Monday, July 30, 2007

Good as new!

I had a wonderful and relaxing quilt retreat this weekend.  
I made a list of all the things I'd like to work on and spent some time with each one. First I updated my 365 quilt entries. Here are my 3 months of strips hanging in the storage room. I bought a couple of new Zig millenium pens since the two I started out with seemed to be getting a little worn out.
I also worked on my Journey of a Quilter BOM and finished the stitching on block one. This was very relaxing and I am really enjoying this project. The photo is a little bit yellowy, but it was late at night when I finished. I made a couple of changes, such as I took out all the stitched blocks of T pins - just a personal taste thing - I didn't like the look of them, so I'm replacing those pin blocks with regular fabric. And instead of using the DMC floss colours Leanne recommended, I am using up the floss I collected from my days of cross stitching in the late 80's. Then I finished tracing the stitch patterns for block 2 and pieced block 3 which is the photo on the right.
I also did some hand beading and worked on an abstract challenge piece that is not anywhere near ready to see the light of day (it's ugly!).
I fixed a big mistake on my President's Challenge mystery quilt - I had sewn the last two rows on upside down! You can see these rows here. I carefully ripped out that seam and resewed it the proper way around. Then I added some borders and pieced the backing. I am so proud of myself for using all stash fabrics from start the finish. This is the backing made from leftover pieces from the quilt top. So now I am thinking about how to quilt it - I still have a month left to finish that.
Mostly I enjoyed the peace/piece and quiet of my studio. I sometimes listened to music, and sometimes listened to the birds singing outside. I feel well mended and ready for the second half of summer vacation with the kids.

6 comments:

Jeanne said...

It's so nice to be able to get away once in awhile to sew! Glad you had a great time. It's also nice to have a DH who understands that.

CONNIE W said...

Here we are both working on the same two projects. I'm enjoying both of mine so much. Yours are looking really great.

Darlene said...

Your Quilter's Journey block is beautiful. I know how much you're enjoying it and I have thoroughly enjoyed mine. I haven't done much in the past few days however I'm ready to trace a new block.

Greenmare said...

good husband! I like how your journal quilt looks, sort of like parchment.
My challenge from July isn't ready to be seen either! Yikes and it's August now!

sewnut said...

Kudos for keeping up with the 365 challenge. I once joined a group to do ONE letter size (8 1/2" x 11") a month for a year. The pieces never made it farther than being sketches in a book.
I am glad that you had a great quilty day. They are very nearly the BEST days.

ShinyNewThing said...

Was this a retreat in your own house? How did you stop the kids/dh from interrupting you? I can't manage that, plus I feel guilty about ignoring them. What is your secret?