retreat - project #2

After all those triangles, I was ready to slip back into my comfort zone! I was inspired by this quilt on Jeni's blog In Color Order (another vintage sheet fan!), and knew this would be a fun and simple retreat project. I went through my stack of pre-cut sheets (6" squares), and grabbed any that I liked that I had at least 5 of. I brought about 80 prints, when all I needed was about 30! Oh well, it gave me plenty to choose from at the retreat!

I really love the simplicity of it. I didn't think too hard about the layout - I just narrowed it down to my favorite prints (anything 'colorful'), and then I slapped them up on the design wall. I did some minimal rearranging as I went, but I really tried not to over-think it.

(I stole this picture from Karen's blog post). The purple square really jumps out, doesn't it? I probably won't get this quilted until next year. In the meantime, it will languish in 'quilt purgatory' (draped over the stair railing upstairs), where I'll get enjoy petting it whenever I walk by!

retreat - project #1

The quilt retreat was awesome! I was fighting a stupid cold the whole time, but I was determined to not let it get the best of me. There were no super late nights this year, but when we weren't eating or sleeping, we were sewing! Here are my buddies Quynh and blogless Suzette (not great pictures, sorry! I hate my new camera.... grr....)

My biggest project by far was a half-square-triangle quilt. It's been on my wish-list since I saw this quilt last summer. Loved, loved, loved it! I started with 5" squares, with white for the background, and 32 prints from my stash (mostly "colonial" type reproductions), in all sorts of pink, peach and salmon-y colors. I came to the retreat with all the squares cut, and the white ones marked for sewing. It took me about 8 hours just to sew, cut and press all the HSTs! I made them in the standard fashion (sewing 1/4" on both sides of the diagonal), except that I trimmed the corners before I cut along the diagonal. I don't know where I read this tip, but if you fold the square along the diagonal and snip across the corner (perpendicular to the raw edges, not perpendicular to the fold), it makes a notch in the corner such that you don't have to do any trimming after you cut and press the HSTs. It works great - but only if you're very precise! My HSTs were pretty good, but not exactly perfect. I was torn - should I spend the time to square up all 256 of those blocks (ug!), or just throw caution to the wind and sew them all together (and maybe end up disappointed)? I had some (40) extra blocks, so I decided to make a test mini quilt to see just how far off my squares were. Turns out that they were fine! Or at least fine enough for me. :-)

And after 8 more hours of sewing, and I had 16 blocks of 16 HSTs! Yay!

I would have sewn them all together and called it done, except certain friends kept pestering me with suggestions... How about a different arrangement for the blocks? Like maybe this...

Or maybe all pointing out...

Or maybe all pointing in...

And how about sashing around each block? Or maybe just around the groups of 4 blocks? Would the sashing be the same white? Or maybe an orange or gray would look cool! Arg!!!! After 16 hours of working on it, I was in no frame of mind to make a decision! I gathered up the blocks, and moved on to a different project. I'm going to let it percolate for a while. If you have any opinions or brilliant ideas, let me know! :-)

retreat - what a treat!

Oh my goodness, that was fun! Exhausting, but fun! Karen put on a fantastic retreat, and I'm so very glad I went. I hope it's the first of many! I came home feeling like I didn't take nearly enough pictures, but here are at least a few...

This is the big "lodge" we stayed in. I only realized on the morning we left that there was a hot tub out back! Rats! I'm not sure I would have taken the time to sit in it (and didn't bring a bathing suit anyway), but by Sunday morning, a hot soak was sounding SOOOOO good...

This little visitor was outside to greet us both mornings...

Here's a shot of our crafting space - a huge gym! I loved all the design walls around the edges - it was so fun to walk around every once in a while and admire everyone's work. We each had our own table, and I felt like I had plenty of room to spread out. I don't think it would be possible to actually quilt with this setup (except maybe a small one), but for piecing and such, it was great.

My buddy Robin was at the table across from me. Here she is, slaving away on her Prairie Pinwheels quilt blocks. Check out the full picture - isn't it gorgeous?? I'm not sure I would have taken the plunge if Robin hadn't come along with me, so thanks again my friend!

I loved snooping around at other people's setups, to see what tools they were using, and how they had their space arranged. Everyone was really friendly and helpful! For instance, my neighbor Laura saw me snipping apart my zillions of chain-stitched bits, and introduced me to this wonderful gadget:

It makes such quick work of cutting those threads - you just hold the fabric on either side (use both hands - one of my hands was holding the camera!) and pull down and it's done! So quick and easy. I'm definitely going to get myself one of these! (Um, no, I have no idea what it's called...)

As far as the sewing goes... I was sewing machine! I didn't get everything done, but I was still very productive. I got all 24 journal covers done, except for pressing and sewing closed the openings. Yahoo!! [I also took pictures for a tutorial; I hope to have that up by the end of the week.]

I finished the notebook covers on Saturday morning, sewed up the apron in a couple hours that afternoon (sorry - I forgot to take a picture!), and then moved on to the quilt that evening. Robin and I had a race to see who could reach our goal first - her blocks vs. my rows. I won (just barely!), but by then it was 2am! For a girl who normally goes to bed at 9pm, this was a major feat. I was so proud that Robin and I were the last ones to stop sewing that night!!

Here's a (pretty crappy) photo of the rows. With a lot of help from everyone nearby, I was able to work out a nice arrangement. I'm so glad to have been able to do that at the retreat - it would have been so much more difficult at home! Funny enough, this photo was taken just moments before the whole thing crashed to the floor (note to self - do not hang up a batting with painters tape - use the push-pins next time!). Thankfully, it all stuck together enough for me to number the rows. :-) I got a tiny start on the sashing, but then it was time to pack up for the drive home.

My biggest regret is that I did not do a good job of taking pictures of other people's work. Next time I'll do better. But check out Sarah's recap for some great pics of the show-and-tell sessions - there were some spectacular quilts!

And finally, I wanted to mention that the peanut butter cup cookies seemed to be a big hit! I can't believe so many people had never seen them before! Here's a couple recipes - the short way or the long way.