FNSI, Retreat, & Garden Delights

I have so much to tell you this time! Before I get into some of my projects, let me just remind you know that this Friday night you can stitch with me & lots of friends. Yessirree! It's Friday Night Sew In! Pop on over to Sugarlane's website HERE to sign up. Then hurry on back! Signed up now? Good job!

Last weekend I had the pleasure of going on retreat from Friday through Monday. Four whole days! My BFF Vickie flew in from Cleveland and I had us all packed up for a weekend of fun. And fun we had!!!

I took a few projects, of course. The first day I worked on my French Roses quilt. I had my 40 blocks done but they needed to be sewn together. After that I had to cut out 82 three-and-a-half inch squares for the inner border. I ran out of fabric for the outer border so I'm on the hunt. I visited my favorite LQS but it was a bust. Then I took a 30-minute jaunt to another store that I was so sure would have something I could use. Nope! I'll find it, don't you worry. I do have fabric for my binding set aside so I'll be ready when I can make more progress on it.

Next day I worked on a Mystery Quilt-a-Long called Two-Step that I started with From My Carolina Home. We're getting really close to the finish as far as the release of patterns but I'm terribly behind. Carole is so generous to give you directions for various sizes and no doubt I picked a queen size. Anyway I had plenty to do to start playing catch-up. I'm doing mine in mostly Kim Diehl fabrics that I'd picked out for another sew-along but changed my mind on participating. While I was at my LQS the other day, I picked up several more pieces and got them starched this morning. (Yes, I'm a starcher!) So far all I have sewn for Two-Step fits in a basket. Enjoy this picture! Ha!

The third day I started catching up on Marvelous Mini Mondays brought to us by Temecula Quilt Shop. I follow that blog too and absolutely loved doing 12 Days of Christmas with them a few years ago. I decided I'd give this one a try too. These blocks are only 3-1/2" UNFINISHED! I got myself caught up but I'm not entirely please with the last block and will probably redo it. Check them out! (Sorry about the blurry picture; I'm in a bit of a hurry to get this posted!)

So here's the plan:  Tomorrow I start a retreat where we sew all day for three days but go home at night. It's great because we can leave our sewing stations all set up and not have to break it down each evening. My first project to work on will be to get going on Two-Step. Then I plan on putting together a baby quilt that was a Bonnie Hunter (don't you just love her????) Leader & Ender from a couple of years ago. After that who knows? You can bet your booties, though, that I'll stay busy!

I mentioned that my BFF went to retreat with me. Here's a picture of her quilt before the squares were sewn together. Isn't it gorgeous? There was a bit of laughter when we found out she didn't know the meaning of the quilt title -- Caligula! I'm betting that the designer didn't either! Hahaha! Wikipedia told us all we needed to know! Thank Internet for enlightening us!

Speaking of learning from the Internet, while we were walking back from a meal, I spotted this huge beetle-thing. I sent the picture to my daughter, the bug-lover, and she confessed to Googling it. It is an Easter Hercules Beetle! That's Vickie's foot next to it so you can get the size of this critter!

One last thing I wanted to share with you. It's a gardening thing. The first is my beautiful plumeria tree. It is really getting ready to bloom. Some years I get a few flowers but it looks like this year will be a bumper crop. And oh! the fragrance!! These trees grew in the park behind our quarters when we lived in base housing in Hawaii. This tree just takes me back every time!

The other photo is of a couple of concrete fowl. They are actually pretty big and HEAVY! I had a hard time making up my mind as to which one to get. I ended up with Henny Penny because I already have a terra cotta rooster. I may have to go back and snag the rooster .... or the adorable frog that was there too!

Have a great weekend and I hope to see what you've been up to on FNSI or whenever!