Shipshewana Retreat and Macy's trick on video

The Shipshewana retreat was fantastic!

There were "early in the morning quilters" and "night owl quilters".

I am in the first group and retired early. I was amazed at how many little blocks I did complete. I only worked on one project. But almost everyone worked on many, many projects.

Judy L. brought her finished "Mystery" quilt. It was beautiful. She added 7 borders to the quilt and it was great eye candy!

Bonnie brought her Featherweight with the "hot" paint job. There are flames on the bed of the machine. Gorgeous machine! Bonnie also shared her tricks on sewing hexies. It was so nice to see Bonnie again. She is so beautiful in person and in spirit.

OK....caught in the act of SAVING scraps from the landfill. I did have permission from the other quilters. Bonnie had already resigned from collecting scraps and offered the basket to me. Of course I jumped on that offer. I have some of Bonnie's peacock blue in my paper-pieced pineapple blocks now.

After seeing how small my needed scrap size was, other quilters started making deposits at my sewing station. I added all of them to my blocks with joy. Now when I look at my blocks I will be reminded of the great time I had sewing at the Farmstead Inn in Shipshewana, Indiana at a 4 day quilting retreat. The Farmstead Inn is a great place to go to have a relaxed and calm vacation. Life moves at a different speed in this small Amish town of 565 permanent residents. On Saturday early evening I saw at least 50 buggies moving at a proud trot into town. The horse hooves make the loveliest sound in the air.

I did make two trips into town to shop for fabric. Yoders is a store that carries everything from fabric to tractors. Then there is Lolly's in the Davis mercantile building. I hit the basement store where all fabric is only $5.99 a yard. WHOOOHOOO! But I really did not buy very much. One of our quilters spent so much that she was given a "tiara" from the shop owner.

I hope all of you will be able to view this video of our cat Macy. Hubby has taught her a trick. She will roll over on command. Her reward is a thorough brushing. She LOVES to be brushed even though she has the shortest coat of all our cats. Hubby holds the brush and asks her to roll over....then asks her to roll all the way over. So turn up the volume and you can hear him giving the command. 

48 Pineapple blocks ala' Bonnie Hunter

I admit it. I am totally addicted to making these blocks. And it will be a very heavy quilt. Also one that will need to be farmed out for quilting by machine.

The only way I was able to stop sewing these was to "dump" all the scraps and the paper patterns into one LARGE plastic tote and remove it to another room. Geez...I even have to play tricks on myself!

 Bess, my constant companion. She hardly ever naps and if I sit down to quilt she is UNDER the quilt as fast as she can. She is not a lap cat at all. I can barely get her to allow me to pick her up. She is still so feral after three years. But she loves quilting. Remember this is the cat that ate two quilting needles with thread and had to have emergency surgery on New Years Eve. All my own fault. So sorry Bessie. I no longer have needles in pin cushions.

 Bess...worshipping the sun god.

 This is my tailless squirrel, Stubbie. She is starting her third winter with me as her human guard/feeder. When she was born she had a brother with the same deformity. Sad to say, he never made it through the summer that year. But Stubbie did. Since that time she has had 2 litters a season and brings her babies here for weaning. She will take food from our hands and comes running when we call her... So sweet!
I am such a soft touch much to my hubbie's chagrin  He says they tear up the yard and landscaping. But even if I did not feed them all they still bring acorns and walnuts from the plethora of trees we have here in our addition properly named Tanglewood.

 And here is one of many chipmunks that visit my feeder. My neighbor across the street (where they run with their bounty) had some serious yardwork done by a contractor. I believe all their storage areas were destroyed or moved with a backhoe. they are really making up for lost larders. I love how they run real fast with their tails stuck up straight in the air. The cats really enjoy the chipmunks too. There is usually standing room only at the window when the chipmunks arrive.

 Here is my blessedly sweet Pearl. She was acting strange last week and I took her in for a quick exam. She ended up staying at the vet's office overnight for emergency surgery. They removed three teeth. And she had lost so much weight from her last visit. Gosh I wish these kitties would tell me what is going on in their little bodies. She is so much better now...even wants treats again!

 Love these pre-printed panels. They work up sooooo fast for a quickie BD gift for Great Grandson #1. I put blue minkee on the back...Drew loves his minkee. And found matching toy trucks for the fun part of my gift to him.

 Here is my Twilight Quilt from the Blockswappers on Yahoo. This was an exchange a year ago. I will be gifting this the Grand daughter #3. I also joined another exchange for the same color combination and will get more blocks to make another quilt soon.

 Our guild meeting had a great speaker last Monday night. Fran Foskey spoke about color wheels and we got to play with scraps she brought along. Our newer members really enjoyed the talk. And it was a good refresher course for us "old" ladies.
And check out the back of Carolyn's jacket (on the left). It looks like a Featherweight sewing machine! I did not notice it that night! Carolyn, where did you find that jacket? I want one!

 I still surprise myself. I put this quilt together in two days. I just found out that one of my faithful readers is the designer of this quilt! How cool is that? Thanks to Kathi Holland for publishing this great pattern!
 

Hubbie wanted me to add a splash of red in the middle.

 I sure appreciate his "artist's eye".

I am still sorting my newest batch of 1 1/2" squares from the Postage Stamp Swap. This is by no means the bulk of them. Just a working station, then they get to play with the bigger containers.