Ripping

There is a new quilting rule in this house—if I am quilting and don’t like the looks of something whether it be the color of the thread or the pattern being stitched, I WILL NOT wait until I have quilted both the top borders  and 12 inches of the side borders on an 89 inch wide quilt to change my mind.  It took me forever to rip out all that stitching—probably 8 hours total.  My fingers and hands are sore and so is my back.  Lesson learned!

Michael decided to be a mountain goat this morning and took us on a mountain climbing expedition for our walk.  I was huffing and puffing!  Today may be the last day for a while to get in a good walk—our weather is getting really crummy.

Mixed up some bread dough today and made a beef/vegetable soup.  I also made cornbread—Michael doesn’t eat cornbread (he must be touched in the head) so I half my recipe and it is just the right amount.

Michael headed over to Lonn’s this morning to help him build a flatbed for his truck. 

The wind has howled today and blown in storm after storm—snow, rain, sleet—nothing accumulated yet but it sure is miserable.  This weather pattern is supposed to stick around for several days now, YUK.

Sewing Machines and Plants

It was time to pick up my sewing machine at the repair shop in Billings and Jeane’s Pfaff machine had a glitch while at the quilt retreat this weekend.  So we sent the husbands off to an auction in Park City and Jeane and I headed to Billings.  We dropped off the sewing machine, picked up mine, went to JoAnn’s and purchased Jeane a back up small Singer.  Then it was downtown for lunch at a wine bar.  We both ordered crabcake burgers and it was the best crabcake I have ever eaten—delicious!

Next stop was Costco for a few groceries—noticed when we walked in that Costco had a lot of plants displayed.  There were some beautiful, healthy small blue spruce trees for $13!!!!  The trees are probably about 3 feet tall and we managed to stuff 6 of them into the back of my Explorer.

On to the nursery for flowers, plants and herbs.  The first stop at Village Gardens put both of us into a bad mood—rotten customer service, dingy help.  We purchased stuff there then stopped in Laurel to see what that nursery had—after stopping we were wishing we had purchased there instead of the one with the rotten customer service!

OK, we can’t get another thing in that Explorer and headed for Big Timber.  Mike and Steve had an enjoyable day—didn’t purchase anything at the auction but had a good time. 

Emmi spent the day with Nat and was one happy puppy when Mom and Dad got home!  I took her for a short walk—our weather was beautiful today—tonight and tomorrow a cold front is due to arrive bringing rain/snow for the next few days, UGH!

Quilt Repair

After our walk this morning, I got right on to fixing those two quilt blocks on my Mexican Star wall hanging.  It took me a while then I attached the borders.  After I get my Pfaff sewing machine back tomorrow, I will roll back the edges of the triangles and top stitch those giving the illusion of curved piecing.  I love the way it turned out!

After eating and drinking with no exercise for the past three days, the walk up our hills and valleys was rather hard this morning I must say!  Did a little bit of laundry and some house spiffing today.

Michael went to Livingston with Steve to gather parts for the “project.”  He was back just after noon—he and Emmi spent the rest of the day out in the shop working on various projects. 

Tomorrow everyone is off to Billings, Mike and Steve are going to an auction, Jeane and I are dropping off and picking up sewing machines with a little shopping thrown in.

It is really starting to green up around here although our weather forecast for the next four days calls for a chance of snow/rain every day.

Green grass

The Best Weekend

My second quilting retreat was a total success!  Yesterday we were all quilting busy beavers for sure.  And we continued to eat and drink.  Our cooks made absolutely certain no one went hungry.  They served a brunch/lunch each morning at 10am and supper/dinner at 5:30.  We dined on dishes such as chicken with wine and mushrooms, homemade peach cobbler, salmon stuffed with pesto, asparagus, blueberry crisp, breakfast enchiladas, and delicious soups and breads.  Just fabulous food!

After dinner last night we all quilted and quilted but began the drift toward our cabin and beds a little earlier than the night before—all this fun was starting to be exhausting!  When we woke this morning a surprise awaited

Soon after breakfast/lunch everyone began to pack and gather up and just before noon we were headed toward Big Timber.  Jeane and Shirley had some pressing needs at the Washoe Quilt Shop and also at Cloud Nine—the local economy needed a little more stimulation!  While at Cloud Nine we ran into some of the quilting retreat gang who were also in the process of economy stimulation. 

It was one of the best weekends I have ever had, I enjoyed my friends and made new friends.  I was able to complete projects as was everyone else—the first Iron Maiden quilting retreat was a total success.  And we learned that quilters don’t iron, we press according to teacher Jane!  Below are some photos of our finished projects. 

OK, fellow quilt retreat folks, this is my Mexican Star quilt that I finished rather late last evening—how come none of us spotted the two misplaced blocks, Michael picked them out of this photo?????

Thank you Mary F for putting together such a great retreat.

One little dog and one husband were sure glad to see me this afternoon and it is good to be home.

Quilt Retreat Spring 2010

The day finally arrived and eleven of us quilting ladies loaded into vehicles very early Friday morning and set off for Red Lodge and Medicine Flower Lodge for our 3 day quilting retreat.

Of course between Big Timber and Red Lodge are quilt shops to be visited and restaurants to try.  Our first stop was at the Cloud Nine Quilt Shop in Absarokee where we managed to almost overwhelm the quilt shop owner with our purchases.  I also forgot to take the camera into this store.  The Montana Quilt Shop Hop is also going on so we dutifully got our “passports” stamped in hopes of winning a quilt retreat in Deer Lodge. 

After all that shopping made us hungry we decided to have a late breakfast, early lunch at Cafe Regis in Red Lodge:

On to Red Lodge after an awesome breakfast which included huevos rancheros for some of us.  Next stop on the list was the famous Washoe Quilt Shop which is housed in an old historic mining assay office complete with vault.

We spent a lot of time in that special quilt store also nearly overwhelming the young lady behind the counter who was very accommodating (more on that later).  Several yards of various fabrics, thread, books, kits and other quilting items were purchased by all.  What a great store! 

Finally we arrived at the Medicine Flower Lodge and received the grand tour of our quilting room and sleeping accommodations.  It took many trips to haul all the quilting supplies and tools into the lodge, some people (Mary P) having brought their entire quilting stash from home!  We quickly got down to quilting, our main reason for being there! 

In the late afternoon we took a break from quilting and Mary  F gave us a lesson in glass etching, having each of us etch a glass for our happy hour wine.  Then Mary P taught us to make the coolest fabric coasters—what fun!  Wine and some wonderful appetizers prepared by Janet and Linda were enjoyed before dinner was served over in the dining room.  Oh, my—can the women that run this resort cook—a delicious meal was followed by more quilting.  I managed to finish a bag, others finished quilts and wall hangings. 

We all straggled off to bed at various times and some slept better than others.  This morning we all rose early and got to quilting.  The resort ladies served an incredible brunch around 10am and we are all almost too stuffed to quilt but not quite! 

Now, for the “later” comment.  One of us quilting ladies left her credit card at the Washoe Quilt Shop.  The gracious young lady who helped us remembered one of us saying we were staying at the Medicine Flower Lodge—when she closed the shop for the day, she came to find us and deliver the credit card to its rightful owner—now isn’t that great customer service??

A great group of ladies, lots of laughter and learning.  Off to quilt, more later.

Getting Ready

This weekend is our long awaited quilting retreat in Red Lodge.  There are 11 of us and we are going to have so much fun!  I have packed way too many projects and food, probably won’t get half the projects finished or half the food eaten but we will certainly give it a good try!

We had a great walk this morning, our good weather held out for one more day, weather forecast is for cold, rain and possibly snow starting tomorrow.

Ran into town to pick up a few things at the grocery store so bachelor Mike wouldn’t starve this weekend although as long as he has peanut butter, popcorn and ice cream he will be OK.  Had a coffee and nice chat with Jill and checked in with Nat before coming home.

Came home and started baking and cooking all those goodies I am taking to the quilt retreat.  Packed and did laundry too.  I think I am ready.

We have been slowly looking for another vehicle.  The Explorer we have was a good vehicle until we hit the deer last Labor Day weekend—the car now has a lot of wind noise and rattles plus it has a lot of mileage.  There was a nice looking Jeep on Craigslist today and we drove over to Livingston about 6pm tonight to look at it.  I just don’t get it—people list things for sale on Craigslist then act surprised when someone wants to see the item.  The Jeep was trashed and filthly besides!  Dog hair everywhere, ripped seats, dents and of course they want premium price.  Oh, well, guess we will keep looking!

I am taking the laptop with me and if I find the time in between quilting, gabbing, eating and drinking—I will post a blog!

Some scenes from our walk this morning:

A Busy Day of Quilting

My quilting client has left for home and I am relaxing—being a teacher and constantly on the alert for questions and machine issues was hard work!  She was to have stayed tonight and quilted tomorrow morning, too, but decided the quilts she had left to quilt were just too big for her to complete tomorrow morning.  I am relieved to have tomorrow to myself to get ready to leave for the quilting retreat on Friday.

Michael headed over to help Lonn again today and spent a full day digging in the dirt. 

Emmi girl progressed with fence education today—she stayed outside a lot by herself and wasn’t just sitting by the back door shivering.  We took a nice walk this morning, too, before the quilting client arrived.

I have all my projects cut out for the quilting retreat and my quilting supplies gathered up.  Tomorrow I have to fix treats to take, run into town for a couple of things and pack my clothes.  I am so looking forward to this retreat!

Judy and Emma asked to see a photo of this quilting machine/longarm machine I talk about all the time so here are a couple:

The head of the machine you see in this photo weighs 46 pounds, the table to which it is mounted is 14 feet long.  A quilter brings me a top she has pieced and I put it together as a quilt with stitching, sometimes fairly plain, sometimes fancy.  This is a photo of me quilting in the trailer we pulled behind the motor home to Arizona this past winter.  This table Michael made and it is 10 feet long.  I wasn’t a quilter until about 4 years ago and I have a serious addiction now—I love the whole process, piecing, ironing, mounting to the frame and the quilting.  What’s not to like about a job you love to do??

Our beautiful weather is coming to an end for a few days,  rain and snow with much colder temps.