September Surprise Quilt Retreat

I was at a quilt retreat this weekend with a group from the Peninsula Piecemakers Quilt Guild of Hampton, VA. We had a blast. We were at the 4H Center in Wakefield Virginia. A very nice facility, great rooms, great food, great staff.

I accomplished a lot. I completed about 115 hexagon blocks for a quilt I’m calling “Pussy Footing Around”. Also worked on the Spiderweb quilt, piecing 20 15 inch blocks. My OBW Aurora Borealis got borders, and I started working on anew quilt called Galaxy by Deb Tucker.

There was a lot of taxidermy there, note my friend Lisa with the polar bear.

I drank the Kool-Aid and had to get the folding wagon. These wagons are great, they fold up for easy storage and can hold up to 150 pounds. If you go to quilts shows, retreats or quilt classes these wagons are great for reducing the number of trips to your car. Of course we had to pimp out our individual wagons courtesy of If These Threads Could Talk!

It is good to be home, I missed my dogs (and my husband).

Make Your Own Gift Bags for Quilts


I am re-posting this because I forgot tp PDF the document before I posted it. When I give a quilt as a gift, I make my own gift bag. The lesson below makes a bag approximately 18″ x 18″ with a 4 ” gusset. You can adjust the size you want buy cutting your fabric larger or smaller, just remember to cut the lining and the outer fabric the same size. I love including a tote or making custom embroidered totes as the gift itself.

Basic Tote Lesson

Inside the Twister with Borders

Inside the Twister now has borders made from the original fabric that the block are made from. It measures 77″ by 84″. Next it gets quilted, but not until next week. This weekend I am at a quilt retreat. I’ll be hanging with my peeps, should be a blast!

Inside the Twister with Borders

Inside the Twister – Rows Sewn Together

I made progress and got the rows for Inside the Twister sewn together. So, now I have 2 One Block Wonders waiting for borders and one more to design. I can’t belive I’m working on 4 quilts at once, not to mention the 19 quilt labels I need to get done also.

Inside the Twister Rows Sewn Together

Inside the Twister on the Design Wall

This is Inside the Twister III on the design wall. It is made from Wizard of Oz fabric in sepia tones. I am a Wizard of Oz Fanatic.

Inside the Twister III

Aurora Borealis Rows Sewn Together

I have sewn the blocks into rows and sewn the row together. Now I need to design how I want the borders to look.

Rows sewn together, next design borders

OBW Hexies Sorted and Designed

I have sorted my hexagon blocks by predominate color and then went to the design wall to come up with a design that I liked. Now I will sew the rows together and then decide how to finish the borders. I think I will call this one “Aurora Borealis”.