The poor quilter or what happened on Day Two of the retreat

I know—I said NEVER, and will likely be saddled with fleece and flannel forever!!! But more progress in that department in a minute. 

As I surveyed what I'm working on at this retreat, the title for the blog came to mind. By poor, I mean someone with not much of a budget. I finished cutting all the fleece into usable bits. A job that most people would have just said no to and tossed the fleece. I get enjoyment from it. 

Then this happened. 

I had to hand-stitch the facing around the collar of this jacket that I made last year. I decided to stitch that facing all the way down from the front left hem to the front right hem, and that got done. This job has been sitting at home for a long time, and I was "forced" to do it here. 

The facing is hand-stitched in place.

All that remains to finish this jacket is the closure, and I've decided to use snaps. To put the snaps on it, I've decided to buy a table press, which is those large machines that make it easy to add snaps, rivets, etc. When I'm back, or even today, I should take care of that order. 

Then I was looking through the Country Registry to see if anything was exciting in it. There are always some good nuggets in it, and of course, it gives you access to all the local quilt shops. If you wanted to do an "old-fashioned" road trip in your province, this would be a great thing to get your hands on. 

Anyway, I spotted this comic, and it sounds appropriate. I have a pair of shorts to fix for DH, and sadly, they've been sitting on the table for a while. I left them at home, but I'd better dig them out as soon as I get home. On one of my walks with the girls, I figured out how to fix them!

Does this sound familiar?

The elbow on DH's favorite dress shirt wore through, and he asked me to repair it. Well, I can, but you won't ever wear this in person. He could wear it on Zoom. Then, before I could actually investigate the repair job, he asked that I turn it into a short-sleeved shirt. So I ripped the cuffs off yesterday. 

Removing the cuffs from a dress shirt

That was quite the job because all the topstitching was tiny, but all I needed was one loose stitch, and I was away to the races. I am going to put a cuff on the sleeve, and I'll use the dark fabric on the inside of the cuffs to make that happen. So I had to harvest those dark blue pieces. 

There are multiple buttonholes in this shirt because it is designed for cufflinks, not buttons. 

The shirt cuffs are removed.

Then my next job was to remove a few more raindrops from the Prince-themed Cherrywood Challenge. By the way, the next theme will be announced on June 10th. I will see what it is, but then I'll say, "That's nice," and let it go. I will not buy it again -- it's just become too expensive. But I like a good challenge, so I'm going to follow my poor quilter rules and make a challenge, but likely something from scraps? 

My Prince-themed Cherrywood Challenge

It's a nasty job, but doable. I have a new plan for the raindrops, and I'm excited to see the new design. It's a bit tedious, so I've decided to remove at least five raindrops a day, and within a week or so, I should be done and ready to redo them. OK -- maybe two weeks! The umbrella and the heart will stay in place. Each raindrop is satin-stitched and then fused to the background, but as you can see in the bottom-right corner, I've removed all the fused pieces without damaging the background or the raindrops. They can be reused!

What has been removed so far!

I know -- many of you would let that one die in a corner, but I absolutely love rescuing things. WAIT—I do NOT need to rescue your stuff. As you can see, I have plenty of my own things to rescue. But thanks for the offer. 

So these seven raindrops were removed before I shut that project down last night. 

Seven more raindrops are removed.

And this is what it looks like this morning. When you have a nasty or boring job, make sure to do it with a good movie, good company, or break it up into bits so you don't get fed up and never touch it again! OH MY GOD --- can you believe what song is currently playing on the radio? Purple Rain -- I kid you not!!!!! What a coincidence, and if I were a spiritual person, I'd say that a sign from up above to keep on trucking with this project!!! What a strange coincidence!!!!

More raindrops are gone.

Then I decided to work on assembling some quilt tops today. I took the bins of fleece to the car to free up some room, and I took an evaluation of what remains in my five bags, one of which is my knitting. I found not one, not two, but THREE bags of squares that are ready to assemble into quilt tops. That should be a no-brainer task for today. 

Before going to bed, I laid out the squares on the design wall. Yep -- I could spend hours rearranging the squares, but this arrangement looks good to me. 

My scrap quilt

These are bits of flannel scraps that I pieced into 6 1/2" blocks at another retreat. They are easy to sew together at a retreat, so they were placed in the retreat project bag. This morning I sewed the first two rows together and will work on the rest after my walk, and I hope to have it done by lunchtime. Then the next one (also flannel scraps) will be put on the wall. 

It seems there are a few jigsaw puzzlers amongst us, and I broke out the puzzle I brought. We set up a 7th table in the sewing room, and as people pass by, they drop in a piece or two. See how I'm sharing!!!! 

Project on the jigsaw puzzle

Remember the wrap we talked about yesterday? One of the ladies had to go to the dollar store, and she found this in four colors. 

Wrap in four colors

The only thing we thought of after she bought the colored ones was whether the color would migrate to the thread. So now you are warned, as are we!!! We don't know—we are just asking the question. 

We did take a trip out in the morning, and I needed some cash. Can you imagine where this ATM is located?

The conveniently located ATM

That would be in a QUILT STORE. Namely, Creekbank Sewing, which is located 30 minutes away from the retreat house. 

Getting some cash

This quilt shop (A Bernina dealer) is owned and operated by a Mennonite family, and several years ago, they moved the store from a trailer on their farm (actually, I think it was two trailers) to a location just off the main road. It was a wise choice as it was much easier to get to and has much more visibility. 

Well, the owners of this shop are SMART. There is no question about it -- they are smart. The staff are well-trained to upsell, have full product knowledge, know each sample, and are very attentive! Very attentive. I remember once, when we visited the previous location, all of us walked out of the store coveting a Bernina sewing machine. YES --- even me! It was hilarious!"

I can just imagine them getting intensive in-store training on how to do each of the things I mentioned above. If a customer says, "Oh, that won't work for me," I swear they have been trained to show a different side of that class or product. Whoever trains these ladies should be out there teaching other people to sell. They are masters!!!

We all know that if you pay by credit card, the fees the vendor incurs are ridiculous. And many small shops ask that you pay in cash or by debit. They do not have access to debit at this store, BUT they have provided a no-fee ATM, so you can more easily get the cash you need. Seriously??? 

If we can prevent giving any money to the big credit card companies, why not? It sure helps the little guy, and I think some places will charge that fee back to the purchaser. Anyway, I got cash from the machine. As I handed the cash to the lady, I said, "You will probably just put this money back into the machine for the next person!"

They have a wide variety of classes at the store, and there is always something going on. The number of owner classes they hold is obscene. I'm sure there are issues in some areas, but let's say that this store appears to be a well-oiled machine. 

I'll share what I bought at a later date! It's for one of my classes, and I'm not quite ready to share yet. I have one more decision to make, and then I need to figure out dates. I will give you this hint—there is more than one class!!! I miss teaching, and since I'm not teaching much elsewhere, I have total freedom. 

And then last night, I got some emails requesting dates on my calendar for SVP events!!! I must have been so disturbed that I had a dream that I was about to teach a class on Husqvarna Viking Designer Epic 3, and none of the machines had been unboxed, and we were about to start. Now that's a nightmare in my world!!!!

I went for a walk in the morning, and it was glorious. Slow and steady. I stopped to admire two hawks or vultures as they soared on a draft. Amazing to watch. Two of the other retreaters were already out, and we crossed paths at one point. They commented that when I walk, my right arm doesn't move, but my left arm does. NO WAY. But then I paid attention to it as we all continued in our separate ways, and OH MY --- they were right. My right arm does not move when I walk. Holy !!!!! Who knew? So I tried to be conscious about it, and when I stopped thinking about moving my arm, it stopped moving!

I walked to the end of the driveway last night, and somewhere along the line, I got bitten by a bug, and the lump at the back of my neck is gigantic. My body doesn't like bug bites, and I seem to get lumps from them. Dratted bugs!!!!

Hilarious!!!!

I had one of those nights. I tried sleeping in bed, but I got restless legs before I could fall asleep, and I was done. I slept on the couch and surfed the internet for hours before I dozed off. I think a nap is in order later today. Thankfully, that doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's darn right annoying. 

Well, on that happy note, I'm out of here. I have three quilt tops to assemble today and at least five raindrops to remove!!!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!

The lost is now found!

I'm home!! And I have NOTHING on the agenda that requires an overnight stay until the end of March! Yes!!!! I'm so excited!!

Regarding Bluetooth, my brain isn't comprehending the matter this morning, and I need to process this a bit more. But I learned last night at dinner, after complaining about the Bluetooth issue, that the Sonos speaker I have is Wi-Fi-enabled. So I do not even need a Bluetooth device to make it work! I connect to the internet through the app (of course!), and then I link to Spotify or the radio. NO device required! 

Hmmmm--- I still don't get why the music followed me when there was a dedicated Bluetooth device sitting right beside the speaker the entire time. There was no need for the signal to follow ME. 

Anyway, I'll try the app later today and go from there. If that works, there should be NO signal drop in the future. Just connect to the internet! One of the retreat houses doesn't have internet for streaming, and I use my phone to hotspot, so the Wi-Fi connection won't work.   

While the girls were happy to see me, it wasn't the same desperation as before. My SIL is here, and she has been walking the girls, so they were happy to see me, but didn't go ballistic. That's a big positive. Plus, I'm sure she gave them way more attention than DH ever does when I'm away. Murphy was downstairs keeping my SIL company while she sewed, and Murphy barely registered that I was home! 

It's so nice to be able to rotate the blog pictures and have them stay that way!! During my planning session, I have a series of tech questions that I will add and see if I can find the answers. Those will be some of my goals for 2026. 

Before we packed up and came home, I got almost all the blocks I needed done for the new dog quilt with the brown panel! I know!!! I think there are 87 blocks on the left and the scraps to make 13 more on the right. 

Progress on the new dog quilt

I'm not sure that I have enough fabric, so when I got home and unpacked, I went to the basket of dog fabric and found a piece that works for this configuration, and I should be good! It's mostly browns (light to dark), with some black thrown in. A relatively cohesive quilt. 

I said goodbye to this fabulous sewing room because we might not be back for a while. A few things have changed, and I can't justify going back there. Nothing bad, but the cost for the size of the group I have is getting a bit high, which is probably the most significant factor. 

The sewing room at the retreat house

Plus, I have ignored the other house we go to for an entire year, so the retreats for the next two years are at our other retreat house. We are very fortunate to have more than one close by. The other one is a smaller house, which works just fine for the smaller groups that seem to be signing up. And in 2027, this house will have a bizarre check-in time of 4 PM, and I just can't cope with that, especially since the price didn't drop to accommodate it. 

But we may go back again - never say never! For the next two years, we're switching houses. Plus, the number of retreats I am organizing is less than in previous years, giving me time to be invited to other retreats or take more vacation, or just stay home and sew! 

When I got home, I unpacked the car and then went downstairs as I had a Zoom meeting to host. I had a few pictures to add, so I quickly added them. Thank goodness for cloud-based storage, because the file I made while at the retreat was readily accessible and updated on the desktop, and I ran Zoom on the laptop. I believe we were about 25 people on the call, and there wasn't a single internet drop, even though I didn't have the Wi-Fi pod hooked up! Go figure!

OK—so we have a problem. I did NOT use the timer, and everyone respected the time, more or less. But I do ask a lot of questions, and I want people to talk about their project, and I want to give them some advice if I see an area where it could be improved. We are scheduled for 75 minutes, but we went over that by another THIRTY minutes. Everyone had a ton of show-and-tell! And it was all good, with lots of learning moments or very inspiring moments. 

We have NO room to add anyone going forward, and probably no one will drop out. I'll just make sure I schedule those sessions for 90 minutes going forward, and maybe, just maybe, I may have a minute or two to show something I've done! Not that I care - the rest of the group is doing a great job! 

After dinner, I headed back down to unpack the bags I brought home. It didn't take that long, and everything has a home, which makes it super easy. 

There is one thing that is sort of lost in Studio B. I have some printed-on-fabric instructions that I plan to use for a scrap project. I got a few more pieces from one of the ladies who was making several children's fabric books. Hmm -- the question is, where are the other bits that I have at home? I'm not sure, so I plopped the new bits into this container and left it on a table so I can try to locate the remainder of the bits. I probably have enough to start my project, and it would be perfect for the next retreat! But then so would many other scrappy projects! 

Some of my printed-on-fabric instructions

I restocked the retreat box with thread. I grabbed a spool of white and a spool of black and put both in the box. I should put in a new wash-away pen, since the one in there appears dead, as someone who borrowed it discovered. I must remember to check that later today. And I should check the lip balm, as that is important at a retreat (houses are very dry), and I think this one is almost done. I might just quickly grab that box and pull it out of the retreat tool bag so I don't forget. 

The retreat box is restocked with thread

OK -- that is done - the box is on the cutting table. Several bags of half-square triangle cut-offs are in the retreat bag, as are the rulers, the bell, which I forgot to put on the tables. People can ring the bell when they finish a project. My retreat sewing machine is still out, as I need to clean it and change the needle before putting it away. I'll likely add a spool of thread to it as well. 

I put the bag of blue flannel scraps back in the laundry basket, and you can see how full that basket of flannel scraps is! It's definitely overflowing! I might just go in there and resort a wee bit. Well, there are a handful of scraps that have been added to the pile, but aren't sorted, and I should sort them. It won't take long, and then when I grab a bag of colors, I have everything that is sitting there. More scraps will be added as I quilt more flannel quilts before the end of this year. 

My basket of flannel scraps

The rest of the top shelf, where that basket sits, is for the larger flannel pieces I plan to use as backings for the eleven favor quilts I have to do, so there will be more scraps. And as I'm doing my planning this week, I need to set aside one day a month as my scrap-happy day. I will now have time to do that, and I MUST continue to work on these scrap quilts because I LOVE working on them. It's fun. 

I had a big problem in Studio B. Many "current" projects were not placed in a storage box. They are sitting on those three tables downstairs, and I'm supposed to be making progress on them, which I am, but slowly. Everything I worked on at the retreat did not come from a current project table. Retreat time is sort of play time, and I choose to work on things that are not current. 

I also have tubs of things that I want to embroider, and well, there is a lot of stuff. But there was one machine embroidery project that I wanted to resurrect because of my trip to BC. I tried to find that project on the single day I was home, but I couldn't. I looked on the shelves, in the project closet, in the tubs, and through the mess on the current project tables. NOTHING. 

Obviously, I can't say I looked everywhere because then I would have found it. I was determined to find that project last night. I researched all the places I've looked before in case I overlooked it. NOTHING! I finally gave in and said that I would RESTART the project. My SIL was sewing and thought I was raving mad!

As I was about to throw in the towel, I looked down! OH MY GOD --- I can see the fabric poking through the plastic on this tub that is on the floor UNDER the current project table. For some reason, I thought this contained only the blue project you see at the top! DUH!!!!

My lost project is found!

Well, what an idiot I am!!! This is what happens when you move things around! So I reacquainted myself with the contents of the tub. And I found the project was almost done! There are four parts to it, and all four are complete, though I want to remake one. So remaking ONE part is much better than making four brand new parts! The thread, the fabric -everything was there. I am such an idiot!!! But there is no time to deal with that silliness, I must forge ahead and get this done! 

It is going to be a busy week. I have two big classes on Saturday, and then two show-and-tells on Sunday. There is nothing done for any of them, and so this week will be rather busy. Plus, I have some writing to do. Will I have time for a puzzle? Not this week - that will have to wait for the following week. After this weekend, there is the UFO club the following weekend, and my commitments are done for the year! OH -- I believe I have an in-person class this Thursday, but I need to confirm that. 

Well, on that happy note, I'm out of here!! Off to spin class. I'm so excited to be home and to get back into my routines. It's interesting to note that many people need to change what they eat for breakfast and lunch, or their activities during the day. I do not. Why? It just makes those "hard" decisions about what to eat - so super easy. You grab and eat, then get onto the fun stuff for the day. My mornings are very routine, and then the rest of the day is a crap shoot! I like that. Start the day with a routine, then ramp up when the brain is fully functioning. On spin class days, the first thing I do is write the blog, so my brain can't be that foggy when I jump out of bed! 

I have several virtual retreats scheduled for the holidays and the regular monthly one. I'll try to remember to post those tomorrow. 

Have a wonderful day!!!

Ciao!!!

An almost full super moon

I'm happy to report that I slept well last night. I even "slept in" so that is great, but I still have time to get this blog posted in the right time frame. 

I know I say it all the time when I'm at retreat, but this is truly the place to strengthen friendships. While I'm a Zoom person and happy with Zoom, there is nothing like an in-person event to make me very happy. You can't go for a walk with someone on Zoom! But you can in person. While I'm also a get-in-and-out shopper, it's fun to shop with others. We were four yesterday, which is almost unheard of in my world! But the laughs, the shared meals -- you can't beat that. And at one point, something happened at retreat that hasn't happened before, or if it did, it is rare. At one point, the house was empty as everyone left to go shopping!!! 

For those on my retreat list, I'll be sending an email to give you the lay of the land for 2026 and 2027, so you can plan your schedules accordingly. There will be fewer in the future, so they will be even more precious than this year. 

OK -- enough about that! What got done? 

I managed to get 120 six-inch blocks for one flannel quilt in the "blue" theme. So that was good. And as I mentioned yesterday, it got bagged but will not be sewn until I investigate the rest of the scrap piles. There are eight more flannel quilts to quilt with bright flannel backs. Then I'll evaluate the other colors and see if it makes sense to make this quilt. Actually, this might be a good task for my SIL? It's flannel, so a bit tricky, but I'll see. 

120 six-inch blocks for a flannel quilt

Then I worked on the five-inch blocks. I needed more of those - 168 to get a decent-sized quilt. That was an easy job, but it still took all day, and I didn't have 168 blocks until the evening. Well, actually, I found some snowman panels in the flannel pile and decided to add a frame to them to make them the size of FOUR of the five-inch blocks. So that worked, and sped up the progress.  

Blocks for the second flannel quilt

Most of the flannel in this one is winter themed, so technically this one would be good to sew together now.

But by then, I was getting bored with working with the flannel scraps, and it took a while to complete all those blocks. Time to move to something else. 

I still have this much flannel to deal with. It doesn't look like much in this photo, but it filled a bag. I estimate there are at least TWO more decent-sized quilts here. That's obscene!!! But I'm doing something with it. I must leave this out when I'm home and make a few blocks each day! I'll see how that goes -- there aren't many "free" moments in my days. At least not this coming week!

Flannel scraps still to deal with

I brought a couple of "new" projects, ones that aren't scrap-related, so I dug one of them out. AHA—it's a set of placemats. Good grief—I vaguely remember buying this as a kit. How many years ago would that have been? No idea. And will I use them? Nope -- they will go in the placemat donation pile. I've said this before, I'm not so much about the finished item - I'm more about the making! I would sew anything, like scraps, and enjoy it as much as if it were brand-new. 

A set of placemats

Some of the pieces have been cut, but I just didn't want to start this last night, so that's on the agenda for today. Four placemats! 

I also finished that one bag of half-square triangles from my Barn Star Sampler quilt. This pile is all the ones I sewn and trimmed here. No sense sewing them and not trimming. That's a new rule I have, and it really doesn't take long to deal with them! 

The half-square triangles

So I'll keep these together in a bag, and one day I'll dig them out and figure something out for them. 

The collection of half-square triangles from Barn Star Sampler

Don't worry -- I have another bag with me, so that is sitting by the sewing machine and ready to deal with. What's crazy is that half the bag is sewn and trimmed, while the other half isn't. So why do I leave half-finished projects everywhere? Well, that's a problem for all quilters, and we need to stop that!! Do it now!!!! And here's another turned photo! I can't fix it, but you get the idea. 

The next bag of half-square triangles

And if I happen to finish that, there are more bags of them. This is NOT a great photo, but at the bottom of my retreat bag, there are two more bags of half-square triangles to sew. These are the cutoffs from flying-geese units left from specific quilts. That will keep me busy for a while, and I'm OK with leaving them in the retreat bag and working on them while I'm away. Trust me, I have more at home. The ones at home are the random ones. These bags are "collections" from specific quilts. The bottom line is that I have a plan for them, and that makes me happy. 

More bags of half-square triangles

I kind of got obsessed with the puzzle, and as it got dark last night, I needed to move a light in to work on it!! 

Burning the midnight oil!

By the time I left it alone last night, I had this much done. 

Close to the finish

YES -- I am almost done. Yeah!!!! Hey—it's our retreat, and we are allowed to do whatever we want! Don't worry -- I have another puzzle of mine that I want to finish here so it can go home with someone else. 

Did I mention I've been watching this girl with the most annoying voice who talks about assembling puzzles? Always with a stopwatch. That would not be fun! But one of the things she does, and I know other people do it as well, is to sort the pieces into colors. So I broke down and bought a set of puzzle sorting trays, which is also in the picture above. I'll break that out when I work on the small puzzle that I have next. 

I also had company during the day when I worked on the puzzle. This cardinal was pretty persistent and kept hanging out on the windowsill. I don't know if there is a bird feeder, but Mrs. Cardinal was looking for food!!! 

HEY -- is this a fly-through window?

Someone is making a "few" of those children's fabric books, and there are cutoffs - the instructions. I've asked for them as I have plans. So if anyone has instructions from any project that looks like this, I'd be happy to take them off your hands instead of them going into the garbage. I should check whether I have enough to get started on a project. 

Instructions from fabric books

I noticed this morning that the two people on the other side of the room have totally crossed the middle line of the table!! I'll have to bug them this morning!!! I have packed up the stuff that I had spread on the table on the other side of the room and put it in a bag under the cutting table. 

Ooops - retreat spread!

I've already got one bag of stuff to put back in the car. It's so much easier to pack one bag at a time when you're finished with it than to wait until the end of the retreat when everyone is trying to leave at the same time. When it's time to pack up, I usually have one bag of projects, my sewing machine, and whatever food is left. The rest is already done! Efficient!!!! I'm also a neat freak (don't laugh), so it makes sense that I do that. 

Helen Anne and I went for two walks yesterday. It was a glorious day -- not cold, but brisk-- and we soon warmed up with the walking, and at one point we stopped to look at the moon. I spotted this cornfield and hadn't paid it any attention. But it never got harvested!! And it was interesting to see that all the cobs were at the same level on the stalk. I've never noticed that before!!!! 

The cornfield in the winter

I didn't have my phone with me, so Helen Anne took these pictures at about 3:30 in the afternoon. Yep -- that's the moon!!!! It was super visible and quite large. The full COLD MOON is on December 4th, so let's hope we have clear skies tomorrow. 

The almost full super moon

Did you know there are three or four super moons in a year? A super moon occurs when the full moon is at the point in the moon's orbit where the moon is closest to the Earth. And there you go -- another fun fact. Did you know there are FOUR supermoons in 2026? I think there were only three this year. 

Well, it's time to get myself organized. I have a puzzle to finish, I have knitting to explore, four placemats to sew, a couple of videos to watch, and some paperwork to deal with!! Mostly emails. 

Have a wonderful day!!!

Ciao!!!!

The sorting queen!

Thanks for the vote of confidence on my split 9-patch! I'm going to cut more strips and continue! 

The last day of the retreat is always sad because everyone has to go home. But it's also exciting because you get to come home, unpack, and see everything you did! 

Before I came home, I was determined to go through that bag of Oh Canada scraps and sort it out. This is what happened. 

I found several bags with pieces from various projects, but it was a hodgepodge. I unsewed any pieces that were sewn together. I also found scraps from a quilt I designed and made in 2017. Oh boy! 

Pressing the last of the scraps

This is what I found. The pile of non-Oh Canada fabric wasn't huge, and now it's together. There were quite a few components for making half-square triangles, so all that went in one bag. I found a few blocks (lower right) and some other colors that were part of the Sesquicentennial collection, which are also separate. And some Oh Canada bits would NOT work for the log cabin. 

The sorted Oh Canada fabric

Then, there was the pile of fabric that would work for the log cabin. While the last ladies packed up, I cut the pieces for ten blocks. As the blocks are 14", two more rows of blocks will make a decent-sized quilt. I'll have to sew a few pieces together to get some of what I need, but my sewing machine had been packed away by then. 

Pieces to finish the log cabin quilt

I guess I'll get three quilt tops from that bag of scraps, and I'll be quite glad to get rid of them!

And then the room was empty. There are a lot of garbage bins in the house, and I know I got them all except for the one in the laundry room. It was a great retreat—one of my most productive, and I was thrilled. I think it was pretty productive for the others as well, as we saw embroidered items finished, pillows, quilts, and so much more!!

The sewing room

Thanks to everyone who came! Loading the car wasn't a huge thing since I had most of my stuff in it. Once I'm done with something, I try to put it in the car to make packing up easy. It took some people a bit of time to pack up, and there was some snow falling, so I was glad I did it gradually. I swear I took a picture, but I did not. 

The roads were wet, but they were fine. There was a lot of traffic, but everyone seemed to be driving according to the conditions, so it was not a big deal. I wanted to get home, as sitting in the car is not one of my favorite spots these days! 

But I was soon home and had everything in the house in six trips! I don't waste time. Of course, I had help, and the minute she was out the door, she was in the back of the car. I hate to disappoint her, but she seemed happy enough to come back into the house. 

MOM -- where were you? I was worried! 

I had bought a snack to eat when I got home, but you could tell there was an expectation in them both that they wanted a walk, and they were not too patient about it. So they each got a walk. Our sidewalks are good in this area, and even if you want to fall backward, it's impossible to do so when you have Murphy pulling on her leash! Lexi thought she had died and gone to heaven! SNOW!!!!

MOM - I missed the smells!

Right after the walk, we went to the restaurant for dinner. I was good for the first part, but soon, I wasn't happy sitting in that booth. Imagine a grown woman spread over the bench, trying to get comfortable. It's not a pretty sight, but DH insisted on having a second beer, so it's all his fault!!!

When I got home, I went to bed immediately—it was 6:30!!! It's the only way I can relieve the pressure on that spot. And I slept for four hours. Hmm—what does one do when you are no longer tired? I went downstairs to see if I could sort some of the stuff out. 

I took one of the quilt tops out of the bag, which happened to be a flannel one. I put the quilt top and the binding in the appropriate pile, and then I put the scraps in the pile in that basket. While I'm here, I could grab some scraps for the next retreat. 

You know where this is going. One thing led to another, and soon, the entire basket was on the work table. 

Sorting the flannels

I sorted things as best I could in color families and got some plastic bags so they would stay neat and tidy. 

The flannels are sorted

The bags went into that basket, and everything returned to the same spot. The next bag of scraps went into the retreat box. I found a tub where I could put the squares I created as they await to be sorted into groups to make new quilts. 

The flannel scraps

That job was going to have to be done soon, as 2025 is the year to deal with all the flannel at my house. It's done, and as I add to the basket (cut-offs from the backings that I'll be quilting), it'll be easy to keep it all in order. So yes, the great flannel depletion of 2025 is going to happen!!

I finally finished reading a very bizarre book. It was about a teacher who had an affair with a student. The book was set in the UK. I knew the character was based on a real story, but it was only this morning that I found the name of the person it was based upon: Mary Kay Letourneau. She sounds like quite the person and ended up marrying the student. I don't get it!! But both her bio and the book - the character was pretty messed up. 

Anyway - that's done, and I can move on to another book. I'll take a mystery! 

I have two Zooms this morning, which are almost ready. Then, I'll have the afternoon free to unpack and finish a quilt. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Springhouse Retreat Day Two

Late—I'm going to be late this morning. No, not because I was sleeping. Oh no—chatting! I accomplished stuff yesterday and actually accomplished what I planned. However, I did my fair share of chatting, and well, isn't that what a quilt retreat is all about? So I'm good with that!!!

I am still thrilled with what I'm accomplishing, and that's all that counts. So what did I get done? Have a look. 

I got all the flannel I brought sewn into squares. There are 107 squares measuring 6 1/2", so that's a nice-sized quilt top. And there are plenty more flannel scraps in that laundry basket!!!

My flannel squares from scraps

Then I pulled out a quilt top that was part of that donation from a few months ago. Guess what the project was? A FLANNEL quilt that was partially together. 

I decided to make the top larger by one row and one column. There were enough pieced blocks and fabric in the bag. This person was very organized; she had just run out of steam on some projects. 

Then, I added two borders, which took hours to complete. Not because there were any problems—I just was very easily distracted. But at last, it was done!!!

The flannel quilt top

It was a kit from The Hobby Horse many years ago. It was easy to finish, and the binding fabric was in the bag. The binding and the top are now done. 

A quilt top for community projects

When I'm home, I'll put it in the community project pile for 2025 - it's FLANNEL!!! And then I'll add the scraps to the laundry basket!!! 

But wait—there's more!!! I should hope so! I had a bag of half-square triangles that needed to be pressed and then trimmed, so I got all of them pressed!!!

Half-square triangles to trim

Most of them are trimmed, and that makes me very happy!!!

Trimming the HSTs

Speaking of flannel, here are my Christmas flannel sheets. They are so cozy!!!

Flannel sheets

And here's a clapper! I've never found a need for a clapper, but some people swear by them. 

A clapper

The ladies made pizza for dinner last night, which was pretty amazing!!! And we each got a small gift: a Christmas-themed mug rug! Thanks, Ronda! 

Christmas-themed mug rug

So, the other thing I finished or went as far as I could with what I brought was my LegitKits project. I snapped this picture this morning as I was working alone and had no distractions! 

Piecing the Legit kits

Here is the top right corner of the piece. I have three more sections of the same size to complete, but I have to do the paper piecing first. 

1/4 of the project

And here's the picture with my section, 

Looking good

I'm pretty pleased with my fabric choices, which saved me a lot of money from buying the expensive fabric kit. Besides, I think the patterned fabric adds some texture!! The bits all came from my scrap boxes.

Now, I've pulled out a new project for today. Let's see how far I can get with it!

I went for a walk yesterday, and while the road was fine, the driveway to get to the road was slippery, and yes - I fell. It wasn't a good fall, but I'm OK. Nothing broke, and no concussion from smacking the back of my head on the side of the road. I'm not sure I'll go for a walk today, which would be out of character. If I do, I might drive to the end of the driveway and walk on the road. I'll see how the day goes. I would like to get out for the fresh air. 

Anyway, that's it for today. I must get to the sewing machine, as I have 18 FIDDLY blocks awaiting me. 

Oops -- I forgot to mention the online shopping expedition that the machine embroidered amongst us went on. But I won't go there!! Today -- it's all about WORK!!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!