My Birthday Present

I'm not sure if you remember but my amazing husband got me

the Tula Pink Bernina 770SE for my birthday back in July.  

The machine was not due to be shipped to the shops until September (and later October). 

 Last week Wednesday, he told me we were going out for dinner at a new place near our son's home.  COOL.  

I love to try new places.  

So we stopped at our son's to see if he wanted to join us but he didn't.  

We continued on our way when he pulled into the quilt shop parking lot. 

 I looked at him and finally it dawned on me that we were there to get my new machine!!!!!!!!!! 

 He then told me I had an hour lesson (but sadly no dinner, LOL)

I didn't have time to even unpack it but have since done so and am happily sewing away on it. 

 I have really been enjoying the even feed foot for piecing.  

Really cool machine.  

I can't wait for the classes in 2 weeks to learn all about the sewing machine and 

the embroidery unit too!!!

Just look at all that stuff!!

I have not moved it up to my sewing room yet since I will need to pack it up and bring it to class. 

I was just sewing it on my kitchen table.

The Shooting Stars top if all finished now but this was when I was putting it together still.

 This quilt went together so quickly!  The cutting took awhile.  I think it took me 2 nights to cut it all out but the sewing went so fast.  VERY well written pattern.  

I am really looking forward to making this my all the time machine.

For now she will stay on the table.

GOSH, this guy is a keeper!!

~XOP~

Quilt Retreat

As you all know already, Thursday was my BIG 60th birthday.  

What you don't know is that it is also my annual retreat with 3 of my best friends.  

Every year for the last 3 years we have gotten together to celebrate my birthday 

(and my friend Cori's birthday, although that got forgotten this year, sorry Cori).  

She and I used to go out to dinner and then one year I suggested 

we make our own quilt retreat, so we did!  

I also invited my SIL, Mary and after the first year, my friend Traci.  

Traci is the only one that doesn't live in MI.  S

he flies in from Wisconsin.  

Traci arrived at the airport on Thursday.  

I picked her up and we went shopping at some quilt shops, at the grocery store and at JAF.  

THEN we got pedicures and then it was time to go home and pack up the car.

Here we are getting our toes done.

Much to no one's surprise mine are sparkly teal!

Next up was heading to the retreat.  

We arrived and got unpacked and settled in.  

I cannot believe the amount of food we brought for the 4 of us.  

Also movies, lots and lots of movies. 

 I forgot Bad Mom's Christmas, which they would not let me forget

I suggested that we make the Double Slice quilt.  It required one layer cake.  

Cori, Mary and I each made one.

I used some of my Vintage Sheets to make mine and made it a row longer.

Cori made one that used the blocks, cut yet again, into 2.5" pieces to make the borders

Mary's was the original pattern.  

Cori, that little over achiever, finished this quilt before making her Double Slice quilt top.

Cori had her needle come off and it stuck right in her fabric, still threaded!

Traci was helping the other 2 make an "easy" bag 

while I was working away on the infamous"Wedding Quilt". 

 Little did I realize how small the blocks for this pattern are.  

I had to make 670 blocks before I could even begin assembling the top. 

I sewed, and sewed and SEWED.  

This is about half of my trimmings.  

I can't even show you the blocks yet.  

I did manage to get all of the blocks made.  

I still need to trim the last 70 of them, but I thought I did pretty well!

 Cori made one more top too.  

They both finished their bags and Cori made a one hour basket.  

Traci finished her bag, and some other things. 

Mary also got started on some dresses for her grands, did some self binding blankets and 

finished her Winnie the Pooh top.

I made kabobs for our Friday night dinner and Cori brought the rice.  

We got to eat outside.  

It was so nice.

Mary brought her famous sugar cookies

(goodbye Ketosis for me)

Back to work for everyone.

Mary gave us all unicorn pinatas full of sewing notions.  Jack made a new friend.

Birthday gifts and cards were abundant.

Check out the science wine.

I even received a beautiful bouquet of flowers.  Delivered after I got home from my sweet SIL.

I'm pretty sure this was one of my best birthdays ever!  I'm hoping we can do this again next year.

Maybe the year each of them turns 60 it will be their turn to be showered with so much love.

Thank you my sweet, sweet friends for making this an amazing birthday.  

My sixties have begun with so much love, I hope the whole decade is the same.  

You guys are the BEST!

I miss you already

Is it February yet??

~XOP~

Birthday Continues

As if the TP machine was not enough, prior to that I had asked my friend if she was ever going to sell her white Featherweight machine.  

She said she would see if she could find it and then let me know what she would want for it.  

A day later the machine had been located and she gave me a price.  

She is SUCH a sweetie, she told me how much she paid for it. 

 I had to ask for the price again and she said, she just wanted what she paid for it! 

 I could NOT believe it!! 

 I never dreamed I would be able to afford one of the white ones, t

hey are usually much more than the black ones.  

So I had lunch with her the other day and she gave me the machine and I gave her the money.

This little beauty is now all mine!!! 

 I'm not sure how I won the sewing machine lotto but I am sure glad I did!!!

It came with a case,

And all the attachments you see here.  

I took her out and tested her stitch.  

My friend said she might need a new belt.  

I need to see an actual threading diagram but I did test her out and she sews a nice stitch!  

I am getting ready to go on retreat tomorrow so not as much time to play with her as I would like.

I will try to download a manual and see how to maintain and thread her.

Someone online asked me how many sewing machines I have.  

I took the time to list them all and 

counting the one that is coming in September (the TP) I will have 14.  

In my defense at least 5 of them will be ones I am trying to rehome (either sell or gift) 

but I need time to clean them up and oil them.  

One is done but I need to refinish the cabinet.  

Several are niche machines, like a Treadle and a serger.  

I will now have a Bernina 150 to sell if anyone is interested.  T

hat one could go out the door right now, if anyone knows someone that might be interested.  

Please contact me!  

She is a great little machine and has been serviced regularly!

Again, I say, happy birthday to me and Life is GOOD!

~XOP~

Happy Birthday

Hey Hey, it's my birthday today!!  Another year is a wonderful gift, don't you think?

Not sure what this next year will bring but I am looking forward to it.  

I hope YOU all have a wonderful day today too!!

Go enjoy a FREE Slurpee at 7-11 today to celebrate my birthday!

(oh and theirs too, = )

~XOP~

Happy Birthday To Me!

Monday was my birthday.  I have a fantastic birthday...7/11. 

 Free Slurpees on my birthday for everyone!!!

We went to Pink Castle and I bought some great fabric.

I ran into Brenda and she gave me a couple of charm packs of her new fabric,
One room Schoolhouse.
Isn't it pretty??

I had to work all day but I went out for dinner with my wonderful family.  

Three of my friends gave me some fabric for my birthday.

Judith gave me this Charm Pack.
It is the Spring Kaffe fabrics from 2016 and my friend Dianne sent the adorable cat FQ.

Robin  "shopped her stash"which is extensive, I must say!  

I made out pretty well from these friends!

Hubby and I went shopping on our way to GR and I picked up a few more things

The BIG birthday gift though was a new serger!!! 

 I have a couple of friends that have this machine.  

My thoughts were that if I got the same one I could ask for help should I need it.

I have her unboxed but have not had time to watch the CDs to see how it works.  

Wish me luck!

There was no cake for my birthday, but this was a pretty good gift!

~XOP~

My Birthday Extravaganza

My wonderful husband made a plan all on his own to celebrate my birthday (early) last Friday.  

He asked me to take the day off work so we could go on an adventure.  Well, color me surprised!  

We got up and headed out to a place in Ohio (we live in Michigan) for breakfast. 

 It was called The Speed Trap. 

 I really wanted their amazing sounding breakfast sammy (french toast with ham, turkey and melty swiss cheese), but what I had was 2 poached eggs and 2 pieces of bacon.

  Wayyyy less Weight Watcher points!

Isn't this place adorable?

Then he hands me this hand written list of all the quilt shops he had planned to take me to!

Now some of them were either not there, were a long arm business or were Electric Quilt Co 

(which I was not sure we could actually visit).  

First stop was a Little Touch of Heaven. Which I am pretty sure it was! Very nice owner here.

 I found some great OOP Vintage Modern here and bought all they had!

 Next up was the Door Mouse, in Bettsville, OH.  

This place was majorly overwhelming, but oh so fun to look around at!

I bought a few things here too.  Great neutrals for a quilt I have planned in my head, LOL.

The three solids are part of the above quilt.  The other 2 were "just because".

I could not resist these Scandinavian feel birds.

We were on our way to a park and saw this overflowing river.  The water was moving SO fast. 

The sheer power contained in this flowing water was fascinating.

We stopped at one park and it seemed like a nice one but he had a different one in mind 

so we motored on to it.

On the way there he stopped the car, lept out and began picking some wildflowers like a mad man.  Apparently they were for our picnic table lunch!

This is the park we stopped at. 

 He thought it would be a totally amazing park and where we were, at least, was a gravel road 

with a turn around, a port-a-potty and a "You are here" sign!  

The lunch was amazing and the wildflower view was fantastic, not to mention the great company!

See that cupcake right there?  He baked those from scratch the night before!

OK, on to more quilt shops!  The next shop was called The Busy Thimble. 

 Not much in the way of fabric for me but I bought a few Aunt Martha transfers here.

The Quilt Foundry in Maumee was an amazing shop.  

If you like Batiks they had an entire room devoted to that!  

I found some treasures here too though.

Some Christmas fabrics to make some Christmas stockings for a friend of my daughter's.

A little Marmalade and Scrumptious

I was so thrilled to find these Emma Jean Jansen prints!  Plus that gorgeous Grunge.

There was one more stop here at Quilt Heaven.  Cute shop, very friendly staff!

We did hit the Quilt Patch back in MI on the way home and I picked up some of the 

Christmas fabrics you see above at that shop.  

I picked up some sports fabric for my son's Michigan sports themed quilt.

I also bought a little pattern and template.  I am dying to use that template to cut into my scraps.  How fun would it be to get a little bit from every quilt you make and put it into a big scrap quilt??

So now my birthday celebration has come to an end.  

I hope you have enjoyed my day as much as I did! 

 Maybe you found some new shops to visit on your own travels!

Happy Travels to you.

~XOP~