RSC Finished Projects Linky Party!

Angela at SoScrappy is hosting the first-ever special linkup for finished Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects!  I have loved this fun monthly challenge since I first began reading blogs, and when I started my own blog, Angela's party was among the first I participated in.  When I saw her post to link up our finishes, I had so much fun thinking back on the wonderful quilts I have today because of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!!!

Soul Searching is my latest RSC finish .....

I am still putting the last binding stitches on this quilt!  Rocky is not being particularly helpful ...

He says it is after 9pm and he is OFF DUTY!!!!  He also says I should hand-stitch down all my bindings because it suits him to curl up in them while we watch tv in the evenings LOL!  Do you like that bold backing fabric?

I had a tough time choosing the backing fabric, but eventually this won out.  I loved the primarily black as opposed to the primarily white prints on the front.  And those colorful squares in each bloom are perfectly understated and fantastic!

I shared a few photos of the quilting in my last post, but here they are again...

The quilt laid on the guest bed for a week or so waiting for me to get around to trimming it.  I noticed Rocky napping in there one day and I have a sneaking suspicion he may have gotten a little impatient and tried to help me out....

I chose to use a lot of scrappy white-on-black fabrics pulled from my 2-1/2" strip bin (then trimmed down to 2-1/4"), as well as my black scraps bin, before cutting a strip from some of my fat quarters.... probably 20 fabrics in all.

Rocky had a ball at this stage of the game!  He loves those long strings of fabric!!!  I took a picture of him trying to run off with the string but it didn't take very well :(

I loved this binding choice from the moment I began stitching it down!

Of course, two of the joinings just had to work out to fall on a corner!  

I left this one because it was just to one side of the actual corner and with a little pushing and shoving it will be fine.

Sending a SPECIAL THANKS to Angela at SoScrappy for the beautiful quilts we've finished over the years because of your Rainbow Scrap Challenges!  It's been a blast and I've made some really good friends all over the world from participating in this linky.  Looking forward to another fun year of playing in the rainbows....

Hugs & Blessings

Teresa

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Linking up with the following fun linky parties:

Soscrappy RSC Finishing Party

Needle and Thread Thursday

Oh Scrap!

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?

Finished or Not Friday

Fabric Frenzy Friday

I Believe!

I do Believe I have broken a record - THREE finishes in two weeks!  And these two were finished in the last three days - woohoo!!!

I Believe Sampler and En Provence

Full disclosure, these are only finished to the flimsy stage.  Since I don't have a longarm, it is sometimes a while before I'm able to quilt a finished top.  In my book, these are considered finishes :*)

I put the last of 3 borders on my I Believe sampler on Friday.  This was my One Monthly Goal project, as well as my Christmas UFO for January.  You can read earlier posts about this project here.  This is the first bed-size quilt I've ever made from start to finish in one month and I'm dizzy with happiness!!!  I pulled out the little packages of shop hop blocks a few days after Christmas and made a block every day I was at home.

Last week as time was getting close, I powered through by cutting all the pieces for the last three blocks and made piles of half-square triangles, which quickly turned into finished blocks :*)

Then I had to cut up the panel blocks and decide how I wanted to lay all the blocks together - this was an early layout....

At this point, I realized I didn't have as many of the coordinating fabrics in my stash as I had thought, which was a real problem because I needed a good variety of them for sashing all the blocks.  This is an older line and pretty much obsolete.  My friend Joanne came to my rescue by giving me the scraps left over from when she made her version of the quilt... Whew!!!

All of the pieced blocks from the shop hop use only red, green and gold fabrics, so I really took a chance by sashing all the panel blocks with a pretty aqua print from the line which I did have in my stash.  I wanted to pull out that lovely aqua in the background of all the pictures.  It looks more blue here, but it really is a soft pretty aqua - the first picture above is closer to the actual color :*)

I have to say, I love the light it brings into the overall look of the quilt!

I used a gold from my stash for the first inner border, then pulled that aqua back in with a fun stripe from the I Believe line for the second border.  That gorgeous red used for the outer border was one that I had thankfully purchased in yardage when I bought the blocks - it perfectly frames the quilt and pulls everything together.

My second finish is En Provence - Bonnie Hunter's 2016 mystery quilt.  I last left you with the quilt waiting for the pieced borders in this post.  I had to make about 50 more neutral 4-patches in order to have enough to finish the borders.

This afternoon I put the last stitch in this beauty!!!

I really love this design, and the neutral 4-patch border is a big part of what I love.  Bonnie's design seems to float majestically over the surface of the quilt.  I found a bright backing fabric in my stash and hope to have it quilted before too much time passes :*)

And last but certainly not least, Soul Searching is quilted!!!  

This was my Music City guild UFO for January, and Joanne was my savior again by allowing me to use her long arm to quilt it :*)  I can't remember the name of the panto, but it was a simple and fun circle design that worked up quickly...

And, believe it or not, I even managed to squeeze in a few hand stitches too...

This adorable little hummingbird is the center of my 11th Folk Art Album block.  I have to say I was delighted with how it turned out!  I'm also pretty happy to be getting near the end of these blocks :*)

So that's it for my week - how about yours?

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Linking up with the following FUN linky parties - check 'em out!

- One Monthly Goal
- Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching
- Main Crush Monday

- Design Wall Monday

- Monday Making

I Ran Away -- and I Liked It!!!

Runaway Retreat was the BEST EVER this year!!!

Let the retreating begin!!!

We started out huffing & puffing - it's hard work packing THREE quilters and all their stuff for FIVE days into one car....

Yep, it took an extra luggage carrier to get it all to Kentucky!!! :*D  

Friend Carole has a large SUV, but even it wasn't big enough for all of us - and I packed light!  (Don't laugh - I really did!!!  I have witnesses!!!!)  Of course, it was even more full on the way back LOL!!!
We made a few new friends on the way ....

There's nothing quite like a road trip with quilting friends - you never know what might happen!  On the way home I called 911 for the first time in my life because of the drunk driver directly in front of us on the interstate!  He was going at least 80 mph, weaving all over the both lanes and even several feet off the shoulders.  Then he lost control completely - we knew it was inevitable and were just praying he wouldn't hit anyone else!  He veered wildly all over the road before he went all the way down into the middle of the median and almost turned over - but he never even slowed down, just turned it around and headed back up on the highway - straight toward us!!!  Thankfully, Carole was calm under pressure and kept our vehicle a safe distance from him.   Prayers sure kept us safe that day - and believe me, we were all praying!!!  We never heard if the highway patrol got him, but I sure hope so!!!

So.... back to Runaway Retreat 2014..... What could be nicer than spending five days with great quilting friends, many of whom I don't get to see very often?

Norma, Judy S & Barbara

Ruth, Carole & Betty

Terry greeted us in full "LET'S HAVE SOME FUN" mode!!!
(Love the Scissors through her head LOL!!!)
Terry and Margaret put on this retreat every year and do an EXCELLENT job!!!!

I didn't realize until we got home that I didn't get a picture of Judy L & Brenda :(  They live in Kentucky, so it's always special to see them every year.  (Judy L gave me the precious Kitty Pincushion I showed you yesterday ♥).  Sorry girls - you know I love you!!!!

The Retreat Center is always like returning to an old friend .... 

View from the 3rd floor my last morning -
Ahhhhhhhh what a view!!!

This quilt hangs on the rails of the courtyard to greet us every year....

The Courtyard leading to the cafeteria and classrooms -
Such a peaceful place to find a relaxing few moments :)

Mornings at Runaway this year were especially beautiful and serene.... 

The Auditorium where we sewed is on the right

The first evening, I put together the ORANGE Soul Searching block, and then sewed up the flimsy quilt the next morning.... you can read more about that HERE.

It feels GREAT to finally have something finished this year :)  After that, I concentrated on getting my Blooming Nine Patch rows together ....and I still have a ways to go!

On Wednesday, I taught a class on my new pattern, Amish Beauties, to 20 students ....

..... and then on Thursday we took a little side trip to Boonville, Indiana, to visit one of our favorite quilt shops, The Village Mercantile.  This excursion is one I look forward to all year long!  What could be better than going on a day trip with great quilting friends???

I sat in the third row on the way and knitted

After shopping, we stopped at this restaurant to eat
(I kept looking for Dolly Parton but she never showed up!!!)

Then we had to stop at our favorite ice cream place for real ice cream cones!!!
Mine was a double scoop of butter pecan in a waffle cone -
Can we say "Oink Oink"???????

                                              Carole was trying to be "good" so she got a "Baby Cone"
                                                Really????  This is just WRONG on so many levels!!!!!
                                       Where does this thing get the nerve to call itself an ice cream cone???

Our last stop was at an antique shop on the way back.  Now I'm not a big antique fan, but even I found a couple of things I couldn't live without....

Antique yarn spool, twine holder & cast iron pressing iron

Won't this be cute with a ball of yarn instead of the twine?  It even has a surprisingly sharp pair of scissors that sit in the top!

And I always loved my grandmother's little black iron - I believe I actually remember her using hers. I do remember that it weighed a TON!!!  This one does too :)  It is in pretty good shape and has a lot of nice markings on the handle.  I'll think of Granny every time I see it, and that's worth any price!!!!

Oh, and I know you are wondering .... what did we buy at the quilt shop?  I'm not sure you could handle all that today!!!  Let's just say that fabric acquisition was accomplished by all of us - and lots of it!  I mostly bought some cool tools that are hard to find, but I also found some great pieces that will work nicely in a few of my projects :)

Carole and Judy L even visited a couple little antique shops on the square while waiting for the rest of us to finish up our purchases.  I almost choked when Carole said she bought TWO sewing machines!  I figured I would have to be tied to the roof on the way home, because there sure wasn't any room in that car!  But then she smiled and said they were toy machines :)  Yeh, she's real funny.....

We made it back that afternoon just in time to get in line for dinner - and we were all stuffed!!!  But we knew we had better eat something or we'd be starving at midnight LOL!!!  After that, it was time to start thinking about going home.  That was tough, because we had so much fun and weren't really ready for it to end.

My first morning back home was a shock to the system - I actually had to COOK MY OWN BREAKFAST!!!!

Boy did they ever spoil us at Runaway:*)  The old saying, "Wish you were here!" was definitely true for me - it could only have been better if all of you had been able to be there too!  I'm already looking forward to next year....

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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