Farm Girl Chicks Retreat

We had our "Farm Girl Chicks" retreat this weekend at our favorite quilt shop, Quilter's Oasis, in Mesa, Arizona.

Our Mama Hen Nancy, always does a fantastic job making everything fun and handing out swag!

See all the cute little cow gift bags at every seat?

They are full of cute little pigs, 

treats and a bottle of water with a cute label :)

Nancy decorated the treat table so cute and original!

Everything was labeled :)

The "popcorn" corn on the cob was the cutest!!!

Chicken feed, rice krispy squares for Ha hay bales...

Friday night I wasn't able to attend, 

so I shared my spot with Shirley.

She's on the second row on the right, 

with blonde hair and plum colored sweater.

A real chicken attended on Friday night!!!

It looks like he knows what a quilt ruler and rotary cutter are!

Here's Mr. Chicken with my friend Nedra :)

Oh my goodness, Mr. Chicken is kissing Nancy, our Mama Hen!

I guess it's ok, since Mr. Chicken is really Bob, Nancy's husband :)

Saturday morning, I was so excited to go to the retreat!

We had a potluck breakfast and was it ever fabulous!!!

It was a queen's feast!

We celebrated Susan's birthday :)

Shauna taught us how to make zipper project bags with vinyl,

so you can see what's in your bag.

She's a great instructor.

some of the chicks even made two or three!

Peek a boo, there I am!

I'm Cynthia, Cynthia's in the blue tee shirt and there's a Cindy too.

Here we all our, with our vinyl zipper project bags :)

 Brenda and Shauna each finished their cute Lori Holt table runners.

 This is our design board.

I know that Terry is making the quilt with the trees on top of the station wagons and Brenda is making a tractor quilt.

This is Cindy and she is amazing!!!

She is able to complete so many quilts!

She says she's working on a quilt and BAM! it's done.

She has so many finishes, it's mind bogling!

She says she works on a schedule, but still...she's amazing!!!

This is Brenda, she's a farm girl chick in the true sense!

Her husband is a farmer, and Brenda is always sewing tractors :)

Brenda is a beautiful seamstress and does gorgeous, meticulous machine quilting.

She got up at 5:00 am on Saturday morning and cooked breakfast for her married children and grandchildren at 7:00, 

and was at our retreat by 9:00!

This quilt is for Brenda's grandson who will be turning 4 years old.

She made him a quilt with a tractor on it when he was born and she brought it to show us one day.

It was literally thread bare on the whole front!

I've never seen a quilt so worn....little Ole loved that quilt to death!

She made him another really fancy tractor quilt but he didn't like it because it didn't have soft minky on the back.

Who knew?

This quilt will have soft minky on the back, 

it's a prerequisite for Ole's quilts :)

 This is Linda's beautiful Americana quilt.

Last but not least, Carol's quilt.

Carol just joined our group, 

and she had already made this Lori Holt Farm Girl Vintage quilt.

The yellow border really makes the blocks pop!

I didn't show you the quilts that were shared on Friday night, 

there were too many and they were all beautiful!!!

To be in this quilt group, you must love Lori Holt creations :)

We have to be working on Lori's quilts, 

but the quilts we share with the group don't have to be Lori's.

We all laugh and eat and play games a lot, with some sewing, lol!

I'm very grateful to be a member of this awesome group :)

Eagle Scout quilt

I gave Bridger's quilt to him for Christmas, and he loved it!

He is the sweetest young man and 

I know he will really take care of it!

I was very pleased with my machine quilting :)

I used a walking foot and it turned out really well.

The quilting lines are all an inch and a half apart.

I even embroidered a label for his quilt.

Note to self, do this always, in the future!!!

Merry Christmas

I hope you're all nestled with your loved ones today :)

Merry Christmas to all the wonderful people who read my blog :)

Lori Holt Vintage Christmas placemats

I have been making lots of placemats using 12" blocks 

from Lori Holt's Vintage Christmas book.

My Farm Girl Chick quilt group had a Christmas party, placemat exchange last week.

We each made 2 placemats to exchange, and did we ever have fun!!

I made HIS and HERS snowmen :)

I used Cotton and Steel fabric on the back.

It was difficult to part with, as I was hording it...but I bought it for this reason, so I cut into it :)

Nancy, pictured below in her Christmas leggings,

 is the Mama Hen of our Farm Girl Chick group.

She always makes everything so much fun!!!

She got some full page Christmas images 

and cut them in half in a puzzle piece.

We all reached into the bag and pulled out our puzzle piece, and looked for the fellow chick who had the matching piece.

Nancy and Diane were matches :)

Nancy is holding the placemats that Diane made and gifted to her.

Diane is holding the placemats that Nancy made and gifted to her.

Terry and Cindy

Bonnie, Cindy and Susan

Kristie and Pam

Shauna and Jeannie

Brenda and Shirley

Guess whose puzzle piece I matched with?

That's right, my bestie Nedra.

We were so thrilled to exchange with each other :)

Aren't all the placemats beautiful?

We have so much fun at our group, 

these women are blessings to me :)

Paisley's Tooth Fairy Envelope

Remember when I made Paisley's tooth fairy envelope for her?

Well I gave it to her just in time!

Her tooth fell out last week :)

Paisley lost her tooth at 5 l/2 years old.

I think the tooth fairy might have taken this photo, but can you see her envelope peeking out from under Paisley's pillow?

Look at that little sleeping angel :)

This is the note that Paisley left the tooth fairy in her ever so neat and tidy, left handed handwriting :)

That is one of the main reasons I love making things for my grandchildren. ... I know that they will be used and cherished  and it makes my grandmother heart so, so happy and full of love :)

Now off I go to make another tooth fairy envelope, another grand daughter has two loose teeth!!!

Once Upon a Time Multi Princesses Panel

I love Stacy Iest Hsu's doll panels, 

I've made a lot of them for my grand daughters.

This one is called "Once Upon a Time."

It has a two carry handles and some ties to close at the sides.

I buy the panels at quilt shops or on Easy.

The little castle opens up to show an armoire for the two princesses and a bed for their pet unicorn.

The bed is just a pocket to slide the unicorn into, 

with a removable pillow.

One princess is pink and the other is purple.

If I was a little girl, I would name the princesses Ruby and Violet :)

The doors on the armoire open to reveal a princess dress 

and some accessories.

I love their little unicorn with her pink heart 

 and her own removable skirt :)

She even has a pink mane!

This set comes in two panels, one for the castle 

and the other has the princesses and their pets.

The back cover has a pocket for the pet bunny.

I cut the dolls out very carefully along the dotted line, 

with sharp scissors.

I shorten my stitches to about 1.25 so that the seams will stay sewn.

It takes some time to stuff them, but it's totally worth it!

 I'm giving this little set to my grand daughter Taylor,

who is 3 years old.  

I hope it brings her many hours of enjoyment :)

Paisley's tooth fairy envelope

I have a tradition that whenever a grandchild has their first wiggly tooth, they draw a picture of the tooth fairy for me and I make them a little envelope to put their tooth in.

This is Paisley's drawing of the tooth fairy, isn't she the prettiest?

Paisley is only 5 years old and might have the "artist" gene :)

I print the drawing from my photos on the computer.

We only have a black ink lacerate, so I have to label the colors :)

I printed the picture in 4" X 6" format.

Then I lay some fabric on top of the picture and trace 

with a friction pen.

The ink disappears when you iron it.

Then I add some pretty fabric...

I line the envelope and add a little flap.

Paisley's favorite colors are green, purple and orange.

The envelope is where you can put written correspondence

with the tooth fairy, which is so important!

The little pocket in the back is where Paisley 

will put her little tooth when it falls out :)

It's difficult living far away from my family, so I do these little things that will hopefully make me memorable for years to come!

This is Paisley a year ago, such a cutie patootie!!!