OMG!

I had an amazing time on Saturday!  First, I was so excited the night before that I couldn't get to sleep.  That resulted in an extremely late start to the day.  I arrived just in time for lunch (perfect timing if you ask me!).  Since it was my first "real" outing in the car, I took the scenic route which took a little longer (no highways)!  Gail served a lovely salad with a fabulous lasagna and we had "West Coast" chocolate covered Nanaimo bars for dessert. (They were imported from the west coast!).

The girls (Cathie and Gail) had just come back from visiting Cathie's sister out in B.C. and so, our first order of business was Show & Share.  There are oodles of quilt stores out there and they really had a great haul to show.  You can see what was on Gail's mind while she was away.......

She did a bit of shopping for Halloween, the fabrics are great and I love the panel.  Her project for the day was also a cute Halloween table runner.  Of course there were other great purchases too......

The Laurel Birch cats are adorable and she's doing it in the pattern she's holding.  The cupcakes speak for themselves and the floral, well, that is just gorgeous!  I know I took pics of Cathie's haul too but I can't seem to locate them and I've gone through the whole disc of photos so I'll have to get those next time.

There was one more purchase which just blew me away!  Can you imagine making this miniature Christmas Ornament.  I don' think I would have the patience - and IT IS pieced!

Finally, after oooohing and aaaahing I had to really get down to work to catch up with these girls.  They were way ahead of me.....

Here's the quilt that I needed to make the backing for......a scrappy flannel quilt top which was completed in 2009 and then just set aside.....

The backing is made from the same fabric as the borders (I confiscated the bolt from the store...).  It took a fair bit of time to get this pieced, I had blocks left over that I wanted to use and I had already made a label which I wanted to incorporate into the back rather then sew it on later.....this is the result, thanks to Cathie's expert cutting!

FYI - If you are using flannel to back a quilt, take the measurement on the bolt selvage to selvage - this bolt measured 40" exactly and was tight, I had barely enough (Sandy's going to kill me!).  The quilt measures 68" x 79" so since it's being basted only she can put it on the long arm sideways where I gave her the extra inches.....

I have to say that is all I got done on Saturday but for me it was a huge accomplishment. I could have kept going but I didn't want to overstay my welcome!  It was a fabulous day, catching up with the girls and just having a great time!

This morning I dropped the quilt off to Sandy so I should be able to start hand quilting it some time this week.  Uh oh, another hand project!  I'll have to split my time between this and the Farmer's Wife so I can get them both done!

Have a great day everyone and happy quilting!

Jo-Ann