Sunday Stash and the QBIR - PinkDoxies Style

Oh what a week!

And in reality, it started on Wednesday, October 05, 2016 when I arrived home from work. Tish was busy getting stuff together for a trip.  A trip that....

I agreed to take, which would put me at what was to become known as the Quilt Bloggers International Retreat.  The main reason I agreed to go was that Tish was not going to make the long drive herself, and I knew it was something she really wanted to do.  Further, she often sacrifices for the family and in reality...she deserved to be able to go.  So, she asked me...."Are you looking forward to going?"  I responded with "No." I am never one for long trips. I don't like traffic, and I am very reserved on who I agree to share my time with.  Meeting new people is not a major issue, however being in a group of new people...that is a different story.

Julie at Pink Doxies welcomed us into her "home", or should I say quilt studio, to spend a few days at a retreat.  Julie was a very gracious host who was very welcoming, and more than happy to share her expertise.  She had no problem with showing us her success and a few of her "failures" which are really just bumps in the road (learning experiences).  Not only did she welcome us in, but after getting everyone set up in her studio, she shared with me, and another participant (Terry), her expertise on fabric painting.  This is where I failed.  I made several different prints, but failed to take pictures of them.  It was a great experience and I learned alot about the use of paints and how they affix themselves to the fabric.  I learned that the prints will last and that you have to "start with the end in mind".  Julie also made me understand that there is a time to say "when" when you have exhausted your creativity.  Julie was wonderful to share her time with me, when in reality, she had other people that were just as deserving of her time.  Thanks Julie!!!

This is the next to last picture, but these are the people we were with. Top to Bottom and Left to Right. Top Row: Jennifer and Julie,  Second Row: Terry and Beth, Third Row: Me, Tish, and Sandra.

Prior to the retreat, I had met Beth with Cooking Up Quilts in person.  She is a wonderful person and has great designs. Her work can be seen at Bolt and Quarters.  Sandra at MMMQuilts,  I have met via video chat, and she is a phenomenal quilter. Her recent post depicts the level of expertise she has. Not only that, but she too is a generous person.  I can't say enough...her husband is a phenomenal person and a great personality.

Mine and Julie's sewing space in the far corner

These are some of the pics from the retreat.
The last pic here is of Sandra working on a quilt layout of block we all contributed.

Here are my blocks

Next came shopping....shopping till we dropped.

Shopping was successful. We hit many shops in various places including one at the end of a road.  It was a small personal shop that was basically in a garage where we found of all things, a wooden nickle from WV.  The woman was so fabulous and she had all kinds of feed sack pieces that were cheap...really too cheap in my opinion. She knew all the stories of almost everything that was in the store. I even picked up a traditional slate turkey call for $5.00.  That is a steal.  We paid it forward there, and I will likely do  a separate post on all the shops we visited.  This brings us to the last day which was a short but fun work day, which had me pressing and piecing HST blocks.  If you recall, I won a bunch of Fat Quarters at the local guild meeting, and promised I would make something of the fabric.  So, I pressed on (pun intended) and created all my HST blocks and was able to borrow Beth's BlocLoc tool. It worked well, but I need practice to work with it well.  I finished the chassis as I call it...flimsy to the rest of the quilt wold.  Once I finish the "quilt", which is a table runner, I will post a blog on this also.

So Saturday's fast work processes brought the QBIR to a close, and I have to admit I had alot of fun, I learned ALOT!!! And I met some wonderful people. I hope to attend another should it occur again.

Though I know I will talk to most of you again....I will miss you! You have changed my life, and I feel it is for the better!

Fast forward to yesterday evening and today. We arrived home and Caroline was more than happy to greet us and our wares!

She checked them all out and she allowed me to pet her a little more than usual.  Though I had a good time...it was nice to be home with ALL the children, my daughter and the furry children too.

This is my stash....and not all of it...saving some for another Sunday Stash Post too.  However this is the large portion of what I got...there are 3 pieces I picked up today at walmart and one that I found in a stash at home (two small FQ in front and the right two reds)...the taupe on the far right has to go, as it is a polyester blend so it will be replaced with cotton of the same color.  This is the stash that will be my sister's quilt which will based on the pattern "Add it Up".... that is also for another post.

This is a bit of gift/stash that I received for just being at the retreat.  Thanks so much for the homemade gifts!!!

Last but not least....

The work results!  Again another post to come with more pics!

The QBIR was a success and I hope they have it again.  I would go back if invited.

Tonight I am linking up with Mollie Sparkles Sunday Stash

Sunday and No Real Stash to Speak Of.

Here we are at the end of another week and today I really don't have much to talk about. And I don't really have a stash.

First and foremost my winner of the Cheryl Brickey design is.....drumroll....cymbal crash...KaHolly!
Tish will be emailing you your pattern! Congratulations! And to all those that commented thank you so much for stopping by.

So, what is up?  Not much.  Tish and I fought my Yvonne's Snowflake Shimmer quilt onto batting with the backing. That was the first time we had basted something that large.  Making a long story short, we had tried to get her's done almost a month ago and realized we had got batting that was cut to short.  So, she had to buy more.  Today "we" decided to do mine.  Tish felt that she wanted to get mine done so that I had a chance of winning the associated giveaway.  I told her she has much more "luck" when it comes to winning. She insisted, and so we started a process that ended up with us arguing to a small degree. I had a plan, she got some items to help with the plan that ended up not working out.....The problem-  she is vertically challenged and is not "long enough" in the arms and upper body to complete the process.  We were working on the largest flat surface we have which is our kitchen floor.  Unfortunately, it is longer than it is wide and we could only work on a 24" section at a time. Rolling, spray basting, and flattening. Needless to say, it was all but a bust.  It is sandwiched, but looks bad and the batting, we had cut, had some major flaws....Urgh!!!! She documented the process with some pictures.  It was sound logic and process, just didn't work out for us.

So, she has previously watched a video that works off centering the  sandwich set up on a table. We will have to clear our sewing area, which is the only table space we have, and make an effort to accomplish this.  I don't know that either of us will be ready in time to be in the final blog posting/giveaway.

** Warning- Small Rant**  I am thoroughly burnt out with politics and the direction this country is going.... I had to get it off my chest. I am at an absolute loss when it comes to the next presidential election.  Will be so glad when it is over. More-so, I lament for the future generations regardless of what transpires.  I fell for the most part we have failed our children.  Instead of media, internet and television, we should have been teaching them things like Fabric Dying, Quilting, Hunting, Gardening, Construction....things that will make them self reliant and a help to others, instead of people in need of "safe spaces" and only concerned with WIIFM...or what's in it for me.  END RANT

Quilting Retreat 1.0-

We will be attending a retreat of sorts this weekend-ish.  Julie at PinkDoxies is hosting this...somewhere in Ohio... I can't help but think this (Ohio) is where I am meant to be in life as a whole. Mom is in Ohio and many people I know or were school friends with are there. Anywho, we are headed there for a "quilty" weekend...and I am guessing is somewhere "near" Amish country. It is my understanding that we will be making a day trip of that at some point... I think. Ok, so, really I don't know much of anything about what is getting ready to transpire for me...other than I know Tish doesn't drive so I will be at a minimum, a chauffeur.  I do know that there may be some fabric dying in the process, which does make me happy.  I do hope I can get some RFD fabric before going.  It is my understanding we have a local store that has some.  I told Tish to ask Julie what we will be doing, and  to get me enough to do what she is thinking would be a good process.  This really is the one thing that I am looking forward to.  I am not much for driving long distances anymore...and am in reality, to young to be feeling this way.  But, for those that like Star Wars out there....I would make an excellent Jedi.  Hermiting suits me well.  Being in the law enforcement line of work it really makes you appreciate privacy.  A common saying in WV for law enforcement is that you aren't prejudice...you hate all people equally.  It is terrible to feel this way, but you really do get an opportunity to see some of the worst society has to offer. You also get to see the results of people (or the results there of) doing abhorrent things to themselves and others.  Needless to say, without knowing what to expect, i just hope for some relaxation.  I plan to take Looking Glass 2.0 with me to work on and I do have fabrics from the quilt guild meeting that I believe I also posted on before.

I'll take these with me too.  I have a pattern picked out and will put some green or maybe a light brown/beige as background and will make a Thanksgiving style/colored table runner that I will likely give away.

So those.....are my "Sunday Stash" I know I have used the LG 2.0 before, and I was thinking I posted the stuff won at the quilt guild, but maybe not.  Regardless, they are posted now. 

A small new piece about me....I love Thanksgiving.  I hate hearing Turkey Day and I despise the fact that football is so integrated with the season. It makes me sick that Thanksgiving is basically skipped once Halloween is over, and we go straight to Christmas.  I refuse to put anything Christmas up or out until after Thanksgiving has come and went.  My sister was fortunate and blessed enough to received our Grandma Stemple's dinning room set which happens to be Walnut I believe.  It is super heavy and beautiful. We had started a tradition of going to see my sister and spending Thanksgiving with her about 3 years ago in North Carolina...It truly is something I look forward to.  We lost my dad in 1994 and then my grandma in 1996, so those family times with my sister are even more important to me than ever.  I am not sure that all things are going to align to allow us to go this year.....Finger's Crossed.  Another thing about this time of year is hunting.  It is something "Stemples" always did.  However, after loosing dad it just lost its appeal to me and this year Jenny said she really doesn't want to go anymore, so for me hunting is more of a necessity for food than it is for the sport or the family time.  I may go....but right now, my heart is not in it.

So, to tie this long post up one more shot of a couple blocks I made for the trip.  I, unfortunately, do not know may of the people with the trip we are about to take.  I do know that we made the special blocks for a special project.  Tish told me everyone was making a block and she said I could to.  She said one is a green maple leaf and the other a blue star...I think that is what it is referred to.  I actually had some blue fabric I had pulled to do a green and brown small set of blocks from several months ago...so technically it was my stash...pulled from Tish's stash and I had it stashed away on a table chair that no one ever uses.  My corner don't match exactly right. I didn't have my brain fully engaged when I was squaring up my HST and that was a large portion of the problem. The leaf is where HST issue came in.  The blue star I actually sewed 2 blocks together backwards, so in true Davethequiltengineer fashion, I unceremoniously ripped out the seams ( as I do in all projects) and commenced to correcting the mistake.

I will see some of you all soon enough. To everyone else, happy quilting. And again, to KaHolly congrats, and to Cheryl thanks for allowing me to do the giveaway, thanks for the great patterns, and please keep the designs coming.

Cheryl Brickey (Ferris Bueller) You're My Hero.

The title reference is for those that may have not seen the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off and maybe a few that are young enough to not even know what it is.....cough cough.

Getting older is a natural progression of life, but remembering things from my teen years helps keep the youth in me.

And with age comes wisdom...and a little bit of insanity I suppose, thinking that every time you see fabric you like...thinking that would make a pretty quilt...that you can easily justify the expense.

So it goes....I found some fabric that I liked once upon a time and mentioned it to Tish  and she took note.  It was a set of fabrics that I felt screamed...Civil War. Although they really didn't, that was the way that my mind interpreted it.

Enter this selection by Marcus Fabrics

Some of these colors were not in my bag :(

Not being content with all of the colors, I had I added these to the group.  Being the usual me and not sticking to the pattern completely with the lay out...These are in-fact Civil War repros.. I obtained these at the good old local in Morgantown, WV. Country Roads Quilt Shop

Put it together and what have you got...Bippity Boppty Boo....

Oh sorry...cart before the horse.  So, I got my fabrics....now what to do with them??? I like the dark/dirty look of the civil war colors.  However, when you start looking at Civil War Quilts you get one of two things...Either small wall hanging and single blocks or super large quilts.  I didn't want to commit to a large quilt yet....but I didn't want to do something "modern" with the fabrics. It just didn't make sense.  So I thought...what is something that could translate....

A small back story...I see "plus" quilts everywhere...and I ask Tish "what's up with all the pluses?" She said it was kinda the "in" thing and I thought...yeah I am not going to do the "in" or popular thing....little did I know.

In walks Cheryl Brickey of Meadow Mist Designs....back into my life through the happen-stance of looking at a quilting magazine...her first published pattern Check Plus

Here was her first entry into my life....

So, I jumped in....hook line a sinker, committed to make a non-civil war...Civil War-esque quilt.

CUTS

PIECING

 Daddy's little helper

 If it fits I sits (not just for boxes)

LAYOUT (and there were alot of replacing processes)

Once I settled on a final lay out I began creating rows....this is not for the faint of heart and I am glad that I had another quilt or two under my belt.  This is by far not a hard pattern to put together, but a little experience helped.  This is certainly a beginner friendly quilt. However, I don't recommend going crazy with the colors like I did.

I didn't want to leave the quilt just pluses. I felt mine needed a border..especially with the fact I was going for that Civil War(ish) look. So back to the local shop to get border fabrics and a binding color.

Border colors... The way it is actually done...and you will see Darkest closest to the top, then the lighter brown and the bottom color which kinda looks brown is actually a Dijon mustard yellow.

and Viola!!!!

Artsy Fartsy ^

I feel like it could have turned out better and I have one corner (all mitered) that turned out like poopy....I had every intent of giving this one away, but the person I was going to give it to was not enamored by it so I guess I will keep it.  I have a few ideas for quilting this one and I CAN NOT wait to get the binding on it. I think the binding will tie it all together.

Needless to say, when it is completed I will do a follow up short blog on it.  I love the pattern and may do another one of this with other colors.  Cheryl has a real knack for designing. Though I have not done alot of her patterns. I love the simplicity of the design and the complexity of the look! Cheryl has been kind enough to allow me to do a giveaway of her pattern.  She offered to allow me to do a giveaway for this pattern which is now available in multiple sizes and another pattern she recently released.  I think I will take her up on the check plus, however, I will decline on the second one as I want to see Cheryl excel and make some money from her designs.  PLEASE, go over and visit Cheryl. Pick a design...they are available through Craftsy too....and support her with a "financial gift" in which you will in-turn receive the gift of a wonderful pattern....Reap what you sow, Karma, Give and take....etc.

Like Tish...here is how to win!

1)  Leave a comment below... any comment.  Maybe tell me if you've made one of Cheryl's patterns   before or participated in one of her QAL's.

2)  Leave a comment letting me know you visited Meadow Mist Designs and left Cheryl a comment to celebrate Check Plus's release.

3)  Leave a comment if you are a follower of DavetheQuiltEngineer and let me know how you enjoy following me.

4)  If you are a no reply blogger please make sure you also leave your email address to that I can contact you to let you know you have won.  I do my very best to respond to every comment, so if you do not hear back from me, that is probably why...I can't contact you :(

On Sunday, I  along with Tish will pick one winner.  The winner will recieve a PDF copy of Cheryl's Check Plus.

This is the giveaway pattern!

 This is another pattern available from Cheryl

 Thanks for stopping by and please support my friend Cheryl in her quilting escapades!

Thanks again to Cheryl for doing what she does...and it seems to be what she does best :)

Today I am linking up with Main Crush Monday

Sunday Stash and Keytah 2.0

Short and Sweet

And as I write this, I get blamed for a non-basted project due to holding Keytah 2.0 all weekend.

So, this past week I went to my wife's (and I guess it is mine now)  Quilt Guild.  Tish and I presented our dyed fabric, our Meadow Mist (up-to-date) pieces and I presented my mom's finished quilt.
Basically an uneventful process for the most part.  I found out (and feel that I already kind of knew it) that, at best, my MMDesign quilt along is going to be processed with cotton/poly blend...blah!!! No wonder that pretty fabric was not only a cheaper price point, but so dag-gone soft. I will make it through it, but am not looking forward to the rest of the process. We got to look through a small amount of fabric that was given to the guild. Someone was (sadly) moving to a smaller place and could not take their stash, so they donated it to our guild.  I feel bad for that person, but we will put it to good use making quilts for those less fortunate.

Anyways, at the guild, they usually do a fabric give-away. They pick a color scheme (next month is Halloween blacks, orange, and purples).  This one was fall colors. Everyone that brings a fat quarter is assigned a number, and Tish uses her random number generator and picks a number of winner....THAAAT'S MEEEEE!

Please ignore the stained ironing board.

The one agreement you must make is that you make something with the fabrics won and bring it in and show the guild what you have made.  I am going to look for some green that matches the leaf fabric as well as some evergreen colors and make a table runner that will given to my mother-in-law.  I have a couple ideas but then again I may just add-lib it and see what I come up with. May also try and find a deep red to throw in there too.

Now, on to bigger things. As I said prior, my wife blamed me for spending to much time doing nothing.  We ended up with a second cat (actually a third), but this one is from the litter of Keytah 1.0 which we found a home for. This one was on its own for almost and entire month longer.  Although it looked healthier, it is still skin and bone. It was much harder to catch, but actually became more friendly and quite a bit faster than keytah 1.0.  I will be glad when it gets a clean bill of health and can be released into general population with the other animals.  We wormed it and the poor little thing did in fact have worms.  We are in debate, as it is small and much more fuzzy, but Tish thinks it is a male.  I am not convinced. As she said apparently we are bad with biology/science 1.0.

So, without further ado....

Ignore the double chin

If male...probably name him Junior, but not 100% on it....female...no clue.

Needless to say, I am a little more excited over Keytah 2.0 than the stash, but none the less it was a decent week.  Aside from the truckload of driving that I had to do...and there is more of that to come.

No quilt work this weekend. Hope to finish up my Plus quilt  chassis/top/flimsy this coming weekend.

Tonight I am linking up with Molli Sparkles Sunday Stash.

Snowflake Shimmer...AKA Snowflake Blizzard Blindness

Hurry up and wait.  Word synonymous with US Government and the US Military.

I had the fabric idea as soon as Tish and I decided to do a dual quilt.  If we were smart we would not have posted any pictures and left it for the people to decide who pieced which quilt.

Yvonne gave us this free pattern and we pushed forward with choosing fabrics. Tish had a little bit harder time deciding on her fabric.  The link I have posted is the finishing part of the snowflake shimmer QAL.  No offense to Yvonne, but I was not anywhere near sold on the dark background.  Tish decided she was going to stay with the original intent of the design, but I wanted something different and in the end, something different I indeed had.

So this was my palette.

Little did I know I had my work cut out for me.  So the cutting instructions came.

  Over all, the color cutting process was not to bad.... the background on the other hand was quite difficult.  Having a standard size ironing board and a 3 foot cutting board made for a tough process.  Ironing went slow.  With the white on white print it was not only hard to iron, but the stiffness of the fabric led to reoccurring wrinkles.  Once I was done with my cutting I felt a sense of relief.  However, work got very demanding...busy...and I had some "occurrences" happen during this time frame that not only burned me out mentally, but also exhausted me physically.

Piecing....my first attempt at square in a square...it was not easy Tish helped with explaining a folding a process and how to nest them together to get good points though it was time consuming and I had to rip a few, due to my lack of attention...overall they turned out well

This last picture has a real Nautical Flag feel!

So then I had to sew rows. this was tough.  Why, you may ask?  Because Tish was sewing at the same time and we have an approximately 6 foot dinner table with two sewing machines on it. Two machines running near high speed....vibration....it was like a small earthquake. Tish wasn't stopping her process and neither was I.  The dueling Husqis were in full swing...cue the dueling banjos song and see us standing waiting in between on each other to iron....sigh.  It really is here space...she was here first...Squatters rights and all.

Rows!!!! and there was a small snag on the last row I pieced the red and blue backwards...Tish caught the simple fix of ripping at red (which is now where the blue is) and flip flopping them!  You can see a bone to the right there is a vent there. I had to shut the AC off to get a good picture. This was where the day had to end, though I was excited to get this baby together.  A completed "chassis" was in my sights.

Friday eve....Tish allowed me to stay home from the HS football game to get this one together.  It was LATE when I got it together and I had just a glimpse of sunlight to grab a couple pics with my cellphone....

I intentionally took the angle picture to capture the descending sun into the background.  I have another shot but I like the exact placement.  I really hope when I get this thing sandwiched you don't see the seems....Sigh
,
So, Saturday we had a fabric dying class.  I am going to do a separate post which will actually get posted prior to this one, but getting the fabric done....which was a major process, we took the fresh fabs and this flimsy....(uhm yuck, I mean chassis) outside for some pictures...Flimsy just doesn't taste good rolling off my tongue.

Let there be light!!!

This was taken in the day time, though it still looks dark.

From my iphone

Tish took these.

You can almost see the white on white stars in this last one.

Tish's for comparison again...she took this one. Two totally different reads on the same pattern.

So, why did I call it Snowflake Blizzard Blindness???
The white background can represent a blizzard or full blanket of snow.  If you have ever been out in the snow in a total white-out/blizzard condition...or you have been out in the bright sunlight in snow, the amount of snow causes a big disparity on Rod/Cone function of the eye and many things will appear dark or shadowy because your sight has been "blown out" by all the white...it is referred to as snow blindness. From a distance my "flake" appears dark or shadowy......

I also toyed with the name Firework Shimmer for the patriotic colors.  Needless to say, mine has turned out more different, than anyone else. I do march to the beat of my own drum.  I am not sure how I am going to quilt it....it feels huge!!!!! I was thinking simple meandering in the white to keep it soft and supple.  Not sure about the other.

Thanks for stopping by...Hope you didn't go snow blind.

Also, I forgot to put in my blog yesterday...Get kids involved!!! I think they would love fabric dying and any that are detail and goal oriented would love quilting...Kids need to be producing something with their time....not so much wasting it online!

Today I am linking up with Beth at Main Crush Monday