The frog

Awarded to me for the queen seam ripper.  This is much better than passing the ceramic frog.

Retreat Fun

The retreat was great fun. I realized when I went to write this post that I didn't take very many photos.

Char put together this beautiful bright quilt.  The pattern is in the current issue of McCall's Quick Quilts.

Ellen was working on her Scrappy Swoon as was I.  I love the look of her muted colors.  She used 3 1/2" squares, and I used 2 1/2".









Tina was doing the original swoon blocks with her DS fabrics.  It seriously made me want to drop everything and start another new project.  I kept chanting "focus" in my head so I didn't get off track.

I didn't make much progress on my March goals at the retreat, but I did have fun.

More on my projects later this week.

February ISE Retreat

It was another fun retreat.  Warning:  This is a picture heavy post.  

I think everyone (except Ellen) was pleased with all that was accomplished.  I know finished every item I intended to work on.

1.  I was able to sew the binding on 4 quilts and get them ready to hand sew (or should I say ready for someone to hand sew)
2. Make a backing for a quilt on the UFO list (February Goal)
3. Make the setting triangles for a quilt 
4. Sew the blocks together for a UFO quilt
5. Work on the outside sashing on a UFO quilt
6. Spend time with friends and enjoy their company.

 Tina was one of the first ones to earn the ripper frog award.

 Sue was working hard on her projects.  She finished a jelly roll race quilt out of the neutrals.

 All the Hunter Star quilts turned out great!  I love everyone's color choices.  Char lead the workshop using this ruler.  Everyone had accurate results doing it this way.

 This quilt is now ready for the backing to be pieced.  It took me a long time to get the blocks arranged how I wanted them.

 This youngster is making a doll quilt with some fabric she received as a gift.  I think she did a great job.

Nancy used her jelly flop from last month and made a sample for a class she was teaching.  I think it turned out really nice.  These were the bright blenders.

Ellen spent the weekend piecing this great quilt.  I don't know why she thought she could get it done in one day.  It looks lovely hanging on the design wall

I have plan for more design walls for the March retreat.  I think we have mastered the best arrangement for the tables.  

Thanks for another great retreat.

ISE X-mas Party 2012

With the kids back in school, I had a little time today to edit some pictures.  I wanted to post the ISE Christmas party photos.  I don't care how many pictures I take, there always seems to be one or 2 people who sneak out of my photos.  These are just a few of the stockings that were made for the nursing home.

 Several people were not able to attend the party, but that didn't stop the Christmas cheer. These three lovely ladies even posed for a picture.

 I just love the expression on Barb's face when she received her special grocery bag.  I think her expression tells it all.

This is such a great picture of Eleanor and Sharon












Everyone looks the best in this photo except me.  I just wanted to let you know that I took one for the team.

To complete the night, I had to dump all the scraps that were gifted to me.  It was more than one table full.  Thanks so much.  I have used several things from these piles.  It will be fun to see who claims their scraps when they see them in a project I have completed.

Betty the Grate

One of Betty's favorite moments was meeting Bonnie Hunter in Shipse.  She loved Bonnie and all her patterns.  Bonnie's blocks in the Quiltmaker magazines kept her busy making potholders for years - but she was very selective on who she made them for.  I am sure Carolyn will have a list of who has been naughty and who has been nice.  I must have made it to the nice list somewhere along the way because I received some potholders from her.

I was always nervous when Betty would receive a gift from me.  It was the inspection process that worried me.

Betty was often caught in the act of sorting other peoples scraps.  If she liked one of your pieces of fabric, she would hint very strongly to throw the scraps her way.  Or she would often ask, "do you have any more of that one."

We loved her for her honesty and her great one line interjections that made us all smile during meetings.  She will be greatly missed.

Remembering Betty

Remembering all the fun and laughter Betty brought to the ISE quilt group.  If you wanted an honest opinion, Betty was sure to tell you what she thought.  Nothing brought a smile to her face more than going through a bucket of scraps or digging in the boat at Shipshe.

Betty left us today after her battle with cancer.

Sewcial Day

A sewcial day always helps the mood of the week.  Sunday was a beautiful day at the library with friends.  

Sharon, Judy, and Sandy were busy concentrating on cutting out a Spicy Spiral table topper.

 Ruth was working on binding, while Barb knitted and Judy cut out a new project.

 Char spent the whole day trimming stray threads from her quilts so she could get ready to quilt them

Nancy, well she worked on multiple things.  She sews FAST!  She arranged the pieces for a twister tree.  It is the cutest pattern designed by Rose Pohlar of Pohlar Fabrics.  She managed to get her squares sewn together and several other things too.

Tina worked on cutting out her project for the Shipse retreat, and Angie work on cutting out a couple of projects also.

For me, I cut out the twister blocks of my large twister quilt.  This is part of the quilt hanging on the design wall.  When the quilt was in squares, I thought it looked sort of like a team spirit quilt.  Now that I have the blocks cut again, I like it better.

I also put the borders on these 4 table runners so they are ready to be cut with the twister tool.

I think I will be ready for the Shipshe retreat later this month.

Finally some sewing

I finally made it back to the studio for a little sewing.  Funny how life gets in the way of sewing.  I hope I am done with painting and house cleaning for a while, but those duties never end.  Perhaps that is why quilting is so rewarding.  When you finish a quilt or a project, it is done forever!  I can clean a room today, and I have to do it again tomorrow.

Most of my sewing was done at the library.  What a great little retreat.  The project this time was the twister block.  It was a lot of fun to see the projects be completed.  One person was inspired (or guilted) into making the miniature version for the FW quilt. 

These are the projects that were hung to admire at the end of the retreat.

The partial quilt on the bottom left is Nancy's.  The funniest part is that I had brought that green to the retreat for my FW quilt, and it worked out perfectly for her twister.  I love it when those kinds of accidents happen.


There were lots of opinions on color choices.

Several people contributed to my scrap bucket which I put on the cutting table.  This is a twister skeleton.  There is a bias square left after the twister blocks are cut.

This is the remains of the skeleton after I have cut 2" squares.  There is not much left.  If you want bias squares, you can get 2 1/2" out of them, but I cut 2" squares on the straight grain. 

This is my finished twister minus the borders.  What do you think?  Do you like the red or the green?  I am not too sure about the larger border either.  Perhaps it is because I only have about 5 floral pieces in my stash.  I have to admit that it looks better in the picture than I thought it did.

Jelly Roll Race Quilts

These are just a few of the jelly roll race quilts that have been made by the ISE quilt group.  If only we could all remember to bring them and the camera on the same day.  I am enjoying seeing everyone add her own twist to the pattern.  Sue likes to get her diagonals going opposite directions.  Dotty put a filmstrip at the top of hers to make it longer.  Some have added squares in-between the strips.  Eleanor made her baby version with 2" finished pinwheels between the strips (not pictured).  It looked fabulous.  I think it would also look nice with 2" four patches.

Spicy Spiral

I forgot to post this picture.  These are just a few of the spiral runners that people made during our sew day.

Nancy has made so many of these, I think she lost count.  They were very easy to make and the pattern is written well.

Neutral Bliss

Another big box came today to go with the other fabrics I purchased recently.  This one is full of Neutral Bliss! This is 70 different one yard cuts of neutral fabrics from cream to tan to golden.

Those few fabrics on the right were just a little stash enhancement.  I do realize that the next jelly flop swap isn't until June, but I couldn't wait that long.  And they say quilting takes a lot of patience...I admit that I have none!!   This will give me plenty of time to get them cut and swapped.  I am just thankful I didn't have to cut the one yard pieces.

Ellen had a very good point that I never really thought about.  The reason I am always short on neutrals is because they don't say, "you are just so beautiful that I must have a little of you and take you out of the store".  Let's face it, when you go into a quilt shop you don't look at the neutrals unless you need them for a specific project.  You don't say..."I love that shade of cream, I need to buy some."  Now if it was a red or green with a specific pattern, absolutely.

Pure Goodness

Is that even a word?  Several people asked how many jelly rolls can come out of 80 yards of fabric...the answer is about 20.  At least that's how many are lined up and ready to be swapped.  The theme was country colors, so there are quite a few reproductions in there. 

Lots of browns and greens

 Plenty  of neutrals to lighten it up

Even a few purples to go with the reds.  You know I like purple, so I can't do country without it.


I hope everyone likes the colors.  It was a really fun project for me to coordinate. 

March FW blocks will get posted this weekend.

New Bag

It's hard to believe that I am ahead of the game. That doesn't happen very often in my world! This my the ISE quilt group will be finishing up the laptop bag that was presented in Quilter's World October 2010 issue. I finished mine the size presented, and my husband's laptop won't fit. I think he is rather thankful for this, as I made it pink and red as a bit of a joke. I wanted to see if he would actally carry it. He's off the hook for now. I guess I would be pushing my luck. He does carry the fabric shopping bags that I made and they are flowery. Since he has taken over the grocery shopping duty, I should probably make him some masculine ones.

This is the bag the group picked for the next quarter. I can hardly believe that I have it done and I have another month! This is a very simple bag, so we may have to do more than one for the second quarter. It is very large, and my daughter has already claimed it for her overnight bag. Notice I found an adorable model who was delighted to model my bag. My friend Sue gifted me the lining fabric. I think it is just perfect.








If you are interested in the pattern, it is in the McCall's Quilting April 2009. The pattern is by Penny Sturges and it is called The Big Bag Theory. I modified the inside to add more pockets, and I did my handles differently.