January Retreat

Last week, I was lucky enough to take off a few days and attend a retreat with some quilty friends.  Although the work room was a tad small, the rest was great!  It was our first time there.  With so many retreat places closing or renovating, finding a place is getting difficult! I have a friend who goes to an Auberge with a group of women and she spends about $1000 for the week.  A little too expensive for me!  haha!

I brought only two projects with me, Reaching blue sky and On Ringo Lake.  I am happy with their progress.

Now as I type this, both projects are in the back of the pick up!  We head out tomorrow.  Sure enough we've packed too much stuff.  You know my husband always thinks we have tons of space, but I keep telling him that it fills up fast. I guess we'll see later today when the rest of the stuff goes in.

This is the first year I am bringing my machine. It'll be interesting to see where I'll set up.  We are getting 25 cm of snow today.  I'll be happy to be away and in warmer weather,  Grateful I can work from wherever I am.

 

Slow Sunday Stitching

 Sitting down now to work on this block!  Got some done last week, and then forgot to post!😐

This past week I was lucky enough to spend Monday-Thursday at a retreat!  It had been a while.  More on that later!  Got a lot done on Reaching Blue Sky and On Ringo Lake.  No hand quilting tho!  You see how dark my marking lines are?  Oops!  Have to find something to remove them eventually!

Now to pack for vacation!  I think I'll be bringing two more blocks to work on at night.

Linking up with Kathy's Quilts here:  Kathy's Quilts

How I will tackle some UFO's

Last fall I was trying to figure out a system in order to include other UFO's into my weekly quilting.  Often months would go by with UFO's sitting in boxes and not being touched.  Things don't get down, unless you work on them.  So some projects needed specific times, and I needed to divide up into categories.

So at my house on Tuesday nights, I head down to the basement after supper and work on my Bonnie Hunter projects (Bonnie Hunter) for a couple of hours.  I am starting with On Ringo Lake, which was Bonnie's mystery quilt for 2017.  I think that is my oldest Bonnie Hunter UFO.  It's almost like bonus time, as I am not very good after supper and tend to fall asleep early if I just sit.  I am happy with my Tuesday night Bonnie Hunter night!  I have a long list of BH UFO's and other projects.

I am on Clue #3.

My first Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

I've been following Kathy's Quilts for quite some time now. I love her posts and projects and she's a fellow Canuck!  

I thought I would add this post to her Slow Sunday Stitching, which reminds us to slow down today and do some handwork!

This is Flourishes, by Peace o Cake designs.  It's been my never ending project for the past ten years or so.  I am hand quilting it, quilt-as-you-go.  This is Block 6 of 12. It would certainly move along faster, if I actually TAKE THE TIME to work on it.  But that's what the blog is for right?  A little accountability!

This project started years ago as a challenge with a friend.  Needless to say, hers has been done long ago, although she did only 8 blocks where I bought the extra blocks.  Mine is closer to the original pattern whereby hers is done with batiks.  The only rule would be to use what we have on hand, no buying for the project.  And that's what we've done.  I used Thimbleberries fabrics that I had for years. 

So I have six block to do, (actually want to redo 2 of them because the appliqué needed a little improvement) and quilt the setting triangles, trim and figure out how to put them together! LOL!  Thank goodness I have a pal who has done a lot of quilt as you goes and will show me how to put the blocks together.  Then the border!  Yikes.  Would I love to have this done in 2023?  Oh yes!  

Check out Kathy's Quilts blog post today at Slow Sunday Stitching. Hope i did that right!

2023 UFO's

 I need to work on all my UFO's.  How many do you ask?  Quite a few!  When I sat down to go over all my kits, UFO's, works in progress, and things not started, I think I ended up with close to 80.  Yikes!

For the past few years, I have written out my top UFO's for the 2023 UFO Challenge from American Patchwork and Quilting.  This past year, I did a little better than previous years, but not what I had hoped in January.

But I'm trying again!  Because of my Snowbird vacation I can't finish the list, as My January-March numbers have to be chosen before I leave.  I'll be able to readjust when I get home at the end of March.  As you can see that January's number is "Reaching Blue Sky" 

Reaching Blue Sky

 

Here is one of the projects that I am slowly working on.  It's called "Reaching Blue Sky" by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket quilts.

I have two sisters in law that turn 80 in 2023.  My husband's sister and my late brother's wife.  I may make two of these.  One full sized 64 x 80 and a smaller version.  One of my quilting friends has made a wall sized version and it's adorable.  Not sure I have the skill for the tiny leaves, but that'll be a decision I make later this year. 

I will be bringing it to our retreat mid-January and it'll be coming with me on our snowbird vacation.  

In the coming days, I'll plan my 12 UFO's and figure stuff out.  I've been also checking out other quilting blogs and I love some of the challenges and projects that I see.  Maybe some accountability will give me the boost I need to head into the basement to sew.

I figured the new year is the perfect time to get back to blogging. 

Lots of leaves, lots of Heat and Bond!

Not Quite a Thousand Leaves by Kim McLean

Good morning!

Still getting used to this Blogger business. Need to figure out the difference between Pages, and the tabs and everything I want to add to the right side of the page.

One of my 853 UFO's is Not Quite A Thousand Leaves by Kim McLean.  There is a private group on FB for those interested in doing it.  I got a lot of great tips from the group, and the owner is on her second quilt I believe.  I started collecting tools for the quilt earlier this year.  Yes it's a 2022 quilt!  Haha! 

Currently @ 45 leaves of 774!  ☺