Traverse Quilt Retreat 2011

I spent another great relaxing weekend in Big Traverse and was even able to get a little stitching done. 

I brought along my September UFO Challenge project and managed to make some good progress.  This month's challenge was to assemble a quilt top from some pink and brown fabrics I had collected some years back when pink and brown peaked in popularity and it seemed like every fabric manufacturer had a line of pink and brown.   Popularity faded fast for that combo and my enthusiasm died completely.  I pulled out the bin and just couldn't get motivated to do anything with it. 

Fortunately, the rules of this challenge allow lots of leeway, so I decided to pitch the pink and do someting with the browns.  I figured I could kill two birds with one stone since I also need to make a quilt for Dan -- my window washer and blueberry picker.   He would have preferred Honolulu blue and silver, but I didn't have anything like that it my stash, so I decided brown would make a nice manly quilt.

Judy had the perfect free pattern - "Brown Quilt".  I dug through my stash to add to what I had in my bin and came up with a good variety of browns for a scrappy quilt.  The pattern was simple and well written and the quilt went together quickly.

It's still needing borders added to make it large enough for Dan, but I'm off to a good start.

Wanting a little change from all the brown, I pulled out my Kaffee Fassett fabrics and made a few more blocks for the 36 patch challenge quiltalong.   It was hard to capture the beautiful colors of these fabrics.

Barb  stole the weekend show with some beautiful projects which I'm sure she'll be sharing soon. 

As it's been for close to twenty years, it was another wonderfully refreshing weekend.  Our hostess is, as well as a quilter, an awesome knitter and gifted us with THE MOST COMFORTABLE hand knit wool socks.  I feel like I have the happiest feet it the world!



It's Not to Late to Visit the Moda Country Fair Blog Hop

Moda designers have been celebrating the Country Fair with a blog hop and some great giveaways.  It all started on September 6 -- and I was the lucky winner of a fat quarter stack of fabrics from Sandy Gervais'  new line - Sassy.

I'm still feeling a bit stunned at my good fortune!   This fabric hasn't reached quilt shops yet -- I'm feeling pretty lucky to be among the first to possess it!  The blog hop will continue through September, so check out the links on Sandy's blog.  Some of the early prizes have already been awarded, but every designer also offers a free pattern on her blog, all inspired by county fairs, so check all the links -- and there are still more than two full weeks worth of great prizes to be given away.

Earlier this summer I had another win - I won this pattern from Thelma at Cupcakes 'n Daisies

It looks pretty intimidating, but I'm looking forward to facing the challenge after I retire in 53 more days.  It won't be my first project -- I think I need a pretty organized sewing room to give this one a try, but I love the pattern and look forward to working on it.  Check out Thelma's finished Eventide quilt here.  Then browse the rest of her blog -- she makes some beautiful quilts!

Barb and I will be joining Ann out at Big Traverse tomorrow for our umpteenth annual quilt retreat.  It looks like the sun may shine and the temps may raise to a comfortable level. 

I hope to be productive and have some projects to share next week!

August UFO Challenge Accomplished!

The pattern I have for this quilt is from the February 1999 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting, designed by Lynette Jensen, named Snowflakes.

I loved the pattern when I first saw it and immediately made this block.

I tucked it into the magazine and forgot about it for several years.

It took awhile to get back to the project -- most of the work has been done over the last two years.
The quilt measures 84" x 101".  It wasn't easy trying to figure out how to get a picture of it in my teeny tiny hosue.

The challenge for me for August was to complete the quilt top.  I'm not sure when I'll get this one quilted,but I hope it doesn't take me another 12 years.

At some point while I was making the squares, I decided to save the little triangles that were trimmed from the flying geese units.  I had fun playing with them -

I think I'll get something small assembled from these squares a little sooner than the large quilt will be done.  Each little triangle square is about 1-1/4".

Now I have to work backwards.  Tomorrow I'll put my feet up and try to finish quilting and binding my July challenge quilt.

Check out other August finishes at Patchwork Times

No Progress to Share

Judy at Patchwork Times posted #11 as the challenge project for September.  For me, that would be this bin of fabrics -

I don't even know where to begin!  I remember feeling a need at one time to collect pink and brown fabrics to make a quilt -- heaven only knows why.  I don't remember if I had a pattern in mind when I started collecting.  It looks like I started making some half square triangles with them at one time -- if I remember correctly that happened two years ago at a Traverse Quilt Retreat. 

I still don't remember what my plan was at that point  -- maybe next week I'll see if I can find the bin and decide what I should do with it when I head to our yearly Quilt Retreat in a couple of weeks.

As for July and August challenge projects -- they're both close to completion.  I'll share some photos when I can say I've met the challenge.  Soon I hope.

Until then -- if you want to see what some quilters have accomplished for their August challenge, click on the link above and check out the list on Judy's blog.