Brazos House -- In Between Days with Val (And Ana and Stephanie)

Val and I have 2 solid days alone and then will be joined by a Ana on day 3.  Day four retreat starts up again with another fun group of ladies.  (Julie Keller Edwards - this is NOT a post you should read.)

Most of day one is spent with Val working on her Friendship quilt

Meanwhile I am in the working on preparing some things for quilting.  I am making backs for both last years Row Robin AND the Bargello that I worked on at the March retreat.  Might as well get the labels and binding finished as well.  I also add a neutral border to a round robin I am working on before hanging it on the design wall hoping for inspiration to strike with an idea how to embellish the border.

For the late night adventurer in me, I layout Ophelia's Periwinkle Quilt (this baby needs a name badly).  After that, it's nighty night time for me.  Tomorrow is DRESS day.  Time to take over the place.

One of the things I love about doing 10 days here is that the "between" days allow me to use lots and lots of flat space.  Empty tables EVERYWHERE.  My goal today is to sew/serge the dress and hat for Miss Ophelia out of the fabric I made last month.  Well, it's not going to make itself so better get going on it.  First things first, I need to get the serger working.  I haven't used it in a year.  After cleaning and rethreading, it only takes me about an hour to figure out why the tension isn't working.  Gah.  So sad.  Now, how about some sewing.

I LOVE how they turn out but with Val's help, the pattern gets modified a wee bit.  I am pretty sure people who write patterns NEVER sew.

What's going on at the other end of the room, you ask?  Well Val is using all available table space to add borders onto several tops.  First a Bargello, that she also is making a back for.

It is so nice to be able to have all this space to do borders.  No crawling around on the ground.  Between the regular tables and the pool table, lots of counter height flat areas.

The day is almost over but before calling it a night, I no longer care for the periwinkle layout.  It takes me a couple of hours to lay it out the way I want it and that requires cutting a few more triangles as well, but I think I've got it.  Now -- it's definitely sleep time.

Night from Brazos House.

Okay --- It's my last day to be super productive and the list is still mighty long.  Get at it girl.  I WANT the periwinkle top finished.  NOW.

First, all the triangles need to be turned into blocks.  Then the blocks into rows.  I can do this quick.  I know I can.

Val has moved onto another quilt top (this one I remember being put together at a retreat last February) and it's huge.  Once again, it needs borders (that is her goal this break -- to get borders on all the tops that need them) and she has it spread over at least three tables.  (If you notice in the background, I am not on as many tables now.)

It's gorgeous outside and we have moved outside to let the cleaning ladies do their thing.  Ana arrives while we are enjoying this time and it's so nice to see her again.  We also have a visitor on the porch today and he's dang certain to stay put no matter what.

Ah, the porch is so lovely right now.  How can one resist a sit-down?

As we are talking with Ana, I notice another visitor nearby.  Grab the cameras -- it's a FROG.  And a big one at that.  One would think we'd never seen a frog before the way we are all acting.

When we are back in the house and Ana's car is unloaded, Val's behemoth top is finished.  With some help from Ana, we have a TA-DA.

Okay, back to work everyone.  Ana came early to get borders on too.  I am in the border stage on the Periwinkle project so we are establishing borders everywhere.  Hahahaha.  Once my top is finished, I move onto making the back and binding/label as well.  This one is ready to quilt when I get home.

A name, it must have a name.  How about Periwinkle River?  Yep, I like it and am going with it from now on.  Now to determine how to quilt it so that the zig-zags stand out and yet meet my capability levels.

TA-DA - Val has the borders on her Friendship Quilt.  It's just so dang cute.  I can't wait to see it all finished at the beach.

Ana is working on a Wizard of Oz quilt for her granddaughter and we spend some time helping her figure out the label for the back.  (For some reason I don't have a picture of this so I stole the finished ones from her Facebook page.  This is so cool.)  Her granddaughter is a munchkin in an upcoming dance recital and this is her gift.  What a great Grandma or as Ana is called, "Tita."

Stephanie saw Ana's post that she had arrived a day early and sent a text asking to come up early too.  Yep, come on down.  She arrives and is only doing hand quilting this time so just has a frame to set up.  This is an inherited top she is working on and what a treasure she will have when finished.

I am spending the evening working on the Coral of the Sea mermaid set for Ophelia when the new baby arrives.  I just have handwork left before I'm done in and call it a night.  Off to bed I go.

Hmmm, I guess I'm not quite ready to sleep so I sit on my bed and close the seams on the doll and seahorse.  THEN I remember that I didn't take a good night picture so head back out to do that.  Perhaps this time it is a real good night from Brazos House. (hint - go past the picture)

Oh wait --- guess what.  When I returned to my room, this is what I found zooming round and round with the fan.  Somehow it escaped from the bathroom where it was contained and now I get to stand on the bed and try to untangle it.  Yes, this is the type of fun I am having down here.  You can't make this stuff up.

After about 15 minutes AND popping the balloon, which for some reason does not alert anyone else, I have untangled the mess and the fan operates correctly again.  Sheesh.  Good night for the third time.

Tomorrow (or perhaps today since it is after midnight) a new retreat starts with a new post to go with it.  Thanks for sharing our fun.