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I have moved the previous posts to the end of the entry. I hope that you make it that far. As usual, I have a big trip this month as well as a retreat to host. Goals have been reduced as a result.
Goals:
BOM blocks (3) complete - yes
Bow-Dacious (BD) area ripped out, quilted, labeled, binding on - working on it
Old Tobacco Road (OTR) - Clues 4, 5 - no
Christmas blocks - worked on and borders finishedOld Tobacco Road (OTR) - Clues 4, 5 - no
Block a Day continued (BAD) -
Collect Row by Row Patterns - yes -- it's over now.
ROL - Clues 1-5 have posted, my constant is caught up, still need to quilt my scrappy one
October Retreat Project, Gift, Pillow - yes
2nd - It's another gorgeous day in the mountains. Once the house is empty, I go on a hunt. I know Amanda has a cutting mat and rotary cutter (dang TSA in not letting me carry one on). Once I have located those items, I set up a small station on the end of the table. Look at what I can see out the window while working. It's incredible. I am at peace. I spend the morning cutting flying geese from the Christmas fabric and then move on to ripping out the remaining blocks on my unstitch project. Here's a glimpse of my pajama top. Yep, literally covered in threads.
In the middle of this, I put a pork roast in the oven and the house smells oh so good. Remembering that I don't have an outdoor shot of the quilt I made Amanda for last Christmas, I grab it and do exactly that. Oh my. All quilts should have such a backdrop. How lovely.
3rd - Replacing the sewing mat with a machine I have located upstairs, I start in on sewing my geese. Amanda and Trent have left for their trip to Philadelphia so I am not worried about picking up -- this can just stay put for a few days. I get 17 strips made before I have to go and pick up the boys from school. That, of course, requires an ice cream stop. After all, what are Gammy's for?
5th - The boys have asked for a day at home to just hang out and play. Well that's easy enough to do. They are having a great time together so I work on my geese. I have changed plans a bit and they are no longer blocks for everyone. I now have the border for my quilt. I am switching to 9 patches for the smaller block in the exchange. I finish the strips and want to move on to another project. Off to my suitcase I go to grab the Amish bookmarks I started the last time I was here. Well dang, I never put the yellow in that was the reason I stopped working on them here. Yep, hauled them all the way here again to be in the same spot. Way to go Deb. Okay, I'll change and work on the BAD's that I brought. I get out the bags and start laying out the colored 1 1/2" squares. Where are the neutral 1 1/2" squares? Back home of course. UGH!! After picking everything up again and chewing myself out for wasting suitcase space, I ask myself if I can put any of the blocks back together that I ripped apart? Are there enough pieces? It turns out there are. However, I can't show pictures of any of that. So sad.
6th - I promised the boys that we would make cookies but are out of eggs. That requires a trip into town so we also go to the park (yep, film festival goers everywhere) and then have pizza for lunch again. I think kids could eat pizza for every meal and not tire of it. Once we are back home, it's spaghetti for dinner. While making dinner, we have a visitor. This occupies us for quite awhile as we all take picture after picture. After dinner, I get a little work done on my repair blocks and extra Christmas pieces. I take the strips and turn them into borders. Woohoo. Now it is cookie time and Raef proclaims that this is the "Best weekend ever". We end with a movie, popcorn, and Dr. Pepper. Yep, I'm a cool Gammy
7th - Today is clean up the house day. Amanda and Trent are returning tonight and I want it perfect for them. We all pitch in and even get all the laundry finished. There is time for an afternoon walk to the waterfall which is great fun, especially after seeing the bear yesterday. Soon, though, everyone relaxes and enjoys the walk. We end out the afternoon with another movie and then start getting ready for school tomorrow. Mom and Dad will be home late tonight after everyone is asleep.8th - It is a very quiet morning at the house. Amanda is sleeping so I just read my book until she is ready to start her day. We go into town for lunch and to pick up kids. Pretty mellow day.
9th - Caleb forgot his shoes this morning and Ryan forgot a shirt so I am off to town for awhile. I have brunch with Amanda and then drive to Placerville in the hopes of finding a treasure at the antique store but it is closed. I drive back and explore Mountain Village, even taking another ride on the gondola. 10th - I start out the morning crocheting and then decide to drive to Norwood for some sightseeing. I love the red rocks along the way. Finding some truffles for Mister ends my morning journey and I head back to the house for more crocheting.
11th - It's a fly day. My time here has come to an end and we are off to Montrose for the morning before my flight. I've had such a great time here -- not sure I want it to end. One of our morning stops takes us to the Montrose library where I find this beautiful Carpenter Star quilt. Fun. 
It's time for me to go to the airport. So sad. After a great lunch I get dropped off and am soon cruising through the air on my way home. Oh -- there you are Dallas. Yep, it's late.
12th - I get home about 1:00 in the morning and work to correct my clue and post it before crashing and getting some sleep. (Again, it can be found HERE) Most of the day is spent working on the blog but a package from Jennifer M. did greet my tired eyes upon arrival. Yay! My squares are here. Now to figure out how to set these.13th - It's another bookwork day. Those always seem to happen after trips. I work on ROL just like everyone else. I have to have these clues in better shape than the one yesterday. Way too many errors at one in the morning.
14th - Today mission is to finish tearing apart the pieces that I left at home and I do manage to accomplish that. Clue 5 is also written. Whew!
15th - I am moving on to the October retreat today. I need to focus on something different for a change. After pulling out all of my Halloween fabrics, I get them pressed. I think I have enough for the pillow, group project, and retreat gifts. Mister and I work out the pattern for the pillow and draw the pieces. I think it will work. I also get the pattern under control for the group project. Somewhere along the way I am looking for a picture from junior high that I want to post on a friends page. I KNOW I have seen it lately but simply cannot find it. The process, however, nets me cleaned out files and a stack of paper ready to shred. Wow. Talk about a squirrel. 
16th - I work on ROL all day and then start cutting for Halloween projects. How fun is it to look at something other than purple, white, blue, and green. Or Christmas. I am thrilled to see different fabrics and have a blast getting them cut. Once my strips are cut, I lay them out to prepare for my goodie.
17th - Today is prototype day. Will this project work in the time I have allotted for it at retreat? One can hope. It does and I love the dang cute little thing. How fun. My spider blocks are next and I work on them until they are all stringed. I'm loving these too. It's a good day.
19th - I'm home, and another clue is up. Woohoo. Here is the CLICKING SPOT for clue 4. I am able to finish my pillow only to discover that the pillow form I have is now too small. Dang, I have to shop. I quickly get that ordered and finish my group project kits and get my gifts for October finished. I know, I know. Some of you will be sad to see them ahead of time, but dang they are so cute that I have to show them. 
With time still on my hands, I set to work making a couple of blocks that Marti has asked me for. I put together some 9 patches and then decide to do square in a square with them. Simple right? Well, except that the first triangles I put on net me a 9" square instead of 9 1/2". Back to the drawing board until I find the right size setting triangles to use. Finally, I have used all my brain cells for the evening but the blocks are finished.I even manage to clean up my work space (it needs it so bad) AND get all extra Halloween fabric cut into the scrap users system. Go me.
20th - I have found my Halloween costume. I am going to be Cousin Itt. How easy is this? Yep, this is the front of me. I just need better sunglasses and a hat and I am set. We are off to Irving to meet family for Mister's sisters (say that 10 times) birthday party. When we return, I am determined to set up my quilting frame. This is definitely not a pleasant experience for the two of us, but it does get done AND my sewing room is now rearranged as well. Perfect.21st - I have spent the ENTIRE day working on ROL clues. Goodness but this takes a lot of time.
22nd - Mister is working from home so I can have the car to go play with the Jennifers today. We are meeting at Applebees for lunch and fun visit time. After going to the wrong restaurant, (long, funny story), we have a great time and even manage a stop at Hobby Lobby. Jennifer M suggested it and only Jennifer S and I bought anything. Hmmm. Something is wrong there. I got the inside border fabric for my Christmas quilt. Another item checked off the list.
Also something else is terribly wrong with me. NO CAMERA!! What the heck. Even Jen M didn't take a picture. Wow, I think that was a first for both of us at the same time. Once I get home, it's more organizing for the beach retreat and work on the blog. So much to do and my fingers can only go so fast.
23rd - My day is spent on ROL clues (yes it will end at some point) and the evening is cutting and kitting up projects for the retreat, doing laundry, packing, etc. Tomorrow morning is coming quick.
24th - After taking Mister to work, I load up and head south. For details on this wonderful weekend, please check out this LINK.25th - Today is spent working on my constant ROL and I get clues 1-2 finished along with deboning 4 shirts. We are having a blast. I am providing brief info here as the post has oh so much more in it.
26th - Day two of retreat and I manage to get clues 3-5 of ROL completed, along with deboning 8 more shirts and making my BOMs. Not too bad for today. 
We also swam and walked on the beach in addition to oh so much wonderful visiting amongst each other.
27th - Day three and I'm still deboning shirts. I finally finish them all. Oh my, what a stack of lovely fabric I have now. This is just today's. Another swim and I spend the evening ripping out my BD quilt. The last thing today is the lunar eclipse. I snuggle in under my BD quilt, sharing with Sharron and sit back to enjoy. We have a beautiful view if the dang clouds would just stay out of the way. Oh --- wait --- is it going to make it? I think it is. Oh yay. We get a couple of pretty good pictures before she goes into hiding again. Not to be seen again until 2033. Worth watching.
28th - After packing up the cars and saying goodbye to old and new friends, we say hello to the road. Just as I'm getting into Dallas, something goes wrong with the A/C again and as soon as I get the car unloaded, Mister hauls it off to the shop. Ugh. No car again and he is stuck with the train some more. Fortunately, we have the train. Many would be in worse shape. It's 7:30 -- I'm going to bed.
29th - Fourteen hours later, I finally wake up. Oh my. I think I was tired. It's a fairly worthless day. I spend most of it working on future retreats and developing pictures. The October retreat will be here before I know it and I had others to do as well. Even rebooked the beach retreat. Yep -- we are going again.
30th - It's the last day of September. Wow. I did not accomplish near what I wanted to this month -- again. However, it has been a month of intense learning for me. I am still scared to death over the mystery quilt, but if it's truly hated, I guess people can cut it up and use it for parts of backs on other quilts. Suzanne is coming over and bringing lunch today. What fun. She picks up some fabric I grabbed for her awhile back along with a modern looking pin cushion. In exchange she brings me a box of shirting samples that never seems to end.
After lunch, we settle in and go through them to see how many are 100% cotton. About half are.Now to figure out what to do with the rest of them. I'm sure something will pop up that will be perfect for them. Some of these samples are just gorgeous plaids. Love, love, love.
The car is ready finally so Suzanne drops me off and I text Mister to see if he is ready to be picked up from work. He asks if there is somewhere near him that I can hang out. Well, yes, yes there is. I have been on the fence over the jammies that Target has. Well, now I have the perfect opportunity to check them out. And guess what is next door to Target on MacArthur? Tuesday Morning. Oh my. I had no problems at all killing an hour. I bought my jammies for retreat, found some more Christmas fabrics to use in treats, and found some really cute duck canvas to replace the leaders on my quilt frame. Oh yeah. What a great end to the month. Onto October -- my favorite month all year AND my anniversary with my sweet Mister. Love ya'll.
Thanks for checking up on me this month. Check back in now and then and please check out the link to OUR QUILT BLOGS at the top of the page for many of the quilt groups are starting to restrict the posting of blogs into the groups. If you want to still have a long monthly read and time for your tea, join the group. Thanks for sticking around this long -- I appreciate all of you who read each month.
Links to Previous 2015 Monthly Update Posts
January Quilt Update
March Quilt Update
April Quilt Update
May Quilt Update
June Quilt Update
July Quilt Update
August Quilt Update
You always have so many interesting projects going on, it's hard to know what to comment on. I love all of them! You've motivated me to make a spider web quilt for sure. OH, and I also bought those PJ's to take to retreats with me! :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. I hope we get a chance to be at the same retreat sometime. It could happen you know.
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