Giveaway from Deb at Works in Progress

Look at these fantastic vintage buttons.


Deb is having a giveaway. She found many treasures in her Aunty Jean's sewing box, and is giving away these beautiful buttons! So pop on over to her blog today and enter her giveaway!
Julie

Monastery of the Holy Spirit

On my way home from the retreat, I stopped at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia. It is a peaceful place. The Trappist Monks are very welcoming, and have a shop where they sell bread, fudge, rosaries, and other things that they make here. They also have a bonsai greenhouse. I have been there with my brother a few times to visit with Brother Paul, who is a bonsai expert. I don't know if he is still there. It was Sunday, and the commercial enterprises were closed. I would like to return one day when I can wander around again.
Julie

Happy Memorial Day

I want to remember those who have served and are currently serving in our military. Be thankful for them, they have made great sacrifices so that we can live as we do.

More Retreat Photos, Facility

In the post I am showing you some shots of the facilities. We were really impressed with the place. It was beautiful. Hope you enjoy.
Julie

Cotton Boll Quilt Guild Annual Retreat 2009

The Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center in Mansfield, Georgia, is fantastic! We thoroughly enjoyed the facilities, food, and environment. The people were very nice, and treated us very well. We have all agreed to go back again next year.
I finally finished the machine quilting on this small Christmas quilt. It is about 40 inches square, and uses a fat quarter pack that I purchased from Tiny Stitches in Atlanta a couple of years ago. I also added some gold fabric that I had on hand to stretch it enough to make it a decent lap size.
Now I only have to add the binding. It will be ready for Christmas 2009!
The pastel quilt above is one that my roommate, Linda, was working on. She bought the kit to make it at a quilt shop in Conyers, Georgia, and got a lot of work done on it. I am not sure if she finished the top or not.
This is another top Linda was working on. It is sort of a random string quilt that she was putting together with scraps. I liked it!!
Pat H. has worked on this stack-n-whack quilt for the last three retreats. She finally finished the top at this retreat. A section is missing because she was sewing it together at the time. She is going to make this one king-sized to fit on her bed! I hope to see the finished product soon. :-)
And here is my Noah's Ark quilt top, finally put together. I worked on these embroidery blocks over Christmas break. I love them. They were a free stitchery BOM from Lynette Anderson. She is very generous to give these away to her blog fans. If you would like to download the patterns while they are still available, they are here. This makes a very tiny quilt. I am going to add a border to it, then it will be ready to quilt. I just love it.
Stay tuned for more retreat photos. Have a great weekend.
Julie

Gift from Down Under

The other day I went out to my mailbox and, to my great surprise, there was a package from Tasmania! Razzy sent me these fantastic Aussie fat quarters and a sweet card. She is just such a fantastic friend. To think that I would never have met her if not for this blog.
Roseanne, thank you so much for the sweet surprise. I hope that you had a wonderful birthday. You certainly did brighten my day!
I have not yet reported on my retreat experience. Let me just say that it was FANTASTIC! The best ever! I have pictures and will post soon. I finally unpacked my camera tonight and downloaded photos to my computer. Be expecting retreat news this weekend!
Julie

Retreat

Friday I am leaving for our annual quilting retreat. This year we are going to the Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center, in Mansfield, Georgia. We have never had it here before, so I am anxious to see how it compares to the 4H center in Columbiana, Alabama. I will keep you posted.
Julie

Spring Dance - My Daughter

Joy is going to her first formal school dance tonight. She is so excited about it. Thank goodness her ankle is healed now, so that she can wear her Jessica Simpson high heels!
I have to chaperone this dance every year, since I teach at the school, but this is the first year I have looked forward to it. I thought that she would not want me to be there, but she does. After all, now she and her friends have someone to hold all of their "stuff" while they walk around unencumbered.
Julie

Finally, a quilty post. Well, not all quilty.

Here is the result of my toothbrush rug experiment. I only got it about 8 inches in diameter before I stopped. It is a toothbrush trivet, LOL. The rug started cupping into a bowl shape. I now know how to control the tension so that it won't do this. Not bad for a first try.
This is my favorite project right now. English paper piecing is lots of fun, and the perfect portable project. I am going for a tumbling blocks look. It is challenging to find those medium colors! Contrast is the key.
I completed this needlepunch project while on Spring Break. It is called Scaredy Cat, or is it Fraidy Cat? I don't remember. Anyway, I just love the faces on the little pumpkins. Needlepunch is such a cool thing to do, and most people have never heard of it.
This is a miniature quilt top, still waiting for its borders. It seems so boring compared to the other things I am working on.
I am looking forward to my quilt guild's retreat in a couple of weeks. I hope to get a charity quilt made, as well as some baby quilts. I am way behind in these projects. I don't want to try to do too much, because I know from past experience that I get more talking done than quilting.
Only 13 more student days until school is out for summer break. The kids are getting more and more out of control as the time approaches. I just hope we can avoid any major meltdowns or drama. The last couple of weeks we have to really tighten up, because the kids are stir crazy.
Enjoy your week.
Julie