Back from retreat and a SPIDER story!

Quilt panels are so easy to use. I love them!

After a short visit to my brother's house last week, I really enjoyed loving on his 4 male cats. One of them looks like the black/white tuxedo cat on this quilt panel. I had two of these panels (45"X36") and today one is all quilted and bound. So this will be going to Alan and his wife Sue as a "just because" gift. That is the one I took the photo of. I salvaged some wool battings and pieced enough for both of these quilts. The Quilters' Dream Wool batting is unreal! I LOVE IT! I even used some precious fabric for the backings on these two quilts. And one will be for me. Well...for the kitties as they love the wool batting too!
I felt like Bonnie Hunter.      Use it up! 

And I did. Used up saved fabrics...pieced wool battings...and used some green fabric for bindings that would have never made it in to a quilt because it was a polished type cotton. The color matched so well you would have thought I planned it that way!

Our guild has been on a Project Linus quilt making spree. We had a three day retreat last week at Bear Creek Farms in Bryant, Indiana. I made 6 quilt tops and quilted them on Monday and Tuesday. Each one has pieced batting. I am so glad I have been a "saver" of batting pieces. They are all done and ready for giving. But some of the ladies were on "overdrive". Two of them actually made 10 different quilts and had them all quilted too after the weekend was over. As I was leaving they were both going to make just one more apiece to have 12 done! All of us were working on charity projects. I did take a personal project but it never even made it out of my truck. They are some great ladies! Our goal is to have 100 done to present to the Project Linus charity this June. We are VERY close to having that many done.

Here are all six of the finished quilts. They are on top of my "tumbler" storage that went with me to the retreat but never made it out of the back of my truck. And next to the container is another container that did make it in to the room but never was opened. It will be a pink/red quilt for Grand Daughter AnnaMarie. I have plenty of time. Her birthday is in August.

Do any of you have a fear of bugs?????? The first night at the cabins at Bear Creek, I was reading in bed and saw some movement between the beds near my slippers on the floor. As I watched there was a Wolf spider the size of a dog (well not quite that big maybe 3" across) crawling across the floor, heading to the bed I was in! They are terrible looking...hairy...dark brown camo colored with wicked red eyes. I managed to not scream too loud and picked up one of my slippers and pounded the #$%& out of it. Squished it all over...juicey...gross but DEAD. Then I was not able to relax. If there was one there were more I was sure. These cabins are very rustic...no phones...long way to walk to find anyone to complain to...seclusion...darn. So every few minutes I got up and stomped my feet around the room to keep the spiders in hiding. I did leave the dead spider body on a kleenex on the floor between the beds. When I returned to my room later the next day, the bed was made and the trash was taken out BUT THE SPIDER WAS STILL THERE ON THE FLOOR AS I LEFT IT! I was a bit angry then. So I spent another night of not sleeping and continued to stomp around the room. All the ladies were laughing at me. I really did not feel too bad with no sleep for two nights. I slept like a baby when I got home though. I am sure I snored through the entire night! And I did not leave a tip for the sweet faced Amish girl who cleaned the rooms. Why did she not pick up that spider and then sweep the room to remove any more of them? Could she have been more frightened than me? NOT!