QuiitMama Class at Retreat

Our speaker again this year is a gal who is known as 'QuiltMama' - Jessica Dickenson...She gave her second half of her trunk show (we had the first part last year!) and wowzers...she has some unique ways of creating quilts! Can't show any of those pictures here...but if you get a chance to go to her trunk show, its wonderful!

A bunch of us took her class on Silhouettes and Circles....you 'make' fabric, either for the background or the foreground figures...and trace a shape (or shapes!) onto Heat N Bond Lite...

For mine, I did butterflies....

I opted for making the fabric for the butterflies and applying them to my blue FQ....
Others did black silhouettes on made fabric..but I really don't care much for that style...

I have blanket stitched the outlines...but that is as far as I have gotten...hope to get it done before next year's Retreat.

One of the gals at my table did a gecko..she got home and decided she didn't care much for the Heat N Bond technique (she much prefers back-basted needle turn applique)...so she sent him to me...

Mr Gecko peeled off the black background (he wasn't all the way fused)...so I just had her send me Mr Gecko...going to try my hand at making fabric for his background...maybe in light pink, light orange, light beige....sand colors.. Have to audition some fabrics! If lights don't work...will go with darks!

AZ Retreat 2019 Sewing

This year at the Arizona Retreat we made charity quilts.....
A whole bunch of charity quilts!

Here are a few that I was involved with:

I added the borders to a Froggie panel and birthed the quilt....LeeAnn quilted it after Retreat.
The back was a cute piece of fabric that I had for years...Frogs on Scooters....It will make some kid happy!

I made a whole bunch of receiving blankets too....

I think I made at least 6 or 7.....

and I made a Quilt As You Go lap quilt with a couple of layer cakes - one was a layer cake of  white Cuddle fabric that I got from Party Time at Road To CA last year and the other was one of an Oriental fabric medly - it will keep someone warm but that is about the best that can be said for it! I don't think anyone even got a picture of it...(Ya can't win them all!)

Post Kyphoplasties...and Other Stuff

A couple of weeks ago, I had two kyphoplasties...on T12 and L1...
I had NO pain from the actual surgery sites...and they have healed up very nicely! Very happy I had them done....
I,  however,  have had unrelenting pain from what the ER doc said was Sciatica...but which I really think is the nerve that runs down the thigh muscle...technically known as the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve...I am taking heavy-duty muscle relaxers...This condition was probably caused by being flat on my tummy on the operating table for the kyphoplasties...sigh...if I have any more of them, will ask them to put a pillow under my hips!!

Thank goodness I can sleep!

I am working on a sweatshirt conversion....I bought this lovely mint colored sweatshirt right before Christmas and hadn't worn it yet...came back from Retreat with a chunk of Laurel Burch fabric and lo and behold, it has that same mint green so OF COURSE, I had to design a way to use the scrap of fabric on my sweatshirt...

I wanted to convert it to a zip up...with pockets...and I just happened to have a separating zipper in blue! And..it will have a collar made of the bottom banding....

I still have some work to do on the zipper....needs the stops at the top of the neck...that is the next thing I am working on.

It will have cuffs and a bottom border (just draped for effect!)...and the pockets are made of the focus fabric lined with the cuffs banding

Oh..and see my latest sewing machine acquisition...isn't it cute? Was my door prize at Retreat....

Will leave you with some pictures of the snow in So Cal this Feb...its been an incredible year for rain, rain, rain - or as we call it - Liquid Sunshine (cuz you know 'It Never Rains in California'!!) These are our three big mountains....

Mt Baldy

Idyllwild

Big Bear from Lamb's Canyon