Real sewing at the retreat

The vertigo is better and seems only to affect me if I bend down. My world no longer spins behind closed eyes while lying in bed. But I need to watch some of the links/sources you are providing. It's one of those things—do I want to cut into my sewing time or watch the video? How silly of me! My health should be a priority!

OK—so I had some real sewing at the treat yesterday. I had gotten to a point on my QUILTsocial posts that I couldn't progress further without another tool, which I tried to borrow from a number of people, but no one had it. I would happily buy one, but I already have one at home and am not going to buy something I have. So, I made some progress and will sew a bit more today, but I won't be able to go further without that tool. 

I'm going to a quilt store this morning to see if they can help me. 

Since I couldn't work on those projects, I got busy and worked on the things that I brought with me. I'm happy to say that now, there are only three projects that I have not touched in my basket, and I might just make a block of each just to say I worked on everything. 

I also found a bag of half-square triangles that I want to trim, but I'm working on another group of HSTs to cut, so not sure if I'll get to the second bag. 

I brought a camera so I could try to figure out the menu and a small bag that I wanted to rip out and reinsert the zipper. 

Let's have a look at what happened yesterday. 

Here are the half-square triangles I mentioned. A large bag of HSTs needs to be stitched, and I'm using them as enders and leaders. 

There is a pile on the ironing board that needs to be pressed, and I periodically take a break to press some of them. 

Half square triangles to press

And then, when the mood strikes, I move to the cutting table and trim some. 

Trimming half-square triangles

I'm making good progress on that, and I should always include a bag of half-square triangles to be trimmed for every retreat. It's less boring when there are people around. And I have a "few" bags of them at home to be trimmed. 

Then, I grabbed this project. 

The next project

The feathered star block was done, and given the two included photographs, I think it was supposed to be part of a larger quilt at some point. Well, seriously—do I need another large feathered star quilt? Nope—I've already got several at home. So, I trimmed up the few half-square triangles I found with the quilt. When I get home, the pictures will go in the garbage, and the two fat quarters and the green will go in the appropriate fabric baskets. 

I took the two pieces of yardage and added borders. I think I had decided a while back that I would NOT make the quilt larger. I wonder why those other bits were in the bag. I think some of these smaller projects would work as wheelchair quilts. I must check into that! 

The feathered star quilt is done

I even mitered the corners on the outer border. It looks great and is an opportunity to practice using the computer on my long arm. 

Then I made the binding and the backing, and when I get home, it will go in the "to be quilted" pile. Yeah!!!

Binding and backing - also made

It's always a challenge to decide what to work on next, and I just grabbed a bag with some black-and-white blocks in it. I sewed all the blocks together to get this. 

A mini-quilt

While I like the quilt, it's small - only 36" by 48". Let's leave that for the moment. 

The blocks were made of black fabric with white markings, and the framing was in orange and yellow. 

I also had a set of blocks made of white fabric with black markings and black frames. I sewed those together to make a quilt of the same size. 

A second small quilt

So now what? I knew there was another bag in the basket that held strips of black and white fabrics that were slated for another quilt. 

Black and white fabrics in another bag

This was supposed to be for a split nine-patch quilt. 

Even the ruler for cutting triangles from strips was in the bag. 

There's my Easy Angle Tool!

Now technically, this is a very bad habit because if I wanted to use that ruler for something else, would I remember where it is? NO! Although I have two other sizes of this ruler, when I get home, I'll put this ruler back on the ruler wall. And if that project goes back into the retreat basket, I should note that I need to get that ruler! Yes, what a clever idea that is!!!

I had started to cut for the split 9-patch, but this is all I had so far. 

Pieces cut for a split 9-patch quilt

I decided it would make sense to "harvest" the strips set aside for the split 9-patch and cut them up for the one that is too small. So that's what I did this morning. 

Cutting strips to make the smaller quilt larger

No one else gets up as early as I do, so I had the entire room to myself. I put on my audiobook and LOVE having those big empty tables to cut on. My cutting table faces a wall; it just doesn't feel that expansive even when it's completely empty. 

And this is what I cut. I didn't have enough to cut for the 24 extra blocks I needed, but I made a note and will dig out more black and white fabric when I get home. 

New pieces for more blocks

The pieces that were too small for the current project were further sub-cut for the split 9-patch, and a small pile of scrap was left over. All are bagged and tagged and will be put away when I get home. 

I also cut the orange and yellow strips for the new blocks. 

The current state of this project

I'm missing some black fabric and some orange for the strips, so I'll collect that when I get home and try to get the remainder cut or at least put it into the bag. I'll deal with it at the next retreat. For the moment, I'm calling this project done. 

I decided to do the same for the white and black quilt while I'm at it. There are some bits of white left over, two big bundles of strips, and some black, so that's on the cutting table for this morning. 

The status of the second quilt

It was a great day, and I needed that little boost to get me motivated to continue working on my stuff when I get home. It's been a long time since I've sewn anything, and I was starting to feel like I wasn't getting anywhere. But that has changed! Yeah!!

So, I'll cut the black and white and then look at the remaining three projects and see what I can do! Sometimes, you need to do that to remind yourself if something is missing to work on the project.  

All is good! We had a big storm last night, with lots of rain and thunder, but we were snug as a bug inside, so no worries. I'll be out for a walk this morning before it gets hot. 

On that note, I'm out of here! Having a super time at the retreat, and I'm finally feeling relaxed! I guess that's because of the naps on the sofa! There is one quilt on the sofa that I love - I must take a picture of it - I think it's the quilting, not the quilt that I love. I think I just found the pattern, so I must order it. I have several things I want to place an order for, but I'll do that when I get home. 

WAIT—what about cleaning out your drawers? You cannot tell me that you are done! There are drawers in the kitchen, the bathroom, the hall closet, the sideboard, the cabinets in the living room, your bedroom, and your sewing room. Keep working until you get those drawers cleaned out. 

Do not just move the stuff to a new spot or put it in a box. Try to deal with it. The more you learn to deal with your stuff, the easier it becomes. I laugh because I did this to my kitchen, and I could do it again. But I emptied so much stuff out of one drawer that things slide around in there now! There are hazards to decluttering, but I'd rather have an almost empty drawer than one that is crammed with things I no longer need. 

Have a super day!

Ciao!!!