Monday night was Brandon Quilters annual Make It, Bake It, Sew It, Grew It Auction.  It’s a chance to clear out the never or gently used items from our space and raise funds for the guild.  I was assisting with the auction, so someone else was tracking my purchases. I was surprised at what I got for $30. I really thought I spent more, but then again, I didn’t get win everything I bid on.

First up is this selection of books.  the New York Beauty Diversified is by Linda Hahn. She will be teaching in the area in January 2027.  Next year one of the groups I’m in is considering a programs on quilts for guys and fractured quilts.

I have one of the Twister Rulers, but I can’t remember which one.  I might even have the Quilt on a Chair pattern.  I know I bought a chair a while back to do this to.

Someone brought in these Cathedral Window bases.  There are 4  bed runners.  I’ll get to them eventually.

There are a number of gardeners in the guild.  I brought home this aloe vera.  I wonder if I can keep it alive longer than the last one I brought home.

I won this quart of sweet pickles and 6 little jars.

I sent a picture of the knitting books to my niece and she said she would like the Cast On Bind Off book.  I grabbed the sock books and the Elizabeth Zimmermann book on principle.

The treasurer reported we made $1520.

This past weekend, my SIL and I went down to the New Orleans’ area.  She to go her grand daughter’s volleyball tournament and me to the Gulf States Quilt Association Quarterly meeting. New Orleans is decked out for Halloween these first few pictures are from just one house near by the school my great niece attends.

Here are a few more pictures from the area.

Lots of skeletons and spiders.

The guest speaker on Saturday was Annette Ornelas of Southwind Designs. Friday she taught Twirling Leaves.  These are the 3 blocks I made in class. They are just pinned together so they would be easy to show at the meeting the next day.

The class finished up early enough that I was able to see one game of the tournament.  They won Friday night.

I attended the last GSQA meeting via Zoom and thought I heard my name called.  I made a string of flying geese earlier this year and it was included in the Opportunity quilt. If your block was included, you were given this butterfly pin.

Annette’s quilts were beautiful, and the technique is easy, so I bought a few patterns.  I love the quilt on cover of the book. I’m a sucker for Poinsettias and I think the dragonfly will be fun to make.

Weekend before last I realized that I was going to need more batting before my sister visits my longarm.  Timing on this realization was spot on. As Hunter’s Quilt Mart’s annual Fabricpalooza was this past weekend.  One day of shopping, fabulous prices on batting, wide backs, and pre-cuts, and a few other things and 10% off on top of that if you have this years t-shirt.  I ordered the t-shirt not knowing if I was going to pick it up or if my sister was going to pick it up. After all, this quilt shop is 612 miles away! Ruby offered to go with me to help drive and I had 4 quilts which needed to get to Kansas City, so we took off at Noon Friday afternoon. We got to our hotel just after midnight. Needless to say, we were not one of the 1st 100 people through the doors Saturday morning.

We did however each win a door prize at the end of the day.

Some were concerned the batting would not fit in the car.  We took Ruby’s car since there was no way to get a king batt and a passenger in my Cube.  There was no issue with Ruby’s car and we could easily see out the back.

It might however have been a cheaper trip if I had just sent my sister to the store and I drove down later.  Starting in the back, the red, gold, and green will be a Square in a Square Christmas quilt when combined with the Christmas fabrics I already own. The next 3 purple and pink fabric I plan to use in a 5 yard quilt — I will need 2 more fabrics. I’m sure I can find something in my stash. The pink on top is a floral with a bit of orange. It’s very pretty and we bought what was left on the bolt (less than 5 yards). The final piece in that stack is Kona Snow.

The next pile is 8 FQ (they were $2.50/each) and 2 or 3 yards each of a blue and cream from the same line. I plan to make a Crazy 8’s quilt with it.  The bottle is Magic Crafting Spray.  I think I like it better than Best Press. I also picked up 3 spools of thread – 2 to replenish and a new color – Storm.

Backings are next.  The green will go on my Garden Party and the blue on my Jamestown Landing when I finish them. The teal is just a pretty piece so I took the rest of the bolt – a little over 2 yards. The next pile Ruby and I are splitting.

On to the front.  A “30’s” layer cake to go into my 30’s bucket.  I’m still working on my Silvia’s Bridal Sampler and this will give me more variety.  A charm pack of neutrals for my Star-a-Day that I need to finish.  The 5 yard quilt book.  The pink sloth fabric I bought for a friend.  A couple more 30’s FQs, my door prize — 2 one yard cuts of batik fabric plus a FQ of state birds. For notions I purchased a rotary cutter which I’m told is fantastic, a 1-1/2″ square ruler and some Karen Kay Buckley scissors.

It was a long day and I still had 2 more hours of driving to do before we could sleep. We had dinner with my friend Sheryl and visited a while, then headed to my brother’s to spend the night.  He and I stayed up until 1AM.  Sunday morning, I gathered eggs to bring home and we started the trip back, getting in just after 10 PM.

A long and expensive weekend, but we had fun.  Now I have to figure out how much fabric I bought!

The last few days have been productive.

• Finish customer quilt which is on the frame – Done
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• Borders and quilt Cascade – Borders done, I’ll see about quilting it this weekend.
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• Finish and quilt Monterrey Medallions – Kitted the floating Stars, and made one.
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• Quilt Ruby’s Vintage Christmas Sampler – done. She took it home Thursday night.

I had been using my Green 9-patches as my leader and enders, but the last one is under the needle, which means I’m halfway through the Rainbow Charm Swap squares. I’ve paired the pink squares and will start making those.   This weekend, in addition to doing laundry, I need to start packing for the quilt retreat. I’ll take whatever I’ve not done on Monterrey Medallions, the zipper bags (I’m not sure how many I have kitted), Mini Bow Tucks, Kandy Korn Kitty, Riviana and the RWB Napkins I started back in July.

There are still 5 projects on my Brandon Quilters UFO list: The Auction Top, which needs quilting ripped out of before I can start the quilting again; Music Jelly Roll, which I think needs ‘something’, I’m just not sure what before it can be quilted; QBHD Color Theory which I’m using the Swap squares for; and Riviana. At least all the HST are made, but I still need to cut most of the background squares. Bottom line, I’m not sure I’m going to get them all done by December 6th, but I’m going to give it my best shot.

I finished the top. Now its time to quilt it – and I’ll start another Mini Bow Tuck Bag. I need to finish both no later than Thursday night so I can deliver them on Friday.

2024 was a very busy year for me. So much, I didn’t do any posts!   I was still reeling from the company layoff in October 2023, I was President of Brandon Quilters and Secretary of Quilters by Hearts Desire, renovations continued on my house, I visited Scotland for 12 days, prepared and presented 2 different presentations a the quilt guilds, self-published a table runner pattern, taught a quilt class, visited family in Kansas City for my nephew’s 21st birthday, started ball room dancing, and drove a 26-foot UHaul to Nashville, learned to make quilted sneakers and reorganized my extensive fabric collection. There was some quilting done, but most of it was crammed into the last half of the year.  I need to go back through all of my photos to figure out what projects I started and finished as I didn’t even keep up with my quilting spreadsheet.

My brother called me towards the end of December or early January last year and said he was going to come down and put in my shower in February.   It’s tough to get a good picture of the shower because of the small space.  We celebrated his birthday while he was here and he did a few odd jobs around the house as well.

Once the shower was done, the contractors came in, fixed the bedroom ceiling, painted, put in the new flooring.  My brother will be back in February to install the new vanity in my bathroom.

I think the contractors finished on Friday and the following Tuesday I was off to Scotland for 2 weeks.

When I got back I started ballroom dancing.

I mentioned I visited Kansas City for my nephew’s 21st birthday.  A baseball game and quilt shop hopping also took place.

I self published the pattern for my Double 4-patch table runner and taught it at the local quilt shop.

I gave a presentation on quilts from Orphan Blocks.

and another on different ways to set blocks.

I learned how to make quilted sneakers.

Drove a 26-foot UHaul to Nashville.

and reorganized my fabric.

2025 looks to be just as busy. I’m still President of Brandon Quilters and Secretary of Quilters by Hearts Desire, I’m teaching the sneaker class at my LQS, I’m going to AQS Branson. There’s a trip to Kansas City & Minnesota planned – 2 quilt shows, speaking at Candlelight Quilters, ballroom dancing 3 or 4 times a month, a quilt retreat, attending the regional quilt guild meetings and monthly Bunco. We can’t forget the on going renovations. This year it’s the kitchen!

I have a plan to spread my quilting out throughout the year.  More on that later.