Stash Report & Happenings

Used since last report:        0.00 yards
Used year to Date:            47.00 yards

Added since last report:     7.75 yards
Added Year to Date:         49.17 yards

Net Used for 2013:           - 2.17 yards

My friend, Mary, and I had a great retreat at my daughter's house in Fargo. While daughter, Natalie, and her husband, Norman, were vacationing, I was house sitting and doing the "Chipper" watch. Chipper is their very personality dog and is a lot of entertainment.

While in Fargo I finished a top for a crib quilt and all 224 blocks for Blue Ridge Beauty (by Bonnie Hunter). Thought I would never get done sewing together all the four-patches and triangle squares for BRB. The crib quilt used part of a jelly roll of summery fabrics and white-on-white with butterflies. Decided not to put a border on it and will use the rest of the jelly roll for a scrappy binding. The pattern is Strip Twist by Bonnie Hunter. It is such a fast fun quilt pattern. 

Mary accomplished so much while we were together. She finished piecing three tops. I especially liked the block in the quilt with the dark sash hanging on the back of the chair. The bottom quilt was a "Row Robin" exchange done through our quilt guild. The sash fabric pulled it all together. (I should have gotten a whole picture of it because it turned out so great.) The quilt top Mary is holding has such a lovely dark red/brown stripe fabric between the nine-patch strips. While she was with me, we visited another shop in Moorhead, MN that was in the MN Shop Hop, The Quilted Lady Bug. This shop has expanded since I first visited it when they first opened years ago. 

Well ---  The Minnesota Shop Hop was both good and bad for me. I did a nice job of enhancing my stash. Some of the fabric I bought is dedicated to projects in the works but not all. After all a girl has to have some fun!!!!  LOL  On my way home from Fargo, ND, on the 15th, I stopped at Bay Window Quilt Shop in Perham, MN. I planned to purchase border fabrics for my Blue Ridge Beauty since I only had to purchase 1 1/3 yards and then I would have a $20.00 credit. Who can resist having a credit to use?? I found a tone-on-tone navy blue for the outer border/binding and dark tan for the inner border.

Last Sunday, my Hubby wanted to go bumming and it was such a beautiful day.  We went to Morton, MN in the southwestern part of the state. On our way home, we stopped at Gathering Friends in Bird Island. The owners of Gathering Friends are designers with a number of books and patterns on the market and they are such lovely ladies. They had expanded the store a lot since the last time I had been there and they have added a lot of lovely fabrics. I just loved these fabrics and they whispered my name. The fabrics just wanted to be petted and to be in my stash. Who could resist the "siren" call???

This last week I have been piecing Blue Ridge Beauty. Have to admit, I had wanted to get the top done so I could count all the fabric used. Then I would not be in the red!!!  Well, it just wasn't to be but hope to complete it this week. It is a lovely quilt and will be a future wedding gift for one of the grandchildren. Trying to get a lot of large quilts done and stashed for future gifts. 

Hope you all have had a good couple of weeks and thank you for stopping by!! Next time we'll have to have tea and crumpets!!  Very Big Grin!!!

Make sure you hop over to Patchwork Times and see what others are doing.

http://www.patchworktimes.com/2013/08/25/stash-report-week-34-2013/

Beth

Stash Report & MN Shop Hop

Used since last report:        0.00 yards
Used year to Date:            47.00 yards

Added since last report:     2.25 yards
Added Year to Date:        41.42yards

Net Used for 2013:              5.58 yards

The Minnesota Shop Hop is going on right now, so of course, I had to stop at a couple of new shops on my way to Fargo, ND, on Friday. For the MN Shop Hop, the state is divided up into sections. If you cover every shop in a section there usually is a prize. If you cover at least seven quilt shops in every section, you are eligible for the drawing of an Alaskan cruise. I estimate that it would be less expensive for me to pay for my own trip, then to visit all those quilt shops!! Who would be able to resist all of the goodies each of these shops will have???? LOL

My two stops were at Old Creamery Quilt Shop in Randall, and Red Pine Quilt Shop in Detroit Lakes. I have never been to either of these quilt shops before as they are new. The Old Creamery was adorable and laid out so nicely in an old creamery building. The building also has a coffee shop to help quench both hunger and thirst after feasting on all of the eye candy. Red Pine Quilt Shop is located downtown Detroit Lakes. They had a wonderful cross section of fabrics. There was something to appeal to every fabric taste. So guess what ---- I broke down and added to my stash!!!!  They had some fun Kaffe Fassett fabrics that I needed to add. I really do have some projects that they will be utilized in. That is my story and I am sticking by it!!! VBG

I arrived at my daughter Natalie's place to do the "Chipper" watch ( he is Natalies' dog) on Friday. They left Saturday morning and I set up my sewing place in the dining area and cut and sewed most of the day. It is such a lovely spot with all the windows and I am able to look out at the garden area.  My friend, Mary, will arrive sometime today to spend a few days with me for a sewing retreat. We will also go to a couple of quilt shops in the area while she is here.

Hubby is home by himself and hopefully will not get up to too much mischief!! I only spent a few days at home between Wisconsin and now North Dakota. We did go bumming together on Tuesday while I was at home.

Make sure you hop over to Patchwork Times and see what others are doing.

http://www.patchworktimes.com/2013/08/11/stash-report-week-32-2013/

Beth

Twins Baseball, Beet Pickles, Hummingbirds

On Sunday, August 4th, Hubby and I attended a Twins Baseball game with our daughter Brenda. She purchased the tickets as our Christmas presents and we finally were able to get our schedules together to attend the game. This was the first time my husband, Wayne, and I have attended a Twins game at the new Target Field in Minneapolis. There is not a bad seat in the house but ours was awesome. The weather was great and the Twins won against the Astros. It was even a  threed-game sweep which was even sweeter.

It was also the first time to take the train into Minneapolis. Going in was great, but coming home was standing room only and it was hot. We survived!!  LOL

On the way home, we stopped at a farmers market and I picked up 25 pounds of beets for beet pickles. So guess what I was doing on Monday.

Monday was a day spent cooking, peeling and then pickling beets. My family loves them. For quite a few years while I was working and attending school, I did not can anything. They all got very hungry for some of my pickles, especially my beet pickles. The ones in the stores just are not the same.

The jars look so pretty.

The Hummingbirds have been sucking up the nectar like crazy. Do they know something I don't???? Usually they only drink so much just before they leave for the season. Sometimes there are as many as four Hummingbirds sitting on the feeder eating at the same time. I have never seen them do that before. They are usually so busy chasing others away. Aggressive little dickens!! LOL

Since I was gone for almost a whole week, and I will be leaving the Hubby on his own again, I spent the day bumming with him. Need to spend a little time with him or he will forget what I look like!

Have a great day ---

Beth

Midwest Machine Quilters Show - Machine Quilting Today

Wow! It feels like I have been gone forever since I left in July and returned home in August. A week ago yesterday (July 29th) is when I headed down to Minneapolis to stay with my youngest daughter, Brenda, overnight. On Tuesday, July 30, my friends and I headed over to Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, for the Machine Quilting Today Quilt Show  (http://www.mqtoday.com/index.html). It is a small show but the teachers were awesome. I had classes with Dusty Farrell, Cathy Franks, Sue Patten, and others.

Cathy Franks class was on Kaleidoscope Quilting. She looks at old cut glass plates for design ideas. They would be great fill for round spaces. Below is one of her samples.

Cathy Franks Sample

I also took "Edge to Edge Elegance" with Dusty Farrell. His designs are nice and relaxed and can cover a lot of space in a hurry. He also offered design ideas for "guy" quilts. 

Dusty drawing his flame design.

Best of Show & Viewers Choice quilt was "America, Let It Shine" by Sherry Reynolds. It is an absolutely stunning quilt, but what is even better is the story behind the quilt. It is a tribute to our county and was in answer to questions by her children regarding what this country stands for. The words to the Pledge of Allegiance, the Bill of Rights, and other documents are embroidered in the quilt. Sherry is such a nice and humble person and it is wonderful the recognition this quilt has been collecting. 

An interview with Sherry is available at this site: http://www.quiltviews.com/sherry-reynolds-america-let-it-shine

 (For more pictures - http://godutchbaby.blogspot.com/2011/10/america-let-it-shine-quilt-by-sherry.html ).

While at the show we attended an auction to raise money for QOV quilts. Twelve Quilts of Valor were presented during the auction. Over $3000 was raised. Two of our group went home with items from the auction. One of the items was a pillow quilted by Sue Patten.

We all had a fun and informative time at the show and it was nice to get home on Saturday.

  

Beth

Late Stash Report

Used since last report:        0.00 yards
Used year to Date:            47.00 yards

Added since last report:     5.00 yards
Added Year to Date:         39.17 yards

Net Used for 2013:              7.83 yards

Well, at least I am still in the black. While at the MQToday Show in Wisconsin, my friends and I visited the local Ben Franklin Crafts store. They had wonderful fabrics and I found some that goes very well with my 30 year old fabric. (Can you tell that part of my stash is from the Stone Age??? LOL) It is sometimes very hard to find anything that even remotely looks like it will match but I found two pieces of fabric that will work very well. The fabric on the right with the white dots is what I had in my stash. I do have a project in mind, so needed more fabrics.

Make sure you hop over to Patchwork Times and see what others are doing.

http://www.patchworktimes.com/2013/08/04/stash-report-week-31-2013/

Beth