail the package on Wednesday so make sure I have your email address as I'll need the winner to send me their snail mail address right away. I've done some shopping for more things to add to the box - I think it will be a nice present for whoever should win.

I've been busy with crumb chaos blocks since my last post. I'm eager to get all these blocks together into tops so I can reclaim the basket they are sitting in. Rick's and Rebecca's camping quilt is on the longarm all ready for me to start quilting it. I'm choosing a pantograph of blowing leaves which seems appropriate for an out-of-doors quilt. Jeremy's and Chelsea's camping quilts are all pieced together and waiting patiently on hangers for me to sew on the borders. I'm currently piecing a larger quilt for our bed. Once it is pieced I will have used 598 blocks - which will still leave another 418 blocks! I will be able to piece at least three more tops from the remainder - by then I think I'm going to be thoroughly sick of these blocks and more than ready to move on to something else!

Yesterday I completed the orientations required for volunteers at Fort Vancouver, a National Historic Monument and Park here in town. I will be working in the period clothing area, which is run by Eileen Trestain, our instructor of the nineteenth century quilt classes I've been taking. I will be helping create and care for all the period clothing and linens at the Fort. Tomorrow I will report for my first work session - they are held on Mondays and Tuesdays from 10:00-3:00. I'm really looking forward to participating.

Seems like the weeks since I retired have just flown by in a blur. This past week I quilted two customer quilts, visited my Chelsea and Sophie, ran errands, took care of necessary visits to the doctor and the dentist, completed paperwork for moving my 401K into a new IRA as well as paperwork for receiving my pension starting in March, and tried to fit a bit of my own quilting in between everything else. So far next week looks like it will be almost as busy. As so many of you said, I already can't imagine how I ever had time to work!

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Gratitudes:

1. Return of warmer weather

2. Good report for all my lab work - I'm healthy

3. Coffee this morning with Rick and Rebecca

4. Gourmet hot chocolate

5. Wonderful period fabrics for 19th century reproduction quilts

Taking a break from quilting

In the first 15 days of 2008 I have quilted, bound and labeled four flimsies. My plan is to do at least that many more before the end of the month. Today, however, I decided I needed a break from quilting. I started by straightening out the sewing room - cataloging the new quilting books, putting them away, and putting away the mid-century album quilt for now. It is so good to see the top of my cutting table again!

Last fall I partially pieced a camping quilt for Rick and Rebecca from the Crumb Chaos blocks. Today I finished sewing enough blocks together. It's now laid out and waiting for their choice of border fabrics. They are coming over tonight to play cards so that decision will be made soon. Tomorrow I'll put on the borders and then this will go next in line for Gandalf after Joseph's quilt.

This quilt top used 156 Crumb Chaos blocks, and is double bed size. That leaves me only 860 more blocks! I wonder how many tops I can get out those!

I started quilting Joseph's quilt this morning and have made a little progress. Should be able to finish that in the next couple days.

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Gratitudes:

1. A tasty frozen Healthy Choice meal for lunch
2. Progressing with my hand quilting
3. An extra long 120" tape measure
4. A beautiful frozen world this morning
5. A juicy orange

Crumb Chaos blocks

Apparently while I was away at retreat there was a bit of a stir about a photo tutorial I posted in July. This tutorial showed how I made blocks by combining crumbs and strings into an oddball variation on a log cabin block.

I incorrectly attributed this method to a woman who wrote an article published in The American Quilter magazine several years ago. This woman also publishes a pattern under the same name as the title of her article. I have learned that the tutorial I posted doesn't resemble her method. There are differences. Not surprising, considering it has been years since I read the article and I've never seen the pattern. I read the article again approximately one month after my post, and realized that my blocks were made quite differently from hers. She herself has pointed out to me that what I have done is NOT her pattern.

I have removed both her name and the name of her pattern from every post and every comment where it appeared. Since my blocks are done differently I've given them a name. "Crumb Chaos Blocks" fits them perfectly in my opinion. The tutorial on my sidebar is for my "Crumb Chaos Blocks". Please feel free to share this tutorial with whomever you like by sending them a link to my blog. If you have linked to this tutorial anywhere on your blog or a web page, please make sure you refer to it by the name "Crumb Chaos Blocks" instead of it's former name.

I apologize to this woman for the grief I have inadvertently caused her in trying to give her credit for something that is not hers. I also apologize to all the readers who commented on my post who received a communication about my tutorial. I sincerely hope that all problems concerning this have now been resolved.

Crumb Caos update

I've been getting a lot of requests for a link to my Crumb Caos tutorial, so I've added it to my side bar. Maybe I should create a link list on my sidebar of the various tutorials I've done in my blogging history. Maybe when I can type with two hands again LOL!

Still waiting to hear the verdict on my shoulder from my doctor. Don't really expect to hear anything until sometime this afternoon.

I like it!

I slapped a bunch of Crumb Chaos blocks on my design wall this morning before I went to work. (Do any of the rest of you feel a need to touch fabric just a little in the morning before heading out?) I even took them down in pairs for sewing together and stitch three of them. When I got home today I finished stitching together the rest of them, webbing them the way Bonnie describes here. I've never tried this before, but thought it sounded like a good idea. It didn't go perfectly - somehow I managed to get the top row twisted just a bit - but the rest were OK. Bonnie's right - this IS a great way to sew a quilt together. All the blocks land where you want them to, they are all going the right direction - presuming you laid them out that way - and it's much, much faster than any other method. I'm going to be sewing my tops together this way from now on. Thank you Bonnie!

I need 288 blocks for a quilt for our bed with a long drop. I need 117 blocks for a Hotel Hope quilt or a camper quilt. With 1016 blocks I think I'm going to be busy sewing tops for quite awhile!

1016 Blocks!

Yep - you read that correctly. One thousand sixteen Crumb Chaos blocks. I never in a million years imagined I was making that many. I just kept going until I was sick and tired of sewing crumbs to strips for the first step. Obviously this will make several quilts - but for now the blocks will be set aside at least until I finish sewing sleeves on all the antique quilts. The saddest, craziest thing is this - look at how many crumbs are remaining in my crumb drawer!

Part of the problem is caused by making the blocks themselves. I've come to the conclusion that making Crumb Chaos blocks from crumbs is a never ending, cyclic, crumb producing endeavor. Why, you ask? Because as soon as the blocks reach a certain size, there is a crumb size piece left at the end of each strip. I know that's why my drawer isn't emptier.

I'm going to deal with this in a way that was shown by someone posting about heartstrings blocks months ago. I sure wish I knew her name so I could give her credit. Here is her solution - she sews strips from the crumbs and rolls them up into large rolls, then uses these strips in string quilts. I kept a couple pictures from her post for inspiration - it seems like maybe she has her own blog. I'm hoping she'll recognize herself in my description and leave a comment with a link to her post so she can be given proper credit. I've sewn a bunch of mine together already and wound them around toilet paper tubes, and have tossed a bunch more for sewing into the now empty bin that used to hold 1 1/4" strips. I'm going to do this with all my crumbs until I get sick and tired of making strings of crumbs. By then I'm hoping the drawer is MUCH more empty. Then I'll start making string blocks again in an effort to empty that drawer also. Or at least get a good start on emptying it. Right now it's stuffed to the gills!

I have the first antique quilt laying out on the dining room table waiting for it's sleeve. I'll sew the muslin sleeve when I get home from work tomorrow, and then start stitching it on at Tangled Threads. This is very much a utility quilt - nevertheless the quiltmaker made an effort to create interest by the way she stitched the dark and light fabrics together. It is tied with wool yarn and backed with mattress ticking. It was sewn on three sides and the turned inside out, at the same time putting the filling inside. One edge is folded over to the back and stitched down. It is in good shape for a utility quilt - there is only one warn spot that I can see where the fabric has broken down and the filling shows. I believe Rick said this one was from the 1880's. Right now it's the least interesting of the four that I have. The other three are all rolled around acid-free paper tubes, but this one is in a large acid-free box. I decided to start with it so I could get the bulky box out of the living room as quickly as possible.

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Gratitudes:

1. A fun work day today - volunteering to assist at the Parks Foundation Golf Tournament

2. Unexpected dinner with the kids

3. Fresh pineapple from a sweet neighbor

4. Finished CC blocks!

5. Continuing beautiful weather

I'm getting there!

I focused on Crumb Chaos blocks yesterday - can you tell I really want these finished? I now have 534 completed blocks. That means I finished 172 more yesterday. The little pile on the sewing machine is what's left of the stack that needs only one more piece sewn on to be finished. I'm going to tackle those this morning before I head upstairs to quilt. The stack on the big board is comprised of blocks that need more than one more strip before they are large enough to trim.

I never would have believed that I could make this many blocks and still have a half drawer full of crumbs and two half-drawers full of 1 1/4" and 1 3/4" strips. If you'd told me this before I started I'd have said "no way is there that much fabric in those drawers". What a sobering thought - I don't want to begin to guess how many blocks and quilts I could make with the fabric on the shelves.

I'd not had a Sophie fix since our camping trip two weekends ago so we spent Thursday evening driving down to Newberg for a nice albeit short visit. Sophie was 6 months old last Tuesday. She can sit up if she wants to but she doesn't want to. All she wants is to be on the move. I don't think I've ever seen such an active baby. No holding or cuddling either - she just wants to be exploring. So we all spent a lot of time on the floor playing with her. She's still army crawling - I think she could get up on her hands and knees if she wanted to but she's way to busy moving around to take time to learn. She's still tall - 27" long - and slim - 16 pounds - because she is so active. It's been awhile since I posted pictures so I'll bore you with a couple more. Nothing like a doting nana, right?

Rick and Rebecca are patiently waiting on their adoption paperwork to move through the Guatemalan government system. They've had the papers for 5 weeks now, and R&R have heard nothing. This is a very good thing - we don't want to hear anything during this stage. As long as there is no news it means that so far the paperwork is all acceptable and nothing needs to be redone. This is the longest stage - it's so hard to wait. I marvel at their patience.

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Gratitudes:
1. Continuing cool weather
2. Rain last night!
3. A relaxing weekend
4. A great visit with Jeremy and his family
5. More choices in 100 calorie snack packages

Oh dear - time has flown too quickly

I can't believe it's been almost a week since I posted! Bad blogger here - so sorry! I have been catching up with others however, which is a good thing. My bloglines now reports that I have only 2350 posts to read - over 1000 less than I had last week. At this rate I may be all caught up in another 2-3 weeks! I'm managing to keep caught up on the new posts on those blogs I've been reading. If I've not reaching yours don't feel badly - first I started with those with the fewest posts, and now I'm just going down the alphabet. I'm at the "L's" - but of course the "Q's" are way bigger than any other letter LOL!

Before I forget I want to give Hanne a great big thank you for nominating my blog for these two awards. I'm very touched that you feel this way Hanne. I often wonder why people come back to read my ramblings - if I can provide inspiration to others that makes me feel so nice and fuzzy warm inside.

I know many, many bloggers have already been nominated for these awards, and since I still have so much reading to do to catch up I have no idea who has or has not been nominated. So for now I'm going to postpone nominating anyone else. There are so many of you that are such an inspiration to me - I've no idea how I could choose only a few.

Speaking of Hanne, check out her blog to see her marvelous new shelves. She showed her hubby pictures of mine and he insisted they go right out and buy her some. I can't believe how quickly they got these together and filled with her fabrics!

I've done very little in the way of quilting this past week - probably one of the reasons for my lack of posts. If you remember one of my goals for last weekend was to clean the garage. Well, it took way longer than I thought it would. Shouldn't be surprised - when I decide to clean the garage I do a really deep clean. And did it ever need it! We have always been able to fit the cars inside, but all around the perimeter the shelves needed straightening and organizing, the floor needed sweeping desperately, and the whole window-workbench area was a mess. The window particularly - bugs and spiderwebs everywhere. (One would think we were saving them for Halloween!) The laundry is in the garage so I always try to keep that area fairly clean and swept, but the rest of the place - ugh!

I brought the radio out once the ballgame started and I realized I'd only begun, and finished about the time the ballgame ended. I filled the pickup with stuff for the dump - our second trip in just over a week. You'll recognize the green shelf - it's once again loaded but this time with stuff other than fabric. I just couldn't resist taking pictures. I know - it's just a garage - but I had such a marvelous feeling of satisfaction when I was finished that I couldn't help wanting to show it off a little. It had been way too long since I'd done this - hopefully we can keep it up better from now on.

I'm still plugging away one the same batch of Crumb Chaos blocks - trying to finish them. I think they are taking lessons from the scraps in the bin and multiplying in the dark of the night when everything is quiet. Probably won't get them done this weekend either - I absolutely MUST get the two customer quilts done this weekend that didn't get done last weekend because of the garage project. Then I need to quilt one of my own - my name is getting dangerously close to the top of the UFO queen's list on the Stashbuster yahoo group.

Wishing everyone a marvelous weekend. I'm going to read a few more blogs while I wait for my daughter to call saying she's ready for our regular Starbucks outing.

Déja vu?

Hmmm . . . it seems like I've been here once before. These pictures seem VERY familiar. I think this is the view of my sewing room just before the redo. Nope - these aren't new Crumb Chaos blocks. These are the same ones - blocks that are almost finished but not quite. And remember my joy at getting through all those 1 1/4" and 1 3/4" strips? Short lived joy indeed. During the redo I discovered I'd grabbed a few handfuls of each and stuck them in one tub to work from, as I didn't have room for two tubs. Here is the glaring reality - still a large drawer of each size strip. At least now I have room to put both drawers next to the machine while I work, along with the basket of partially finished blocks. These won't get done today - in fact need to stop working on these for awhile and get to the two customer quilts that need completing. One for sure needs to be finished today, and the other one sometime this week. I had a sneaking suspicion all along that longarming for others probably wouldn't really be my bag - I have too many of my own things that I want to do. Even though I've never advertised at all, however, the customer quilts wander into the studio at the rate of a couple a month. At least I can use that to justify the machine purchase - to me anyway. Fred doesn't need me to justify it at all - what a sweetheart!

All my fabric is now put away. I've washed and ironed all the pieces from the splurge shopping of the last few months. Shopping I justified by telling myself I was spending my bonus, which was just like a gift. You may have noticed, however, that the fabric diet badge is gone - I just couldn't keep it in good conscience when I'd bought so much. Now the buying must come to a halt however. I have a small amount of room in two places on the shelves - the 19th century reproduction section and the Jo Morton section. That is it! And when I put away the fabric that currently resides in baskets under the island - fabric for my two Eileen Trestain reproduction classes - there will be no room whatsoever left on the shelves. I think this is a good thing. It's going to force me to use up fabric before I can buy more. And at the rate I'm going that will be just this side of forever, since sewing up all my scraps doesn't make a bit more room on my shelves!

Guess I'd better get busy now as I have several goals for today. I want to get a pedicure - it's so hard to bend over these days to cut my toenails and they really need it. I told Fred to leave me the truck as I want to continue the garage clean out, so I guess I'd better have at least a few things tossed by the time he gets home from golf. I have that customer quilt to do, I need to run to the post office, get to B&N to look at the newest Quiltmaker, as it has an article about Jo Morton, and I need to find something for dinner. Two things I can say with confidence - I'll never, ever run out of things to do in my life, and I'm never, ever bored!

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Gratitudes:

1. Continued cooler weather for us - highs in the very high 70's and low 80's

2. A riot of colored blossoms in my front yard

3. Space to move around my sewing room

4. Exactly 200 more working days before retirement!

5. Fat free hot dogs and whole wheat high fiber hot dog buns - it's been so long since I've had a hot dog!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation - Part I

I feel like I'm back in school the first of September writing the first English essay of the year LOL!

Last night I finished pressing that giant pile of blocks-to-be. Today I cut them apart. There were 24 finished blocks in the stack - making a current total of 362 finished blocks. There is one stack that needs only one more strip to finish them off - that's the stack you see by the machine. There are two shorter stacks that need one strip in each direction to finish them off. Those two stacks have a very few that need more strips than that - probably less than 20 however.

I'm calling a halt for the time being now and starting to move stuff. Our hot weather is supposed to return tomorrow so I want to get everything moved out today while it's still somewhat cool. In Part II I'll post pictures of the result.

Vacation!

I start my week vacation tomorrow morning. Tomorrow I'm moving most everything out of the sewing room in preparation for the Wednesday trip to Ikea. So tonight I'm madly sewing Crumb Chaos blocks trying to finish these before I must pack them up for a few days. With this last round a few are finished, but most need either one or two more strips. Thought you'd get a kick out of seeing this stack on the cutting table waiting for pressing. It's probably the last picture I'll take of this gerryrigged cutting table. The next photos will be of the new stuff moving in. Stay tuned - I'll post pictures of my progress.

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Gratitudes:

1. Paid vacation days

2. A great weekend read

3. A camping trip with all the kids coming up soon

4. A few new quilting books

5. Flavored coffee creamers

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Coming up for air

As it turns out I did a considerable amount of sewing after all this weekend. I had just finished the fourteenth chapter of Harry Potter when the phone rang. It was my daughter calling to tell us Rick had loaded the last book onto his Ipod so he could listen more easily when driving, and they wondered whether Fred would like to come get the CD's so he could start the book also. I asked him, and was surprised when he said no. So I told her I'd come get them for myself so I could sew while I listened. So I've been in the sewing room listening to Harry Potter and Fred's been upstairs reading. I finished the book shortly before 2:00 this afternoon. I finally made myself go to bed at 1:45 this morning, recognizing that there was no way I could finish it in one setting. I won't say a word about the book as I know many of you won't have had a chance to even start it yet.

I decided I didn't feel like doing applique while listening - instead I was in the mood for more mindless sewing. I meant to get out either the 2" squares or the string blocks. Much to my surprise I went back to the crumb bin where there were still many smaller starts of mile-a-minute blocks. Apparently I'd not had enough of them after all, and am even more obsessed than I previously thought. I've been making more Crumb Chaos blocks - this time using up every last piece that was more than a single crumb. I've no idea how many blocks I'm in the process of making - they seem to go on forever. I've reached the stage where at least half of them need only one more round before they are finished. I'm happy to say I've now emptied one bin of strips. I'm looking forward to finishing these - I think I am well and truly sick of them by now. When I'm done I should have enough for at least a couple Hotel Hope quilts in addition to the quilt for our bed.

Tomorrow is my only day of work this week - Tuesday I start a week's vacation. I'll be moving most of the things out of my sewing room on Tuesday in preparation for my new furniture. I can hardly wait!

Goal reached

I'm very happy to report that I've reached my goal. I can call a halt - at least for now - to my Crumb Chaos obsession. All of the partially finished blocks are finished. Looking like a giant stack of wild, colorful square pancakes - 338 completed 6 1/2" blocks. The drawers of oddball size strips - 1 1/4" and 1 3/4" wide - are significantly reduced. I've been able to combine the two into one drawer that is definitely less full than each were when I started. My tub of crumbs looks like it's reduced to half of what it was. That's still a LOT of crumbs but that's OK. I'm going to let the rest slumber peacefully in the drawer for the time being. I'm ready to move on to something different. (I'll share that with you tomorrow.)

I don't know yet what I'll do with these blocks. I'm seriously thinking of making us a new quilt for our queen size bed, as the two we currently use are starting to show wear. I don't want to put a special quilt on the bed as long as the dog thinks the bed is his. These would make a great warm quilt for the coming winter that I can let the dog sleep on without worry. There should still be enough left for a Hotel Hope quilt. If not, there are certainly enough more crumbs and strips to make as many more blocks as needed.

Obsession and porridge

When I became a manager at the credit union my supervisor arranged for me to take an expensive personality inventory called - I think - The Birkman Personality Inventory. The fee for this was $300. At that time they had all new managers complete this. Each of us learned about our working styles and how they compared with the styles of the other managers. This was to facilitate communication and teamwork between all the managers. I love doing stuff like this - I always like to get more information about what makes me "tick". After answering many pages of questions the results were complied, and I got to spend 2-3 hours with a "Birkman interpreter" learning more about myself. It was absolutely fascinating and completely accurate.

One of the things I learned - that I really already knew - is that my ideal position is that of project manager. I like to focus on one thing from start to finish - often forgetting the existence of anything else - until that project is done. If it's something I'm fascinated with, I can easily take it to the extreme of total obsession. I can multi-task if I have to, but I dislike doing so and don't do my best work this way. I don't divide my attention among several things easily.

About now you are probably thinking the same thing I'm thinking - if this is true why do I have so many UFO's? To tell you the truth I don't really have a clue. My best guess is that if something new that seems absolutely fascinating comes along, my obsession can change very quickly, even when a project isn't completed. When this happens I'm driven to take a detour and put all my effort and concentration into the new project. It's not because I've become tired of the first project - not at all. I guess I'd say I'm obsessive in a fickle sort of way - strange, because that's certainly an oxymoron if I've ever heard one.

Anyway, it's the Crumb Chaos blocks that have taken my thoughts along this path this morning. I've become totally obsessed and driven to empty these tubs and finish making these blocks. I have a stack of 120 finished blocks in groups of 10, plus three spare. But look at the partial blocks on the machine waiting for another round. And look at the drawers of strips and crumbs. They don't look any less full than when I started. Obviously they are - I can pack them down with my hands to the point where it looks like they are about half gone. I can easily make a California king or a couple twin quilts with the number of blocks I'll have when I finish, and still have a bunch left over. Right now looking at these drawers makes me feel like I'm just treading water and getting no where - even though the stack of finished blocks says differently.

I'm reminded of a story in my favorite story book from childhood. The story of a very poor widow raising her children alone. She had no trouble feeding them, however, because she had a magic porridge pot. When she said "Cook little pot, cook" the pot would make porridge for them to eat. When she said "stop, little pot, stop" it stopped making porridge. One day the mother went to town, leaving her children to fend for themselves. Her daughter decided to make porridge. The problem was this - the daughter couldn't remember the words to make the pot stop cooking. By the time the mother got back the porridge had filled the little house, poured out the door, and ran in a river down the street engulfing everything it passed.

I'm beginning to feel like my scrap drawers and bins are like that little porridge pot. When decided to work with scraps last summer I started working on emptying my scrap drawers. I finished several scrap quilt tops, starting with the Broken Dishes quilt. Then I moved on to string quilts. Then I sewed dozens of hourglass blocks. However, it seems the more tops I finish the more scraps are coming out of the drawers. I'm calling "Stop, little drawers, stop! I have enough scraps!" Those are obviously not the correct magic words, however, because the scraps keep pouring from the drawers. So far there is no end in sight.

And I continue to obsessively sew them together into blocks and quilt tops.

Crumb Chaos blocks - a photo tutorial

Now that I've finished with my orphan tops I'm back to making Crumb Caos blocks. I think I have enough crumbs and odd-ball width strips to make several quilts with these blocks. I'm afraid it's going to take a while to empty these tubs!

Several people have expressed a desire for a step-by-step tutorial on these blocks, so I took pictures of my progress this weekend. Please let me know if you still have questions!

Start with a bunch of strips of various widths plus crumbs, which are small pieces of fabric. Square and rectangular crumbs are the easiest to use, but you can also use odd shapes as long as you leave enough space between crumbs so you can cut the edge at an angle. Put a strip face up on the bed of your machine and start sewing crumbs along the strip. When you get to the end of the strip add another strip, chain sewing them all together. You can also use leftover triangle squares, flying geese, ends of strata, etc. along with your crumbs. Butt the crumbs together very closely so you need make only one cut when cutting them apart.

When you've chained a bunch of strips take them to the ironing board. Press the seams to one side - I like to press toward the long strip even though it's easier to press in the other direction.

When you've pressed all the crumb-strips take them to the cutting table. Cut the strips between each crumb.
Now you have a bunch of larger crumb pieces. Repeat the process all over again, sewing these to new strips. You can go around log cabin style, sew parallel seams or whatever you feel like doing. I place the big crumbs on the new strips in as many different directions as possible. I don't pay any attention as to which fabrics are next to other fabrics.

Once again, when all are stitched to strips, repeat the pressing and slicing apart. Some blocks will grow faster than others because the crumbs used are bigger. As you run out of large multi-piece crumbs start over adding small crumbs to the strip until you reach the end.

Continue doing this until your pieces are large enough to trim into the size block you desire. I'm doing 6 1/2" unfinished blocks as I like this size block - not too big or too small. Trim the blocks to size and repeat again and again until you have the number of blocks you want for your quilt. These can be set in any way you like, just like any other blocks.
Like string blocks, these are very addicting to make. They are called Crumb Caos blocks because they are so random and unplanned. They are also very quick to make. The first time I made them I think I made 25 or more blocks in one afternoon of sewing.

Enjoy, and post your blocks on your blog for us all to see!

Back from the retreat

I had a fabulous time at the retreat - except for the fact that I started getting sick on Saturday morning and am now home feeling lousy with a nasty cold bug of some kind. I don't even feel like sitting at the computer or sewing so you know how lousy I feel!

In did get a lot accomplished at the retreat - more that I ever imagined I could. Believe it or not I worked on almost everything I took with me.

I made more blocks for my black sashed string quilt and finished that top. I made 25 string blocks with red centers for another Hotel Hope string quilt - that's a good start for that one.

I did some Crumb Chaos blocks so I could demo the process to some of others. I'd never done them before so it was new to me also. They are so much fun, very addicting, and really go together quickly. After I put everything away yesterday I cut up the scraps I'd created at retreat and made a bunch more of them. So now I have a good start on a Crumb Chaos Hotel Hope quilt too.

I almost left my 2006 Jan Patek mystery quilt - "Posies and Points" - at home. It was one of the projects I kept taking out and putting away while I was packing. I'm really glad I took it because I finished all but one of the November appliqué blocks and stitched most of it together. I've not shown a picture of this project for a long time so some of you may not have seen it. I love how it's turning out - I may make this into my bed quilt for camping in our tent trailer. I think I'll big stitch it with Cebelia, using a nice wool batting and a flannel back. I'm hoping I can get the last block appliquéd today - if I can find the energy somewhere.

As far as will power and not buying - well, I failed miserably at that. I decided it was OK if I spent, however, as this was a special time. My boss told me I'd receive a very nice bonus this week when she did my yearly review, so I decided that was really a gift and I could spend some of it how I wanted to. Some of the purchases were legal - four, 3-yard pieces of bright Shadow Play fabric for sashings and borders on scrappy quilts and three, 2 1/2-yard pieces of warm light neutrals for backgrounds on reproduction quilts. My indulgences were a packet of fabrics to make "Reminiscence" by Lori Smith, as well as packets of blue, neutral, pink and brown reproduction fabrics. The picture is of Sharon who owns Momma Made It and the Reminiscence quilt. I also bought one book - Medallion Quilts by Cindy Vermillion Hamilton. None of those were necessities, but they were things I wanted. I figured I deserved a gift after being good for so long!

I'm totally behind on my blog reading - Bloglines says I have 142 updated feeds. As long as I don't fall asleep sitting at the computer I should be able to at least find the energy to read.

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Gratitudes:

1. New fabric to fondle and drool over

2. A new quilt book to read

3. Wonderful quilty friends

4. Quilting retreats

5. My own bed

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