I Went, I Saw,…

I fell in love… with the 

They are the MOST amazing things!  I was very impressed, and so was DH (I think).  SOOOOOOO…

It is ordered!!    :)  That’s the good news…

Bad news…  due to production issues it will take about 8 more weeks to get it.  :(

Can I STAND to wait that long?  I don’t have a choice.  Hopefully production issues will work themselves out soon, and my IQ will be on the way.

So, pretty soon the quilting duo (Gussie Fay and I) will become a trio.  I’ll keep you posted.

<><><><><>< HAPPY DANCE!!!!<><><><><><><><>

KAT

Neat Gift!

It pays to be nice to your relatives, especially if they are quilters!  Recently my hubby’s aunt and uncle needed to store some things here at our house because they were heading toward Ohio to a tool show and quilt shop hopping along the way.  It was no problem for me… we stacked the boxes in a room that is seldom used this time of year.  It contains the wood heater, and heaven knows we don’t need THAT right now!!

When they returned to pick up their boxes, here is what she gave me as a thank-you…

That top item is a pot holder with a recipe pocket.  SOOO cute and useful too!

 

The lower item is a “Fat-Free Cheeseburger”.

Which looks like this on the inside… 7 fat-quarters of fabric.

  

Don’t you just LOVE the tomatoes, pickles, and lettuce fabrics?  2 tan fat quarters are the “buns”,  yellow for the “cheese”, and brown for the “meat”.  COOL IDEA!!

Thanks, Mary!  You can leave your things at my house anytime!  And did I mention they also carried us out to lunch?  I have a spot reserved for her boxes next year!

KAT

Texas Retreat Report

We went, we ate, we sewed, we laughed, we shopped…

Retreat theme… UFO ROUND-UP.  We were challenged to finish up UFOs.  (So I hurriedly started some before retreat so I could finish up what I wanted to work on.  NOTE:  I am NOT saying I do not have any closet UFOs… I’m saying I didn’t want to work on THOSE! )

We danced and sang, “One-Eyed, One Horned, Flying Purple People Eater” about 50 times.  That was our “time to move around” song, and we almost knew the lyrics by the end of retreat.

Many of us FINISHED up some UFOs!!

Kathy A.’s quilt… STUNNING!

 

Jo Ann turned embroidered roses into a quilt top.

Cut a gazillion small squares, and stack them up NEATLY, Gayle! (Take a close look at her stacks… they are so neat you would think these were die-cut pieces!)

 

Barbara fell in love with a new square-in-a-square technique, and made these.

 

SOMEONE  REALLY needed to do some “housekeeping”!  No names to protect the not-so-innocent, but you can see her picture below!

 

Barrett (above) is a real “nose to the grindstone” kind of gal.  Could THAT be why she gets so much done?

This is one of several projects Barrett had on the design wall.

LOVE the fish quilt, Diane!!

Sailboats for a baby boy… Really nice, Mary Anne!

And this is Mary Anne’s other project, a 4-Patch Posey.

Judy worked hard on finishing this UFO… a house block gifted to her by another quilter.

This is Carolyn, who LOVES PINWHEELS…. NOT!  Love the look of her “row by row” quilt, minus the pinwheel blocks.

 

Another row quilt… I think this one is Mary Anne’s.  So sorry, but I did not get pictures of Linda’s or Debbie’s (or mine).  This is a guild project we have been working on since the first of the year.  Many others are making these too. (It is a free pattern designed by Debbie Mumm for the “Country Register”.  Click HERE for the free pattern download.  Be warned… it contains lots of tiny pieces!  Not that MY group would COMPLAIN!!  HAHA!)  They will add the final borders and we will all have some really CUTE quilts!

My 4-Patch Posey.  This will go on my bed for the lake retreat.  This fabric was bought umpteen years ago to make a quilted shower curtain for my home in Arkansas.  Never got done. (So that should make this a REAL UFO quilt, right?)  I decided it was perfect for my bed at the lake.

     

Lots of other busy-ness went on.  We all got lots done, but unfortunately I was so busy working I didn’t get pictures of everything.

        

Don’t get caught ripping, or you got THIS placed on your work station, and you had to mash the button and let it play music so EVERYONE  knew you were ripping.   The name of each self-confessed or caught-in-the-act ripper was placed in a drawing and… 

Pat won.  She really fussed when I caught her talking about ripping and went ahead and passed the frog on… now I bet she is GLAD, since she won the prize.

That’s quilt retreat in a nut-shell, and a bunch of pictures.   Hope you enjoyed our retreat… WE all really did, and can’t wait to go again next summer.

KAT

Blogging is like…

Exercising… Once you stop, it is hard to get going again!  So sorry my posts have been few lately.  I have several things to post about (especially the quilt retreat and all the things I finished) but I have been SOOOO busy!

And you are probably saying, “Where were the quilt retreat reports you promised us?”  Well, we have upgraded our wireless router at home and SOMETHING we did during the set-up on my lap top has caused it to have a problem connecting to other wireless networks.  Others could get onto the wireless at retreat, but I could not.  So that is something else I must spend time trying to figure out…. what setting did we click on that causes my computer to want to configure other people’s networks instead of just hooking up? 

Along with all the busy-ness I have come to the conclusion that I am going to HAVE to add computerization to Gussie Fay.  I never thought I would feel this way, but I have lost the joy of quilting.  Standing there hooked to the machine for hours at a time has lost its thrill. 

Perhaps it is because I do 99% pantos.  That’s not a complaint… because I am so slow at custom I can not make any money that way.  This has become mind-numbingly boring.  Perhaps it is because I seem to be doing mostly the same patterns over and over.  Perhaps it is because I have a stack of my quilts ready to be quilted, but no time to work on them.  Whatever the cause, if I am to stay open for business I am going to have to go computerized so I can do more intellectually stimulating things while the computer stitches.  It will also make me more time efficient, and help with the aches and pains caused by standing behind the machine all day.  Most people don’t realize how physically demanding machine quilting is.  But those pains will soon be behind me, just as soon as I get Gussie Fay connected to a computer.

I am counting the days until I go to Houston for my demo on the IntelliQuilter system, then I will decide which system to buy.  It is interesting that Gammill has greatly reduced the price of their retrofit to a Statler.  That is great timing, but I am really leaning toward the IQ because it has a very important feature that the Statler does not… automatic shut-off if it encounters any resistance (such as a thick seam allowance).  Other systems can possibly get hung right there and stitch in the same spot until they have damaged the quilt.

OK… so just like climbing back on the exercise bike, I have now ventured back into Blogville.  Hopefully I can keep myself revved up to post about twice a week for the rest of the summer.  (Fingers crossed, making plans for posts, determining NOT to play computer games until I have posted, etc…).  Stay tuned… pictures coming in a day or two!

KAT

Almost Packed…

… for quilt retreat!  We (14 of us) are leaving very early in the morning for the Red Barn Quilt Retreat in Cold Spring, TX.  We will sew, shop, and have fun from Monday through Thursday.

I’m hauling half of my earthly quilting possessions because I have plans to finish 4 different projects while there.   I will check in with you all when I get a chance and share some of our retreat with you.

Now… back to gathering things.   I hope Mary Anne is saving me a LOT of space in the back of her vehicle!!

Kat

The Winner Is…

Random.org says the winner is….     #8

PAM, who answered that her favorite gadget is:  

“It has to be my walking foot! “

Pam is in our local sewing/quilting group, The Sew Crafty Quilters, and I will be taking her prize to her tomorrow night at our meeting.

Congrats to Pam and thanks to all who entered.