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Finally! I just finished my round on Marge's block (Round 2). It took me forever to finally decide what I should do for it! I do hope I made a good choice. 
The next "robin" came in the mail this week... Jane's. The colors are so different from the other two and will be a nice change. It is very geometric and I'm thinking of softening it a bit with some applique. Applique is definitely not one of my strong suits, but I'll do my best. I'm just not sure exactly "what" I should applique on to it. I do have an idea... (Hint: Inspired by part of the star.) I'm definitely open to suggestions though! 
I also got the next theme for the Ostrich Challenge. At first, I thought it would take me forever to come up with an idea, but in less than two minutes later I was inspired! It's a secret though and one that won't be revealed too soon, as I have many other things that need my attention and a few months to complete this round in the OC.School starts back up with the kids and I tomorrow. I have really enjoyed this fall break and figure it will take me a few days to get back in the swing of things. It doesn't help that I'm hoping we can take a field trip on Tuesday. It is up to the hubby, but I'm hoping to take the kids to the corn maze!
We had our second presentation for the Underground Railroad BOM this morning. I had finished all of the cutting for the blocks and completed the Log Cabin block. Forgive the lines, I had it folded and stored in a ziplock bag and didn't bother to iron them out before taking the picture. This month we will be working on the Flying Geese block. Today we talked a bit about aprons, or should I say "pinner aprons", as they were pinned with straight pins to the clothing... they didn't want to "waste" the extra fabric to make the strips that could be used to tie them on. They were very frugal in that time apparently. I do wonder how many were poked with those pins. Hmm...
Okay, well, we are still a couple of weeks away, but I already started hanging my decorations. Here are two wall-hangings. The first is one that I made 11 years ago when I just started quilting. 
The other is part of the calendar series. I have two other ones I started last year, but I don't know if I'll find the time to get either finished yet.
Okay, now on to Sunday. Got up early and dressed up in our tiaras, gloves, jewelry, etc. for Breakfast at Tiffany's! On the table were little gift bags that were made to look like purses. Inside each one was a FQ and the most adorable ornament... mauve with black feather type stuff on the top, the words "Quilt Diva" written on it! Can't wait to hang it on my tree this Christmas! We are supposed to use the FQ in a Breakfast at Tiffany's quilt in the next three months. We voted for the best Audrey and she got a prize. 
Afterwards, we changed back to our normal selves and started packing up our rooms. Once that was done, we had show and tell followed by the auction. I didn't bid on anything, but my friend did and won this adorable pumpkin plate with coordinating fabric... she kept the plate and gave the fabric to me! Now, I just need to decide what to use it for???Then we packed up all our sewing stuff and headed home. Now, what I haven't mentioned yet is that there were not any cell phones that worked while we were there... completely cut off from the rest of the world it seemed. As we were headed out of the area and on to the highway, all the phones started going off at the same time! Lots of loved ones demanding to know why there calls were not answered or returned. It was pretty funny hearing all the ladies trying to explain the situation all at the same time on each of their phones. We drove straight home and that was the end of a glorious weekend. I hope we don't wait too long to have the next retreat!
Got up early Saturday morning after just a few hours of sleep and barely got dressed in time to eat breakfast. Afterwards two other ladies and I went on a hike while others went to their classes. We almost got lost as the trail ended up being hidden by not only a ton of fallen leaves, but also a fallen "tree"! LOL! However, being that it was a "self-guided" trail, I wasn't about to give up! So, I finally found my way around the tree. Then we walked down to the dock on the lake for a bit. After that I broke off from the ladies, went back to my room for a nice refreshing shower and some peaceful time of grooming (something I never get to do at home with the kids running in and out every two seconds. LOL!). Then, I took a little while to add a couple more rows to my log cabin quilt and visit with the ladies until lunch. After lunch it was time for the winner of the chocolate FQ basket, which I didn't win. 
Finally, it was class time for me! I was so excited about finally getting to take one of the classes. The overall design is great! However, it took longer than expected and I was lucky, as were the others, after several hours to have one block done! I was so pleased when it was finally dinner time, as I needed a bit of a break! At the table we had these cute little plastic champagne glasses with a pretty piece of chocolate inside. Attached was a note inviting us to Breakfast at Tiffany's in the morning. 
After dinner we played a game and I got my goodie bag (every one got one) along with two picks from the goodie basket. The goodie bag was filled with all sorts of things including a tooth brush, an adorable notepad, pens, bottled water, peanutbutter crackers and even three FQs! The two items I retrieved from the goodie basket were a thimble and a 1/4" seam guide. The game that was played involved being put into groups, given a paper bag, pen and poster board. You had 5 miuntes to empty the contents of the bag and create a story by taping the items to the board. The story had to begin with "Quilting is better than..." We didn't win, but it was fun anyway. And I can't post the little tale, as it ended up being a tad racey.Then we had the trunk show/lecture with Janet Jones Worley (author of "Quilts for Chocolate Lovers"). She was hilarious! 
Afterwards, I put the mystery stuff away and went back to log cabin and finished up the center. Woohoo! I was so pleased with myself at that moment. However, it was now after 2:00 am again, so off to bed for me.
I've been back from the retreat since last Sunday night, but I had a sinus infection and haven't been able to accomplish much of anything, including writing about the wonderful time I had. But I'm better now and ready to catch you all up on everything!
I had a blast!!! It was so much fun! The activities were great, the ladies (probably around 18)were great, the food was great! I got lots of free goodies while I was there, which was good as I had no budget for the vendors (there were two) or anything. 
Let's start with Friday. When we 
stopped in Jackson for the quilt stores I found some of the elusive Jennifer Chiaverini Cross-Country Quilters fabric that I need for my Autumn Sampler. So, yes I bought a half-yard of each as that was a bit more than my weekend budget would allow. Next we arrived at Natchez Trace at the Pin Oak Lodge. The area was so very beautiful and peaceful that I could have stayed forever and the weather was wonderful. Once we got settled in, we had a great lunch... catfish, roast beef and all sorts of side dishes... yummy! Actually, all of the meals were great... no complaints! Then we set up our sewing stuff in a big meeting room. They split up into groups for various classes. I didn't have a class at that time so I sat near one of the groups and worked on a binding. One of the ladies made a mistake so I spent some time trying to help her correct the problem. It all worked out in the end, thank goodness! Later after dinner, we did the block swap and the purse scavenger hunt. 
I won two prizes for the hunt for having band-aids and a tin of Altoids in my purse. One prize was a fabric wallet and the other was a little purse type of thing that I can't remember what the name was... something like hugga-bug??? Anyway, it is made from flannel and is like an oversized change purse type of thing that could hold a cell phone or who knows what. It is really cute though. If you know the proper name, please post it for me. :)For the swap, they placed the blocks on a table and we walked 
around in "cake walk" fashion while one of the ladies clapped a beat, picking up a block wherever we stopped. Once we all had 12 blocks we then did some swapping among ourselves to try to get a better balance. I spent the next hour or so putting them all together. I didn't use a sashing or anything as I didn't have any extra fabric with me, but I did think of an idea for what I want to do with the border... so I know what I'll be working on in the next few weeks. I'll take a picture after I get that part done. The rest of the evening I worked on getting my log cabin blocks (Raspberry Tea in Tuscany quilt) put together. Taking along some UFOs was a great idea! I stayed up until sometime after 2:00 and then called it a day.
I finished six of the twelve blocks today for the retreat block swap. The other six will have more red than green. I will probably not be able to work on them tomorrow though. We have a special day at church and then will hopefully make it to the fair. I am really looking forward to eating cotton candy and a funnel cake. :c)
I had a great mail week! I received all sorts of goodies. One is from my Aunt Kathleen, well actually my husband's great-aunt, but all the same to me. She sent me a book that I have been looking everywhere for... "Hidden in Plain View". It is a story about underground railroad quilts and is so timely considering my BOM class. Thank you again, Kathleen! ;c) And I got a package with wonderful puzzle books for the kids, both are about Ancient Egypt, which I'm fascinated about. My dear friend that sent those also sent me a great deal of flannel charms for me to use in making more angel hug quilts. I also received the latest Quiltmaker magazine and Keepsake Quilting catalog. There were a few other arrivals, but those were my favorites. Don't you just love have good mail days? But good mail weeks are even so much better!
I finally finished the binding and gave the Stairstepper to my step-mom. I have two quilts that we picked out for me to make for her and this was the first one. I won't be starting on the next one until after the New Year.
I also managed to make another angel hug. A flannel rag quilt that I made from donated charms from my dear friend, Donna.
