Time to give an update around the design wall at retreat. Or maybe I should say design walls. Because there are walls and walls of designing here!
First of all, I need to apologize to Newbie Marianne for crediting this lovely quilt to Vicki! I think Vicki has already packed this quilt up in her things to take home to California. Something about “but it said it was mine on the blog.” I better be more careful with my assigning of quilts! And this quilt has really grown since yesterday’s blog.
Sally’s quilt has grown too. And actually it has grown even more and diagonal row sets have been stitched together. And it’s already come down off the design wall and been packed away. Something about needing some more fabric to complete it. I bet we’ll see this quilt at a future JSS Bee day Show ‘n Tell.
Madelyn’s striking quilt is all stitched together too. And off the wall. These gals are quick! Cameras must be at the ready at all times.
Remember the cute little gorillas and hippos for this one? All stitched together and off the wall. Do you see a theme here? Much gets accomplished at JSS Retreats!
Patti’s hearts grew into two quilts! And, you guessed it….. gone from the wall!
Linda’s little chocolate appliques have grown and grown too.
Cookie’s cool floral churn dash has totally grown into a quilt. And phew! Still on the design wall. I’ll snap a pic of this completed quilt top and show it in a future blog. Or you can check out Cookie’s blog to see this one later in the week. Cookie has not been able to access the internet here at retreat! I think it’s just a ploy by her to give her time to complete all 4,283 things she brought along to make. She’s a whiz that Cookie! I have no hopes of keeping up.
Jules and Pam joined us for the day today too. Or I guess technically that was yesterday.
Pam worked dilligently on this fabulous basket while she was here today. Nice work, Pam!
And Jules is working on this amazing quilt. She had it on the design wall briefly today. And, you guessed it, my camera was not at the ready. We’ll see this quilt again soon, I predict! It is a work of art!
More things were added to the walls today too. Including this fabulous Christmas tree by Davene!
And this wonderful quilt is Davene’s too. These girls are impossible to keep up with.
I can hardly wait to see what becomes of this bright fabric and the cute little lifeguard. Sue G is working on this one. So cute!
More to come soon. But for now, this gal has to get to bed. Our day started way too early on Tuesday. 2:30 a.m. to be exact – just 45 minutes after I’d gone to bed Monday night! Our smoke alarms went off! And we all had a very rude awakening as the loud voice said “Fire!” and the alarms rang continuously. There was no fire and the owners kindly came and turned off the alarms. But we all either had a hard time falling back asleep or else just stayed up and sewed some more!
Never a dull moment here at the Compass Centre.
And the laughter goes on and on…..
Hugs,
Barb
This quilt is one we made for a member of our Bee who is going through chemotherapy right now. Suz organized the whole thing and we all made blocks to make this wonderful quilt for Nancy to take along with her to her treatments. And just cuddle with whenever she needs an affirming word. Because we all wrote words of encouragement on it. And it turned out great! More about this one later in the blog.
This is the back. One block didn’t arrive in time in the mail to make it into the front of the quilt. So it is on the back. Davene stitched the binding. And is pointing out the special block on the back from Lani. Jules did the quilting. And Pam donated fabric for backing. Good friends coming together for a friend in need.
Not sure what’s going on with these two, but Davene made the cute little apron she’s wearing out of a man’s shirt! And everyone wanted to know how to make one of their own. It just might need to be a retreat project next month.
Cindy showed us some special family heirlooms (at least I think that’s what these were. I’ve slept too many times since Bee Day.) Gloria and Davene looking on.
This is another of Cindy’s. I’m sure there is a story. Ask Cindy.
This crazy patch pillow was Cindy’s too. Very cool.
Kay has been working on <gasp> needlepoint! But isn’t it beautiful?
Three ladies got Christmas blocks from Nancy at our Bee Day. This is Patti.
And Sally…….
And Dede is going to get this one to Pam.
Patti showed us this wonderful embroidered quilt she made. Isn’t the hanger for it cute? And very appropriate.
Lynn has been on a machine embroidery kick with a friend. She had this apron.
……. and also this piece with all her family names and birthdays on it.
Lynn also showed us this cute table runner.
Karen and Sue collaborated on this special quilt – I think it’s for a family member? Wedding gift maybe? Someone will correct me if I’m wrong, I’m sure. Feel free to comment, Karen or Sue, and tell us the story behind the quilt!
Sue also finished this beautiful tumbling blocks quilt. All hand pieced. She took a class with me on hand piecing some time ago and finished this quilt. She even added piping in her binding for a special touch. Beautiful, Sue!
Sue also made this cute wall hanging of leaves. Nice.
Yikes! Do you see how she’s going around those hexagon edges? We all told her to just whack it off straight and make it easy on herself. What did you end up doing, Sue? Did you listen to the group? We may need an updated picture on this one!
This one is Suz’. She was working on the binding. It’s fabulous, Suz!
This is Cookie’s Inklingo mystery quilt! 
Oh, my.
Isn’t it amazing? One more…..
Unbelievable quilting! And unbelievable piecing too. Cookie’s first 
This lovely purple quilt is Cookie’s too.
This is the back. It’s much more purple than it looks in this picture. Why does purple turn blue in pictures anyway?
Stitching was happening! Lynn and Sue….
Cookie and Kay.
Sorry for the blur, but I knew you would all want to see this picture of Nancy’s initial reaction when it finally hit her that the quilt was for her and not just some quilt we’d stopped by to show her. And then she immediately did this:
She wanted to look at it up close and personal and read every block. It was a special, special time!
Paprika is his full name, but we call him Pappy. What a little fuzzball he was the day he came to live with us! That was October 29. I can’t believe that 5 weeks have past already. Where does the time go?
And I want to smother him with kisses.
Isn’t that the cutest face you ever saw?
Seems his favorite crashing place is in my lap.
And he can really take over a lap.
And that’s just fine with me.
He desperately wants Panda to play with him.
Where are you, Panda? I know you’re down there somewhere?
This basket of bags used to be a Panda hiding place. Not anymore. He finds her wherever she hides.
Aw, come on, Panda. Play with me.
Pretty please? You know you want to play, don’t ya?
And on rare occasions, I have a two cat lap.
And Panda even crawled in to lay next to him in the top of the cat tree one time. Pappy looks a bit perturbed at her, don’t you think?
Dear Hubby has a hard time riding the stationary bike these days. Because Pappy wants to chase his feet as they go by. Even if he gets knocked on the head, he comes back for more. Can you say relentless? The boy doesn’t give up.
Like laundry.
And I totally cleaned out my closet the other day. He helped by knocking over the piles of clothes as fast as I could fold them and stack them. Some helper, isn’t he?
He absolutely loves water. And gets in the sink all the time. What? Water, you say? Is that something running down my forehead?
No glass is safe left sitting around the house.
And you better get a clean one if you’ve left yours sit too long and you have an aversion to cat slobber.
Dear Hubby and Pappy are getting along just swell too. We are all happy to be back in Texas.
And I’m especially happy that this sweet little boy has joined our family.
Just Sayin' Sew 