March Retreat Projects

I had my "Sisters" retreat this month, three days of stitching at our local quilt shop, Twisted Sisters Quilty Pleasures.

The major project I finished was adding the sashing and border to my Kauai Chicken Salad quilt.

I wanted the quilt to be a little smaller than Lori Holt's design so I simply went with 2 1/2-inch squares for the sashing and border. It finished at 50 x 64-inches, which will be a great size for my kitchen breakfast nook wall.

 My granddaughter wants to know who this quilt is for??? She's been watching me make this for several months.

 My retreat had a border focus. I also managed to get the borders done on two tops.

A simple border for the "Tapestry," quilt. I didn't change anything on this pattern by Tamarinis. The Free Spirit Fabrics website had a listing of the fabrics used in the pattern designer's version that I used as my starting point for searching out Kaffe fabrics. I bought all the fabrics for my quilt at Hancocks of Paducah. I think all Kaffe fabrics sell out pretty quickly at all the local quilt shops in my area. The finished size of this quilt is 60 x 71-inches.

My third finish was Banana Quilt from the book, "Perfect 10 Quilts." I made the piano key border and added it to the top at the retreat. I consider this to be a "couch quilt." that will look great on my gray leather couch. This is made with a Hoffman Batik Bali Pop and matching layer cake set in the color way, "Sparrow." So I have named the quilt, "Sparrows on the Couch," It measures 76 x 76-inches.

I have two more tops in my stash of "Couch Quilts," that are patterns from the, "Perfect Ten Quilts." All of the "Couch Quilts," were made with Bali pops and matching layer cakes with background fabrics from my stash. The Hoffman batik sets had bird names which are very appropriate for the colorways. 

This is, "Parrots on the Couch." It measures 70 x 90-inches. This is the pattern, "Birthday Cake Quilt,"  with a piano key border added to the design. 

And the last, "Couch Quilt," in my To Be Quilted stash is, "Sandpipers on the Couch," The center of the quilt is the pattern, "French Vanilla Cake." The finished top measures 70 x 82-inches.

I've been spending a lot of time organizing in my studio. I am trying to update my notebook with all the quilts that are done...quilted. And I am also making a notebook for all the tops that are awaiting quilting. I have been making sure I have a photo of the completed top and the measurements. Yes...I need a notebook for all the tops waiting to be quilted! 

On to my evening handwork projects.

I just finished making this Christmas Polar Bear. There are two penguins included in the kit.

 

I finished stitching a Spring project, "Scatter Eggs," from Shepherd's Bush. It will finish at  3 1/2 x 9 1/2 -inches. I ordered the fabric from Shepherd's Bush as the design called for an unusual size of 19 count. They substituted a 20 count piece in a light blue. I used the DMC floss colors but had to change a couple of colors. It was also unusual in that it called for stitching with three strands over two fabric threads which makes it nice and big for the buttons.  I love the buttons from Just Another Button Company. 

I also started another series of cross stitch ornaments from my older stash of patterns designed by Pat Thode of  Heart Strings, "Noah and Company." 

I had a comment on a previous post recently regarding my 12 Days of Christmas series from Heart Strings. The comment was from Angela but she is listed as a, "noreply-comment," on Blogger so I cannot answer her question. The "no-reply-comment," setting is the default setting in Blogger. I learned the hard way too that you must go in and change that setting if you want a personal response to your comment.

With a bit of sadness, I took down all my Christmas decorations last week. My house feels so empty! 

I also had a birthday this month. Yipes...my body is not cooperating with my mental age! I have too much to do and no time for little health issues that appear to be about my actual age.