I started September in Michigan on Houghton Lake and was back two weeks later for a retreat and time with my mom where we traveled east to Lake Huron. I'd love any month with two visits to Michigan!
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| Me and my mom at the point where Lake Huron empties into the St. Clair river |
Over the course of the month, I think I also settled into life as a semi-empty nester. I've talked to both kids and they are both doing well, making new friends or reconnecting with existing friends, adjusting to dining hall meals and cooking on her own for the first time, and working hard in classes. The first few weekends of the month were very strange and quiet, but we are settling in now and you know I have plenty of things to keep me busy.
I did lots of stitching in September, but only had one finish and two FFOs. The good news is that I made some good progress on a few of my bigger pieces.
My finish was the first piece I stitched from the book I got as a birthday gift. Each family member picked a park and I am going to stitch that park's piece for them. The first one is for my son.
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| Zion National Park stitched on 16 ct. Oatmeal Aida |
I neglected to take a picture of my first finish - it was my exchange piece for the 141 Pep Rally retreat my mom and I attended in Williamston, MI mid-month. You can see the finished stitching here and you can spot it in the top left corner of the table full of smalls with the "sunny" side showing. The exchange pieces were really amazing, so much creativity!
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| Yellowstone by Open Road Abode Stitched on 32 ct. Confetti lugana (and I can't remember the threads!) |
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| Purchases from Riverview, The Quilt Foundry and a couple gifts |
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| Purchases from 141 Design Co. - I focused on getting finishing pieces so that I can FFO some of my finished stitching, but you can see a couple pieces of fabric jumped into my basket too. |
After the retreat, my mom and I had dinner with our friend Michele and I was able to give her an early Christmas gift. I really enjoyed this wool embroidery pattern and I finished it with Walnut Shells so it is nice and heavy and squishy. She's a Michigan native, so I thought she'd enjoy this piece.
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| Happy birthday Michele! |
It was also a busy month on the quilting side. I started the month with four of six fabric baskets completed for my retreat, so that was the first order of business. These were my table gifts at the retreat and the guest designer was Robin Pickens - all the baskets are from her fabric!
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| Side view- they are about 2" tall |
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| Top view - I did a mix of the "fun fabrics" on the outside and inside |
Once we were home from retreat, I got to quilting Acrobatic, a top that I made earlier this year. It will be a gift for a family member and was a challenge from last year's Threads of Mine quilt retreat. I was hoping to bind it by the end of the month, but didn't quite get that done. No worries, it will be ready for show and tell mid-October.
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| Close up of quilting - I did loops and pumpkins, such a fun way to quilt a Halloween top. |
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| Acrobatic quilt - 12 fat quarters make up this fun design and it's a great lap size. |
A week after I quilted mine, I quilted a table runner for my mom in the same style - loops and pumpkins. It was so quick to quilt, I think I finished it in less than 30 minutes!
I did get another binding attached last weekend. This is from a table runner I made earlier this year, based on the Sweetwater Fly A Kite pattern. I sized down the blocks so that it would be table runner size and I am glad to have it ready to use in winter. It will go well with some of my other icy blue/purple/teal quilts.
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| Fly A Kite table runner, made with batik scraps |
In addition to some quilting finishes, I purchased a quilt kit from Robin Pickens at the retreat. I looked at it all weekend and went back and forth. When it was still there Sunday morning, I knew it was a sign so I grabbed it. This will be such a fun spring/summer wall hanging. I really love the colors in this one.
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| Mod Flower Box quilt kit |
The month ended with a little painting. I had a few paints in my stash, found a few stains in the garage, and cracked open the paint set I bought from Chantelle. It was beautiful weather and I really enjoyed setting up shop in the garage for the weekend. None of them were done before the end of the weekend, but they will be ready for some finishing in October.
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| Painting and staining underway |
All in all, it was a great month. It was really fun to go to a new stitching retreat and spend some extra time with my mom. We have always traveled well together and this trip was no different. Now I am just waiting for the weather to cool down so that it really feels like fall!
Here are the stats/reports for the month:
Stitching time with Kate at Life in Pieces - 25/30 days with at least 15 minutes stitching = 83%
Stash Report with Donna at quiltpaintcreate:
Fabric added this month: 5 3/4 yards
Fabric used year to date: 13 1/2 yards
Net stash used year to date: 3 3/4 yards
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