Retreat - Day Two

I'm trying to keep this sewing retreat low key! The last couple of months have been a challenge to everyone, and the fact of getting out is so nice. Sitting and chatting after dinner is something we do at our house all the time, but it's nice to expand that circle of people to chat with, and the topics are certainly more varied. However, it's interesting to note that COVID seems to the topic of conversation everywhere you go.

Thankfully, there is much more to talk about than COVID, and we're doing a great job in making that happen. Sadly, what gets said at retreat stays at retreat!! Unfortunately for you, but not for us! We're keeping to the house as much as possible, except for walks and a few forays out for supplies. All while wearing our PPE to protect ourselves and others.

Are we crazy to be here? Maybe. But, at some point, we're going to need to start venturing out. Still maintaining distances and hand washing and PPE, but we need to start. We need to start small, and we need to watch what we do. I'm a risk-taker much to the chagrin of a lot of people around me, but I'm OK with that. I'm not a huge risk-taker, but I'm OK to get moving. Besides, I'm confident that I'm going to get whacked by a vehicle long before some disease makes me ill.

I did go for a LONG, LONG walk last night. Let's just say that I combined my two walks into one. I don't want to do that again, but it wasn't a big deal. It was beautiful and cool last night, but it was past 9 PM by the time I arrived back at the house. The traffic has been great here, which makes walking even nicer.

My big adventure last night was a big dog came bounding out of a driveway. At first, I thought they had an electric fence. Alas, they did NOT. So that dog went past the boundary of their drive. I looked straight in that dog's face and yelled HEY at the top of my lungs, and the dog stopped - totally confused. But it didn't take one more step! I heard the owner call the dog as it shouldn't have been out on the road. It peacefully went back home.

I walked down past the quarry from the house and took a couple of pictures.

The quarry

I'd love to go into the quarry and walk through it on the roadway. BUT - there are signs posted for NO TRESPASSING and videos, and well, I'm not going in. But I want to!!!

I also saw this flower on my walk. I think it's a Jack in the Pulpit. OH SHOOT - I have the iNaturalist app on my phone, I could have taken a picture. I think I can still upload that picture into the app and check. Anyway - it was pretty, and there were a few of them along the roadside and in the forest.

Jack in the PulpitPulpit

Now, why would I know this flower? I've no idea - I don't remember if from growing up and certainly not in my adult life.


I did manage to get some work done. Not much - but I'm seriously OK with that. I have a ton of work to do with a very pressing deadline when I get home, so there'll be no downtime next week.

I brought my tumbling blocks quilt. I managed to get six - yep - SIX of the blocks sewn together. There are three Y-seams in each block, so I figure it's an excellent project to do in small bits—a great way to warm up for the day. Let's just say that my seams look much better than they did 20 years ago when I first sewed these blocks.

I

Tumbling blocks

I'm also working on the snail's trails blocks, and I think I got 6 blocks together yesterday. I'm still cutting some of the fabrics as I go, so I did a bit of cutting yesterday as well. I hope to get more cut today, and I'll focus on those blocks.

I did a wee bit more work on one of the bags, but I was missing supplies. Obviously, I did NOT prepare as well as I thought I did, so that has to be done BEFORE the next retreat. Then I'll bring those bags back to retreat and work on them.

Laura was making a border for a quilt and had a bunch of rectangles lined up nice and neat. We "forced" her to put them into a bag and randomly sew them together.  She had a lot of trouble with that task as she is very analytical, and so this was a challenge. She passed!!!

Laura's bag of rectangles

Ronda is working on a multi-border quilt, and there are her strips so beautifully laid out. I'll have to get a picture of the quilt!

Ronda's stops for her blue and white quilt

Dede wanted to learn how to do English Paper Piecing, so she got a lesson from Susan, who is the one amongst us who has done the most of this technique. 

Learning how to English paper piece

Dede purchased a bag of hexagons at Thimbles and Things, along with a mini charm pack. Here's her first flower.

Dede's first flower

I think she's hooked!!!! And she did an amazing job.

Kathi got this quilt top together, and it's gorgeous. She was contemplating putting another border on it, but we're convinced her that this is finished!!!  It was a kit - I don't remember the name, but that ombre fabric looks stunning in it.

Kathi's quilt top

There's more, but that's all that I took pictures of! I'll try to do better today, but I'm trying to get something done. HA !!!!!

Before I left, I had set up the homework for the groups that I was to be teaching this weekend. I did the e-mails before I left and set up a timer for the e-mails to be sent. I wasn't sure if it was going to work, but it did!! The first one went out last night. And one more is scheduled to go this morning and one more that I have to send manually. You got to love technology.

If you want to be part of the whole retreat thing, well - I've got options. If ever you're interested in attending a physical retreat - let me know. I'm always looking for new people, and if enough people are interested, I'm happy to make up a date. It's easy to get dates at this point in time!! But if that doesn't work for you, then I have the virtual retreat coming up on July 18 an 19th. Be sure to stop in to say HI!!!

On that note, I"m out of here!!!

Have a great day!!1!


Ciao!!!