I made this personalized taggie for newborn. It measures 12x12 with soft flannel on one side and cuddly minky fabric on opposite side.
It is a great gift providing baby sensory comfort, tactal and visual stimulation. Babies love to explore the looped ribbon tags.

Can anyone identify this object. Remember its retreat time , we 7 ladies rent a house and plan to sew for 4 days straight. Ok..ok..i'll tell my story. Being a farm girl from Iowa and a widow, I do everything myself. Why make 3 trips when you can carry it all in one. I had my sewing machine in one hand, a bag with 50 lbs of fabric over my shoulder, and another bag with the Ott lite, iron, table board, and all the cutting and gadgets we need and I am trudging up my basement stairs. I made it to the top stair and stumbled up not down...stood up and oooh my knee hurt. I went a couple of steps and heard something pop...oooh my knee. I hobbled to the garage with all my "stuff", grabbed a bag of food and off I went to "quilt camp". When I arrived, my knee was killing me, but heck my idea was it would be getting better soon. The girls helped me drag in everything and set up; I really couldn't walk, but hey, it's going to get better. Two days in and I could barely drag myself around, so started ice packs on the knee. I didn't think it was swelling..looked ok. Then one of the girls brought out her rice heating pad...Yep. she warmed it for me and it felt so good - about the 3rd time, I said I'll put this in the microwave..I thought she said 4 minutes...Well ladies I apparently also lost my hearing cause she said 2 minutes. I burned the thing real good as you can see. So now they had to smell burning rice. I was a real treat on this retreat. On day 4, I was convinced something was wrong, I hadn't slept, the pain just didn't go away. To shorten this story, went to Doctor on Monday and on Friday had surgery for a torn meniscus.. I am hobbling around again but with a whole different appreciation for drugs and rest. Again I want to thank my retreat friends, I am so blessed for their friendship and tolerance. My whining was not as loud as some snoring.

Not quite done, still asks for two borders, but got close at retreat.This pattern is Barbara Brandeburg and Teri Christopherson in their book Quilting with My Sister. They used 30's prints, but I'm like a newborn, I like bright colors. It is appliqué; I did a blanket stitch around each and found that if I ate Texas sheet cake with coffee for breakfast, I was able to stitch right along...

As my weekend ends at the Quilt Retreat I reflect on who has inspired me...from left to right in bottom picture: My mom- Ada B, My Aunt Alvis, My Aunt Elna, and My Aunt Alta Belle.
My Aunts are in their 90's and are still making quilts and building furniture...I wish they lived closer I could learn so much from them.  They have such quick wit, the stories are endless and always humorous. 

I am at my sweing retreat in LeClaire, Iowa.
Riverview, snacks, and a lot of chatter.
More to come this weekend- so fun!
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I'm getting ready for a mini sewing retreat. I feel like a 5th grader..all excited and packing like its a 3-month tour. I am packing up all those PHDs (projects half done) with determination to complete. Course I get to "quilt camp" and see what everyone else is doing and start the quilt shuffle. Quilting is kinda like dancing - you complete with a partner of your choice (me- a husqvarna Viking!), you move gracefully around the floor from station to station, you're sassy in the late hours, and you always have a smile.

I have learned that Quilters speak two languages: English and Quarter Inch. Keep in mind, every quilt has an imperfection. Some call it unintentional and rip, I call it primitive and it stays. More later on my Quilt Camp experience.

Faster than lightning, I can eat a whole pan of chocolate chip cookies...Does that mean I'm an over achiever? Well now that I have all this energy, lets talk quilting.  I just finished a t-shirt quilt for a friend. She saved 700 of her daughter's favorite t-shirts for a lap size quilt. Despite her whimpering to use them all, I cut it down to 24, bedazzled a couple of the shirts and made a darling keepsake quilt for graduation.  So moms, save those t-shirts and promise the kids they'll have a quilt by the time they go to college. And if they don't go to college, they don't get the quilt....