Quilt Retreat...

Oh how I wish I were still at quilt retreat. I always get so much done while I'm there. I am always amazed by how much I accomplish. I swear there's something magic in the water because I'm able to stay awake late too! I can be found still sewing pass midnight most nights. (At home, I'm snoring in my comfy chair by 8:30!) My to do list is long and I'm not as productive at home, or at least I haven't been since I've been back from retreat. One of my favorite projects that I worked on at retreat is my monkey quilt.... I am currently writing the pattern so if you are interested in testing this one out please email me. If you enjoy machine applique, this is a fun project. I have been walking around dreaming about this quilt so I'm thrilled to have it done. I'm in love with it, but then I'm also in love with sock monkeys and this is what it reminds me of. When I was little my grandpa called us 'little monkeyshines'. So I looked the word up in the dictionary while working on this post to be amazed that it's really a word! I always thought pa-pa made it up!

mon·key·shine  (mŭng′kē-shīn′)

n. Slang

A mischievous or playful trick; a prank.

Yup, pretty much sums up us kids when we were little. We were grandpa's little monkeyshines.

I laid the quilt out on the table to get it pinned for quilting and applique.

I decided to machine applique the monkeys after I layered the quilt with the batting and batting.
It was a bit of a challenge to maneuver the quilt while appliqueing but I like the results doing it this way.

These monkeys make me smile!

I had to have them hanging up side down too!

Here's a close-up of one of the monkeys.
I machine embroidered the eyes and I'm thinking of
machine embroidery some sort of 'buttons' on the  monkey too.

Monkeyshines Baby Quilt
Thank you Marcus Brothers for the awesome fabric!

I am hoping to have this pattern available for the Spring Quilt Market. So if you're interested in testing this one for me, feel free to email me and I will send you a PDF version of this pattern to test. (I'll drink lots of Mountain Dew tonight and try to get it all written...) 

Happy quilting,