My 2 Vacations

I am a lucky girl. I went on two vacations this month. The first was a girlfriend trip. There were 5 of us in a gorgeous high-rise condo in Marco Island, Florida. The view included the Gulf of Mexico on one side and the waterways of Marco Island on the other. What's not to love? I was there from August 10th through the 14th. It was a wonderful time and a nice reminder of how much fun it is to be a girl.

Once I returned my husband and I immediately started packing for our motorcycle trip called the Legacy Run. It raises money for a college scholarship fund for children whose parent was killed in action post 9/11. Many veterans and civilians participate in this great event. The motorcycle ride started in Hutchinson, Kansas. Besides Hutchinson, the overnight stops were in Independence, Missouri. Spencer, Iowa, Austin, Minnesota, Onalaska, Wisconsin, then ending in Minneapolis. We needed and day and a half to get to Hutchinson so our first night was spent in Cameron, Missouri. Yes, I was 15 minutes away from Hamilton, Missouri and the Missouri Star Quilt Co but there was nothing I could do about it because we were with a large group and on a tight schedule. It was torture knowing I was that close. We had a group of 8 motorcycles with us on our route to  Hutchinson. The Legacy Run had 240 motorcycles with 45 passengers in all. It was quite an event. Besides the overnight stops we had rest stops in many cities where the entire town came out to greet us. It was amazing. We were gone from August 17th through August 24th. That was a long time to be gone and I was happy to get home even though I loved every minute of the trip.

Topeka, Kansas

Cameron, Missouri

Hutchinson, Kansas

Rochester, Minnesota

Onalaska, Wisconsin

Galesville, Wisconsin

I've been home a few days now and I am still exhausted. What a fun and exciting month I had!

Mary's Wreath Wall Hanging

I quilted this wall hanging for a client today. I free-motion quilted it once I loaded it on my frame. It sure was easier than using my sewing machine. I don't know how I got along without my new longarm machine.

Lincoln Quilt

I finished the binding on the Lincoln quilt. The pattern is from the book another Bite of Schnibbles by Carrie Nelson. I quilted this in July but it took me a little while to purchase some matching fabric for the binding. Summer is such a busy time.

This quilt is made from 10-inch squares making it an easy choice for a layer cake. I made the top at a quilt retreat I attended this spring and waited for my longarmer to arrive before quilting it.

Gracie and Annie Quilts

I quilted this little girl's quilt today using a pantograph called Daisy Doodle.

The red little girl fabric is called Gracie was a small piece that I really wanted to highlight. So I chose to make one large star that incorporated every single part of the fabric.

I also had 5 yards of the red dot so it worked well for the backing and binding. I like how it turned out and I think I will try this technique again when I have a good focus fabric.

I also had a piece of green little girl fabric called Annie. I chose to highlight this focus fabric in a simple square block because I had a little more of it than I had of Gracie. 

I used a pantograph called Carnival #2 to quilt it. I also chose a thread called Omni-V which is a variegated heavier thread than usual. It took a little fine-tuning to get the tension right which was a good lesson.

Tag-A-Long Quilt

The binding is on the tag-a-along quilt now so I can officially call this my first completed quilt on my longarm. I love how it turned out. The pattern is from the book Another Bite of Schnibbles.

When I ordered the longarm, I started stacking up all my quilt tops to finish when it arrived. Little did I know that I would end up with 7 quilt tops. So it's going to take me some time to get all caught up!

Cindy's Charity Quilt

I quilted my friend Cindy's quilt using a pantograph called Adrift. The quilt is for a charity event that she attends in early September so I needed to get it done as quickly as possible. I was happy to be able to do it before leaving for my vacation next week.

Baking with my Granddaughters

My daughter went on a girlfriends' camping trip this weekend so we had our granddaughters, Chloe and Avery with us from Friday through Monday. One of the things on Chloe's agenda was baking a 'cake of chocolate', as she called it. Chloe is in the background frosting her 'cake of chocolate'.

We couldn't bake a cake for Chloe without baking one for Avery too. Avery prefers vanilla to chocolate so she had to have some fluffy white frosting for her cake.

Avery likes to be silly so before spreading out the frosting I had to take a funny photo of her. She had to add sprinkles to her cake after she frosted it too and Chloe had to add mini-chocolate chips to decorate the top of her cake.

In and Out Quilt WIP

I quilted my In and Out quilt on my longarm today. I used a pantograph called Carnival #2 to quilt it. It's a large quilt but on the longarm, it doesn't take very much time to complete at all.