Retreating, Hooking and Shopping

March was a fun month with lots of travel, interrupted only minimally by work.  It started with a weekend retreat in Crystal Lake hosted by Pieceful Gathering Quilt Shop. This was my third year attending the spring retreat and it was fantastic as always. The guest teacher (or “guide”, as she preferred to be called) was Julie Letvin of Me & My Stitches.  Julie’s trunk show was very entertaining, her quilts were great, and she was so much fun to talk to! I worked a bit on my Old Town mystery and did my Unity blocks for the week before starting the retreat project. Many of Julie's designs feature log cabin blocks - below is one that I fell in love with and had to add to my "someday" list.

I headed home from Chicagoland to take a three day workshop with Katie Hartner, organized by the St. Louis rug hooking guild. When choosing my pattern for the class I fell in love with so many of the patterns Katie sells, including one that will be (when I finally get to it) the largest rug I have ever hooked.  I purchased several patterns and, after seeing the rugs Katie shared, would like to get a couple more. Katie was an outstanding teacher and shared so many really interesting and inspirational techniques. I love how she has mixed lots of wools of similar value and hooked the background of this rug in straight lines:

And then in this one - hard to see in the full rug photo - she has hooked a low contrast scalloped border line to add interest. It looked even better in person (and made me want to hook this rug too😆).


From there I headed off to Branson for Missie Carpenter's spring retreat.  While the view from the Branson location didn't hold a candle to the one from the Kimberling City house last fall, it wasn't too bad. 

The retreat was wonderful and I managed to get quite a bit of stitching completed.  I finished the embroidery on block one of my Hobby Farm quilt and got block two prepped. 


I also stitched another block for Lucy Boston. I had gotten away from EPP and was hand piecing the blocks but have really been enjoying EPP since taking a workshop with Tina Craig in Houston last fall.  I think I want to switch back to doing them by EPP from here on out.  I will need to figure out how to merge the two.

I also worked on my Indigo Revival blocks but didn't take a picture of those. We had a great group of ladies to stitch and chat with, and they brought along some fabulous quilts for show & tell. Here are a couple that I would love to add to my list.  I understand that Moda will be reprinting the fabrics in the Raven quilt later this year and there will be kits available so I am likely to be sucked in on that one. It is a gorgeous quilt!

I am continuing to keep up with the Unity QAL for the most part - I have only missed the one week when I was in Branson, and have prepped the first Serenity block (two year Wool Box project) and the second month of Indigo Revival. I have also made a tiny bit more progress on Old Town. I need a monthly retreat to help keep up! My next adventure is a quick trip to AQS Quilt Week in Paducah in April. Let's hope I can resist too much temptation there - I've had way too much 'inspiration' already this year!

Finally Finished!

I am so excited to finally have my Stacey's Floral Runner finished!  I started this rug at Janice's back in 2014. I hooked most of the center and then set it aside, distracted by other projects.  I picked it back up last year only to realize that the wool I had stored with it was apparently from a different project.  I have no idea where the original wool went to - perhaps I will come across it all in another bag or bin someday.  I took it back to Janice's last summer and she helped me find wool that coordinated with the center colors so I could finish the border. I finished hooking the rug last summer and then added it to my pile of rugs waiting to be bound. Determined to make a dent in that pile in 2025, I started working on the binding in January, and finally finished it last week. After a final steaming yesterday, I can mark this one off my list of UFOs. It's a big rug (74' x 30") so now the challenge is figuring out where to put it!

On the quilting side, I have made several new starts in the new year.  Once of these is the Primitive Gatherings Unity Stitch-along.  We are five weeks in and I have been able to keep up so far. At some point in the near future we will need to start constructing blocks in addition to stitching HSTs so it will likely become more of a challenge to remain caught up.

Although I am not quite finished making tiny nine patches, I started assembling the top at a retreat at the end of January.  I still have a long way to go but am absolutely loving how it is turning out. I need to keep going on this one - it would be perfect for this year's quilt show at Primitive Gatherings.


I also made a bit more progress on the Indigo Way mystery while at retreat.  I finished cutting out the entire quilt and did quite a bit of sewing. All of the parts are currently stacked in trays, waiting for the next retreat.


Another new start is the 2025 Made by Hand project by Dawn Heese & Bonnie Sullivan called 'Hobby Farm'.  The first block was released on Feb 1. It is a large block but I was able to get it prepped and start stitching it on my flight to Tampa for a business meeting.   


My latest new starts - there are several - are the 2025 Sue Spargo BOM (Bloomer), the one year project from the Primitive Gatherings wool box (Indigo Way), and the two year wool box project, Serenity. I will have plenty of options to choose from for my hand stitching retreat in Branson next month!

Kicking Off 2025

Obviously my plan to return to blogging last year was a miserable failure!  Let’s see if I can do better this year. We kicked off 2025 with a bang, ringing in the new year aboard the Carnival Radiance in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. I’m pretty sure it’s the first New Year’s Eve party that we’ve ever attended. We had a fantastic trip, celebrating my husband’s 60th birthday, and even learning how to cook some great Mexican recipes. 

I had barely gotten back from the cruise when it was time to head to Arkansas for the Eureka Springs Hook-in. We had a huge group this year, nearly 130 people.

We had a great week and loved our new spot in the hooking room, which was much warmer than our usual corner. I managed to finish hooking my Floral Harmony rug, a pattern I started at Janice’s in November.

I’m currently working on binding a rug I started in 2014 but just finished hooking last year. I'm a little over halfway finished.  It's a very large rug!  I have a significant binding backlog (at least 5 other rugs, most very large) that I am determined to work on this year.

On the quilting front, I have an extensive list of projects I would like to finish and an equally long list of others I would like to start. I am planning on playing along with a UFO challenge our local quilt shop is leading in hopes of being inspired to move a few things forward.  Here’s my list of 10:

1. Twilight Gatherings 

2. Old Town (Quiltville 2024 Mystery)

3. Indigo Way (Quiltville 2023 Mystery)

4. Tiny Nine Patches

5. Blue Baskets

6. Wrapped in Ribbons

7. Black Gingham

8. Letters to Santa

9. Subtle Shades

10. Feathered Triangles

It was tough to choose just 10!  There are a few others I want to work on but I decided to try to be practical and choose a mix of projects with varying levels of effort needed, including some that require considerable piecing and/or appliqué, a few that need quilted and bound, and one that just needs the binding hand stitched.  

The first UFO we are supposed to work on for the challenge is #4.  I worked on the Tiny Nine Patch challenge throughout 2024, sometimes managing to knock out the challenge’s 10 blocks per week and sometimes not.  I current have around 50 blocks left to make and then need to piece the top (which will be a lot of work).  I’m hoping to make decent progress on it at a retreat next week.

Among the new projects I’m planning to start are the Unity QAL from Primitive Gatherings, the 2025 Sue Spargo BOM, and the projects from the PG wool and cotton boxes. I am also really excited about the new Made by Hand - Hobby Farm project - I signed up and am planning to pick up my background fabric for it next week, in time for the first block release on Feb 1. It doesn't stop there - I participated in a virtual LeMoyne Star workshop on Monday (part two is next week) and am participating in two workshops in March so there will be more new UFOs to add to my list. I will have no shortage of projects to keep me busy when I finally retire!

Starting New Projects

Hard to believe we are more than half way through February already! I’m late with my January update and February list.  I did spend the better part of the retreat I attended at the end of January working on Indigo Way, and did get all of the cutting finished but am far from having my top completed.  I also managed to get the motifs finished on my Hidden Garden rug so all that is left now are the border and background. I did not, however, make much progress on my Twilight Stars blocks.  I think I only managed to do two last month, and so far have only done two this month.

Our January TAS program featured Diana Boston, daughter-in-law of Lucy Boston.  Her presentation was amazing!  Lucy Boston was incredible talented at fussy (or as Diana refers to it, ‘precision’) cutting.  Her quilts are truly amazing!  I was inspired to dig out my Patchwork of the Crosses project and finish a couple of blocks. Here’s one of them. I find the fussy cutting challenging - I need to work on getting better at figuring out those angles.

Although I should be focusing on finishing up some of the many, many projects I have already started, I’ve been having a lot of fun starting new projects this year. At the end of last month I jumped into the  Tiny Nine Patch (TNP) challenge led by Taryn of Repro Quilt Lover. I am working from little scraps and am really loving the little blocks so far, even if I am not keeping up. I have 31 so far (19 short of being on track). These blocks are 2" unfinished and are super cute.

I made a quick run over to Mexico, MO on Super Bowl Saturday to check out Homestead Hearth's open house.  The store looks great and pretty much everything was 25% off so of course I had to bring home loads of fabric I didn't need.  I can't pass up a good deal!  And then, of course, I had to stop at Dagwood's for lunch.  Their food is delicious!  


I also got started on the new 2024 Wool Box project from Primitive Gatherings.  Here are the first two blocks. Lisa indicated that there may be more embellishments added to the blocks later on.  These don't take long to do so I might actually be able to keep up with two every other month.


My focus projects for February are:

1. TNP - goal is 40 blocks
2. Temperature quilt - finishing the tree applique
3. Twilight Stars February blocks

I also want to work on my Hidden Garden rug this month.  My goal is to have it completed before I return to Eureka Springs in May.  It seems so far off but I know it will be here before I know it!

Eureka Springs Retreat & January Projects

It's a bit late in the month for a January goals post but it's been a busy month!  I have been filling my calendar (and my new quilting planner 😊) with retreats, workshops, and new stitch-alongs I can't resist in preparation for having more free time beginning at some point in 2024. I am hoping I will have plenty of finishes this year, especially some of the quilt tops that "just" need to be quilted and bound - I have a long list of those!

Before jumping into my list, I want to share a couple of quick photos from a recent rug hooking trip to Eureka Springs. I have been attending this retreat for quite a few years now and it is always one of my favorites - a great way to recharge after the chaos of the holidays.  I am really looking forward to next year when I might even be able to stay a little longer! It's a big group - I think the final number was around 107 after a few cancellations due to illnesses and crazy weather. We had crazy cold temperatures (below zero a couple of days) and about 5" of snow, which essentially shuts everything down in the mountains of Arkansas.  Here's a view from the doorway of the conference center looking up toward the building where my room was - it was a cold and slippery walk!

I'd like to say that we were all warm and cozy inside the convention center but that wasn't exactly the case - it was chilly inside too - but it was wonderful in spite of the cold. Here's the view of the hooking room from my chair - I was all the way at the back.

And here's a glimpse of the rug I was working on:

This is my Hidden Garden rug that I started in October at Sally Kallin's in Minnesota.  I had hoped to completely finish all the motifs while at the retreat but didn't quite get to them all.  I did finish them last night and am now started on the border.  I don't usually like to leave all the background for last but because the border uses leftovers from the motifs I needed to finish those first, so now it will take a bit of self-discipline to make myself keep going to get it finished.

That brings me to my three focus quilting projects for January - I have decided to start with just choosing three per month rather than creating a long list of WIPs, UFOs, and new starts knowing that would quickly get out of hand. So here are the three quilting projects I want to focus on with what is left of this month:

1. Indigo Way Mystery 
2. Reproduction Fabrics Tiny Nine Patches
3. Twilight Stars (catching up for at least this month)

On the rug hooking front, I will continue working on Hidden Garden.  I will post progress on all at the beginning of February.

Goodbye 2023!

My plan to get back into the habit of posting regularly seems to have gone the way of most New Year’s resolutions and fizzled by the end of the first quarter.  It’s a shame, really, as it is always nice to be able to look back at my travels and the history of my projects (many of which are in progress for a very long time!).  It would take far too long to catch up on everything that has transpired since March so I will just have to settle for capturing a few travel highlights and a couple of recent finishes.

I visited  Primitive Gatherings twice again this year, once in August for an open retreat with a friend and again for the Naughty or Nice Retreat in December.  I made a quilt for their 2023 Red, White and Green quilt show and enjoyed seeing my quilt displayed hanging from the ceiling in The Gathering.

I managed to finish the pieced retreat project while there, although it proved to be a bit more challenging than it should have been.  The retreat group had fun trying to come up with a name for it (it started out as “Big Ornament”), and after ruling out a few entertaining but inappropriate options (e.g., “Well Hung”), we landed on “Ho Ho HOliday”.

I also got a start on the Wrapped in Ribbons pattern from the December American Patchwork & Quilting magazine.  It isn’t really my kind of project but I got caught up in the excitement and ordered a kit so I figured I would try to knock it out.  I was able to finish piecing the top yesterday.

 
Among my many fun travels this year was a trip to Pine Island, Minnesota for a workshop with Sally Kallin.  I started yet another large rig, her Hidden Garden. I am loving this rug and will be taking it with me to Eureka.  Below is a picture of Sally’s - mine isn’t nearly that far along. 

I did manage to completely finish one rug this year, my Antique Basket. I finished hooking another oldie but goodie but it isn’t bound yet so I will save that one for when it is completely done.  This may be my favorite rug I have ever made.

As the new year begins I’m already fighting the urge to get sucked into more new stitch-alongs.  There are just so many options these days!  I do plan to restart my temperature quilt - I decided to put it on hold this year and wait instead to use it to celebrate my retirement year.  I’m currently working on the 2023 Bonnie Hunter mystery and am making reasonable progress on the Primitive Gatherings Twilight Stars stitch-along.  Let’s see how much willpower and common sense I can muster - I’m going to need it!

Pieceful Retreating

After several weeks of long days and weekends working, I made a last-minute decision to attend the Pieceful Gatherings' Spring Retreat in Crystal Lake, Illinois. Around 60 quilters gathered at the Crystal Lake Holiday Inn for a weekend of stitching that included a workshop with Lynn Wilder of Sew'n Wild Oats.  The retreat room was very spacious and the lighting was surprisingly good for a hotel ballroom.   

We worked on Lynn's new "Calico Cottages" pattern which includes tiny paper-pieced cabins at the center of log cabin blocks.  The cabin centers are 3" finished. 


I didn't work on the class pattern exclusively, but did manage to get two blocks finished while there.


The highlight of the weekend was show & tell - the quilts that were shared were amazing!  This is an antique, dated back to the early 19th century, shared by Pieceful Gatherings' shop owner Carrie:

This pattern was designed by Lynn and was featured in a class taught at Pieceful Gatherings.  This version was made by the person that taught the workshop:

I have always wanted to do a Lucy Boston quilt and have bought numerous tools (paper pieces, stamps, etc.) over the years. Pieceful Gatherings has been running a Lucy Boston club for a number of years and one of the participants recently finished her version:

And yes, I am now a club member and have started my first block!  I am finding fussy cutting a bit challenging - it's hard to position the paper pieces in exactly the same place every time.

I also worked on my Blue Baskets at the retreat.  I need to finish up the rails and hand stitch several basket handles but overall have been keeping up with this one fairly well.


I am continuing to stitch my tree for my temperature quilt, really hoping to have it finished by the end of the month. I'm also madly working to starch fabrics to get a start on Edyta Sitar's Stars Upon Stars quilt when the sew-along begins next week.  I have wanted to do this one for a while and collected BOM kits for it several years ago, so I figure I may as well jump in on it now.  

So that's three new UFOs added to my list this month. 🤣