EAA Quilt Weekend!

This weekend I joined a bunch of wonderful ladies at the EAA Airman's Lodge for a weekend of quilting and fun!  I have never been to the EAA before, and I must say it was beautiful! 

This is the wonderful place where we quilted and laughed and stayed for 4 days!  It was a blast!  And here is one half of the room where we quilted.

Mom and I drove up on Friday morning and stopped at Yds.  I needed to get some backing fabric for my bargello quilt and LuLu's quilt.  I found some fantastic fabric for both of these and two hours into the weekend I had both backings sewed together!  Now to check my bargello in at my favorite local quilt store, Patched Works!  They do such a fantastic job, so I can't wait to see the finished product.  And then I will have mom quilt LuLu's quilt! 

The next project I worked on were my Pineapple Blocks for our monthly exchange.  While these blocks take quite a bit of time to complete, I must say these blocks are quite fun!  I am so glad that I am able to participate in my first block exchange.  Hopefully there will be many more!  Here are the blocks I completed this weekend!

I can't wait to continue this exchange and put all the blocks together in a quilt! :)

Finally I started working on my Granny Squares quilt again.  I stated this quilt about a year ago after I found the pattern in a quilt magazine.  My granny was a very special person to me and when I found a quilt "named after her" I knew I had to make the quilt.  Never mind how difficult it may be...this quilt was for me.  So, about a year ago I put together 6 out of the 36 blocks needed and this weekend I finished another 8!  I don't want to toot my own horn, but this was not an easy accomplishment, as each block takes quite some time to complete.  As the weekend went on, I was able to complete each block quicker than the last.  I am looking forward to putting more of these blocks together and completing my Granny Squares Quilt!  Here are the 8 blocks I finished this weekend!

And here is a close up of one of the blocks!  I am so proud of these blocks!

Over all this weekend was a blast.  I got tons of quilting done, bonded with a group of really wonderful ladies, laughed a lot, learned a lot and ate way too much food! :)  So glad mom introduced me to this group of awesome ladies.  And speaking of my mom, she made me this really awesome hot pad this weekend among other projects she worked on.

Until the next quilting adventure!

The Bargello

Last weekend my mom and I ventured to Shawano, WI for another "Deer Hunting" Weekend.  We go with a bunch of ladies my mom works with and one of the husbands asked where we where going one weekend in November when we first started going.  Jokingly the wife responded Deer Hunting and now no matter what time of year we go we say we are going Deer Hunting! :)

So, on a previous Deer Hunting weekend I stated working on my bargello quilt.  Well I am happy to report that I have finished piecing the main top of the quilt.  There are still two boarders (a 2" and 5" boarder) and some piping that needs to be added and then it has to be machine quilted, but I am so proud of it already that I must show it off!!!  Working on it took about 3 full (about 10-12 hours) days of quilting!  My friend Jen has now told me that I need to enter it in a quilt show in April, so I need to get my rear in gear and get the boarders and piping done so it can be quilted!  Here are some pictures...

Rows 1-8

Rows 1-16

Rows 1-24

Rows 25-39

The Finished Product!

Also on this weekend I was able to put together one of the flannel rag quilts that I gave my sister Rachel and her husband Jay and my dad for Christmas.  It still needs to be snipped so that it rags when I wash it, but I am excited to get at least one of them done!  Now onto the second one!

Rachel and Jay's Rag Quilt

I wish there where more hours it the day to quilt!!!  Now off to prepare the bindings for my bargello!!!

Christmas 2011

Christmas 2011 has come and gone, and while I had planned to get lots and lots of quilted projects done to give to my family, it just did not happen. Most of my family received stacks of fabric, partially completed, and an explanation as to what it would look like in the end...and then I asked for the fabric back! However, I was able to get two projects completely finished.

The first was a tree skirt for my sister Rachel and her husband Jay. Rachel had been asking for one, and both my mom and I told her that there was no way we could finish before Christmas and she would have to wait until next year. I surprised her and Jay however with a completed tree skirt they could still use this year!

Before I could take a picture of it quilted and bound, Rachel and Jay took it home to put under their tree.  I told Rachel that should could have it of course, but wanted it back before they stored it for next Christmas so that I could take a few more pictures and put the label on! :)


The second gift that I finished was a set of four placemats for my other sister Sarah's boyfriend, Mickey. Mickey loves ducks, so I found a Kim Schaefer placemat patten with ducks on it and decided this was the perfect gift for Mickey. He was so surprised and excited Christmas morning!

So two gifts down and a bunch more to go! :)  I still have to finish two rag quilts (one for my dad and one for Rachel and Jay), a Grinch quilt for my mom and a business sign for my sister Sarah's "Klips By Kate" business!  No one is in a hurry to get these gifts (thank goodness), they where just happy to have home made gifts!  So I will take my time in making them and as soon as I finish these I will be sure to post more pictures! :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!