It's always exciting to be at a quilt retreat. I love being at this retreat house (Retreat at the Farm); we missed all the chaos in the city yesterday. Apparently, the rain was incredible, and the flooding caused many issues with traffic and power. We didn't have problems with either in our immediate neighborhood, but it wasn't fun for some.
We started the day with a trip to Creekbank Sewing, where we met with Sally, who added to The Pony Express! Actually, it was a very fortunate situation. She had something she no longer wanted and asked if I knew someone who could use it. That person happened to be on the retreat, so the items didn't even get on The Pony Express!!! I love it when that happens. When I decide I no longer want something and have found a home, I want it to go.
But I'm patient—everything will happen in its own time! Patience is a good thing that we should all learn. It helps us cope in situations like yesterday!
I bought a few things, but here's my view of the quilt stores these days. I look at everything that is NOT fabric. I do not need more, but I could be persuaded to buy a new pattern, a new notion, or a supply. I ended up buying two supply items. They are consumables, so they can be used up. I got a notion - it's an old one, but I have wanted one and came away with some inspiration. So all was good.
None of us broke the bank, and I think everything we bought could have been packed into one small bag. We are all in the same situation: We do not need much of anything.
It was interesting because we discussed what we would do if we won the lottery. Guess what? None of us would buy anything big. We may buy a different house, but none of us wanted a bigger house! If I won, I have a list of people who need financial aid and would help them!
I don't seem to have accomplished much in my two days here, but this retreat has never been about madly producing anything. However, any progress is progress, and I must remember that.
It also depends on the projects you pick to work on.
The good news is that I actually finished something. I completed this quilt top.
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| Completed quilt top |
It was a struggle to sew on the sides as there were a lot of seams, and I was working with my old sewing machine. I was getting loads of rippling even though the pieces were the correct length. So, with patience and many pins, both sides were on!!! This project has been to several retreats, and now—it's done!!!
I made the binding this morning, and I'll make the backing when I'm home. I might even quilt it up, as it's a modern quilt. I have a presentation in the fall on modern quilts, so I can add something new to the offering.
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| The binding |
I also trimmed some half-square triangles.
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| Trimming half-square triangles |
The little pile that I had pressed the other day is trimmed. Now, I have to press the next group. It would be great if I could finish that bag at this retreat so it never comes back! Or I could continue to work on it at home, but I have other stuff to cut. I still have time—slow and steady wins the race!!!
I'm using some of the blocks from the 365-day quilt as my enders and leaders and making some giant flying geese. I hope to have all of those done and trimmed up by the end of today. I'm changing up part of the quilt and making more of the flying geese than was initially required. I have one side of the squares sewn on and am working on the other.
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| My flying geese units |
You can't see it in this photo, but Susan made each of us a personalized napkin, which was incredibly thoughtful of her. Most of us have had ours for a while, but one person got theirs at this retreat. They are nicely hanging on the back of our chair. No one wants to use them!!!!
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| Our personalized napkins |
We are working on something different this afternoon, and of course, it requires fabric. I went through my boxes of novelty prints and found four potentials. I decided to use only one of them. I washed it last night in the sink and cut it up this morning. It's something for the kitchen, and this fabric is so bright and cheery—it's perfect. I used up the entire piece by cutting randomly sized squares that fit the amount of fabric I had.
Then, I used my pinking rotary blade to trim the edges. This took a bit of finessing to make work, but I got it to work.
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| Using the pinking rotary blade |
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| My pinked-edged squares |
I've been keeping up with the walking. I need to get that 12. 7 km in every day. I hope after my walking trip in Spain that the daily average will decrease, as I expect to walk between 25-30 km a day. It's all I'm going to have to do each day, so walking more won't be an issue. We are not going to talk about injuries!
I think that's it for me!! I've got a new project to work on today, but I must do some calculations first.
Have a super day11
Ciao!!!
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