Quilting + Audible Books = Time well spent!

Keeping up (well slightly behind!)

with the Afternoon Delight BOM by The Quilt Show

my four applique blocks for January are DONE!!

there are pieced blocks that go along with this but

I've decided to do them at the end 

after all the appliqué blocks are completed.

MOVE

My 2020 word!

In January I started working with a personal trainer at

K & M Weightlifting in Plaineville Ma.

Mary is my strength and conditioning guru!

She is amazing!

Things started of slowly ~ now six weeks and the difference is unbelievable!

For the first time in a LONG time I am feeling

Better - Stronger - Healthier!

If I can avoid back pain and trips to the chiropractor - I'm ALL for it!

The Bluebirds are BACK!

and very early this year

They are just so beautiful.

Last week there were 3 pair all fluttering around the feeders!

Hubby needs to get the Bird Photo Booth up and running

so we can get a few candid shot of them!

Now that the holidays are over and all the family have gone home,

the Guest room can now go back to being my "Quilting Annex"!

Needing a place to hand quilt my Ships Quilt 

without Bella's dog hair getting all over it - this seemed the perfect spot!

With the bed moved to one side of the room

I was able to set up my pressing station in one corner 

and a nice sitting area in the other corner...

specifically to sit and hand quilt with the opportunity

to gaze out at the birds on the feeders!

It's a Win - Win in my mind!

Plus my cutting table fits in!!!

and here we are....

the Quilting Annex in use!!

Just love this little quiet space.

Admittedly ... I am NOT a reader, never have been.

I like the idea of reading ... 

it's just there is always something else I'd rather do...

....until now!

Audible Books!!!

are Perfect!

Quilting and Listening = Time well spent!

Finishing up Book 2 in the Outlander series... took a while

it was a long one .. 45 hours!

Since I've watch the tv series and knew the direction of the story - 

this book was a great filler (actually started this one last
Fall and would listen off and on!)

This book I borrowed from my daughter and 

actually sat, flipped the pages and was drawn into 

this unbelievable story of survival - hope and love.

Highly recommend this one!

Another Audible book

of a women standing up for herself thru life...

another good read.

The first in this series is Magpie Murders and it took a bit to get into

and after  becoming accustomed to the authors writing

I couldn't stop listening and knew I had to find more of his books!

Both were great murder mysteries!

Today I'm preparing the second month of

Afternoon Delight...

and wouldn't ya know - the appliqué wheel is 

spinning opposite from the pattern!

Oh Well...proceed ahead!!

That's all for now ~ Have a wonderful February!

Have a great Quilty Day and enjoy the process!

                               Janet

New Project and two Quilt Retreats!

The "Afternoon Delight" pattern by Susan Garman

has been on my bucket list for some time,

it is also now a free block of the month on 'The Quilt Show'

... so why not get started?!

Let the Fun begin!!

The background fabric is:

Garden Delights II by Gray Sky Studio

for In The Beginning fabrics

the appliqué will be done in a variety of

Tilda fabrics

getting a few fabrics cut for the first month!

January  is a two retreat month for me!

Very exciting and very exhausting!!

The first retreat was held at the Salvation Army 

Wonderland Conference Center in Sharon, Ma.

I've been attending this retreat for 12 years

and it is by far my favorite.

The conference center has a beautiful view of Lake Massapoag

The  food was fabulous - with meals at 

8:00am, 12:00, 6:00pm and cookies at 8:00pm!)

my room is good but the bathroom is TINY!!

I have the same room every year - so I know what to expect!

The quilting room is huge- accommodating 35 quilters

and all of our Quilty paraphernalia there

was still plenty of room!

My little work station!

Loving my extra large folding extension table

from Tableextension.com

it really provides a nice big level work space

for "Inga" my cute little featherweight!

Main focus was the get 'Afternoon Delight' started...

using a fusible applique sheet and 

the Apliquick method of prepared edge. 

three blocks done and one more to prepare...

Once the edges are prepared

I used a few dots of Roxanne glue to tack the

the applique motif to the background...

and now it is all ready to sit and stitch down!!

The main reason why this retreat in my favorite...

there are a few places to sit and stitch

with groupings of chairs by gas fireplaces...

but my absolute favorite spot is the comfy chair by the window.

With a bright day, comfy chair and a hot cup of tea

I was able to get two hours of peaceful (blissful) hand quilting done!

 Doesn't look like much but this was my weekends accomplishments...

four different projects!!

'Afternoon Delight' block, 

star for 'Star for a New Day' (old project!)

'Pretty Little Pots' pattern by Wendy Williams

Halloween Figs Sampler -  BOM by Fat Quarter shop

Trying a new pattern for my 2020 Temperature quilt....

not sure I'm happy with the design...

plan on finishing the month of January

and then decide if I want to continue with this pattern or 

change patterns or

 discontinue the project all together!

The Silver City Quilt Guild hosted

Heidi Proffetty 

award-winning local quilter who

creates beautiful mosaic art quilts

using a digital cutter.

Heidi's work is just outstanding!

 If you check out her blog heidiproffetty.com

to see her new series of Moroccan Mosaic Quilts.

My second retreat was at the Bayside Hotel on Cape Cod...

basically the same set up as the first retreat!

This little bag was a handmade birthday gift 

from my sister Karen ...

It was the perfect little ditty bag for all my 

extension wires, ear buds and apple plugs!

Thank you Big Sister!!

Here is the  view from the Bayside doorway!

Just love the smell of the ocean and bogs...

even the bogs at low tide!

Making headway on the first of two of these 

Halloween applique blocks...

 These blocks were two days worth of work...

and this Comfort Quilt was a day's quilting for

the SCQG Community Service quilts...

January is early for this beauty to arrive...

but he is such a handsome Bluebird!

January is a wrap...

let see what the Bluebird of Happiness brings for February!

Have a great Quilty Day and enjoy the process!

                               Janet

Happy 2020!

Happy 2020!

New Year ~ New Decade

Starting 2020 off with an organized thread drawer!

My threads used to hang on the wall 

on a June Taylor thread organizer - but they got bit dusty!

Just love Aurifil thread!

So I cut up some 1 inch strips of cardboard and made my own 

grid holder (easier said than done!)

It is so nice to pull out the drawer and see all the pops of color

just jumping out!

Not sure how long this will last...

but I'll enjoy it for now!

Now to MOVE on to the rest of the sewing room!

Made the decision to make a 2020 Temperature quilt...

this will be the third in my series.

In 2018 I used the flying geese pattern, 

2019 was an appliqué quarter circle,

2020 will be a strip of color.

The center strip will be the high temperature of the day,

the corners will be the low temperatures,

the accents will represent snow, sleet or rain.

It will be interesting to see the three quilts all together once done,

the 2019 and 2020 quilts have the same color scheme,

mostly because I cut too many 2.5" squares and want to use them up!

You can join in the fun on Instagram 

#temperaturequilt2020

#temperaturequiltalong

My two Quilting Goals for 2020:

ONE:

Hand Quilt my ships!

The center block is done,

now onto the other eight blocks and borders.

This block is 'Massachusetts' by Pearl Pereira of P3 Designs

TWO:

Finish the Mariners Compass quilt for my daughter.

She selected pattern and fabrics back in 2017,

it was started in late 2018...

thinking 2020 is the perfect year to finish it

as this hopefully is the year she finishes her PhD!!

(pattern is by Judy Niemeyer)

Just need to decide if we should switch out the cream background

for the blackish background to give the compass a floating look???

 

Such a decision!!

Leaning towards the Dark Side!

Thoughts anyone?

No New Years Resolutions for me ...

always hard a hard time writing them down and sticking to them.

This year I'm jumping on the 'One Word' band wagon

#oneword2020 

my 2020 word

MOVE

Move my Body more

Move through Obstacles

Move towards Health

Move through my Quilting projects

Move along better with my Blog 

Always Move Forward

Hoping your 2020 is wonderful!

Have a great Quilty Day and enjoy the process!

                               Janet

2019 Recap (July thru December!)

2019 Instagram Top Nine

Every single one of these remain works in progress!

So my 2020 quilting agenda is already set - finish the above!!

The summer brought a number of animals into the back yard,

the most memorable...

a momma Red Fox hunting for her babies

and the beautiful doe with her cute twins!

August was the month of change...

helping my daughter move from Kingsville Tx to Houston Tx

cute little apartment

filled with Ikea furniture!

and my Horseshoe Crab & Sand Dollars Quilt

hangs in her bedroom!

August also gave me the thrill of having one of my quilts included in the

New England Quilt Museum's Summer Celebration.

It's a Goosebump Honor!

The New England Quilt Museum had an instillation

(that I got to help hang!!!) of my favorite quilter...

Sue Garman.

She was an exquisite appliquer,

these are just a few of my favorites....

Could stare at this one for hours!

Afternoon Delight is on my bucket list,
I have the pattern and The Quilt Show
will be doing this as a BOM for Star members!!

The Silver City Quilt Guild had its biennial quilt show this year,

our largest and best show ever!!!

"Elephants on Parade"
Needleturn applique and
Long arm machine quilted by Karen Ives
was made for my hubby who Loves elephants!

"Happiness"
pattern from Jacquline de Jong
and a class taught by Lisa McCarthy
paper pieced and quilted on my Janome 6600

HOUSTON 2019!!

The Sapphire Celebration at the International Quilt Festival

was Just breathtaking!

These are a few of my favorites

Naupaka by Chiharu Takahashi
hand appliquéd and quilted

Sofie's August Morning
by Lynne S. Dallmeyer-Hartman
Machine pieced, applique and quilted

Gentle Flowers
by Teruko Ono
Hand applique, embroidered, quilted
(JUST STUNNING!)

Naturalist's Notebook
By Sandra Leichner
Winner of the Founder's Award

sorry forgot to get the quilter's information 

Westpond Inn Retreat

Had the pleasure of attend Two! retreats at the Westpond Inn

The Stitch Sisters had their retreat in October and

the Twisted Dresden's in November!!

This is the most relaxing retreat space ...

mostly because it's limited to a small group 

and Sue Loring is a Fabulous cook and makes to worlds

best breakfasts and dinners for us!!

quilting spot with a view!

 My Raven's quilt is coming along!

Trying my hand with wool!

While in Houston I stumbled upon a beautiful quilt

by Wendy Williams of Flying Fish Kits of Australia

it's made with wool accents...

with the purchase of the BOM, some wool

and my added taupes and Kaffe fabrics

the journey began!

Two blocks done ... 50 more to go!!!

My 2019 Temperature Quilt

is almost done!!!

In the midst of appliquéing December!!

Already planning the design for 2020 ~

Think I'll keep the same color scheme.

the pie shape the the high temp for the day and 

the background is the low temp...

rainy days have a gray rim and the white rim is for snowy days!

Christmas 2019

After 35 years we purchased a new pre-lite tree

slim Norway Spruce with both colored and clear lights...

best part it turns off/on by remote!!!

Hubby was happy - saved him 3+ hours of set up time

not having to string the lights!

Bella posing by the tree

Stella and Bella

Christmas Joy ~ surrounded by my family.

Wishing you all a wonderful 2020!

Have a great Quilty Day and enjoy the process!

                               Janet