Monday, November 29, 2010

Round Robin Quilts

I was in a round robin group this past year with four other friends that attend the Dear Jane retreat.  I had been a part of this group before but had been out of it for the last 4 years.   A few of their members had dropped from the group and one had hand surgery, so I decided to get back in again.  Our rules are fairly straightforward:  We are to make a center that is between 8" and 16".  Add a border between 4" and 6" to each quilt.   Use 100% cotton quilt shop quality fabrics.  Include the fabrics you wish to be used and whether or not you want the quilt to be square or rectangular.  You can also state your "dislikes", for example please no orange and you can add fabrics you have in your stash or have purchased as long as they keep with the theme of the quilt.  But, for the most part we have known each other for so long that we trust each other, and here are the quilts that each ended up with:

This is my quilt top.  I don't normally use a lot of pinks and purples and after all the fun part of a round robin is to take you outside of your comfort zone and work with colors and designs that you wouldn't normally work with.  My center is an applique' from the Edyta Sitar book Hop To It.  I am just thrilled with how my quilt turned out.
 This one belongs to Edith.  I had this one first and thought it was a real challenge.  But, I like how it turned out. 
 This one belongs to Nancy our fearless leader who sets up our guidelines.  I love her fabrics.
 This one belongs to Vicki.  She is known as the Cheddar Queen, and I think we used plenty of cheddar in her quilt. 
This one is Claire's quilt.  She wanted something with a Nancy Halvorsen look, and I think this quilt is spot on.  This was a fun one to work on especially since it was so close to Christmas time. 
Each of us thought our quilt was the prettiest one which is just how it should be.  I decided not to be part of the group again next year because I have so many UFOs and other things that I want to do.  Then I saw our quilts, and I've signed on for another round.  I wasn't the only one that had decided not to join, and then at the retreat we all weakened.  Nancy K. is recovered nicely from her surgery, so she will be back this time, too.  We have until February 1 to pull fabrics, make our center and mail it to the next person on the list.  Right now I'm looking for an idea. 

Thanks for visiting and happy stitching!!!!

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

The Friday after Thanksgiving is our traditional family get together.  We have our turkey dinner, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, noodles, cranberry/apple/yams, green bean casserole, watergate salad, pumpkin pie and pumpkin rolls.   My daughter came in late Tuesday evening, and on Wednesday and Thursday we cooked and had our dinner.  Then on Friday my son and daughter-in-law come over and we have our Thanksgiving dinner with them.   But before we eat dinner the day starts like this:  I make scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and then afterwards we begin testing the outside Christmas lights.  Here they are sorted by colors in piles on the driveway ready to be strung.  
In the early afternoon I fix a little snack.
This is the end result...or part of it.  This is the front of the house.  The star over on the left side of the house was made by my father-in-law.  I asked him several years ago if he could weld.  I told him that I wanted a big star to hang on the front of the house at Christmas, and what he made is just perfect.  I have 600 lights strung on it, and it hangs there every year. 
This is the front and side of the house.  There are lights on all 4 sides of the house and some out on bushes and trees in the back yard.  We have 9,000 lights outside this year.
After the outside decorating is finished we come inside and eat Thanksgiving dinner while we watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.   It always seems appropriate, and the last few years it's become our tradition. 
I haven't done any quilting since a week ago today at the Shipshewana retreat.  That is the plan for tomorrow.

Speaking of Shipshewana, I have my photos of the retreat up on my webshots page. 

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Stitching!!!!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving

This is the pumpkin roll I made for Thanksgiving dessert.  Yes, there is pumpkin pie....but we sort of cut into it already to have a little sample. 
We have the turkey all prepared, and he is in the pan ready for roasting.  All of the chopping, slicing, dicing and mixing is finished.  There are some things that need to be cooked right before dinner, but for the most part all that is left is the baking and the eating. 
Here is a recipe for Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes that I make every year, and it is always a bit hit.  The best part is that all of the preparation can be done before company arrives, and all you have to do is heat in the microwave. 

Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes
3 pounds potatoes
1 Cup sour cream
4 ounces Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1/4 Cup milk
Dash of salt

Bring potatoes to a boil on high heat on stove.  Reduce to medium low heat and cook for 15 minutes.  Drain and beat with mixer.  Add sour cream, cream cheese and milk and mash.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.  Before serving, vent plastic wrap by piercing with a fork.  Microwave on High 6-8 minutes before serving.  Then stir and microwave uncovered an additional 2-3 minutes.   

I have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  Blessings to you and your family.  I hope all of you have a Happy Thanksgiving.   

Monday, November 22, 2010

Lollys and Blue Gate

As I made my last trip into the Davis Mercantile building to shop a little more at Lolly's on Saturday morning, I took several photos along the way.  It turns out that this wasn't really my last trip there because late in the afternoon a few of us made an emergency run for just another little bag of fabric before we headed for home the next morning. 

This is Lolly's entering from the porch. 
There is an old bicycle on the front porch with a bucket full of Christmas greenery and a little decoration.
The door is all decked out in greenery with a wheelbarrow full of Christmas presents.
As you stop at the door and look to the right, there is the porch. There are a few rocking chairs sitting there, but during the warm months there are more rockers and a lot of them are full of husbands waiting for their wives to finish shopping. I would imagine they are each telling the other how much fabric their wife already has at home and that they couldn't figure out why they could possibly need more. 
There is the entrance.  Gorgeous hardwood!!

The window display has a quilt made of red and green cuddle.  The snowflakes are raw edge applique'.
This is the quilt hanging outside the entrance.  I believe it is from one of the Judy Martin books, and it is hand quilted.  The photograph doesn't show it but the dark fabrics are greens and purples. 
This is the Civil War room.   This is Hanne's favorite room. 
The Moda Room. 
Lots and lots of books.
New Civil War fabrics. 
Lots of brights and in the foreground a pretty french braid done in orientals. 
A big selection of thread and a cuddle blanket

This is the Kitchen Cupboard.  Whenever I go to Lolly's I come here because this is where they make the lattes. 
This is the Blue Gate Restaurant located at the north end of town. 
Decorations in between the doors of the Blue Gate.
Christmas tree inside the restaurant. 
The big tree outside the building next to Blue Gate. 
This light display is at the shop across the street from the Blue Gate. 
Either I changed the setting on my camera or the tree changes colors.  We may never know.  I have a lot more photos and after Thanksgiving I'll post them.  

Hope you have some time to stitch in between preparing Thanksgiving dishes.  I may just have to settle for looking at some fabric or looking at a quilt book.  I bought some really nice fabrics at Lollys.  I'll take photos and post them in a day or two. 

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Home from Shipshewana

Hello to my followers and welcome to new followers.    I've been in Shipshewana since this past Tuesday and just got back home this afternoon.  I had intended to post photos every day while I was there, but it turns out that the download speed is quite a bit faster than the upload speed at the Farmstead Inn.  So it too just way too long to upload photos.  So I'll try and make up for it in the next few days.

This is the Garden Gate Cafe.   Most of us call it The Cupcake Place.  It is located on Morton Street

 The path to the Garden Gate is lined with candy canes and lights. 
 The gazebo has a Christmas tree and garland for the holidays. 
 These are pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and orange sprinkles. 
The Christmas tree has cupcake ornaments, and the little cabinet is full of all different sprinkles. 
A cupcake cookie jar!!!
  The decor inside has everything "cupcake".
Amish horse and buggies parked at Yoders waiting until the shopping is finished. 
Here are just a few of the quilts I loved.  Eileen showed this one at show and tell.  She said if we were interested in knowing how she made this quilt we should ask her, but time got away from me and I didn't get a chance to ask.  I would love to know. 
There have been several groups of us that exchanged 3 inch blocks, and this is how Janis set part of her swap blocks.  Cute idea!
 Claire pieced this one for her guild's quilt show.  Really neat effect.   Red and white quilts are so striking.
My husband helped me carry my things in from the car when I got home.  OK really he carried almost all of it.  I can tell by the Lolly's bags that I came home with quite a bit more than I left with.  Those bags will be a lot more fun to unpack than the dirty laundry.

For those of you from the retreat looking for the Mitered Square Sock Blanket pattern, click on the tab under my banner.  Hope you are finding some time to stitch.  Thanks for visiting!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Shipshewana Day 1

I spent the day shopping here in Shipshewana with my niece.  Here are a few photos from today:

The quilts.

The Cuddle Room at Davis Merantile.  This is a new shop downstairs with just Cuddle in it.  It feels just like Minkie and is beautiful!!!
  This is more Cuddle.  It is even on the wall in this photo. 
 Cuddle baby blankets.
 Decorations outside of the shops.
 More shops.

 Yarn at another new Davis Mercantile store called A Stitch In Time run by Lollys.   

Mike and Chris say they are getting in more yarn every day.  More tomorrow. 
Hope you are finding time to stitch today. 

Print This Post

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...