What a fun weekend!

It's been a busy week and all I could think about was hurry up and get here Saturday! I made plans with one of my best quilting buddies to meet up and go on a shop hop. We all need more fabric...don't we? We made it to three shops (why do they have to be so far apart?) we stopped here, here and last stop was here! I actually had a list of fabrics I needed for various projects, I did pretty good. I didn't buy too much that wasn't on my list. I was completely taken with the patterns in the book I bought, seriously there is milk cans and barns! I married a farmers son, need I say more, I cannot wait to start that project!

All of my treasures from Saturday's shop hop.

 I was on a mission to get fabrics for quilts I plan on working on during the retreat I will be going to in November (with my same quilting buddy who loves to go shopping too!) I have all my fabrics now and the retreat will be here before I know it. One thing we are asked to do is make blocks for a quilt that is auctioned off at a fundraiser that supports the camp that hosts the retreats. They are supposed to be made in batiks in colors found in nature. I found some Bali Snaps that I fell in love with, there is one that has a wood grain pattern, perfect!

I also caught up on my quilt along blocks. This week there were three blocks to make, Susannah, Katherine and Old Maid. All of the blocks had triangles in them, I do not have the plastic templates, I have just been using the print outs from the book and the corners are already trimmed. I have tried both ways and discovered that by trimming those points it really makes a difference.

I found the Marti Michell corner trimmer on my shop hop this weekend and I love it! Most of my blocks have perfect points! I think I may start to invest in the template sets as well now.

I am making the blocks in two different themes, 1930's and Downton Abbey fabrics. I have an abundance of 1930's fabric and reproduction fabrics so for those blocks I am not too worried. But I was not as convinced that my second theme will have enough variation, I picked up a couple of extra fat quarters and may find a few more to round it out. That being said I really love the color and fabric combos I am putting together. At some point I plan to put each set up on the design wall and take a look to make sure I like them all together.

Cutest little bear like critters on the 1930's block!

 




My plan is that whatever I pick is it, I am not ripping out seams, I really dislike doing that, I mean who doesn't? I've had a few seams that just would not cooperate..uhem, cough...belle..cough. I am still dreading those y-seams on future blocks!


Well that was my quilting week in a few pictures. How was yours, I would love to hear what everyone is working on. I've finally figured out how to add all the social media buttons! You can find me on Instagram, Facebook and Flickr. If you use Bloglovin' I have added that as well.

The kids are in bed, laundry is going, my homework is done and I should really work on picking up the house a bit, but Halloween is coming up really quickly. So I'm off to work on costumes for the farmers son and myself, plus I am making some simple patches (hopefully they will be unBEARably cute, hint hint) for my coworkers. We try to dress up each year, nothing complicated, just having a little fun! Housework can wait, got to get my craft on!

Stay crafty!
-Amanda