My Second Retreat Project and... Squirrel!

Hi Everyone,

(By now I hope that everyone gets that "Squirrel!" reference.  It comes from the movie Up and came about when the dog, Dug, would be talking away about something and suddenly his attention would shift to thinking he saw a squirrel.  It is the classic "I got distracted" line.)

Anyway, I'll get to the squirrel later--first I want to share my second project from retreat.  A couple weeks ago, I got an email from a quilting friend with a link to one of the Missouri Star Quilt Shop Tutorials on Youtube.  Have you ever watched any of these or tried any?  I've watched many, but haven't tried one until I saw this one.

Oh my goodness, but these blocks looked like fun.  AND THEY ARE!  As it was, I had marked a Jo Morton quilt from her Banner Day book that I wanted to make, and it contained churn dash blocks, so I decided to make it, but use these pinwheel churn dash blocks instead.  I made 4 HSTs that I trimmed to 3.25" so that when I sewed them into a pinwheel block, the resulting block measured exactly 6 inches.  I cut them into 2" segments and when I finished, the blocks finished at 4.5"

The blocks are so cute and so much fun to make!

The next step was to set them on point.

And then border the completed top.  (And make sure to photograph my toes, too.  Oh--that reminds me of a great hint for retreats--take your slippers!)

Here is a closeup of the border fabrics.  I have a pretty extensive Patriotic fabric collection (I know--that surprises you!) but some of them are tricky to use because of the color or pattern.  I've had both the flag stripe and the eagle fabrics for quite a while but they never seem to fit in any other project.  I began this project with them to finally get a chance to play with them.  

I have plans to revisit those churn dash pinwheel blocks, though.  They are addictive.

Squirrel!

Yesterday, out of the blue, I clicked on the Temecula Quilt Co's blogpost and promptly fell in love!  I was smitten.  They had a free pattern for the most wonderful Valentine Quilt.  Before I knew it, I was making the cutest little hearts ever.  Does that ever happen to you?  You have absolutely no idea you want to make a quilt and then you see a pattern and you can't get into your sewing room fast enough?   I expect I'll be working more on it today.  Yesterday was a treat!  We woke up to 6" of snow and the news that everything was closed down--including the Army--so my husband got to stay home all day!  Today there is a two hour delay for him and the schools are still closed.  I was supposed to have a meeting today but now I have the whole day free to play with hearts!

I'll be back next time with the last retreat project.  It was more challenging that the others.

Have a great day!

JoAnne