Scrap quilts at the retreat

 I MUST remember that what happens at the retreat stays at the retreat; however, last night, the conversation of our current pandemic arose as we all sat in the living room, and these conversations drive me crazy. 

All I can say is that common sense does not prevail even in our group! Why? Well, the future of our world is going to be riddled with epidemics, pandemics, and such. Even the common cold and flu can be a hazard to many people's health. 

My suggestion is to get more rest, drink lots of water, don't use antiseptic wipes for everything - small common basic things that CAN (but NO guarantee) help improve our health. We need to find ways to boost or prevent our immune systems from declining. I get it that some people already have compromised immune systems -- I get that, and I also get that perfectly healthy people can contract a disease and die. Maybe, they weren't so healthy after all?? 

Anyway -- the point is that I suggested some BASIC ways to decrease stress (a HUGE factor in unhealthiness) get more sleep (also a HUGE factor in our health), and I got jumped on! Words got put in my mouth, and well --- I should know better. NOTHING is a guarantee, and some situations are unavoidable, but if we can make small changes in our lives and try to stay healthier, why wouldn't we do that? Yep -- I also have issues sleeping from time to time -- just move on and have a nap!

The current pandemic is an OFF-TOPIC for me going forward, and I NEVER want to talk about it again. Not putting my head in the sand, but sheesh -- let's get over this and STOP watching the news. 

Here's an interesting thing, though, that did come out of our conversation last night and another reason to not watch the news. The news (for the most part) is NOT catering to our age group. Nope -- it is geared towards the younger generation, instant gratification, and many other things. Yep -- that's a good reason to NOT watch it. 

I had to laugh because, at lunch, we chatted about something -- like we all still like each other after being together for 5 full days. And so, there was no drama. There was drama last night, and I had trouble getting to sleep. NO MORE discussion about the pandemic. Just walk away -- walk away -- do NOT argue because everyone has their perspective, and I'm over it. 

Anyway, just remember when you are a guest at the retreat -- we should NOT talk about controversial subjects and complaints? Well, I don't listen to complaints! However, the complaints could influence who comes to the next retreat -- just saying!

Sorry -- I needed to get that off my chest. 

Well, it's time to wind the retreat down -- it's the last day of the retreat, and it's been loads of fun. It's the one that we stayed at the house the most. We had one trip to Thimbles and Things - three of us went. Two people went to Cobwebs and Caviar, and I went to the grocery store and one Tims run. That's it -- the rest of the time, no one budged. Although Helen Anne and I walked every day - regardless of the wind and the temperature. 

Two of the group ran out of sewing projects last night. WHAT?????  I've barely touched my bag of projects, and I was a bit bummed, but then I think back to what I did, and I really can't complain. 

Here's my sewing table last night, and I must say that it's looking pretty clean, and it's even cleaner this morning. 

My sewing table

So what did I do? Well, I had a lot of writing to do, and I had to sew my project for that. You'll see that later this week. I have a wee bit to finish on it this morning, and then it'll be done. I'll finish the writing part later today. 

I had all those half-square triangles that I was making into hourglass units. I've been using them as enders and leaders, and I have made good progress. 

My hourglass units

I have a few different sizes, and once I'm home, I match them up with the bags of hourglass units that are already complete. Then it should be time to start sewing some of them together. 

I still have this many to finish the second seam, cut them apart and trim them, and I'll be working on that this morning. 

More hourglass blocks to trim

However, I brought two bags of flannel scraps with me, one was pink, and one was purple. I've been making fabric by sewing the odd sizes pieces or strips together to make blocks. 

I made one quilt top (sorry -- you'll see it later this week) that had 42 blocks in it. I made a kit for a second quilt with 42 blocks, and the third kit has 40 blocks. When I get home, I'll add two more blocks and hit the stash. 

Then I decided to dive into the purple bag, and I'm almost done. Here's the stack of blocks that I've made so far. 

The purple flannel scrap blocks

And this is all that remains to be sewn together. That shouldn't take long, and I think I'll get 49 or 50 blocks!!! All that from scraps. 

All that remains of the purple flannel scraps

And I should say that some of these scraps have been hanging around my studio for YEARS, so it's good to get them used up!

So I can't really lament not getting anything done while I was here. Those scrap bags took way longer to deal with than I thought they would. But it was a good mindless project to work on. 

I still have bags of yellow, green, blue, red, brown, and lights at home. Oh my --- I'll never get through all those scraps!!! And I have some bags of strips that need to be sewn up, and I might bring that to the next retreat. It's a good thing to sew at a retreat, or perhaps it's time to have a community project sewing day, and we work on reducing those scrap bags!!  I've made good progress, but I would like to get rid of the stuff, so it frees up some space in that storage room. No worry -- any progress is progress, and I'm OK with that. 

The wind was whipping around the house like crazy yesterday, and I may have to shovel a wee bit around the door. I have to take a picture of how the wind whipped around the sewing room. The path is completely clear, with a pile of snow right beside it!!

Despite the little discussion last night, we had loads of fun, but I'm ready to go home. I wonder what fun and adventures await me there! I bet my neighbor isn't going to be happy with me as I reported her to the city about putting snow in the street. My thoughts on that? If you can't shovel your drive and you can't pay someone to clear it, it's time to move! And for heaven's sake, she doesn't have a car, so technically, she doesn't need to shovel the darn thing anyway! Or shovel only half and put the snow in the other half so they can park in the driveway if someone does come. 

OH my -- I'm a bit grumpy this morning, it appears!!!  I'm not -- just sometimes, one must get things off their chest!

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!