Guild Retreat and Checking In

So, hey there!! Thought I would pop back in here at Blogger since I have heard some of you still are having a problem with my SquareSpace feed updating on your blog. If you don't mind, can you check your settings for me and change it to https://www.renecreates.com/blog/ ? I think adding the /blog is what will do it.  Thanks!

My latest post is all about our recent guild retreat. You can click here to read the post over on SquareSpace. 

I signed up for the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge in hopes I will get back on a blogging and blog reading routine. I posted on Instagram just now about a problem I am having when I try to leave a comment on any Blogger blog. Anyone have issues like this? I am signed in to Blogger but when I visit another blog (or even mine) it does not recognize that I am "Signed In" so I am unable to leave a comment with my Google account. Obviously I am signed in; Blogger is allowing me to post. It's extremely frustrating, especially since I put aside the entire day to get caught up on my favorite blogs. Ugh!

In the meantime, I just wanted to say Hi! and remind everyone to switch their settings for my blog to https://www.renecreates.com/blog/ .

Happy stitching,

Monday Musings

Waiting to tempt me in my Inbox Sunday morning was this email.  Anthropologie joining forces with Liberty London spells trouble for my pocket book!

I walk by this stack of books (some new, some not so new) several times a day, each time telling myself I really should take a minute to sit and peruse them.

Wideback fabric designs have improved since I began quilting.  As much as I love a pieced quilt back, having the option of Kaffe 108" wide fabric, for example, to put on the back of a quilt is so nice!

I am growing my collection of EPP Happy Flower Blocks. Love this picture of a few I pieced out by the pool.

The move to SquareSpace is still in transition.  If you have an extra minute, please click here to take a look and tell me what you think.  Thanks in advance.  Have a wonderful Monday!  Happy stitching,

Friday Finish: Blog Makeover and a Quilt Top

Happy Friday, friends! I am publishing this post both on Blogger and Square Space.  Hopefully if I didn't screw this up, you will soon find me on Square Space.  I am still renecreates.com but after the Photobucket issue and other blogger blips, I made the move that I have been contemplating for a while.  The site isn't 100% complete, but the blogging basics have been set up.

Edited to add:  Currently, my URL directs readers to Blogger.  I am unable to make the transfer until 8/15/17.  If you want to see how the "new" blog looks on SquareSpace, you can click here.

With that out of the way, let's get to quilting!  My daughter's graduation quilt top is finished and now the quilting agony begins.  Sometimes I believe I drag on the piecing process longer than necessary because I dread the quilting design decision.  

My friends at Crafty Tuesday helped me get a picture of the entire quilt.  The day was quite sunny so the colors are a bit washed out.  Hopefully I will have a better picture (and of a finished quilt) soon.

Please let me know if you experience any issues with accessing, commenting, or clicking through my blog.  Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Pinnie Parade

There's a pincushion parade over on Instagram this month, and I have joined in!  What I love about this #pinnieparade is the pincushions can be ones made already - gifted to a friend, gifted from a friend, newly constructed, vintage - you get the idea!

Here's a rundown on week one:

Graphic made while trying out Canva

Day 1 featured my newest pincushion acquisition, gifted by my friend Caroline.  She pieced tiny pieces to make this adorable pinnie.

This pincushion for Day 2 was made following Heidi's pattern from her Sew Organized for the Busy Girl book with leftover Carolyn Friedlander fabrics and mailed to a friend.

Day 3's pincushion I kept for myself.  I used a thin leftover strip of solids from Chawne Kimber's Small Pieces workshop.

Day 4 was a gift from my friend Jackie.  She made this pretty hexie pincushion with all Cotton+Steel fabrics.

I pattern tested this cute scrappy pincushion for Amanda Jean's Plenty of Pincushions Volume 1. Posted on Instagram for Day 5.

This long skinny pincushion gifted by Amanda Jean was shown on Day 6 and is perfect for placing right in front of my sewing machine when chain piecing.

Leslie sent her new Urban Artifacts fabric, and I made this pincushion with her selvages for her market booth.  That's Day 7!

I am pretty sure I can play along for 31 days using pincushions already made!

If not, then I will have an excuse to make MORE pincushions.

I see that as a win, win situation!

EPP-ing

I am back to making my english paper pieced/applique Happy Flower Blocks.  I purchased Deborah's adorable thread pooping unicorn which conveniently arrived in time for hexie making!

Day 1 - notice the thread pooping unicorn?!

For our guild's Cre-active Club Challenge I need to have 75 of these blocks made by September's meeting; that's #4 on my list.  I love these blocks so I am happy to have an excuse a reason to work on them.

Day 2

My friend Stephanie offered EPP thread advice at our retreat. Now the stitches that connect the hexies to the black center square are less visible.

Day 3

Mary Sorensen, needle turn appliqué expert and lucky for me OrlandoMQG member, helped with tips on stitching the EPP block onto my background squares. I was embarrassed hesitant to show her my blocks, but her advice was worth the risk...ha! Now those stitches are less visible.

Day 4

When making my list, I thought one a day would be doable.  However, the month of July got away from me which means I pretty much need to make two a day to reach my goal. Yikes!

Day 5

Over the weekend, my daughter and I went away for a girls' getaway.  Hard to believe my baby will head off to college in less than a month! While away I did find time to whip up some blocks.  

Day 6

Stitching them onto the background squares will have to wait for another day. 

Day 7

If I am going to reach my goal, I need to pick up the pace!  

Thanks for stopping by,

Friday Finish: Mini Log Cabin Pincushion

With scraps from my daughter's log cabin quilt, I sewed this cute mini log cabin block and turned it into a pincushion.  I love everything about pincushions: making, giving, using, displaying, AND receiving them!!

I trimmed some leftover strips to 1" wide; you can see what a difference that half an inch makes when you are working with 13 strips.

The back is super cute too!  I like to use a heavier weight fabric for my pincushion backs so I don't have to line them.  The stuffing is walnut shells.

Linking with Crazy Mom Quilts.  Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Gruber's Retreat 2017

Warning: this post is quilt-picture heavy as I just returned from our eighth annual quilting retreat in Minnesota. Four full days of sewing with friends!! I look forward to this get-together at Gruber's All.Year.Long! In most cases, I only see these amazing friends once a year, but we pick up right where we left off the previous year like we just saw each other yesterday.

 Once again, I traveled with my featherweight in the Sew Portable Travel Bag.  Jewell got lots of sewing hours in as I assembled the remaining 96 log cabin blocks for my daughter's graduation quilt. Listening to the machine sing stitch as I chain pieced (and chain pieced and chain pieced) each log cabin round was therapeutic.  I really should use this machine more than I do.

My goal was to have the quilt top assembled by Sunday, but I settled with having all the blocks completed and a final layout decided.  The design wall was not large enough to show all the blocks and work on the final layout (I did that digitally and then confirmed on my design wall when I got back home), but it was sufficient to see enough of the pattern to make sure I was on the right track.

In addition to our usual laughing, chatting, and snacking, there was some beautiful projects in the works.  I'll leave it to my friends to share their own photos.  Cindy was doing her magic with solids and Anna Maria Horner prints; Amanda Jean whipped up a quilt top worth of blocks and her adorable pin cushions; Doris completed TWO quilt tops, worked on Heather Ross fussy cut paper pieced star blocks, and made an adorable 3-D unicorn for her niece; Stephanie finished her Metro Rings quilt top started in a retreat from just two weeks before, kept up with her #100Days100blocks project, and made quick progress on the Local quilt; Mary made adorable owls and firebugs to add to her other Elizabeth Hartman Fancy Forest critters; and Shelly worked on THREE projects simultaneously including adorable Elizabeth Hartman flamingos.  We missed having Michelle and Terri with us this year; it's sure not the same when we are without one (or two) of our friends.

Since I wasn't sewing much before retreat, I created Lego sewing machines for my friends.

Exchanging happies has become a ritual at retreat, and I'm always amazed at what my friends create year after year.  Below is the amazing collection of happies I received from my friends this year. 

Having other quilty friends who are in the area pop by is another tradition of our retreat.  Brooke,  Victoria (who invited me to the first retreat but has been unable to attend in recent years) and her daughter Beatrice joined us for dinner at Granite City.

Maria (@QuiltMomofFive on Instagram) came by to meet Stephanie and Shelly as they all follow each other on Instagram and then invited us all to her new lake house for dinner.  Coincidentally Maria is good friends with Heather who I got to meet at our very first retreat in 2010.  

Heather, Amanda Jean, Maria, Shelly, and Stephanie, Krazina, Cindy, Doris

Amanda Jean brought quilts from her new book and we each picked one to sleep under.  I love this Remainders quilt which helped me have the best night sleep of the retreat! 

Here's a close up of the quilt made with tiny triangle trimmings.  Amanda will be teaching her Spin Class at our guild in September, and I think saving all those leftover siggy block trimmings may not have been in vain...haha!

For the last two weeks, I have received Facebook reminders of previous year retreats as they popped up in my Memories from years past.  I thought it would be fun to share them all here in one place.

2010:  Toni, Amanda Jean, Rene', Shelly, Mary, Victoria, Doris, Terri, Shelly

2011:  Doris, Michelle, Rene', Terri, Amanda Jean, Mary, Cindy, Stephanie, Toni, Shelly

2012:  Doris, Michelle, Rene'', Terri, Mary, Cindy, Amanda Jean, Stephanie

2013:  Stephanie, Cindy, Amanda Jean, Mary, Doris, Toni, Rene', Michelle

2014:  Rene', Doris, Toni, Mary, Terri, Stephanie, Cindy, Amanda Jean

2015:  Amanda Jean, Rene', Doris, Mary, Michelle Terri, Cindy, Shelly, Stephanie

2016:  Cindy, Michelle Stephanie, Terri, Shelly, Doris, Mary, Amanda Jean, Rene' 

I am so fortunate to call these ladies my good friends!!  Quilting is an amazingly creative outlet, but having such an incredible group of friends to share this passion is what encourages me to continue!