More beautiful quilts from the Winter Camp

Here are some more pictures of the beautiful works in progress from the retreat last weekend. While there I did the machine button hole stitching on my February Snowman Block of the Month. I will post a picture in the next few days. I also finished the 11 blocks from a mystery quilt that I started at a class in September of 2007. I finished the blocks, then got to the part of the instructions that said to lay the quilt out according to the diagram. And of course, I didn't have a diagram. So I will have to do some digging through my sewing room to see if I can find the diagram. If not it shouldn't be that hard to figure it out. I also started stitching some scrappy 9 patches for a quilt that I have been waiting to work on.
The weather man is predicting another snow storm moving into the area later this afternoon with a potential of up to 10 inches of snow. When I get home from work today I plan to spend some quality time in my sewing room. I always have lots of projects to work on. I am very proud of the progress I am making with my UFO's. I just have a little bit of machine quilting to do on my Teddy Bear BOM from 2007. I will post a picture as soon as it is finished.
Don't forget to leave a comment. My contest will end on February 28 and prizes will be awarded early next week.

Quilts from the Show and Tell at the retreat

A beautiful quilt by Nancy from St. Ignace

The black and white quilt is for a Guild Challenge titled "There Is A Zebra On My Wall."

It is always so much fun to see the talents of quilters.

A great time at the Winter Camp

I had a great time at the Winter Quilt Camp last weekend in Alpena despite the cruel joke mother nature decided to pull and a furnace malfunction. The furnace in our barracks decided not to work on the first night. I wore a turtle neck, pj's, my robe and socks to bed and snuggled under my Fireman's quilt, 2 wool blankets and a very large sleeping blanket. My face was the only thing that was cold so I managed to get a few hours of sleep with my face under the covers. Luckily the furnace worked for the remainder of the camp. Also, mother nature decided to dump about 8 inches of snow on us. See all of the snow in the window? Well actually there is a hill there. But we did have lots of snow, wind and cold weather. But, as you can see in the picture there was lots of sewing going on. In the next few posts I will gladly share some of the pictures I took during the show and tell. Don't forget to leave a comment. The contest will continue through this week.

My Blog Contest

OK - today is the day, but I have a slight problem. Jack, my boss, has left town for a few days. He is attending a trade show, I think he said in Pennsylvania. I didn't get a chance to discuss a prize or the contest with him before he left. So I will just make up the rules and the prize on my own. It is easier to ask for forgiveness, than permission, isn't it? So here is the deal. Just make a comment on any of my blog posts between now and February 28 and we will have a drawing. Even if you just say "Hi Pam" that will work although I think it would be fun to know what quilty project you are working on right now. A prize winner will be drawn sometime after February 28. Oh, while we are being a little daring let's make it two prizes for the winner. (I wonder if Jack reads this blog). I look forward to hearing from you, just click on "comment" and type away. Good luck!!
When the cat (Jack) is away, the mice (or mouse a.k.a Pam) will play. I am heading to a Winter Quilt Camp this afternoon and I am sooooo excited. The Camp is hosted by the Gone to Pieces Quilt Guild from Alpena and is held at the Air Base in Alpena. We sleep in the barracks, eat in the mess hall and sew in an absolutely beautiful auditorium/classroom. This the third annual Winter Quilt Camp and there will be about 100 quilters there. I have all of my "stuff" packed and will load the car when I go home for lunch. I packed my February Guild Snowman Block of the Month and will add the machine button hole stitches. I also have a Flower BOM from several years ago that I plan to work on. I have a mystery quilt that I started in a class in 2007 and I hope to get that put together. I also have a few other projects packed that I doubt that I will get to. I will tell you all about the retreat when I get home.

Are you a blog addict?

Are you addicted to blogs? I am not sure that I can say that I am addicted but I do enjoy reading blogs. The first time I heard about blogs was at our Thunder Bay Quilter's Retreat last spring with Becky Goldsmith of Piece O' Cake Design. I started following their blog. Becky shares information about her family, her home and her quilting. Her partner Linda chimes in every so often. Last fall Becky shared information about Pat Sloan hosting a virtual retreat on her blog. I checked into the virtual retreat and low and behold I even won a prize from Pat - some beautiful fabric and a cute quilt label. Pat has shared her China trip on her blog and it was great to see such beautiful pictures. I also checked out Mark Lipinski's blog. He is a little more lax in posting but still good stuff. I read all three of these blogs almost daily and totally enjoy them.
I have been having fun with my blog and I hope you have been enjoying the posts. Tomorrow I will post information about a contest on my blog, complete with prizes.
Oh, the picture of the beautiful plant was taken on Mackinac Island last fall. We are in for a big snow storm in the next few days with predictions of up to 10 inches of snow. I do love the snow as it gives me more sewing time. I just felt I needed a little color in my life today to go with the white, white, white!!

Wildlife in our back yard!

Imagine my excitement yesterday morning when I discovered guests in our back yard. I was getting ready for work and just happened to notice in the bathroom mirror that there was a deer in our back yard. Turned out he or she had a friend. We live in town so we don't usually see them this close to our house. Needless to say it was exciting. We have had a rough winter here so far and I have been concerned about the wild animals. We had quite a thaw here last week so apparantley the deer were out checking for food. I noticed on my way home from Church on Sunday that there were lots of deer in the fields along the way. Son Mike said he saw hundreds of deer during the weekend out enjoying the warmer weather. Predictions are for 8 to 10 inches of snow here in the next 48 hours or so. I guess that means more sewing time for me - yeah!! I hope the deer and other animals will find shelter and food.

Snow People and Snow

In an earlier post I mentioned that we are doing 2 Blocks of the Month in my Quilt Guild. This snow person block is the January block. I do not have eyes on my snow person or beaks on my birds yet. I am thinking about using buttons for eyes and maybe some bead embellishments. I have not used beads before so it will be a learning experience for me. I am picturing some beaded garland on the trees, some snow flakes in the air ..........

Speaking of snow - we had a January thaw here in Hillman this week. The temps got up into the upper 50's for a couple of days and we also had lots and lots of rain. London and his Dad were playing in the snow last Friday. Check out the rosy cheeks!! This Friday it is pretty much all mud although we did get an inch or so of snow last night. I did enjoy the warmer temperatures but of course I knew they were a teaser. It is only the middle of February so still have some winter coming. That is good too, as I still have lots of quilting that I want to get done this winter.

Hey, I was talking with my boss Jack today and we are going to have a contest here on my blog, probably next week. Please come back and visit. I will get the rules posted soon. Have a great weekend!!

This beautiful snow owl was perched on the roof of the Credit Union here in town last week. I wish I could have gotten a clearer picture of it. I did zoom the camera in as close as it would zoom.
I have a question for you about stress. How do you handle stress? I am working 2 part time jobs right now and this week has been stressful at my "other" job. When I am stressed I have lots of pain in my body and don't feel like doing anything. Yesterday when I went home for lunch I sat at my sewing machine and got about 20 minutes of sewing in. It did help a little bit but I did have to go back to work. Luckily by mid-afternoon I was feeling a whole lot better. I think the walk that I took in the 55 degree weather (and it is February in northern Michigan!) helped too. I would love to hear how you manage stress. I was told by a fellow worker that I am at an age where I shouldn't let things bother me. I agree but how do I let it go? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

"Vintage Pin Cushions"

I made these little "Vintage Pin Cushions" as a little gift for my Guild members. We are doing a Block of the Month through my Quilt Guild. I challenged the members to complete each block within the month that they receive the pattern. I will be doing a drawing at the end of the year and giving a prize to one of the members who has been keeping up with the blocks. As a little extra gift I gave these little pin cushions out yesterday to 13 of the members who had completed their blocks. I found this fabric in our Guild fabric stash. I cut the blocks at 3 inches and then sewed and stuffed the pin cushions. I thought they turned out so cute.
I attended a Quilter's Retreat earlier this week at a hotel in Mackinaw City, Michigan. (Hi Nancy and Pat!!). I had big plans of doing lots of button hole stitching with my Janome Jem Platinum. Well, my sewing machine decided that it didn't want to do button hole stitches. A wonderful friend, Dora let me use her machine and I was able to get my Snowman Block of the Month January block stitched and I also got a flower block stitched. Thank you so much Dora for rescuing me. I also made a small flag wall hanging from a kit that I had bought several years ago. I was able to get it pieced, machine quilted and bound. I also put together a small log cabin wall hanging from a kit that I had purchased 3 years ago. I still need to add the vines and flower buds. I will do those by hand. I really enjoyed using the kits. I didn't have to think about and choose colors and cut everything. I was able to just sit and sew. I have a few more kits waiting for me so I think I will be pulling those out some day and working on those. Oh, by the way, my favorite sewing machine repair man (a.k.a. my husband) has my sewing machine repaired so I will be back in business for the next retreat that starts in thirteen more days!!!!!