Fireside REtreat - Day Five

I love sewing retreats, but I also love getting home!!! 

I didn't get a whole lot of sewing done, but I did get enough done to make me happy. What made me even happier was getting to spend some time with my friends. Chatting, having a laugh or two, sharing ideas, hopes, fears, and all that stuff. Thanks to everyone for a wonderful time.

What's even better is that while I have work to do this week, there are no deadlines. I have one lecture to present via Zoom, so that will take a bit of prep, but otherwise, the schedule is pretty wide open. And TWO of my paperwork issues were resolved when I got home. I love that. Those two can be crossed off the To-Do list. Yeah!!!

The other thing I love about this group is that NO ONE was in a rush to get home. We all sat around and sewed in the morning. Shoot - I should have taken a picture of the fridge. For the first couple of days when we were four, the refrigerator was almost empty—just a few snacks. Then we had a birthday party and loads of food for the remaining four days. The fridge was jammed FULL - even yesterday morning!

Let's say that it wasn't hard to find lunch yesterday. After lunch and everything was tidy and back in place, we all headed out - within 15 minutes of each other, and we were gone. So everyone got to participate in the clean-up, they are the best! Yes - it was a very successful retreat. Thanks again!!!!

Here's what I worked on yesterday morning. This is my version of the blue scrappy string quilt blocks. I didn't get all the blocks done - but it shouldn't take that long to finish them off.  I'll be working on that later this week.

String pieced blue blocks

Now obviously, the scrap bag isn't as full as when I left, but it sure doesn't look like I took anything out of it! The strings are sorted as well. The little bits for the corners are in one bag. The longer strips are folded in the big bag, and the shorter strings are in another bag inside this big bag. That spring process makes it so much easier to make these blocks.

The bag of blue strings

Depending on which part of the block that I'm working on, it's easy to find a string that is the right length. I've got a HUGE bag of green and another one of red strings that need to be sorted. One of those will go to the next retreat - which isn't for several months in case you're wondering!

I hope to keep working on this bag of blue and get it totally used up! I may need to be buying a sheet from the thrift store to use as the foundation for that next quilt.

I totally get it that many people wouldn't "waste" their time working with these scraps, but it gives me so much satisfaction. It's bizarre.

Do I need/want more scraps? Absolutely NOT!!! I've got enough of my own stuff to contend with. I look at that space in the storage room where all the community projects stuff is being stored. Even though we've made tremendous progress, it still seems like there is so much there.

Even though I did take ONE laundry basket of projects to the retreat, this is what I had to unload from the car when I got home. Well, not the dog! She stayed home, but it's a challenge to walk in the door when three dogs are so happy to see you! Although Lexi is pretty aloof. "OH - you're home. Thank god!" And then walks away!

The car is unloaded

Oh - my bike and all the bike stuff got unloaded into the garage. The drive home was LONG as the traffic was terrible. I don't understand why people would go to the cottage on Friday and then leave by lunch on Sunday. What's the point??? I sure couldn't do it. My drive usually takes 1 ½ hours. It took almost ONE extra hour to get home. That's totally crazy!! Thank goodness, we only have to deal with that once a year as the other retreat dates aren't during the tourist season.

But if ever you get a chance to go to a retreat, you should go. Speaking of which, if you're interested, I might have a spot or two open in June next year. E-mail me, and we can talk.

When I got home, I had mail on the tale. That's always exciting. There was a time when we used to get a lot of mail. Then there was an even longer time when we didn't seem to get anything good. And now, with ordering stuff online and whatever, I seem to be getting lots of stuff each week. Well, not lots, but one or two things.

Yesterday I got the fabric that I ordered from eQuilter back in June. Notice how it was sent. Priority Airmail.

The package was sent Priority Airmail

And check out the date that it was sent. Yes - that says June 22, 2020.

The date the package was sent

It wasn't a large package, but holy - that's crazy. I've been pretty lucky with everything that I've ordered these days. This came from Colorado. I've ordered from them in the past, and there were no issues. It's all the COVID thing and the amount of stuff that's being shipped.

Anyway - I got the cosmic fabric that I ordered for a quilt for M. Now to design the backing and make the front.

Fabric for a quilt for M

Speaking of the skies - I saw this beautiful rainbow last night. I had decided to go for a walk since I hadn't done too much walking during the day. I knew it was going to rain, so I took an umbrella and Little Bear. We did get caught in the rain, but it wasn't all that bad. And then when we came out of the forest, there was this beautiful rainbow.

A rainbow

I had taken everything downstairs when I got home, but I didn't do a thing to unpack or put stuff away. I sat in the gazebo and finished my book, and YES - I started another one. I have to as I have 13 books that I need to pick up tomorrow. That's what happens when you don't quite get them all back on suspend!!!

The new one is very exciting, which is excellent since it's over 600 pages long!

So this morning, it was time to get myself organized and start putting stuff away from the retreat.

Stuff to put away

Thank goodness, I only took that laundry basket. It was chock a block full, but look how full it still is when it came back. That's all stuff to do, not projects I worked on. My goal is to get the projects in those three containers done over the next couple of weeks. It always seems like I'm not getting much done these days  - but I've got days scheduled, so we'll see how it goes.

What I'll be working on

 This is only part of what I need to work on. Thankfully, it's all for me. I'm waiting on two more packages of fabric to arrive, and then I'll have deadlines to deal with.

OH - I almost forgot to mention that we had visitors again last night. Same time as the last two times. This time there were TWO coyotes and they were going crazy. Lexi is trying to get at them through the gate and they are trying to get at her through the gate. Little Bear was in the house with the door shut. I didn't get pictures this time, but they seem to be getting aggressive. Well, they are aggressive because my dogs are freaking out and trying to get to them. I understand that there is a place that we can report the sightings to the city so I'll be logging all three incidents this morning.

Don't forget that if you can't get to a real retreat, there is a Virtual Retreat coming up on August 22nd and 23rd. The retreat will run from 9 AM to 8 PM on Zoom. If you've been feeling isolated, this is a great way to get in touch with other quilters or sewists and have a good chat. Stop by to say hello or stay for the entire day. It's totally up to you and it's totally free. Hope to see you there!!!!

On that note, I do have a bit of paperwork to deal with this morning, and then it's Monday sewing!!!!!

Hae a super day!!!!


Ciao!!!