Fun times at the Virtual Retreat

 Oh my gosh -- we had the BEST time on the Virtual Retreat! You have to LOVE technology!! I had to be absent for part of it as I played chauffeur, but I could connect in the car once I dropped my passengers off, and I got to chat while I drove home.

There are so many things that we can talk about -- why do we need to talk about such a controversial topic like COVID? I have no issues with discussing it or it being a topic of conversation. What drives me crazy is when it gets heated because people lack the correct information or misinterpret existing information! I get so frustrated during these conversations, I could spit! And I think I did yesterday! We have a PERMANENT NO-COVID rule on the Virtual Retreat, and when it starts to get out of hand, I shut the conversation down!

I had one goal in mind for the day, and I managed to accomplish that. The goal was to finish the LAST TWO rows of this All in a Row quilt. I'm happy to say that the row of stars (just above the owls) is DONE! All the seams of those star blocks are twirled, and they fit together very nicely. 

All in a Row quilt

If you think those stars were easy to sew? Think again! The center of each is 2". The pieces above are 2" by 2 1/8," and the corner units were 2 1/8" square. You know it's sad when you are sewing, and you can tell that one of the units is 2 1/8" by 2 ¼" without measuring! Fortunately, I only made that one cutting error, and it was easy to rip that out and fix it. Then it went together like a charm. 

The last major goal was to do the stitching on the applique camper row. I've been putting that off for months and well -- no time like the present to make that happen. 

Oh shoot -- I forgot to take a picture of the applique that I prepped for my UFO project. OK -- I just ran downstairs to get that photo. Hmmm -- maybe I could learn to really love applique. I LOVE the look of applique, but it's very time-consuming. 

Applique UFO homework

And I'm happy to report that the camper row is now done!!!!  Here are my trees. 

Trees are done!

I intended to stitch a blanket stitch around the edges, but I decided to do a satin stitch instead. I'm really fast with satin stitch, and I can go around the corners and indents with minimal issues, so satin stitch it was! 

And on the section that joined the two halves of the trees, I used a mossy satin stitch. See how both edges are not even. I LOVE that stitch. 

Mossy satin stitch

And there are my cute mushrooms!!!

The mushrooms

So all that's left is to trim the two applique rows and sew the rows together. I still have to stitch the applique for the two side borders (it's mostly prepped). The last step will be to decide on what final border the quilt will have. I know what I want; I just need to figure out the math. Yahoo!!! My goal is to have this done by the next class, which is not that far away! 

I'm doing not badly with keeping up, but it's a challenge, to say the least, and well, I have a couple of writing assignments that need to be done by - well, let's just say they need to be done ASAP. So that has been the morning's focus so far and will be for the rest of the day. 

I have some sewing to do before I can finish writing, so I'll do that during Monday sewing, but I think I'll have to leave them for a bit as I do some writing. 

I did have help last night! What a goof!! 

The helper!

And at one point, he walked over the keyboard and put me in airplane mode, so I lost the internet and the Zoom call. Silly boy!!!

Look at me!!!! 

And then seriously  -- why does Murphy do this? This bed is way too small for her, but she loves it. Her butt hangs over the edge, but she is quite content, so who am I to throw it out? 

Murphy in her tiny bed

We have company for a few more days, and it's a struggle with time to be sure. But we'll make it all happen. 

Oh, here's some eye candy for you. Some of the award-winning quilts were announced yesterday for the Quilt Festival in Houston. It's a weird world because normally the winners are announced on the preview night. Even better is that we viewed them as a group yesterday on Zoom and got input on them as a group. That was a fabulous experience, and thanks to everyone for that!! I really enjoyed the "quilt show." We didn't get to see the quilts in super detail, but we oohed and aahed collectively over the workmanship. 

Wow -- some of those quilts are beyond belief! Look at the two pineapple quilts. Those blocks are tiny with many pieces per block, and we were complaining about a 5" pineapple block when we did the Long Time Gone quilt!! How long did it take them to make these works of art? 

It's time to get moving and off to spin class at the gym. Then back to walk the dogs and then sewing and writing for the remainder of the day!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!