One Fine Day.....

Let me tell you....one fine day is nothing short of a miracle around here so that makes it a good enough reason to take a photo.    An even better reason is...... being on retreat with the gang when the beautiful day dawned.

The girls and I were down on the Mull of Galloway for a few days of R & R (and a lot of quilting fun and frolics) when the Gods decided to treat us to one sunny day.   What a change from the horizontal rain and gale force winds we've become accustomed to over the last three months.   What a tonic!

When we arrived at the cottage Chris and Kitty didn't waste a second in getting down to business in the best sewing room in the world.

Sally was deep in thought for ages.... cogitating on the orientation of her Pin Wheels.

Here's the quilt that both Sally and I were working on.   I prepped my half square triangles before I left home in the hope that it'd give me a fighting chance of keeping up with Speedy Sal (when she stops thinking that gal is fast).

 
Actually there is a bit of a story behind these half squares.   Ages ago I pieced a lot of 8" pinwheel blocks... joined them all together then decided I didn't like them.  So.... I cut the whole project apart and downsized the pinwheels to 6" blocks.  Guess what... I didn't like those either (now can you see why I drive the girls crazy) so I sliced and diced until they were half square triangles again.  Albeit smaller still.... at this point they measured 2 3/4".    But... I was happy so what's the problem!  

Actually it's quite a stealthy way of getting rid of fabric....trimming it away... cool eh!   Maybe not quite what I had in mind when I decided to reduce my stash but hey... if it works don't knock it.

Here's my workstation and my pile of now 'scrappy' pinwheels taking shape.

No prizes for guessing what Chris is making.   Same blocks... different quilt.

Proof if ever there was that we all share one brain cell.....  except for Kitty who just had to be the odd one out.....

she'd decided to bring her Tailfeathers quilt to work on.     Oh my.... I desperately want to get mine started now.  It's so gorgeous.

We sewed.... we laughed. We ate... we laughed.  We drank wine... we laughed even more.   Good times.

The sunny day came and went.  Then it snowed.....

but only on them thar hills!

The mail got through to the farm.....

and all was well with the world.  

We sewed on until... finally..... Chris produced this gorgeous baby quilt.....

the Prairie Points are just so cute.....

Kitty got all her blocks finished and joined together.....

She did make most of the log cabin border too.  Just ran out of time to attach it.    Did I mention I love this quilt.

Sally made all of her pinwheels and almost completed the sashing too....

she was catching up on me way too quickly but I did manage to stay one step ahead of her.....

Nice to see the same quilt in two different colour ways.  The pinwheel blocks finished at 4 1/2" by the way!

The End...... (of the retreat)

You might have noticed that I've been missing for a good while.   2014 started out pretty crappy here.  After loosing Beau I came down with a nasty chest infection.  Dr. thought I might have caught it from Baggy and gave me some even nastier antibiotics and (after telling me my lungs sounded like a set of Bagpipes) an inhaler!  It really knocked me off my game I can tell you.   My recliner and I were inseparable for weeks.  Still... there is good news.   I don't have M.E.   Yippee!!

Turns out my Thyroid gland is on the fritz.... I'm now officially 100% Hypothyroid!  Well done me!    I've got the right meds now and I can feel my inner engine revving up again.  Oh joy!   I actually vacuumed all the cobwebs off the ceilings today...  lot of spiders homeless tonight... shame.   I never thought I'd say it's great to be doing housework again.

Even better to be interested in sewing again..... I hadn't picked up a needle since I finished my Christmas swap gifts... hence I didn't have anything much to write about till going on retreat got me playing with fabric again.

OK..... I  really have to go.   It's after midnight but I just can't go to bed without watching the next episode of The Walking Dead.........   never expected to be addicted to Zombie TV.

Hope you are having a great time doing what makes you happy....

See ya soon
Hugs
Josie