More Catch Up

 I think Avery liked his garbage truck quilt.

This is the view I had almost daily.

Everytime I walked into the house this one crawled or walked to me and wanted UP.

I made a new friend while I was in NC.

One of the guys that works at the campground we stay at has a wife that is opening a quilt shop.

The shop is called the Quilted Needle, in Pittsboro, NC

This is my new friend, Jackie.

I can't wait for the shop to open.

I am hoping I get to come back and teach some classes!

After my nanny gig was finished it was time to head out to KC for the annual Rejects Retreat.

I drove up to Ohio and spent the night with Kailie.

I *finally* got to meet Alex and the girls!!

The next morning we headed out to KC.

We made several quilt shop stops (of course) on our way to our hotel.

First we stopped at the Red Rooster.

What a great shop!!

Road tripping with my bestie!

We stopped at the Crimson Tate shop too.  

Kailie ordered from the Wooden Spool and we had to get there to pick up before they closed.

We slid into the shop 10 minutes before close!!

This was on the front porch.

Really nice shop.

I wish we had had time to shop, ten minutes is not nearly enough time!

How iconic is this picture of the Arch?

Chris found our hotel for the night.

It was the historic Fredrick Hotel.

What a neat place to spend the night!

Even had a resident cat that lived there.

We made it to the retreat on Wednesday.

The group went to Sarah's

This is an iconic place to shop.

Next year we are going to a new place in Lincoln.

I'm so happy I got to go and see all the great shops in KC.

Next up will be the projects I worked on.

~XOP~

Camping Adventures

 We went camping last week and had a great time.

I visited one of my favorite quilt shops while I was there.

It is called Bittersweet Quilt shop in Pinconing, MI

I saw this sign and thought it was SO appropriate.

Something we quilters should remember

"Beautiful things are never perfect".

SO TRUE!

Some of our friends were in Oscota which is pretty close to where we were.

We met them for lunch in Tawas and fond a new friend, LOL.

I could have stayed at his exact spot for a LOT longer.

On the way home our truck was shaking a bit so we stopped at a rest area to check the tires.

There was a bulge in the rear tire.

The lock to get the spare out was corroded and it probably took Chris about 45 minutes to get it open.

I got the boys out and put them in their pet tent.

It was SO hot in the truck,but very noisy at the rest area.

The boys were not happy.

They would have been more unhappy in the truck though.

Never a dull moment around here!

~XOP~

Reject's Retreat 2022 Part 1

 It's that time again.  

Time to head out to Kansas City for the annual Reject's Retreat. 

 This year my friend, Kailie was joining us. 

 She and I decided to drive from MI to MO. 

 Hubby mapped out several quilt shops for us to stop at along the way as we progressed.  

He even put the times they opened up for us. 

 We started at Shipshewana. 

 Kailie had not ever been there. 

 First stop was Yoders and then Lollys.

Next was Betty's Quilting and Fabrics in Burnettsville, IN

The next stop was closed so we continued on the Chilothe, MO to spend the night.

We had a beautiful sunset on our drive there.

In the morning we went to Cuts and Bolts.  

They opened late and we just managed to catch them as we were ready to head out.

After that we were traveling on the the Missouri Star Quilt Company in Hamilton, MO\

This was the main shop.

Can you read the sign above us?

"Spends too much $$$ on fabric"

With an arrow pointing down, LOL.

This was in the Pennys building.

There are 4 shops inside there.

It was pretty incredible.

The iconic Hamilton sign.

There was a little Amish man selling fry pies near here too.

YUM!

Cheersing with our cherry fry pies!

On our way to the retreat!!

Next up our arrival and activities at the retreat!

~XOP~

Some Life Happenings

 I found out that the National Breast Cancer Foundation sends out amazing free Hope Kits to women diagnosed with breast cancer.  

Look at all the goodies I received!  

You can go to their website and request a kit or donate so that they can send more kits to others too.

I even put pink on for the photo!

Next up were these butterfly blocks for our Birthday Club.

Nancy has a birthday in July and these were her request.

She wanted these butterflies in blues and purples.

We send a few little gifties along with the blocks too.

(I forgot to take any pics)

I wanted to get them done before we went camping.

We tried a new campground and I loved being at the pool!

We did manage to visit a couple of quilt shops.

One was this adorable Amish place.

Surry Road Quilt Shop

I have no idea why, but I needed this fish fabric!

It was so bright and cheery.

I could not resist bringing a few yards home with me.

This quilt shop was called Keepsake Quilting.

The owner was such a sweet lady!

I spent quite a bit of time here and bought a few things that I didn't take pics of (LOL bad habit I know)

Both shops are in the Mount Pleasant, MI area.

Both were worth checking out!

~XOP~

Quilt Retreat

 Every year, to celebrate my birthday and my friend, 

Cori's birthday, we go to a retreat at Creative Passions.  

This year was no exception. 

 I went with my friend, Cori, my sister in law, Mary and our friend from WI, Traci. 

 We had a blast, as usual AND we were all super productive! 

 Win-Win! 

One of my goals was to finish making my Ocean Waves blocks. 

 I think I needed 36 blocks total and was down to my last 4.  

These blocks have a LOT of pieces so take me a long time to sew, but I got them finished.  

The quilt will be too large to try to lay out at retreat so I just opted to finish the blocks.

Here is one of the blocks.

I did finish an entire top but it was a super secret project so I can't share it just yet.

Trust me when I say you are totally going to want this new pattern!

It was a pattern test for Apples and Beavers.

We all took a trip to Seven Sister's Quilt shop as we usually do. 

 I bought a kit for the cutest Coo by Art East Quilting

Me and my sweet SIL

The people that own the retreat now have a new quilt shop.

We, of course, had to go visit that too.

It was a cute little shop!

I found some adorable fabric to use for lining a mondo bag!

Of course I brought Jack with me.

He so loves to hang out with us ladies!

We ended up in the basement of the house this summer.

Usually we are in the back side of the church but we had a date glitch.

The basement is where we usually go in February.

This is the set up we have there.

We had to try out the new Mexican place.

Check out that Margarita!

Since that following Monday was my birthday, this was the gift from Cori.

I use SO much white thread she gave me a whole pack, plus some pretty teals.

Also, that adorable bunny fabric!

Traci gave me this cute kit to make a hanging pod.

She knows me too well.

Look at that Heather Ross fabric!!

Traci brought us all a kit and me an extra kit.

I made mine, and Mary's and Cori's for them too.  

Then I made one out of the cutest cat fabric too, once I got home!

I am so far behind on my postings.

I hope to catch up soon though.

So much to share

~XOP~,

Visiting a Friend

 Yesterday Chris and I drove to Valparaiso, Indiana 

to visit a couple we have been friends with for over 35 years.  

Our friend, Jim, has been diagnosed with brain cancer. 

 Even though he has done radiation and is doing chemo the tumor is not changing. 

 We decided we wanted to be able to visit before we could not communicate with him.  

It was SO good to see him and his wife yesterday! 

 He is still in there and even though he was not able to say much I could see his eyes light up when we spoke with him. 

 He could still say yes and give me the thumbs up!  

I am very thankful we made the 3 1/2 hour drive for the visit! 

 We gave him a brown scapular (Google it if you want more information). 

 He happily put it on and hopefully will continue to wear it.

My amazing husband took the back roads and planned 2 quilt shop stops on the way there.  

The first shop was called Robin's Nest.  

I struggled a little to find something to buy (surprising right?). 

 I always feel like I should buy something when I stop into a shop though.

I did find this adorable, vintage bunny fabric.  

I had picked some up from a "garage sale" a long time ago. 

 It is one of my favorite vintage fabrics so I was thrilled about that! 

 It's hard to tell but the background is a light blue.

We continued on and stopped at a shop in Chesterton, IN. 

 It was called Sweet Stitches Quilt Shop.  What a beautiful shop!  It was a joy to shop there!

This is some of the loot I bought there.  

I needed this pink for a border for my 52 weeks block of the week quilt.

I could not walk away from these patterns either. 

 I am itching to start that cat one, but it has to wait.

If the day was not eventful enough, my car rolled over the 100,000 mile mark!

We got home around 9 PM and we were both so happy we went.

Please pray for our friend and his wife.  They will need all the prayers they can get.

~XOP~