Beautiful quilts everyone. Those house blocks look like fun. If only I had the time. My goal this year is to continue finishing as many WIP's as I can or if I do make new quilts, to use mostly fabric from my stash. Probably most of the rest of this year will be watching my retreat building change from an ugly duckling into a swan. This is how it looks now. With a little (or maybe a lot) of imagination you can picture the dining room tables to the right of the door in the center and quilts hanging on the walls. I now know a little about how to patch concrete walls. The dark patch on the upper left corner was an opening a few days ago. They covered the opening with wood and poured concrete into it. The overhead doors in the front and back of the building have been removed and new walls poured on the floor to take their place. You can see the one in the front. There are still lots of windows to cut openings for and as you can see it still needs a roof.

Glad to see so many people are quilting. Lovely quilt Margo and Rita. I have been working on UFO's. Have finished some and hope to get pictures up soon. Still have over half of my Dear Jane quilt to hand quilt. Had to put it up for while, since hurting my back in January, it has been hard to handle it, since I am quilting it on a hoop. I have to figure out a set up so I do not hurt my back when I move it around. Getting ready for a family reunion next week. Looking forward to see everyone.

Margarita

I have been busy working on projects that I need to share. I am way, way behind on posting Mug Rugs. Just finsihed with summer house guest stuff and need to prepare to travel. Completed a project that was filled with skills i learn from TQS and want to blog about it. Why, just why do I give things away before I take all the photos I need for blogging. I need to get myself more organized. You'll be seeing more of me, I promise.

Wow, Margo and Rita! You both do such beautiful work!

LUV them all, Rita! Isn't it fun to make quilts for people who appreciate them!

All beautiful quilts Margo. Love the no angst idea. Each of your quilts is a gem. I love the one you made for your brother, but I love the more modern looking ones too. They are all so gorgeous and anybody would be happy to receive any one of them, lucky family.

I haven't done too much this year so far - hard to believe it's almost July already - the BOM keeps me busy with thinking up Christmas alternatives. I have made a few quilts though. I set myself a goal to make a quilt for each of my nieces and nephews for their 30 birthday and also a quilt for each of my siblings for their 60th birthday. I made this one for my niece using 2.5" squares and HSTs and the shoe-fly quilt was a baby quilt for her son.

(Sorry about the quality of this photo, I took it at night.



I made a quilt for the Quilt Alliance 'Inspired By' contest - there's a photo of it on my blog here on TQS and I made this lap sized quilt for a friend recovering from surgery. I think I posted a photo of this here before but can't remember so here it is -
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Quilting my WotRott quilt took up quite a bit of time too.
I have also made a few mug rugs which are always great fun to do. At the moment I am working on a quilt for my nephew which I have made out of shirts. I will post a photo when it's done. I also have to make something for my sister who will be 60 in September.

Margo, your quilts are beautiful and the newer ones have kind of taken on a modern look.

How delightful to hear what everyone is doing and has been busy with. I hope more people share. The nice thing about the mug rug exchange was people could make one or ten if they wanted, and no one was burdened with having to put it all together. Perhaps you can think of something equally as fun and unburdensome--small house quilts as small as a mug rug or large as a 15 inch block? I don't know.

It is good to hear what everyone has been doing. Margo--your quilts are beautiful. Rita--another exchange sounds wonderful!!! I love house blocks and if they were small enough to mail one in a standard envelope then the postage is not too outrageous! Here in Canada postage just went up AGAIN! It is $1.20 for a letter to the US and $2.50 overseas. I think that is a bit extreme especially when a letter we received at work took 3 weeks to come from a city 35 minutes away!!!!

We just finished out school year yesterday so the last little while I haven't done any sewing except the Friday Sew-along I am doing with Heartspun Quilts. Summer is my sewing time and I am looking forward to getting back to quilting.

Wow wow wow Margo I love your quilts. The hand dyed strips are amazing I keep looking to work out the design it's gorgeous

BJ yours is gobsmackingly good as well, I love the use of paint and it's richness wow. No wonder you're quiet you've had your head down working.

Talk again soon it's night here. Sweet dreams all xx

Wow Margo your sewing machine must be red hot. Beautiful quilts...the red and white one is gorgeous.
Glad you have your mojo back.
Anne

My "little" brother specifically requested a quilt that is long enough for him to flip under his legs and feet. I hope this is long enough!



This is an older TQS BOM that I'm ready to part with. It will go to a sister-in-law who had a car accident last year and is still recovering her injuries.



And finally, this actually was a top that I pieced in 1994. I got it quilted and entered into the special exhibit called "Ruby Jubilee" in Houston this fall.
I still don't know if it's been accepted into the show, but if it is, it will travel with IQF for the next 2 years!

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So....that's what I've been up to. What about you???? Photos please!!

Be careful what you ask for! Photos? Apparently I have been in a mood to work with solids recently, and I would consider all of these to be "quickie" quilts that require little pinning and little angst about perfection!

I have made quilts for all of my nieces and nephews when they graduated high school, and now I'm on to the next generation!
This is for a great-niece who graduated last week. These fabrics are gradated hand dyed fabrics. (Sorry I can't remember the manufacturer.)



This is for a 6-year-old great-niece who has outgrown the last one I made for her. These are fabrics that I hand-dyed myself about 10 years ago.



And this is for the newest member of our family who was just born last month. His mother sent paint chips for color reference, and they were a dark midnight blue and deep burgundy!

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I've been enjoying the Shipshewana Quilt Festival this weekend! Lots of beautiful quilts. Didn't get to hear any speakers or attend the Schoolhouse this year. But I met up with a quilty friend from Illinois, DH & I came from Michigan Friday & are camping. Spent a little money at the local shops - fabric & foods. LOL

I have been coming here more lately because my longtime online forum seems to have completely gone to facebook. I thought it didn't seem real busy here, so if you regulars think so too, that explains it.