QBEs for October

I decided that my first priority this weekend was to get the 4 blocks for this month's Quilt Block Exchange done. Yesterday evening I was able to get one done and I created the other three today.

Now I need to go outside in the beautiful weather and do some kind of fall clean up before I run out of steam! I think I will be moving some sod first and then I might just do a little raking.

About Time

to give you a report on last weekend. My husband decided we would leave on Wednesday instead of Thursday so I had a little less time to get my act together. I did pretty well except for forgetting my sewing table until we were about half an hour from home. We had to turn around and get it but still made it to our daughter's for dinner. The grandkids were wonderful as always. Nearly 4 year old Layden was showing me pictures of the earth in his mom's college textbook and said "Merf! The planet we live on." What a hoot! Fifteen month old Clara amazed me by eating an adult serving of spaghetti and won her papa over by giving him a huge hug when he finally sat down after unloading his stuff from the car.

I headed out the next morning for the quilt retreat in spite of waking up feeling a cold coming on. I bought these 6 fabrics during a quick stop at the new quilt shop in their town and the next little town. I made good time the rest of the way except for a quick stop for a box of kleenex!

I got my stuff all set up and started in on my scrap bin. Over the course of the weekend I finished another 37 crazy quilt blocks but the bin just didn't seem to get any emptier! It wasn't helped by the fact that others kept giving me their scraps! The only other project I worked on over the weekend were these double 4-patch blocks. At the end of the weekend I had 85 finished blocks, 14 half blocks and 74 4-patch blocks. I will cut more 3.5" blocks to finish of the rest of the blocks and then I will figure out what to do with the rest.

The Prize Patrol came by several times and I won this little bundle of fabrics because I had the oldest sewing machine at the retreat. I had a great time at the retreat despite being a bit sick. I especially enjoyed the chance to spend time with my second daughter who currently is working there at the camp in their Outdoor Ed program.

Planning and Packing

The company is all gone and the guest room is a sewing room again. We had a great time with my brother and his wife this past week - sometimes just sitting around and visiting but also getting some things done. They headed out very early yesterday morning without a sound. Yesterday I got the towels and sheets washed and other laundry folded and also got started thinking about what to bring to the quilt retreat.

I was planning on working with the leftover HSTs from this quilt, turning them into Lady of the Lake blocks but there is still lots of trimming to do. I did some trimming yesterday but determined I have too much to do today and tomorrow to spend all my time at it. I have pulled out some other projects and, so far, I have decided to bring a bin of scraps and work on 6.5" crazy quilt blocks - at least for a start. Other possible projects include a bag of batik scraps from a yard sale, my birthday quilt, this summer's color blocks, and maybe some mini card trick blocks. I will probably find other options further down in the piles too!

I finished the hand quilting on my round robin Christmas quilt last night and got the pom-poms sewn on the santa hats. I started on the little bows on the tree in the middle but got too tired. I still need some kind of cording for the string of lights across the top and then it will be done. I think! That will be one of the quilts I use for the trunk show I will be doing at the retreat. I am just bringing a few bigger quilts and showing more the doll and mini quilts I have received in swaps and round robins.

We still have company here on the farm so I am not getting much sewing done but I am enjoying taking it easy a bit. I am still working on getting the sod moved and I picked the rest of our apples off the tree. Today my sister-in-law and I might get some of those cut up and in the freezer for pies later this winter. I also need to get out and pick the grapes and turn them into juice before I head to the quilt retreat next week so maybe I will pick them today for processing tomorrow.

I have been working on the hand work on my round robin quilt and I am getting close to being finished. Once the quilting is done I have some pom-poms to add and I need to get some cording to finish off the Christmas lights in one border and some ornaments or buttons for the tree in the middle. It is turning out pretty cool!

4 and 5 of 9

These two aren't completely done but I did finish all the machine work on them. They are both Christmas quilts - my border round robin quilt and the grandmother's flower garden applique quilt. I now need to get the handsewing done on the bindings, some hand-quilting done on each and get all the thread ends tucked in. I think they will both be getting some buttons sewn on also. They both turned out pretty well I think.

I have had the grandson here all week so it is pretty amazing that I have gotten anything done around here, but besides the quilting I have also cooked up all the wind-fall apples into applesauce, made bread, run errands, sorted out the Pampered Chef products from my party (we are going to deliver some of them today), moved some sod, and, last, but not least, maintained my sanity! We are having a lot of fun with our little guy but he does keep you going!

Today I need to get my sewing room cleaned up and tomorrow we will clean the rest of the house in preparation for the first of our company arriving tomorrow. More will arrive Saturday and we will have additional guests for dinner on Sunday. It will be a busy week or so! When all the guests are gone I will be getting things packed up for my quilt retreat and after that I will be working for two weeks at our church while our secretary recovers from back surgery. That brings us up to Halloween and I think I will be heading to my sister's then for the reveal of the round robin block exchange I have been a part of.