Might be missing for a while....

The next 30-40 days are going to be jammed packed and crazy around these parts! Don't worry if you don't hear from me for a while...but it's all for good reasons.

First and most exciting event is that my sweet hubby will be home THIS Friday! After 5 months in Afghanistan, he's finally on his way. Yippeeeeee!! I'm so proud of him and can't wait until he is back home, safe and sound.

Seven days after he returns, we leave for an Alaskan Cruise! We will be celebrating our 25th anniversary on June 29th while on this beautiful ship! (well, I don't know if it's exactlly that ship..it is that cruise line) Seven days and seven nights of relaxation, sight-seeing, and fun!

On the 16th of July, the packers will be here to pack up our household goods and move us once again to the next Air Force adventure. The two years here in Idaho have flown by in an instant. It's been an amazing time...nothing like we thought it would be and it's going to be heartbreaking to leave. But, alas, we must move on and although we are sad to leave, we are SOOOO excited to begin the next journey. Exciting things are waiting for us in our new location....because we are going to....

DOVER, DELAWARE!!!! You might remember that our son is in college in Delaware! We could not believe it when we learned that we would be going to Dover and would be just an hour from him! With a bit of luck, we'll be there for two years, which is when he will graduate. The other exciting news is that our daughter will also be moving with us. She has been out on her own for a couple years, but wants a bit of a change from her current location. Yay...so we'll all be together again, at least for a couple years. I'll take it!

There you have it...Life is Good! I'll try to update when I can. Wishing you all a fun quilty Summer!!

Frolic Quilt!

I love, love, love Moda's line of fabric called "Frolic!" Back in April, I bought a layer cake and the shop was giving away a free layer cake pattern. I assemble the top while at retreat in May, but then I got to thinking what was I going to do with this quilt? Do I keep it for myself because I love the fabric so much or would I give it to someone?? Well, I got the answer a couple weeks after returning from retreat...a niece is graduating high school! So...there you go, graduation gift solved! :) I just finished the quilting and binding this week and off it will go in today's mail. I hope she likes it! (I don't think she reads my blog!)

Never fear...to keep my love affair with Frolic alive, you'll remember I made this bag back in April. I'll be able to oogle my beloved Frolic even after the above quilt is long gone to it's new home. :)

Happy Quilting!

9 Patch Project

Have you heard about it?? It's a Summer Challenge to make one 9-patch block each day during the summer using only fabrics from your stash. At the end of the summer you'll have 90ish 9-patch blocks!! You can read about it here and if you are on Facebook, check here too.

Coincidently, I've been working on my "scrap" bins and trying to figure out and make them into something usable. Here is a pic of -most- of my scraps...I know there is more stashed here and there. Look at all that good stuff...surely there is something that can be done with it! :)

Robin has been slowly converting me over to the dark side and I finally broke down and started cutting my scraps into various sizes that can be used in future projects. I've also begun doing "Leaders & Enders," that Bonnie Hunter is so famous for. It's amazing how productive this little project can be. Remember my last post about my mini retreat? Well, I also sewed all these little 2" squares together the same weekend! Wait until you see what I'm doing with all these little blocks! :)

While cutting my scraps, I'm cutting various sizes which includes 2.5" squares. So when the 9-patch project came along, I decided that would be a perfect thing for those squares. Here are the first three blocks (project started June 1st so I had to catch up!).

BUT...I have a dilemma...did I mention I'm moving in July?? LOL And did I mention I'm moving to the other side of the country? So I can either make a bunch of blocks ahead or make them after I get settled and get unpacked. No worries...if they get made, great! If not...I'm not going to stress about it.

So what about you....are you in??

Weekend Sewing...

So, here it is Thursday already and I'm just now getting around to show you what I accomplished over the weekend. I had a mini retreat with a couple of other quilters. We sewed from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon! It was heaven.

The first project is this cute pumpkin runner/wallhanging. I bought this kit a year ago at the Indiana retreat and have been itching to make it. But I just never seemed to make the time! I got just a little of the button hole stitching started, though, so I still have some work to go.

Remember this old project?? A couple years ago this Quilter's Blessing BOM was all the rage on the blogs. I'm still plugging along on mine! I've had the blocks done for at least a year or so...and now I just need to add a couple more borders and it'll be done!

And another embroidery project...I assembled the first six blocks of my busy little elves! Here is a picture of the first two.

Here is all six blocks...they aren't sewn together yet though. I just love 'em!! I'm stitching block 7 out of 9...so I'm getting there!!

Whew....I accomplished a lot on my mini retreat, huh?? :)

Happy Quilting!