A Forgotten Quilt (Tula Pink's City Sampler) and a Reading Retreat!

A few weekends ago I attended my fifth Booktube Besties Reading Retreat!  It is 24 hours online (we do sleep) reading, sharing about favorite books, discussing a book topic, and playing a game or two.  The time goes really fast!  Now that I have a book club with five people from a previous retreat, we have a running side conversation, and it really is even more fun!  We usually get a bookmark and do a small craft that they send us.

This year we made bookmarks from napkins!  You peel off the lining(s) of the napkins and apply mod podge to the bookmark.  Then you apply the napkin and put some cling wrap type stuff on top of it and get all the wrinkles out with the nail file.  You mod podge on the top too.  Use a hair dryer to dry it.  Flip and repeat, add the tassel! Here is the other side.

There are about fifty four total people in the retreat, so this is just some of us.

In other news, I have been sewing a few of Bonnie's leaders and enders this year.  It is called Four Patch Fun.  I have not done one in a few years, but the diagonal line of this one really appealed to me!

Mark Lipinski is making Tula Pink's City Sampler, so I wanted to show him mine.  In searching my blog I could not discover the completed top so I apparently never posted it to my blog!  According to Facebook I posted the top on September 1st, 2020.  I do not think this one has been quilted yet, but I need to dig in my quilt top bins to make a backing and get it in line for quilting!
Here it is without borders.

 Here it is with borders.

Another Burst of Sewing!

 One of my longer term UFO's is Tula Pink's City Sampler.  I have made progress on it this year and who knows it may get done next year.  Here are many of the blocks I did recently.  I also cut several more out and they are ready to go so that helps the progress alot!

 Kathy and I are both doing the 35th Ave. BOM again this year.  They got started a few months late so this will not finish until next year, but here is what one looks like so far.  We think we will border them in different colors and gift them to my nephew Ben and my almost nephew Christian.  Ben has several baby quilt and a Packer quilt I made him, but Christian joined out family later and never got one. They share a room at my brother's house (go back and forth to their mom/dad respectively) so I am hoping they are young teen boy enough with the grunge fabric.

 Kathy needed a baby quilt for her friend Krystal so we each made a Simple Gifts quilt last weekend.  Here is mine. 

My Serpentine Spider Web quilt is finally a flimsy.  Kathy and I started this at Bonnie's workshop in February last year at 35th Ave.  Each block takes about an hour to make and string quilts require strings ALL OVER THE PLACE!  I am so happy it is over!  I do love how it turned out and it has been on my list to make since I got the quilting bug and made a small one with a different pattern.

 This is Betsy Schnibbles.  I needed something quick to sew on a day over at Barb's house so I grabbed a few long on the shelf charm packs and made this one.  I rather miss making these!

Tula Pink's City Sampler Blocks and Plenty of Good Fortune

 I have not have this project out in three years or so!  I got tired of making the blocks and put it away for just a bit...which turned in to far too long.  It is on my American Patchwork UFO list for this year and I realized that if I did not start making the blocks I would never get it done when it got picked!  So I have done a few of these blocks in the past few days while I wait for Bonnie to give us another Good Fortune Clue. My youngest son and his fiance have just about got the date of their wedding nailed down---the weekend after my daughter's wedding in June!  My daughter is okay with that as those of us traveling from Arizona can hopefully arrange to be there for both--at least some of us.

No. 61

No. 62

No. 63

No. 64

No. 65

I had to lay out all the blocks though my floor is not really large enough...ust to see what I have.  I think there are two extra blocks thrown in here that are the same size but not from the book--if I counted right.  I also discovered a dozen or so churn dash blocks that are the same size that I forgot I had.  This quilt it going to be huge when it gets sashing and a 10 x 10 setting. 

I also finished clue 7 of Good Fortune....Kathy is working on hers.  Cannot wait to see the reveal of this one!

City Sampler at Your Own Pace

You may recall that way back when I was doing the Tula Pink City Sampler blocks.  I simply got tired of making them (I think in part because the RSC blocks were that same year and are also 6.5 inches) so I put it away for later. Then I came across Crayon Box Studio and her City Sampler at Your Own Pace Quilt  Along--I made a mental note to consider digging those blocks out.  No pressure (last time I did two blocks a week) but just steady progress.  So out to play it is coming!

Behind on My News

 Last weekend I made blocks 59 and 60 of City Sampler and didn't blog for some reason.  Life seems to have picked up speed lately and with switching one of my jobs (and job training all last week) my usual schedule is off.  This week may be the first week my goal of two City Sampler blocks isn't met.  Have been out of town all weekend and today I am doing a glamour shots session gifted to me by a friend I barely know who bought some groupons and then decided she didn't want them!  So Kathy and I are doing pictures and we want to hike later too so sewing is way down the list.  :(

 Luckily I did keep on with Orange Crush last weekend and got all the parts cut for the next clue.  I barely started assembling the next block (which is all this clue) and I will keep working on it but may need an extra week to get them done.  Our Open Studio facebook group has several people doing a quiltalong on this so I have been setting the pace with one clue per week and so far, so good but this week it may be different!  That is okay because people are all at different points anyways.

 Kathy is still working on her Grand Illusion. She finished clue three and is now on four!  This one is going to be great!

 My Aunt Babbette and Uncle Dan and their daughter Ashley and other daughter's son Brayden are here for Spring break (at Mom's) so I was there Friday and Saturday and we got up early and went to the Cave Creek Parade.  Had fun!  Then Suli, Ollie and I went hiking up Thunderbird Mountain.  I tried that same mountain last week but in the middle of the day and I got a bit of heatstroke.  We didn't quite make it to the top because I got sick.  This week we went later in the day (and not after jump Pilates) and I made it to the top just fine.  Gorgeous views up there!

Monday Monday!

 Today I worked and then Kathy, Bug, and I went for a short hike at South Mountain.  It was quite hot and we only did one and a quarter miles since we didn't want to overdue.  Kathy is still battling shingles and my surgery was just a week ago!  I loved the wildflowers that are starting to bloom.  Cannot wait to get back out there again.

 After dropping Bug at home and checking on our homemade spaghetti sauce we went for haircuts.  I FINALLY got a pixie cut which I have wanted for about twenty years.  I always talk myself out of it because I feel like a bigger woman needs bigger hair to balance things...but I wen for it this time and so far I like it!  Kathy got hers cut too.

 We came home and watched "The Drop" which wasn't great and I sewed up these two Tula Pink City Sampler blocks.

 I am still caught up!  I continued working on clue four of Orange Crush and actually finished all the hst's!  I am going to keep up with this after all??

 I couldn't resist and started putting blocks together.  So far eight are done but not ironed.  There are lots more to go!

Sunday Funday!

Today Kathy and I went hiking with two of our friends.  Jill and I headed up the Ridgeline Trail at South Mountain and Kathy and Jen did an easier hike since Kathy still isn't feeling great.  We all had fun and it really set the mood for a great day!  Jill has lost 65 pounds on WW and that is how we met (she is in a different day/meeting than us but during the holidays we hit her meeting and hit it off!  She also teaches at the college I work at though I had never met her there!).  

 So beautiful up on that Ridgeline.  My knee finally felt more like normal!  I also finished up the glamper pillow for Missy's party today.

 Here is Missy's actual camper--it is super cute and fun to check out!  After stopping in at the party, Kathy and I went and saw "The Imitation Game" which we really liked and didn't know the story of.

 Also wanted to share my Valentine's gift that I never showed off.  Kathy got me this Oragami Owl necklace...for charms there is a birthstone for each of my kids, an AZ sun and cactus, a sewing machine (of course!) a football, a rainbow, a cup of coffee and a ring.  Too fun, I love charms!

 I also did my two City Sampler blocks--No. 53 and No. 54 which I really like!

 I am still working on my Orange Crush for the quiltalong on Open Studio.  I cut parts for clue two tonight so I can get to sewing clue two this week or weekend!