My Dream Vacation--Meeting Friends

As I start writing this post, I find myself so overwhelmed with emotions that I'm not sure where to start.  My time off from work is very few and far between as far as vacation goes.  I work for a very small family owned building supply store and because our staff is so limited, it takes all of our cogs to make the clock run smooth, if you will.  I was able to work with my boss to arrange for me to take two days off (I think it has been a few years since I've taken two days in a row off during a work week) so that David and I could travel to Ohio to meet up with a few fellow quilt bloggers.  This, for me, was a dream come true.  So I will warn you ahead of time, this post will probably be a long one.

For a few weeks now, Julie at Pink Doxies with the help of Beth from Cooking Up Quilts have been working together to organize a Quilt Bloggers International Retreat.  International because our very own Canadian friend, Sandra at mmmquilts, was able to make the journey down.  So on Thursday of last week, Dave The Quilting Engineer and I started packing our car for our journey north and let's just say the quilting gear bags we packed, out numbered the one suitcase we packed.  Two of everything!

Photo courtesy of mmmquilts

Several hours later, we found ourselves pulling into the drive of Julie's home and my heart BURST with joy when I saw, in person for the first time, Julie running towards me to meet in a big ol' hug!

**I'll confess right now, I didn't take as many pictures as what you would think a quilt blogger would.  I was so wrapped up in meeting everyone and spending time with them, I just forgot to take pictures.**

After saying "hello" to Beth (Cooking Up Quilts), Jennifer (The Inquiring Quilter), and Terry (Terry Ann Hartzell-Insights), we settled in to unpacking.  They even saved a table for Sandra and I to share.  For some reason they seemed to think we would be attached at the hip :)  Dave was on his own.

Setting up my sewing space, waiting for my partner in crime to arrive.  Photo courtesy of Cooking Up Quilts 

Within probably a half hour of being there, David migrated down stairs with Julie and Terry to give fabric painting a go, while I stayed upstairs with Beth and Jennifer to chat and piece on our projects.

Photo courtesy of mmmquilts.  Okay this was after Sandra arrived, but still what the scene looked like.

The second I saw the last SUV pull in, this barley 5" tall, chubby, gal was running to meet Sandra.  Out of shape and breath (meaning me) we were finally able to hug for the first time.  I even kamikaze hugged MacGyver.  The rest of day one was filled with lots of laughs and ended with dinner at a local Mexican restaurant not to far from where all of us were staying.

Day two would bring much fabric viewing!  For transportation reasons, we split into two groups of four.  Car one held Julie, Beth, Jennifer and Terry and car two consisted of myself, David, Sandra and our wonderful chauffeur, MacGyver, himself.  Our first stop would be Somewhere Sewing in Millersburg, OH.

Upon opening the door we were greeted with rows and rows of fabric, it was a bit overwhelming.  David was a man with a plan and set off in search of fabrics to use in his Looking Glass 2.0 quilt and I wandered around aimlessly lost among all the pretties.  

David waited patiently to get his fabrics cut, while behind him, a circus of quilting mayhem ensued.

Photo courtesy of Cooking Up Quilts.  

I think someone had just cracked a joke, as I took a picture of Beth, taking a picture of everyone else.

I thought I was being quite slick about it, but Beth caught me, which made everyone laugh even harder.  Poor Sandra and David can't take us anywhere.

David, Me, Sandra, Terry, Beth, Jennifer and Julie.  Photo courtesy of mmmquilts

After a quick group picture with our loot, we were on our way to our next destination Zink's Fabric Outlet in Berlin.  If I thought I was overwhelmed by the first store, I had no idea what I was in for at the second!  It was HUGE.

Photo courtesy of mmmquilts

I'm so glad Sandra snapped this picture.  This is only one corner of the store (one corner!).  Somehow I started collecting bolts of fabric and decided to make a quilt to remember the trip.  Beth and David were helping to pick things out.  THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN!  I was running around like a small child, jumping for joy when I found something I liked.  I never made it out of this section to see the rest of the store.  So, I was super glad when everyone decided to come back after our super yummy lunch at Boyd and Wurthmann.

Our next destination would be Charm, OH to visit Miller Dry Goods.  This store is actually made up of two buildings side by side.  I fell in love with the friendly atmosphere and all the new fabric lines they carried.  I spent some more time helping David to pick out fabrics for Looking Glass (don't worry I bought stuff too).  

This picture is followed by this one, where he is saying "really, you just took a picture of me again?  I'm trying to work here."

And he was quite proud of himself when he spotted the one and only Cheryl Brickey of Meadow Mist Designs out in the wild.

And how about a few more shots at the store just for fun.

Sandra and I, finally together

Julie captured this picture of Beth and I.  I love this picture.

Our last shopping destination was a very unique little antique store called Fence Row Antiques in New Bedford, OH.  When I tell you this place is off the beaten trail, believe me, I know off the beaten trail.  It contained a little bit of everything.  For me, it was like stepping back onto my grandparents farm; coal buckets, cast iron skillets, antique quilts, knick knacks and ornaments.  There were so many things too look at.  The owner was one of the sweetest people I have ever met.  She had a lovely tea set up just for us (best peanut butter cookies EVER).  One thing I noticed was, when we were checking out, she had a story or memory for every item, it just warmed my heart.

Photo courtesy of Pink Doxies

Our evening officially ended with a wonderful dinner at Raven's Glenn Winery.

MacGyver just loves that sombrero 

David accidently scored wine glasses for all of us.  When the waitress brought the bills he asked if there was anyway that we could purchase a (one, singular) wine glass to commemorate our trip.  She perked up and said that for $5 we could taste nine wines and get a glass.  He explained we didn't really want to do a tasting (it was almost 9 and we both had drank wine with our meals) could we please just purchase a glass to honor this special occasion.  She said she would see what she could do.  Five minutes later she returned with wine glasses for everyone!  A huge thank you to Raven's Glenn Winery! And David, of course.

That brings us to the bitter sweet third day, which would end with all of us going our separate ways.  After packing things up at the hotel and checking out, we all headed back to Julie's for a little bit of mid-morning sewing and shenanigans.

Photo courtesy of Pink Doxies

All of us immediately got busy with the projects we were working on.  

One of which included a group project consisting of two blocks made by each person.

Jennifer had a chance to check out Julie's zipper collection.  There is a back story here, but some of what happens at Julie's stays at Julie's.

Along with more laughs, we managed to sneak in a few animated quilting and non quilting stories.  In this picture David is clearly having a good time with what ever the subject was.

As noon started creeping up on us, we all gathered below for a wonderful lunch prepared by Julie and participated in a open floor discussion about blogging.  Our sewing stuff headed back to our car and the dreaded goodbye-for-now's had to be said.

MacGyver took one last picture before we left.  I tell you, it's amazing what that man can do with a coffee can, a little paint, paper, cardboard and duct tape, all from the trunk of his car!  Just kidding he used an iPhone, but he's still pretty dog gone handy, sombrero and all.  (He doesn't really wear a sombrero, I'm just trying to add to the mystery and myth of the man we call MacGyver)

So maybe a few thoughts or things I learned before I close (I know, I've gotten out of control here);

I think the group was horrified to find out I only change my needles when I break one.  This little confession came about, after David innocently asked, "how often should one change a sewing machine needle?"  Bad, Tish!  Bad!

Llamas rock.  Llama stories, rock even more and they do not spit.

Julie is an amazing hostess.  You cannot possibly leave her with out feeling recharged and excited.  Julie, I still have a little bit of your Julie sparkles in my fake mason jar and intend to open that jar and let just a little bit out every time I'm feeling down or lonely.

And maybe a question you might be asking...was it odd for you or anyone else to have your husband as part of the actual group?

No, not at all, at least for me (I can't speak for the group).  I love that he was able to have fun, be creative and hang out with this amazing group of artists.  Because that is what we are, a united group of artists sharing a love and passion for all things fabric and quilting related (not a group of women and a guy).  This felt like a small family.  I love that he was able to learn about fabric printing with Julie and laugh and joke and that I didn't need to be included (I was doing my own thing and having a blast).  While I was checking out the rest of Zinks with Sandra, he was able to help Beth pick out fabrics.  And for him it was an opportunity to learn from a group of some of the best quilters out there, who apparently change there machine needles more often than I do :)

So I think I will stop here.  It has taken me almost a week to write this post.  I'm not an overly emotional person, but every time I set down to write, I found myself over come with joy because the pictures remind me of all the fun (there just isn't enough words to describe it) and a bit of sadness because I miss my friends.  Thankfully, they are only a point and click away.

Today I'm linking up to Let's Bee Social and Can I Get a Whoop! Whoop!

Heart Quilt for Pulse--A Finish

Today I am celebrating the finish of my Heart Quilt for Pulse!!!  As we speak it should be on it's way to the fine quilters of the Orlando MQG.  Honestly, this one should have been finished weeks ago, but when I found out my Sweet Sixteen was on it's way (I had the white background finished) I decided to wait for her arrival before I quilted the hearts.

Back in June, when the Orlando MQG put their call out for help with their Quilts for Pulse charity, I new I would like to help.  Step one would be sorting through my stash to see what I had in the way of rainbow colors.  So I carried the totes containing colored fabrics to the living room.

After sorting through the pieces I came up with piles that I thought would work for giving the quilt a rainbow look.  Lots of happy colors.  Even Mr. Newton helped with the sorting.  He's getting so gray in the muzzle.

I decided to make my quilt 6 x 6 10" blocks with a white on white fabric for the background.  I used the heart tutorial on Cluck Cluck Sew.  After all the pieces where cut, it was time to start the block construction.

And in less than a day, I had a finished quilt top, begging to be quilted.

I played around with a few other different settings for the hearts, but decided on this layout because of the squarish diamonds that the background fabric formed.  I decided on back and forth curvy lines in the larger diamonds...

and pebbling in the smaller ones using Aurifil #2021 Natural White.  

And this is where the story takes a long long break (a 3 week break), to wait on the arrival of my Sweet Sixteen.  

I knew that I wanted to quilt the hearts with very little quilting since the background had quite a bit of dense filler.  I went with a design I had stitched earlier in the year on the Aurifil Mini Penny Love.  Double curvy swirling lines that formed hearts.  It is suppose to have a ribbon effect so no need to worry about travel stitching.  Just let the lines go where they will.

I fell in love with this design because I could stitch it with no marking, which speeds up the process by leaps.

So I took this motif and ran with it.  I had kinks along the way that I had to work through, but you have that when you are using a new machine for the first time.  The biggest hurdle to jump or problem, was these two clowns.

When I wasn't paying attention one of them would sneak up on the quilt and hide in the folds.

Who am I trying to kid, there wasn't really much sneaking.  They would just plop down, even with me quilting, and proudly claim the warm softness as their own.  There really was no "hiding" to it.  

So with the help of the fur kids, I was able to finish up these beautiful hearts.  I found a speckled print with most of the colors in the quilt that I used for a machine binding.  No flanged binding this time.  I'm just as surprised as you are, believe me.

And now for a few pictures I took before I gave it a wash and packed it away.

Would you believe I forgot to put one of my labels on it?  But I figure that is okay.  The who made it isn't important.  This quilt finding its owner and hopefully giving them some comfort and love is what is important.  I hope they can feel how much fun I had creating this quilt.  Jen had discovered my CD's from when I was in high school and college.  I jammed out (rather loudly) to Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, Madonna, Stone Temple Pilots, and even Metallica.  I'm pretty sure Jen was ready to have me committed.  But it was a song I had forgot about by Jewel that made me stop and pause for a few moments, because it was so fitting for this quilt.  The song is called Hands.

If I could tell the world just one thing

It would that we're all Okay

And not to worry 'cause worry is wasteful

And useless in times like these

I won't be made useless

I won't be idle with dispair

I will gather myself around my faith

For light does the darkness most fear

My hands are small, I know

But they're not yours, they are my own

But they're not yours, they are my own

And I am never broken

Poverty stole your golde shoes

It didn't steal your laughter

Heartache came to visit me

But I knew it wasn't ever after

We'll fight, not out of spite

For someone must stand up for what's right

'Cause where there's a man who has no voice

There ours shall go singing

     Hands by Jewel

I love our quilting community and the way we all band together, from all walks of life to stand up and do what's right or bring love to those that are hurting.  With each block and quilt we give a small piece of ourselves.  As long as we are quilting together, there is love and warmth in the world.  That my friends, means evil cannot win.  We will cover the world with love, one quilt at a time

Can someone get me a ladder???  I think I've been on my soap box for too long in this post, I'm getting a nose bleed :)

Today I'm linking up with Main Crush Monday, TGIFF and Can I Get a Whoop! Whoop!

Don't Forget To Give Back

I do have to say I believe there is something to karma and finding that balance between good and evil/bad.  Hey, sometimes you get what you give and I try to always have this in the back of my head, so that I'm giving more good than bad.  One of my and Jen's (my daughter) favorite TV shows is My Name is  Earl.  You know the one about the guy with the list always trying to make up for the bad things he's done.  I'd like to think I don't have a list per-say, but I sure as heck do not want to have to make one.  I'd rather just stay on karma's good side.

This past week, our family had what could have been a very tragic event happen, but luckily, all is well.  Everyone is healthy and happy.  But it makes me think of Kat over at Kat and Cat Quilts and her charity Coverd In Love.  Kat tries to provide quilts to families that have suffered loss at the hospital she works at.  Our crazy roller coaster reminded me, that I had not participated in donating blocks to Kat for a few months and maybe it was time to whip some up.  What better way to show karma, I appreciated the thumbs up news.

This month, Kat is asking for disappearing 9 patch blocks in black and white prints, with a center accent block of lime green, bright yellow or Caribbean blue.  Now for a quilting confession.  In all my years of quilting I had never made one of these super easy blocks.  I did a quick fabric pull from my stash (and found my blacks and whites have shrank) and decided to get to work.

I cut squares.  Then I carefully sewed them all together....so...I could cut them up again, and sew them back together.

I wish I had more of the black and white print so that I could send more than three, but I did not.  But three is better than zero and hopefully I can participate again next month.  If you have a few extra minutes to spare, hop over and check out Kat's blog and consider sending a few of these simple blocks.  There is still plenty of time this month.

And I couldn't close this post without sharing these beautiful heart blocks.  These blocks were made by my guild's president, Barbara, to send to the Orlando MQG to help with their Pulse quilt drive.  I had hoped to ship my finished quilt as well, but I still have a bit more quilting to do, so these blocks traveled without it.  I still have till September 15th to send the quilt.  That's practically years in quilter terms.  As soon as I get my tensions issues resolved, I'll be right back on it.

Today I'm linking up with Let's Bee Social.

Rainbow Rose--Finished

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."--William Shakespeare.

Versions of this little quilt are popping up everywhere after the Rainbow Rose Quilt Along hosted by the Modern Quilters Ireland has wrapped up.  Each and everyone of them are beautiful and unique in their own way, but the sweetest thing about this Rainbow Rose quilt is, she belongs to me.  I have enjoyed everything about this quilt.  From the fabrics (you can read more about my piecing of this quilt here), to the quilting, to the photographing.  

I didn't spend too much time planning out the quilting for this one.  Don't get me wrong it was tempting to free motion the dickens out of it, but I loved the simple look of the echoed triangles in the baby quilt I recently finished so much, I decided to carry it over to this wallhanging/baby quilt.  Originally, I planned to quilt it with a gold/yellow thread, but after seeing the beautiful rainbow lines in Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl's quilt, I knew I too wanted to put that beautiful variegated thread on this quilt.

How can you not be happy when you look at this spool of Aurifil #3817 Marrakesh?  I know it makes me smile.  I love it so much, I have two spools.  The world needs more rainbows and I'm not quite done quilting with it yet, so stay tuned.    

Back to the project.  I had lots of help when it came to the quilting.

Princess Caroline of the Fuzzy Butts was nice enough to hold the quilt down while I marked my 1" lines.  Oliver was content supervising from the sidelines.  But all of their/my hard work paid off,

and what was created was a beautiful texture of lines all pointing to the center.  All things point to the rainbow.  

My backing fabric was an interesting find, colorful Calveras or sugar skulls.

Are you sitting down?  I didn't do a flanged binding this time.  Believe me I'm just as shocked as you are.  Instead, I pulled from my stash to create a simple machine binding in rainbow colors.

And just like that, she was done and I could not be happier with how she looks.

Warning:  Picture Overload Ahead

Now that I'm nice and warmed up, it's time to quilt my Heart Quilt for Pulse.  I can't fix the world myself, but I can do everything I can to try to make it a happier, brighter place.  One positive vibe can do good.  No matter what we do, let's send as many good vibes out as we can.  Let's create our own rainbow of prayer, positive vibes and love for life itself.

Come join the party!  Today I'm linking up with Rainbow Rose QAL, Let's Bee Social, and  Linky Tuesday.