Happy Thanksgiving

Deer Season Retreat!

Most of you know my quilting group -- Wacky 6-Pac Quilters -- frequently get together for retreats. One highlight of our year is our annual Deer Season Retreat! We normally have it on opening weekend when all the guys are in the woods. However, this year we changed it to the second weekend; it just seemed to fit everyone's schedule better.

We went to the Lakeview Methodist Conference Center, deep in the woods of East Texas. We stayed at the "staff house" which was a 5-bedroom house complete with kitchen, living area, and THREE bathrooms -- did I say THREE????? Sorry, but for some reason I didn't take pics of the house.......duh.....

Here are some pics from our fun weekend:

We will start with entering the conference compound. Here is the sign complete with a map of the facilities and look a sign welcoming the Wacky Pac Quilters!

We did not have any specific projects to work on -- everyone just did their own thing. We did do lots of laughing (till we almost peed our panties!), lots of eating and just making memories.

Annie had her embroidery machine singing to us the entire weekend. Below is a picture of a little towel she made for her granddaughter. Love those lil frogs!

The Wacky Pac usually always has some type of group project going on. Annie brought her finished project -- her Texas Quilt. Annie chose the theme and we all made her blocks. This is the last project that our dear, departed Jerri was able to participate, making this a very precious quilt for Annie. Annie had a local gal do the quilting and it was HORRIFIC!!!! Annie pulled every single stitch out of that quilt and took it to another lady over in Hubbard and Nelda worked her charm. Below is a pic of the final product (for the second time).

An ongoing group project the Wacky Pac is working on now is a row robin. We each chose our theme and we are making each other a row according to the person's guidelines. We finally got wise and did NOT set a deadline for this project 'cause we never meet them....hehehehehehehe.....ANYWAY, where was I??? Oh yeah, below are pics of rows made by Molly (top) and Annie (bottom) for MY row quilt. My theme is spring. Didn't they do GOOD?

Rhonda and Kathleen chose their rows to be vertical rather than horizontal and she wanted flowers. Below are some of her rows -- some completed and some not! The row on the left is Kathleens that she made to set the tone. The three rows to the right are Rhonda's.

Molly chose her theme to be ranch related. Sorry I don't have any pics of this one...maybe next time.

Our member, Molly, (you know her from Molly's Place), has been working on a beautiful red/green quilt. Molly used to be the curator for the Freestone County Historical Museum (and a wonderful job she did!). She used a quilt housed in the museum as inspiration for this little jewel. It is just beautiful -- the picture does not do it justice!

One of the projects I worked on was an apron for Shawnee's Winter Flirty Apron Swap. The requirements were that the apron had to have a snowflake somewhere on the apron. Also, we were to chose a word of the season. Using that word, we were to provide 'tuck ins' representing each letter of the world. The word I chose was TRADITIONS. Here is a pic of Molly so graciously modeling the apron I made. Note, it doesn't have the pockets put on yet! Is she the cutest model???? This is the beginning of a full-fledged career in modeling aprons....LOL! I think she may have been saying something to me like.....would you put that camera down?!!

And, lastly, but not least, a picture of the Wacky 6-Pac Quilters. We will always be the "6-Pac" because there were six of us. Our dear friend Jerri left us last March to join the great quilt guild at the feet of Jesus. She fought her cancer battle long and hard, but became too tired to fight any longer. She is always with us. We laugh and tell her jokes and stories and are always saying "well as our friend, Jerri, would say.........." So, before I start to cry thinking about my friend, without further 'adoo', here we are.................................................................

This picture was taken on Sunday morning before we left. Not all of us have on make-up and our hair done up real purty, but hey, it's US and we are HAPPY!

L-R: Rhonda, Annie, Kathleen, Kathy (that would be my big fat self) and Molly!

I hope you enjoyed this small sampling of retreating with the WACKY 6-PAC QUILTERS!

A Kindle and A Book Review!

I have been wanted a Kindle for a really long time but just wouldn't breakdown and spend the money. A Kindle is an electronic reader. It will hold up to 3,500 books and the books are downloaded from the internet. I was talking to my dear son the other day and he was telling me he had received a promotion and raise in salary in his job. He was very excited. I kiddingly said to him "since you are in such a good mood, would this be the time to tell you I would like a Kindle for Christmas?" LOL! He said "Mom, actually, that is what I am planning to get you as I knew you wanted one"! A few minutes later I received an email of an order confirmation from Amazon. He bought me a Kindle -- not just any Kindle -- the top of the line Kindle DX with a 9-inch screen!!!! I was in tears. I was so excited! I am already enjoying an early Christmas gift.

The first book that I downloaded was "Prayers for Sale" by Sandra Dallas. One of my internet swap buddies, Sharon, told me about the book. It is set in the 1800's. And, of course, typical of Sandra Dallas' books, it always references quilts!! The book was just as good as Sharon said. I really enjoyed it. My favorite part of the book is this passage...."A quilt circle's like a crazy quilt. You got all kinds in it. Some members are the big pieces of velvet or brocade, show-offish, while others are bitty scraps of used goods, hoping you don't notice them. But without each and every one, the quilt would fall apart." This really struck me as a very accurate description of a quilting group.

If you get a chance, I hope you will read Prayers for Sale.

School Fundraiser!

All three of my sweet grandchildren go to the same elementary school. They are in Kindergarten, 4th grade, and 6th grade. Their Mommy (my wonderful daughter-in-love) is also a 3rd grade teacher at their school. They are blessed with a really awesome Librarian named Ms. Shelly. Ms. Shelly always plans really fun things for them and especially really neat field trips for the top AR (accelerated readers) students. This year (as is everywhere), there were budget cuts and the funds for the field trips were cut. I agreed to help raise money for the school.

The following is a picture of a quilt that I have made for a raffle -- "Tiger Power". I tried to incorporate as many of the school activities as possible. I finished the quilting today and will sit and tack down the binding tonight as I watch TV. I hope they raise lots of money with this quilt. It is a 'one of a kind' quilt and would be a great keepsake for an alumni.

Another fundraiser is the sale of Koozies. Everyone wants a personalized koozie of their favorite school. We are making black koozies with tiger paws and "Centerville Tigers" on one side and their choice of wording on the reverse side. The girls get orange polka dot ribbon and the boys koozies do not have ribbon. Below is a group of koozies that were recently made:

Below is a picture of the koozies with names on the reverse side.

I am even taking orders for special requests. Ms. Nattalie wanted red lady bugs. I found this cute lady bug in my design stash and put it on the black koozie with red, yellow and green polka dot ribbon.

Here is the side of the koozie with Ms. Nattalie's name.

I have couple of more 'special request' koozies to make: "Grammar Guru" and "LuLu's Nails" I even have a request for "Woozies" -- a koozie for a wine glass. I haven't found a source to purchase unsewn blank 'woozies' yet. Even any of you know where I can purchase them, please leave me a comment.

Harvest Blessings

I participated in Shawnee's Flirty Apron Swap. I received my wonderful package from Sharon a few days back. I am just now getting around to posting the pictures. She really showered me with Harvest Blessings. Not only did I get a wonderful hand-stitched apron and lots of really neat tuck-ins, but I received a wonderful journal of her journey making the apron. It is set in the 1800's and was very fun to read. I absolutely love everything I received. THANK YOU SHARON!