Retreat Planning

So to continue on the retreat wagon . . . here's what I'm thinking about working on during the retreat:

1) Pieced Scrap Border Quilt

I found this great tutorial on Red Pepper Quilts' blog. It calls for 20 different fabrics, but only in small, 1.5 x 5.5 inch strips, so you can totally use fat quarters (or less) for this project. I'm using rainbow-ish colors (yes, I'm still on the rainbow kick!): aqua blue, dark blue, green, red, and orange, and I'm using 4 fabrics for each color.

The tutorial is for a 45.5 x 45.5 inch quilt. Perfect for a snuggly baby gift! I'm thinking, however, I might try to make this a full-sized quilt. I had insomnia last night and spent several hours cutting out 228 strips--enough for the original size. I'm not relishing the thought of going back to the cutting board, but I really do want this a bit larger!

2) Christmas Tree Skirt

I also want to work on a Christmas tree skirt. Last year I made a Christmas pillow for my mother, using a paper-pieced tree and gifts and an appliquéd rendition of my puppy Sophie. I want to build on this idea and turn it into a tree skirt. This picture is what first inspired my project:

Isn't this card so sweet?! So, here's my plan for the skirt: I'm going to have the tree and gifts in one corner, with one of our pups on top of the packages and the other sitting at the base of the gifts looking up. In the opposing corner of the skirt I'm going to put our two pups and a friend cruising down a snowy hill on an old-fashioned sled. I got the idea from Stephen Huneck's fabulous dog print.

Aren't these three so cute! Sophie (our black lab mix) and Zoey (our brown border collie-lab mix) have a little friend, Teddy, who is a yellow lab mix, so this is a great image of the trio! I even found some great wood-grained brown fabric that will be perfect for the sled! I'm kinda dreading the appliqué for Zoey, however . . . she has a wonderful border collie coat (unlike Sophie who has the more typical lab coat shown in the woodcut image above), and as a result she has all this wispy, feathery fur that flows off her. It's beautiful, but the shagginess is much harder to capture neatly in appliqué!

I'm still sorting out what to do with the two remaining corners. Paper pieced trees? Houses? Suggestions are welcome!

3) Ruby & Camille Scrap Quilt

Last year I won some great Ruby & Camille fat quarters and pre-cut strips in Film in the Fridge's giveaway. She has a great tutorial for her Ruby Strings quilt. It's a whole lot of paper-piecing of the strips, but I love the finished look! This one will be a gift for someone very special to me who is currently going through a tough, tough time.

This project is made more appealing because most of the strips are already cut. Phew!



4) Ana White Work Apron

At her book tour appearance the other day, Ana White (see prior blog post) was giving away a few of her great work aprons. I didn't happen to win one, so I want to make one for Karen. In addition to all the fabulous furniture plans she provides on her blog, Ana White has also shared a tutorial for the apron. Hopefully this will be a quick project!

I know, I know! Too much to accomplish, but there is so much I want to do! Project mania!

If I had a hammer . . .

Long time no see, my friends! I know we returned fairly recently from a whirlwind, cross-country, LONG trip, but I headed out of town again! Visited New York City for a weekend and then crossed the mighty Hudson into New Jersey to visit family. A great visit--minus the fender bender I was in. Crunch! I was unfortunately driving my mom's car, so I feel guilty returning to Utah to my functioning car while hers is still in the shop. Sigh. Fortunately, no one was injured (the cars notwithstanding)!

So, back to brighter news . . .  yesterday we went to see Ana White at The Home Depot. Are y'all familiar with her great blog? Her site has tons (and I mean TONS) of free DIY plans for every imaginable constructable project: tables, Adirondack chairs, bookcases, armoires, beds, children's furniture, etc. She provides great plans, easy to follow instructions, super tips, and fabulous ideas! The Home Depot was "giving away" (er, selling?) her fabulous book with any $20 purchase.

The book is so great!! I loved literally every project in the book. She even had plans for making a children's play kitchen (stove and counter-top). So cute!

Thankfully, Karen is really handy with the power tools, so I think we're going to have some new furniture in our future! I was actually given an Ana White welcome home surprise last week--a gorgeous farm bed headboard (I've never actually been to a farm that has had these headboards, but that is what they're called!).

Doesn't this look fabulous?! Weird colors, though . . .  the quilt on the bed is actually a sea foam blue/green color and here it just looks a dingy brown. Yikes! Karen also made a headboard for my mother over the summer. So handy! I think the next project on the block is going to be matching bedside tables. Yay!