Irish Eyes are Smiling

It's been over a month since I last posted. It's been an emotional roller coaster amid lots of busy-ness at Scottie Dog Quilts. Right now I can't seem to find my Minnesota pictures...I know as soon as I finish, I'll find the flash drives. For now though I'll post a couple of pictures taken after my Dad's memorial service in Southern California. Here are Bill & I, daughters Beka & Liz and our oldest granddaughter Sydney and youngest (she was 9 days old in this picture) Shiloh.

The service was actually wonderful! My brothers and I each spoke in remembrance of Dad. It was a time of laughter and some tears. We especially enjoyed hearing all the tributes and stories those who came had to share. Robert LeRoy McNally.....a life well-lived. A man who was funny, well-respected, fun to be with, a fantastic father, uncle, grandfather & great-grandfather. He was a wonderful husband to two lovely women and I am so blessed he was MY father!

Here are all the grandkids & two great-grands: Kevin, Kait, Shiloh, Beka, Sydney, Liz, Kim, Sierra & Justin. It was a blessing to be together.

After a week in Redlands, I flew back to Minnesota for a last week with Jakob, Sadies & Shiloh. Lots of hugs & kisses, singing silly songs, peanut butter & jam sandwiches and more hugs & kisses.

Mr. Scottie Dog was glad to see me back in Eureka (and perhaps so were the cats!).

This past weekend was retreat time again at Scottie Dog Quilts. We hold two retreats every year in Spring and Fall. This year we are adding one in Bloomington, MN in May. Here is Sydney fooling around with our Scottie Dog Flag.

Ann has been coming to retreat for several years. Here's her version of our newest pattern: Beehive Jive:

Everyone had a great time. Patterns are available and the October Mystery Quilting Retreat is filling fast. Email me for info or to hold your spot.

It's no longer St. Patrick's Day by my watch, but these Irish Eyes are Smiling. I'm blessed.

Tuesday was a busy day!

Today, Tuesday was a busy day in Minnesota. We started out with a trip to Golden Valley, a bit north of Minneapolis where Beka was doing a 'taste test' for a consumer testing company. She does it every once in awhile. Today wasn't actually a "taste" test, really a packaging test for granola bars. She had to pick boxes for several brands that she might buy or those she wouldn't buy and tell why. While she was doing that, Jakob and I were playing on the grass and Sadies slept in the car right next to us. Jakob and I poked at an ant hill, whacked a tree with long sticks, chased birds, blew a ton of "ripe" dandelion puffballs, sang songs and generally had a great time.

It was in the 90's today so shorts and flip flops were perfect!






Then we went to Eagle Creek Quilt Shop in Shakopee. Sadies wanted to show all of you how she now walks! She started walking on Mother's Day and now it's like she's always walked.

This is a great shop so if you are in the area, be sure to stop by. They are located in a refurbished Train Depot in Shakopee and the trains still run right beside the store!











We bought some of the Hungry Caterpillar fabrics for Beka. See the cutie pie on the little chair?




















After lunch we hit the nursery.....Beka's townhouse has an awesome deck and we got some cute plants for her pots and planters....red, white & blue flowers and one mini pepper plant. We'll plant them tomorrow.

Errands, errands and more errands. We made it back home in time to blow up the swimming pool for a quick dip by the little ones. While filling the pool, Jakob turned and hit me with the sprinkler right in the face! Tell you what....it felt wonderful. But I had a date with two dear friends from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area at Timber Lodge Steakhouse.







No, these two cuties aren't my quilting friends.....








Here we are: Sally, me and Carol. We belong to the Sunshine Quilting Guild
and make quilts for needy children of the world. I've had the privilege of knowing them for years and we trade visits here in Minn. and they have come to CA to Scottie Dog Quilts Mystery Quilting Retreats.

Thanks again, I had a wonderful time.






Home again, jiggedy jig. Thanks Jason for putting the kids to bed. Beka and I had fun.

Retreat Weekend

Duck, Duck Goose! is the name of our latest pattern. This is the project our Scottie Dog Mystery Quilting Retreaters made this past weekend. It uses the Quilt in a Day's Small Flying Goose Ruler and is actually a quick and beginner-friendly quilt. Our version is Queen, but there is a smaller size too. Patterns are available now at our store.

Retreats are fun. We have quilters from all over the United States come...many of them over and over again. We have them Spring and Fall. If you'd like to come to the California Redwoods and spend a weekend quilting with us, email us at ScottieDogQuilts@aol.com.

Sandi used her floral border as a starting point with her quilt. The floral had a chocolate background so she went with a deep chocolate brown as the quilt background. Her turquoise accent really popped!

Shari chose a Laurel Birch Cat Border fabric, decided on a solid black background with bright, bright FQ's and look at how great it turned out. She made the throw size.

Ann's quilt was well on it's way to being finished when she discovered a misplaced block. She ripped it out and then posed with her beautiful quilt. Everyone was successful and chose great fabrics. Some people say they don't like working on Mystery Quilts, but we try hard to take the guesswork out of the job of choosing fabrics.

Saturday was a busy day for our family. Eureka was hosting the annual Rhododendron Festival. Every year we've taken Sydney. Since Mom & Grandma were busy at the Retreat, Daddy had to work, Grandpa to the rescue! He parked the pick-up truck along the parade route, set up comfy chairs and the W.A.I.T.I.N.G began. It always seems to take an eternity for a parade to start.

Finally! Fire Truck after Fire Truck led off the parade blaring sirens! Can you tell that Sydney loved the noise!!! She and Grandpa went up to Ft. Humboldt after the parade and rode the steam train. What an exciting day!

Mystery Quilting Retreat

Today is the last day of our Scottie Dog Quilts Fall Mystery Quilting Retreat. Why "Mystery?" Because no one knows what their quilt will look like. We give them instructions on how much of what kind of fabric to bring and they blindly follow our directions. We have quilters from all over ...many repeaters and a few "newbies" or retreat "virgins." We've had an Aloha theme this retreat, including our first dinner catered by a local Hawaiian restaurant The Banana Hut. YumYum, the are "da kine."
Imagine 30 women all with wonderful fabrics, laughing, chocolate, good food. Anne was the first one with her quilt finished. Isn't is luscious? The name of the pattern is "Juicy Fruit." It will be available at the store and on our website next week.
One of the things we do at our retreats is a lotto block. You bring 2 blocks according to our theme (this time 1930's prints) and one block goes to Sunshine (a charity group that send quilts to children) and the other goes into the pot for someone to win.
I've got to get back to retreat....maybe I'll see you here someday!

Summer Quilt Camp

Every Summer at Scottie Dog Quilts we hold a 3 day event: Quilt Camp. We fill the classroom with quilters (mostly women, sometimes a that rare and exotic creature: the Male Quilter). This year they were all women, one Mother-Daughter combo, all age groups represented. There was lots of laughter, meeting of new friends, great food and a chance to sew interrupted for 3 days.
Our project was an Aunt Sukey's Choice quilt ( see it left) and we all learned how to make a thousand (well, it SEEMED like a thousand!) flying geese with Eleanor Burns' Flying Goose Ruler. This made the job go much easier and each and every flying goose turned out perfect! I caught a few pictures, but then left the camera behind when we went out to dinner at Rita's. I didn't get any pictures of anyone dancing on the tables.....oh, maybe no actually danced on tables, but everyone had a great time! The quilts turned out fantastic. Each and every on was different and yet, each would be welcome in my home!
Quilt Camp is Summer Day Camp for Grown-ups. We hold it every Summer and also run Spring Fling of course in the Spring! Sound like fun? We'll keep you posted.
In October we'll be hosting our Fall Mystery Quilting Retreat. There are still a few open spots. We have quilters from all over the United States coming. October 17-19. Let us know if you'd like a brochure.