Quilt Retreat - Day Three

OK -- so what happened to the weather? It's only 19°C this morning, cloudy, with rain expected. If it were me, I'd have all the AC units off, but I'm not alone in the house. I've turned the temperature up (or down), turned the fans off, and I'm still cold. I'd get my jacket, except my roommate is still sleeping! 

We are leaving today, and I'm glad that this retreat is a short one. OH - not because I haven't enjoyed myself. I've done a lot of sewing and met new friends, and it's all been great. However, I have a lot to accomplish in July, and with barely any time between Quilt Canada and this retreat, I really need some time to regroup.

I've been watching the timer on my sewing machine - strictly for fun. It shows how many hours and minutes I've been sewing. I've been pretty busy sewing for three days, yet the actual amount of time the machine has been working? Not even three hours! That's insane!!!!

I went for a walk in the morning and chose a different direction as I thought I might locate a geocache or two. Well, my head was so turned around with the directions. When I got to the road, I turned, and my first thought was - mosquitoes and bugs. Hmm - let's not forget ticks. I keep forgetting them because they're not on my radar, but they should be! 

Do I really want to walk down that road? 

I turned around, and oh my goodness, they are laying fresh gravel. It didn't seem to need new gravel, but that didn't stop the trucks and the grader from working. 

Fresh gravel 

I don't know how many big trucks passed me. I stopped and stood on the side of the road, and all was good. 

The massive gravel trucks

I managed to find one geocache, but not before I carefully went into the ditch (checking for water) and searched a tree. Gosh - I sure hope there are no snakes around here! I didn't find the next one, so I decided to continue walking and forget about the geocaches. 

A cache hidden in plain sight

And then it was back to the house and back to work. I got the borders (4) on this small quilt, and it will make a perfect quilt for a child. 

Quilt top - DONE

The others went into town for lunch, where they met other members of their sewing group who didn't come to the retreat. I stayed at the house and sewed. I had lots of large pieces left in the kit and decided to make the backing for the quilt. 

The backing for the quilt

And now we know why kits are so expensive!! YES --- plenty of fabric in the leftovers for the backing, and I still have about 1 yard of fabric leftover! That's OBSCENE!!!

The binding strips were cut, so I sewed them together and pressed them. It's ready to go in the "to be quilted" pile when I get home! That is always very exciting!!!

Ready to be quilted

Here's a picture of the sewing room. There is plenty of room for six people to sew. It's all very modern, lovely tables and chairs, ironing stations, and cutting tables. This is looking towards the kitchen. 

The sewing room 

And this is looking into the room. There is plenty of natural light, but also pot lights overhead that provide good light even at night. Although we sat around the kitchen table last night and talked. I did NOT sew after dinner, which is very unusual for me. 

Lots of natural light

The retreat house is called The Fabric Loft Retreat House. 

After lunch, one of the ladies came and got me as we were going to a quilt store that was 4 KM away. WOW!!! But when we arrived, it was closed as they were preparing for a GARAGE SALE today! Oh boy --- it's only 4 KM away. I suppose we'll go and take a look this morning. It's called Bobbins and Bolts. They also raise Clydesdale horses on their farm!! 

Bolts and Bobbins

Karen (the retreat owner) also has fabric in the loft over her garage, so we went over before dinner and had a look. OK - I bought a pattern and some fabric which I didn't need, but it was pretty! 

I'm now working on the last project in my bag, but it's a doozy!! It's a bag of Oh Canada fabric - some yardage and lots of scraps. I'll bet there's enough fabric in the bag for four lap quilts and possibly five! 

I worked out the measurements in the afternoon, and I've been spending my time cutting, which I never do at retreat, but it's working. 

My cut pieces for the Oh Canada quilt

I started sewing this morning, and I'll continue to work until we leave shortly after lunch. Checkout time isn't until 4 PM, but I think I only stayed right up until the checkout time once. That was a 3 PM checkout time. I have a two-hour drive home, and while I could take the toll highway, I wasn't planning to, although I might consider it. It isn't cheap, but it saves a lot of time. I think most of the others are planning to leave around noon. I'll see how it goes. 

I got a chuckle this morning as this is the condition of the room! The tables are covered with fabric and stuff. My table is not too bad, but compared to some of the other retreats, it's a bit messy. But that's OK - we're allowed! 

The sewing room is a tad messy!

It's been great fun, and I'm looking forward to the next retreat. Oh, you don't want to know about that one. All is good, but let's just say that July is a busy month! Not with deadlines - OK, there are a couple of deadlines, but with travel, retreats, and those couple of deadlines, it's going to be jam-packed. And people are eager to finalize plans for September! A couple of phone calls and a few hours should have everything organized! 

And you won't believe this. I was on a call yesterday, and guess what happened? They couldn't hear me a couple of times. And I thought it was only my cell tower back home. Sgh....  I must try to get that fixed as it's annoying as everything! 

On that happy note, I'm off to continue sewing on my quilt top, which will be donated to Quilts of Valour. Y p - I spend my retreats sewing on everything but my projects. O  - the occasional oe gets thrown in. But it all has to be done, so let's just pick one and move on! 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!