5 State Quilt Bus Trip

Well, I am on my quilting bus trip where we are going to visit 9 different quilt shops in 5 different states. We have just completed day 1 and it has been very exciting to see 3 different quilts shops. I am helping my local quilt shop as the hostess of the bus trip which has been a fun experience.The shops have been outrageously beautiful and the staff at each of the shops have been very helpful. Below are some pictures of the shops we visited today. I forgot to take some pictures at the second shop we stopped at....will try to do better but sometimes picture taking is not a strong suit of mine. Also a fun thing is...we get 2 batik fabric strips at each shop plus a free pattern. How fab is that???

This is Pine Needles in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was a beautiful shop that use to be a wildlife center that sold bird seed. It was huge.

This is a picture of The Quilt Shoppe in Stewartsville, MO. Another great shop with lots of variety in fabrics and other quilt related gift shoppe. Great Staff!! If you have a chance to visit any of these quilt shops, stop. They are well worth the visit.

Well tomorrow is another day with 3 more shops to visit. Will try to update you and take some pictures of the goodies and treasures I am getting. Until next time......

LesleyAnn

Tator Tot Casserole and Glue Gun Incident

Well, the weekend has come and gone without much sewing progress. I had big plans but those were dashed on Friday at 2:30 when I burned my fingers with the glue gun doing a crafty project that I will not show you because it didn't even turn out like I thought it would. Very bad. After I burned two fingers to a crisp I didn't feel like doing much else plus I have never had a burn quite like I got. So I just decided to take a nap. Nate called and wanted me to come stay at the weekend retreat house, (aka his house) so I thought I might as well since I was pretty much feeling worthless. So I spent the weekend there....

Today I spent the day with Nate doing a little farming...making hay. I rode the tractor with him. There is nothing like the smell of cut hay. So while we were making hay we talked about what we were going to have for supper. From pigs in a blanket to tator tot casserole. When I first met Nate he told me one of his favorites was tator tot casserole and in my family we never had this so I was unsure of how to make it. So I consulted with friends and the internet for advice because I sure didn't want to disappoint my new boyfriend that I couldn't make one of his favorite meals. So I decided to punt and use a combination of all the advice and internet recipes to come up with my own version. So today, I decided to make tator tot casserole because he has always told me I make the best. But much to my horror, I found out today that his favorite tator tot casserole is......the high school cafeteria! AHHHH! WHAAAT??? Are you kidding? I have to compete with the school...school food is something we all would like to forget not remember as our favorite...I am depressed...My cooking confidence is marred. Although, in my opinion, today was the best tator tot casserole I have ever made!!! :) Until next time....

4 Glorious Days

Well I am back from 4 glorious days of sewing in DeSoto, Wisconsin. It was great! Lots of laughs, lots of sewing, and lots of inspiration and relaxation was had by all. It is so beautiful along the mighty Mississippi. And the most glorious thing of all...what I accomplished...a lot...which is so uncharacteristic of me at a retreat. But I did. Here are some pictures of where we stayed and what I accomplished.


Here is where we stayed. It is known as the cottage. And it is super nice. There was no roughing it here.


This is a view out the window of the cottage. The mighty Mississippi is so close...


This is the group of ladies I stayed with and the things we accomplished. Can you find me? We actually took this picture from the other house where some other gals stayed since our house only bunked 10 gals and the other house bunked 8. Then with both houses we could have that many more gals.


This is more of a close up of the things I got done or started on. I am caught up with Lynette Anderson's BOM. , finished putting some ric rack on a tea towel, made 3 bags (1 is missing since Nate took it as a raffle for a church dinner), finished the stitching for the Armchair Caddy from the Stitcher's Angel, and started a Halloween Stitchery. Whew.....

Some gals and I took a little road trip during the retreat to some quilt shops. This is what I got. You can see the Halloween stitchery pattern. I love it and it is going to be so cute!! From the funky paisley fabric I am going to make my own bag like the ones I finished at the retreat, since I am going on a stitching bus trip to 5 different states and 9 quilt shops in a couple weeks. I think I better have a bag to keep all my treasures together. Hopefully I will have internet access during the trip so I can post my fun finds. I am really looking forward to that trip too.


Then today when I checked the mail I found this in my mailbox.....My prize from winning the contest on Mid-Ohio Knitter Thank you Vickie...I love it. You are the best!!! I can't wait to make something out of these yummy charms. Well lots to do and so little time...Until next time..


LesleyAnn

Wishing for more stitching hours in a day!!

Well it has been quite awhile since my last post but things have been busy....I have been trying to catch up on some of my numerous stitching projects. One of those being Lynette Anderson's Free BOM; it has been so much fun. I have included some pics of how it is coming along. I just have a little left from the block of Noah and the giraffes. Need to still put the border around the elephants and Noah. Then start this last months of the rainbow. Hopefully I will get this done while I am at my quilting retreat in DeSoto, Wisconsin at A Place to Sew. It is a beautiful place and so relaxing. I can't wait.

Here is kind of an overview of all of the blocks together. So cute! I put everything in a binder. I am getting so organized....so uncharacteristic of me....But it helps to keep everything together since you only get one block at a time.

Look just alittle left. I used a satin stitch to fill in the spots on the giraffes.


Here are my finished blocks. They are just precious. Thank you so much to Lynette for designing such a great stitchery!! Well I better get cutting out some projects for my retreat that is in just a couple days. Until next time...

LesleyAnn