Quilt Retreat - Day Two

Significant progress is being made at the quilt retreat!! Thankfully, the temperature is dropping, so it's much more comfortable. I don't think any building was comfortable the previous day. Yesterday, we were nice and comfy, and with lower temperatures today, we may not even need the AC. OK, so that's me, but the others may feel differently. I actually felt slightly chilly in the room this morning!

Shoot, I meant to take a picture of the sewing room, but I'll save that for tomorrow. 

I started the day (after several hours of sewing) with a walk. Of course  - I like my morning walk. But where to walk to? I just started walking on the road and went where it took me. The big question is, when should I turn around? I ended up walking to this little spot. 

My destination on the walk

Back in the day, I'm sure that was the spot for a little community, a school, a community hall, or something. Sadly, there is just this sign left. 

I was watching my FitBit to see the steps/kms I was taking, and the darn thing was lagging. Let's just say that I got almost my daily quota in that walk—it was close to 9 km! Thankfully, there was some decent shade for about half the walk and a breeze on the way back. And the temps were still lower. It was all good! 

But it was a two-nap day! I was just tired, and I don't think it was from the walk, although I'm sure that didn't help. But with all the pressures leading up to Quilt Canada, and now having "nothing" to do, my body just said - I'm tired! So I listened and had two naps. I'm perfectly OK with that. 

I didn't bring many projects, so the goal will be to touch them all! OK—I'll do what I can. I have this Mondo bag that I started at another retreat. I've brought it to several retreats since. My goal this time was to finish improv piecing the lining! There were four sections, and I'm happy to report that all of them are done! You saw section one yesterday. 

Section Two

Section Three

Section Four

Someone said I may like the inside better than the outside. The pieces are the leftovers from Urbanology. OH—I said that yesterday. Well, no worries. I still have a small bag of scraps, which I'll throw in the retreat bag for next time. I'll piece them together to make a zippered pouch or something. It seems a shame to let them go to waste. 

Yes, I know many of you wouldn't touch those small scraps, and that's OK. We each have our idiosyncrasies—I LOVE little pieces. Trust me, when I have to downsize, I'll be using those scrap boxes of mine, and they will keep me busy for many years. Should I ever get dementia, give me a bag of fabric scraps of various colors, and I'll spend all day sorting them. Then mix them up and give them to me the next day! 

I pulled out the next project. This one belonged to Diane. It is a nice geometric quilt, and the columns were sewn together, but I have to say they were not well sewn. So I decided to rip one of the columns (there are 18) apart and check if they were cut properly. I don't have a 60-degree ruler with me, so one is apart, and I'll check the cutting when I get home. 

Ripping apart some triangles

If all is good, I'll resew the column together. If not, I'll recut the triangles to a consistent size and sew them together. I sorted and folded all the strips, which thankfully Diane labelled. 

Ripping those columns apart and recutting (if necessary) would be a perfect job for a Virtual Retreat. There is one this weekend! It's Saturday night from 6 - 9 PM and Sunday from 3 - 9 PM. 

Diane's geometric quilt is sorted

Then it was on to another project. This one belonged to Barb. Yes, I know—I come to retreat to sew little scraps together or work on someone else's project, and I'm OK with that. It all has to be dealt with, and this next one is easy. Patience is a virtue!!!!! 

The next project

I made the half-square triangles for the blocks in the border. This morning, I added two small borders and made the pinwheel blocks. There are two more borders to add, and the binding is cut, and I'll work on that this morning. I hope to use all the excess fabric for the backing, and then that can be done and added to the "to be quilted" pile. It will be donated to Project Linus. I already asked, and they will take this kind of quilt. 

Also, in my retreat bag, I had some half-square triangles (enders and leaders) that needed to be pressed and trimmed. I take a wee break, press four, and trim them. 

Trimming half-square triangles

There is only one large project left in the bag—more scraps! Two bags of triangles (enders and leaders) can easily stay in the next retreat bag. I did very well packing for this trip. How many retreats did it take for that to happen?

And here's the sunrise this morning from the sewing room! 

Sunrise

It's a bit different being a guest at a retreat instead of the one who did all the organizing, and I LOVE it. When the group has questions, they ask each other! I'm free to do whatever I want and I can leave whenever I want—not that I want to leave early—but it's great fun! This isn't the first retreat where I'm a guest—I did attend a large one in the US many years ago! 

I took a quick trip to Lindsay yesterday to pick up lunch supplies. I can't believe I forgot those supplies, but no worries! 

Well, I must finish the blog, and then I'm going for a walk. I will not be going as far as I did yesterday—I'm only going one concession, not two! But this road is busy—school buses, cars, and municipal trucks. But all is good, and they give me a wide berth! 

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!!!

Quilt Retreat - Day One

I got up bright and early (OK—the usual time) and prepped to come to a quilting retreat. I know—the timing wasn't the best, so soon after Quilt Canada, but it is what it is. I had an opportunity to visit a brand new retreat house, and well, when opportunity knocks, you need to take advantage of the situation. 

I used those packing skills I learned at Quilt Canada to put everything into the car. 

A few things for the retreat

I have probably brought the least amount of stuff ever to a retreat. A sewing machine, two bags of projects, my office bag with nothing besides my computer, clothes, and some food. That's it!!! The fan is NOT mine. 

My meagre pile of sewing projects

My two bags look small in the corner, but that's OK. I know I have enough to keep me busy while I'm here! And because I don't have a huge variety, I'm "forced" to sew what I brought. 

So, where am I? This new place is called the Fabric Loft Retreat House. This is the house, and it looks intriguing. The sewing room is in the front over the garage. 

The new retreat house

This is a wonderful older farm house that has been completely renovated on the inside. The sewing room is large and bright, although we've been sewing with the curtains/blinds closed because of the sun. We are trying to keep the heat out! Although we do not have central air, standalone units in the bedrooms and the sewing room make for comfortable sewing. I find it cool this morning in the sewing room. 

My favorite thing about this house is the sewing tables!!!

The sewing tables

They are sturdy and adjustable! Oh my --- I love them so much that I might replace two tables at my house—the ones that I use for my embroidery machines. There is ZERO bounce on these, and even though I have wooden banquet tables at home, these are much better! 

I didn't measure the tops, but I believe these are 2 feet by 6 feet or something like that! 

My neat sewing station

The owner, who is very sweet, came over last night to see how we were making out. OH—the house is located on a farm near Lindsay, Ontario. This is good because in the morning, when I packed, I brought lunch for yesterday, but completely forgot about lunch for the other three days! DUH!!! 

We love the adjustable tables, and I found a handle under my table. OK, but how do we adjust the height? No wonder I couldn't spot the mechanism because it was covered with my scraps. 

My scrap pile

If you move the scraps, guess what? There's the handle! You can buy mechanized ones, but seriously? How often are you going to move it up and down? I lowered mine by about an inch this morning as I felt my neck and shoulders tight—probably from not sewing at all for weeks! It feels much better. 

The handle to adjust the table

Now, if I were smart, I could search and find some of these online and have them delivered by the time I get home! 

Some of these pictures need to be rotated, but that's not going to happen—I'm not sure how to do that here. Anyway, these are my enders and leaders. This is what remains from the blocks I got from Barb when she downsized. I have a full set of blocks made, and these are the leftovers. AH—the leftovers—there are always leftovers! 

My enders and leaders

I had made 120 six-inch blocks, and for the first project, I pulled out the bag and sewed them into four-patches. 

Sewing the blocks into four-patches

Then, I sewed the four patches together, and by mid-afternoon, I had a quilt top! That makes me very happy. This quilt top will be quilted and donated to an organization! 

The first project at the retreat

Then, onto the next project, a Mondo bag that I started several years ago at a retreat. I am working with some Tula Pink fabrics, which I'm not really fond of, and I certainly don't need another tote bag! Hence, it has languished in the retreat box for a while. Well, it has to be done as I don't have much else to do. 

The outer part of the bag is done, and I need to make the lining. In an effort to get rid of the small bits, I'm piecing them together. These are actually the cutoffs from the Urbanology quilt I taught several years ago. YES—there are curved scraps, and I'm determined to use them up! You know me - make something from nothing! 

The scraps for the lining

Here is one of the four panels required for the lining. One down—three to go! That is progress!!

Panel one of four is complete!

After dinner, I went for a walk—actually, it was about 8:30. While the temperature was 31 degrees with a humidex of who knows what, there was a bit of a breeze, and the sun was behind the trees, which was very pleasant. 

Walking along the road

I'll be out for another walk as soon as I finish the blog. Let's walk before the temperature goes nuts, although today is supposed to be several degrees cooler than yesterday! 

This is how Miss Murphy stays cool. I put some water in her pool. The only problem is that I usually use the larger pool, and when she attempted to lie down, that wouldn't work! 

MOM -- the pool is too small for me!!!!

I slept like a log and heard nothing all night, so that was great! It is very quiet and the house is quiet - there is room for six people and we are six. 

And on that note, I'm out of here!!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!