Quilt Retreat Shopping...

Here are the items I ended up getting while on the retreat. I purchased two small kits and am excited about starting them. One of them has HST (half square triangles) with 30's reproduction fabric (which I love). The other is a farm/vegetable table runner with placemats (which I didn't realize they were included when I made the purchase). I got a few fabrics that have vintage stamps and quills on them. I love vintage items and hand writing letters. I plan on doing a big quilt with some of the fabric. The thread spool fabric I plan on making a pillowcase for myself, since I have never made one for myself, just as gifts for other people. At one of the quilt shops they it is in a farmer's market type of place that   has bulk food items and homemade jams, bread and jellies, etc. I ended up getting a strawberry jam and a jalapeño one for Mr. Crafts4others.

A few quilts I saw...

at the retreat I was recently at. I wanted to get a few more photos but by time I got ready to take them, the people no longer hand them out on display. My next post will show some items I purchased during my shop hopping.

Nice and Quiet...

At the recent quilt retreat I went too. There was quite a bit of socializing, shopping, sharing of ideas, and laughter at the retreat. This was my sixth retreat I have been too, and last one at least with this group of quilting friends. The retreat is up in the mountains and the place is relatively quiet, except for the sound of birds, geese, and ducks, which this is surprising since they are right in town.

This is one picture of several buildings were we stayed.

The first retreat I ever went too I started making this coin quilt for Mr. Crafts4others. Eventually I was able to get the top pieced together, this was done in about three retreats (mostly because I miscalculated how much yardage I would need for the top and backing. It is the biggest quilt I have ever worked on and I wasn't working from a pattern. 

Off and on since last years retreat I have been hand quilting it. In previous years the retreats have been for three days but this year it was for four. I spent all of the time hand quilting, although I did take an EPP (English Paper Piecing) project just in case I needed another one. By the last day I was already working on the borders and felt that I was running out of fingers to quilt. 🙂 I have started on the second border now, but haven't done anymore quilting for several days.

Progress from Dewey's 24 Hr Readathon

I participated in the readathon but didn't post on the blog about it before the big event. I got a late start yesterday on reading, and only read for about six hours. During that time I spent all of it just reading one book, and I was able to finish it. It was a cozy mystery book called Shunned and Dangerous by Laura Bradford. I have already started on the 4th book in the series called Suspendered Sentence. Dewey's 24 Hr Readathonn is international and I love to read the posts on Facebook and blogs. Their next event is on Oct. 21 2017. Here is a picture of what books I thought I would want to read during yesterday's event.

Learning a new stitch...

I have recently learned how to create the Chinese Wave (I think otherwise known as honeycomb) stitch. I am really liking the design so far, and can't wait to see what it looks like once the dischloth is completed. I am wondering if this pattern would be a little too dense for an afghan, and if I should just use it for perhaps dishcloths. I plan on making a few more before I end up reopening my Etsy store. So far I have one dishcloth done in garter stitch.



This is the front of the Chinese Wave

 And then the back

 The yellow in reality looks more like gold, and I plan on selling this dishcloth. I hope to have my shop reopened by the end of this month if not before. I just want to ensure that I have a few projects complete before doing that. I plan on having dishcloths, scarves, afghans and perhaps other items as well.

Can't wait to try this yarn....

I found out that the local Walmart has the Lion Brand Mandala yarn (which only 500 nationwide have it, and Lion Brand is out of it completely until Sept.) and just had to get some. They had about five or so different colors of the yarn. I ended up getting two balls of each color, they are only around $5 at the store but on Walmarts website it was $10 (I think they have run out of them online). I also got a bright green and blue yarn by Peaches and Creme called ocean stripes. Normally, I get the big cones of cotton yarn (Lil Sugar 'N Cream, I think they merged with the Peaches and Creme company) for around $15, but Walmart had them for $8.

So I plan on making quite a few dishcloths, and haven't decided either scarves or more granny stripe afghan's. The Bernat baby yarn will be for another granny stripe afghan that I hope to make to sell.

An Afghan Finish

I finally completed the Granny Stripe baby afghan I was making to send to my cousin. It turned out much different than the baby boy granny stripe afghan I did, since there were so many different colors in this one.

I started on another granny stripe afghan already, the colors are various purples with green. The yarn is by Michael's called Loops and Thread and even though the weight is only 4 worsted weight it feels very bulky and more like a 5 or 6. It is 100% acrylic but unlike other brands that are a little soft, this one isn't at all. I do not think I will work with this yarn again, but am hoping after I complete the project it will soften up somewhat. It is wider than our queen size bed, so it will be quite a big afghan.