Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome stitchy friends! We are so happy to see what your hands are creating and to encourage you in your creative journey!

I am just back from a quilting retreat with long time friends. I feel inspired, exhausted, and exhilarated all at the same time! I am delighted to share some photos of the hand stitching projects my very talented friends worked on.

This is Sandy starting the day with some rug hooking. I was fascinated to watch this stitching process with wool strips hooked onto a canvas. The texture she created using different yarns and wools was luscious!

Here is Barb (very late at night) finishing the hand stitched binding on a guild quilt. This quilt was pieced by someone, machine quilted by a long armer, and completed by 2 different retreaters. Truly a labour of love to donate to the quilt collection to be donated to Home for Good project.

Another late night stitcher Louise is crocheting a gorgeous shawl for her talented physiotherapist as a thank you gift. Her hands are a blur as she stitches so fast, working from muscle memory, and not even using a pattern. Louise gifted one of her shawls to me at the beginning of the covid pandemic. 💕💕

This is my friend Debby knitting some beautiful purple socks with some self patterning yarn. Knitting socks is on my "to learn someday" list. She shared with us about the process of cutting the knitting to insert the heel and we were horrified! LOL 

And here is Sandy again, and this time she is hand quilting her blue block version of Life is Beautiful. I'll post more about this project next week. Sandy uses a  thread puller tool (hers is yellow) that you can buy from Amazon here. I want to try it out, especially for using with perle cotton stitching. Maybe I could finish my Kawandi quilt (using perle cotton) without so much hand pain?

I worked on many projects throughout quilt retreat, including finishing the binding on my Spring Stamp SAL. I love this little bird print I found for the backing fabric, and the happy floral print for the binding. 

Finished size: 9" x 10.5"

When the binding was finished, I took the mini quilt outside for a photo session and was pleased to have photos that really reflect what 'spring' means... blue skies, budding trees, cool breezes, melting snow, and sunshine filled days.  A big thank you to pattern writer Melisa who blogs at Pinker 'n Punkin Quilting and Stitching. 

Thank you for reading about my retreat friends' stitching projects. And now we look forward to seeing what our online friends are stitching! We hope you will link up your blog post below and share your slow progress with us.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Daily Goals vs. Time to Play

When I go to a quilt retreat I make a list of projects to work on. I like to set daily goals and give myself a bit of structure. 
I do this because I know that I can fall down into a rabbit hole quickly and start new projects accidentally (see the accidental quilt post). Starting new projects does NOT result in any projects being finished!
Also I am not one of those quilters who can bring 1 project and work on it for days. I usually work on 3 different projects each day - one piecing, one quilting, and one hand work for the evening. 

While at retreat I was gifted bits of fabrics and leftover scraps. This package arrived from a retreater's sister. I was so touched by the lovely note and the gift of scraps from a deceased quilter, and look forward to making some wonderful projects from this collection. It was very hard to focus on my retreat goals after receiving this gift, full of so much potential sewing fun.

But showing great self restraint, I did stay focused!

For the first 2 days of retreat I only worked on my 150 Canadian Women project and would not allow myself to play with anything else until I had some rows sewn together. 
But after that was accomplished I allowed myself play time with scraps and HST collections.

Here is a good example... My friend Jackie gave me a bag of red and white triangles, which were corners cut off of pieced blocks. Instead of throwing them in the garbage, Jackie gifted them to me. 

morning play time at quilt retreat

This was the second year that this bag of bits attended quilt retreat. I spent many happy hours sewing the triangles together, squaring the HST's to similar sizes, and playing with various block patterns. Some blocks have 4 HST's, and one block has 72 HST's. So fun! This is going to be my miniature quilt project for March.

Do you set quilting goals for retreat or do you just play with whatever strikes your fancy? Do you ever play with another quilter's garbage?!?

Will you actually like quilt retreat?

Quilting retreats sound like so much fun when you're reading about them on a blog, but how do you know if you would enjoy attending a quilt retreat? I think it's similar to any kind of adventure, because if you are open minded and flexible, you can have fun anywhere (well, not on a coronavirus cruise!)
If you are a person who is particular and needs things (beds, food, people, etc) to be a certain way for you to be happy, quilt retreat is not for you. Also if you have specific dietary or sensory requirements to be comfortable, quilt retreat is not for you. 
It reminds me of an Adam Sandler Saturday Night Live skit. You can watch it on twitter here. 
"You're still going to be you on vacation"!

retreat sewing room late at night... most quilters are asleep!

Being on retreat is like being part of a big family where you accept that life is not going to go your way all the time, and you are not going to enjoy everything about your environment and the people around you 100% of the time. If you can be flexible, kind and generous, and have a good sense of humour, then you are going to LOVE quilt retreat!


Also, if you are a person who doesn't like to hear the opinions of others, quilt retreat is not for you. 

my retreat table 2019

I welcome the opinions of other quilters so that I can learn, and so that they can help me streamline the decision making process... especially on quilt layouts. You may not agree with everything that is said, but if you love to collect ideas, are open to hearing different artistic perspectives, and enjoy learning new ways of doing things, you are going to LOVE quilt retreat!

my retreat table 2018

I am just sooo deliriously happy at quilt retreat. I adore not having to shop, cook, shovel snow,  wash dishes, and clean. It's the only respite from the drudgery of life and for that reason alone, it is spectacular (for me).

my interesting friends even have interesting socks!!

But the cherry on top of that is being able to spend time with amazing women, soak up their creative energy, and benefit from their lived experience... what could be better?!?

Well, the sprinkles added on top of that... you get to sew all day long! You get to start new projects, finish old projects, see a wide variety of other quilter's projects, and truthfully it can be a little overstimulating at times! That's when you need to take a walk, get a massage, and/or take a little time to read quietly in your room.
Oh yah... and don't forget to sleep! Naps are luxurious if you don't have FOMO.

my retreat table 2020

I had such a wonderful time at my annual quilt retreat! I am catching up on sleep and putting away all my supplies and projects. I look forward to blogging about what I accomplished at retreat!

Design Wall Monday

I'm just back from quilt retreat and am catching up on my sleep! I am writing daily posts this week to share all the fun and accomplishments. Look for tomorrow's post called "Will you actually like quilt retreat?"

It was wonderful to be at retreat with 2 friends who are also sewing Bonnie Hunter's Frolic mystery. One friend has her quilt top finished already and one has just started sewing blocks. I am in between their accomplishments, having 12 blocks sewn together. We ventured outside to take a photo on a very cold day. It was also windy, so I'm glad we got a good shot of the finished quilt top.

3 Frolics!

Isn't it amazing how different fabrics can make the same quilt pattern look completely different? I just love that! 💖

12 Frolic blocks

I am going to sew my blocks on point and really like the curvy effect which you don't get with the straight set. This is the centre part of my quilt. I'm not quite half finished the centre blocks, and haven't started on the outside half blocks yet.

And look what I bought... a Frolic mug to enjoy my hot beverages while sewing thousands of blocks for this quilt! You can get this and any of the previous Quiltville mystery swag at Zazzle. 

If you order a sweatshirt, beware that the sizing is very generous. I measured myself and got a sweatshirt that is way too big and did not shrink at all in the dryer. Here I am at retreat, early in the morning, drinking coffee from my new Frolic mug, and wearing my too big Frolic sweatshirt.

Linking up to Design Wall Monday over at Small Quilts.

Retreat Preparations

It's time to pack up for spring quilting retreat. 
It's always challenging for me to decide which projects to take. 

new project cut and organized for sewing

My friends take great delight in making fun of me over my project selection agony, but truly... it's a very hard decision!
I started a new project and precut ALL the pieces so that I can sit at sew at retreat... no thinking required!
There are so many options since I have piles of UFOs, and I want to take everything, but that is not realistic. Even at quilt retreat, there are still only 24 hours in the day.
I like to have a variety of projects because a quilter can never predict what she might feel like working on, right?!?! 

baby quilt ready to sew

I am taking 3 quilt tops to piece (LOL probably only 2 of them will see the light of day!), some candlemats and a tablerunner to machine quilt, my hand embroidery project, my Blockheads II to make more blocks (I have finished 26 of the 52 blocks), and of course a small quilt to finish the binding.
How do you decide what projects to take to a quilting retreat?!? 

Retreat Report

Quilt Retreat 2018 is in the history books now. We have been retreating together as a group for over 10 years. All of the relaxing sewing time, the hilarious shenanigans, and the wonderful conversations with creative and wonderful woman have come to an end for another year. I will miss them so much since many of us only see each other once a year. 

Work space of an anonymous retreater!

It's probably a good thing that retreat is not longer than it is, because during olympic years we stay up way too late watching the coverage. And then we get up early and hit the sewing machines to work on our quilts. The thing that is missing is  s l e e p ! And a human can only operate for a limited amount of time on little sleep. 
In the next week I'll be showing updates for all the projects I worked on. Of course I started 4 new quilting projects while at retreat and here's the first one...

the Aurifil 2018 DOM. I completed their 2016 quilt in November and am happy with how that turned out - you can see it here. I really enjoy making complex blocks with many pieces and decided to start their 2018 project. Although I'm looking forward to making the January block, I had to skip to the February block because January's block requires a printed pattern which I didn't have at retreat. So I started with February's block which has 31 pieces. It is fun and easy to sew if you're organized and follow instructions well.


Here is the February block called Birch Ball by featured designer Scott Hansen. You can see many interesting versions of this block at the link up at Pat Sloan's blog. It looks like most people are going with the black and white idea for their sampler blocks.






When sewing the connecting corners, I always sew a second line to turn the cut off corners into HST blocks. I decided to save these each month and see what they might become. These are the leftovers from February's block.
Further project updates will be forthcoming after a brief nap!

Quilt Retreat

Nothing is on the design wall today because it's time for my annual winter quilt retreat! Once I get there, it's fantastic. However, preparing to get there is very stressful for me. I get myself in quite a state because ALL my projects want to come with me. But of course that is not possible. I know some quilters who are really chill, and only bring one or two projects to work on for 5 days. 5 whole days!

New olympic event - packing for quilt retreat

From the infinite list of my projects, I have to chose which ones I might want to work on this week. The list of projects going to retreat should include at less one item in each stage of development:
a couple of creative projects in the planning stages so you can consult with your friends, extra fabric that may be needed for projects that may be accidentally started while at retreat (usually need neutral yardage), projects to piece, one paper piecing challenge, at least one project that is pin basted and ready for machine quilting, some hand stitching activities including at least one embroidery and one hand quilting project, and there absolutely must be a quilt with a binding ready to hand stitch late in the evenings.


With my list in hand, I have been rummaging around in the UFO closets and sorting which projects qualify for retreat and which will stay home. And then I must ensure that I have all the tools, fabrics, patterns, threads, and any other supplies needed for each of the projects. 
It's exhausting.
Kevin reminded me in his latest blog post of this truth.
So true Kevin!

Retreat projects waiting to be loaded into the car

Once the torture of attending to all the details, making all the decisions, and organizing all the stuff is finally complete, then comes the hauling of said stuff into the car. Sure wish I knew a sherpa I could call! Here is the end result of all that effort. How many projects do you think I have there? Enough for 5 days?

And then the realization hits.... I should probably pack some clothes too!

Quilt Retreat 2012

I have just returned from my annual quilt retreat and am exhausted from all the fun we had. We did a little sleeping, a little drinking, a little crying, and a whole lot of talking, eating, laughing, and sewing! I believe that I truly am a very lucky person to have met such wonderful women and have had the privilege of retreating with them for many years. To be in their company is as healing as salve on open wounds (a very old saying but it expresses how I feel), and I can't wait until next year's retreat to be together with them again. 
At retreat I worked on 8 different projects and will post them on my blog over the next few days.
This is my February UFO project a scrappy version of the pattern called "Hip  Baby". The quilt top is now sewn together,and there was enough fabric to make one border and a binding, which is all ready to go. 
I just need to get the quilting and binding done in the next 6 days to meet my February UFO goal. 

Here is a photo of me machine quilting the border of my Dr. Seuss quilt and I hope to finish this quilt by the end of the month also.
We are anticipating perfect quilting weather tomorrow, with a major snow storm coming. Too bad I didn't get snowed in at retreat!

Design Wall Monday #8

I have never been so happy for Monday to arrive! I am going to my annual quilting retreat today...yippee!
All that is on my design wall today are these 2 little projects. You can read about the larger 4" heart blocks here and I started another smaller version with 2" pastel hearts...soooo cute! I can't decide if I like the mini hearts without a sashing or not, so I'll leave them there and decide when I come home.

Hop over to Judy's blog to see the design wall Monday postings - click here.

Here is my luggage all packed up for the retreat...only 4 bags this year.  In those bags I have managed to pack 10 projects! I'm not taking any machine or hand quilting to do this year since I have so many UFO's to work on and piecing to do. Oh yah...I hope I remember to pack some clothes and PJ's too!

I have also packed up the books I made from last year's retreat. It's very easy to make to make a book from your blog. There are lots of book making companies out there now but this was my 4th year using Blurb to make a book full of photos and memories from our annual quilt retreat and they do a great job.
In 2007, I ordered 2 copies of my book and they cost $27 each. In 2011, I ordered 17 copies of my book and they cost $22 each...it's a better deal every year!
If the retreat centre WiFi is working, I'll post blog updates every day this week.

Back from retreat

I can't believe that my quilting retreat is over already. It was a wonderful getaway as always and very inspiring to see all the amazing bags, tablerunners, wallhangings, and quilts being made by quilting friends.
This is my project tally:
11 projects made the trip this year...I tried to be more realistic and reduced by 3 from last year!
5 did not get opened (apparently I am still a little overly optimistic!)
2 new projects were started...1 from stash scraps (see below) and 1 from a kit which I disliked and put away quickly
4 ongoing projects saw some major progress however I have no finishes to announce...I spread my time working on various projects until I felt like working on something else
One of my goals was to start the machine quilting on Carolina Crossroads which I finished piecing at retreat 2 years ago and pieced the backing for last weekend. Don't you just hate it when the bobbin runs out in the middle of machine quilting!  This quilt now has about 3 bobbins worth of quilting and it's maybe 1/3 finished.
My new project that I enjoyed working on is Quiltville's Scrappy Trips Around the World. I used some fabric from a scrap bag I bought at Hancock's in Paducah last year, plus lots of fabric from my stash. This photo shows the 20 blocks I pieced.  It was fun to sew and a great stash reducer. I want to make at least 4 more blocks, but I had sewn as many strips as I brought with me.

I took along the box of scraps that Julie sent to me - click here. I gave away a few pieces that some friends were coveting, then pressed the strings, sorting them into lights and darks, and sewed them into the Quilt-As-You-Go blocks I have been working on since 2007. I had hoped to make more progress on this project with sewing the blocks into rows, but I got so distracted with watching the Olympics that I didn't get much done! I did get the finished blocks sewn into twosies and the sashings are ready to be hand stitched.

This photo of me reminds me of Bonnie's blogpost about quilters dressing to match their quilts - click here. I am sewing with purple thread and working on purple sashing with a purple backing...and wearing purple!
That's the report for 2010 quilt retreat. Now I am off to get some much needed sleep!

Retreat Projects Report #4

I think I am almost done posting about my quilting retreat projects! This is the new quilt kit I cut out to start sewing at retreat (it's no fun to just work on UFO's!!).
These fabrics are old (5+ years percolating) batiks from my stash. I just love the look of all these pieces cut out and ready to start sewing for a quilt...no mistakes made yet, no realization that your colours choices are horrendous, or that you don't like the pattern!! Just hours of happy sewing ahead and the potential for a great quilt!
I wanted to use the pattern called "Buzz Saw" that I saw posted on the Happy Valley Quilter blog almost 2 years ago. I printed out the fabric cutting info but not the sewing instructions thinking a)I was saving paper and computer ink and 2) I'm sure I can figure it out. So when I pulled out the project to work on at retreat, I couldn't figure it out!!
I asked one of our retreaters who went home to sleep if she could check on her computer when she went home. The next day she reported that the block looked right, and we figured out that I had cut all the light rectangles in error...no where for them to go in the block. So this is the Buzz Saw block and I had cut enough for 20 blocks. Since coming back from retreat I have sewn the blocks together and am thinking about using the mistakenly cut rectangles for an inner border. I think it needs another border after that...any suggestions?!?!

Retreat projects report #3

One of the projects I have been working on for almost a year is the Quiltville Orange Crush mystery. I already have 15 blog postings on this quilt, and that's more than enough! But here is a photo to prove that I took this baby to retreat and did more quilting on it. Jackie took this picture of me and if you are wondering why I tied my scarf on my head, it is because I almost machine quilted it into the Orange Crush!! Perhaps most people would have just removed the pesky scarf...don't know why I didn't think of that?!?!
I finished the 'C' loops that I free motioned in the light chains. Then went back to working on the orange blocks, which I really wanted to put some quilting in, but couldn't get the thread to stop shredding. At retreat I tried a 100 needle and it worked wonderfully! So I am back to enjoying the quilting, am about half way finished the orange blocks, and feel like the end is in sight for this project!

Retreat projects report #2

One of my goals for quilt retreat was to piece a block for a black and white block challenge at Reichards. All participants were given a square of black fabric and were asked to make a 9" block. The blocks collected will be assembled into a quilt that will be auctioned at the Mennonite Relief Sale in May, with all the money raised going to relief efforts around the world.
Before the retreat I had printed out one of my favorite paper piecing patterns in Electric Quilt in a 3" size. I figured out the white and black placements and wrote the information on the back of the papers. At retreat I spent a lot of time fussy cutting the centre fabrics for each block, and cutting the wavy fabric so it would go the right direction to form a diamond shape in the block.
And here is the finished product. I was happy with how it turned out, but unhappy with the amount of time it took to construct!! Winners of the block challenge (which are decided by viewer's choice) can win various cash amounts, and I promised the retreaters that if they voted for my block and I won, I would use the winnings to bring treats (ie. fabric!) to quilt retreat next year!! I have seen some of the blocks submitted and the variety of the results are just amazing. I will post a photo of the quilt when it is finished.

Retreat projects report #1

This is one of the first projects I wanted to finish at retreat. In my previous mini class I taught the wheel of mystery a.k.a. winding ways (you can see my first quilt here). The pattern is from the EQ5 block called "four leaf clover". I thought it could be easily changed to this variation of the design by drawing heart lobes on each petal and it could become a Valentine's mini. I had finished most of the applique by retreat, so I just had to stitch in the ditch, buttonhole stitch around the hearts, bind, and sew on the buttons. I think the bias binding gives it a nice edging. Blcoks are 3" and the quilt measures about 9.5".
Warning...mystery spoiler ahead!
I must have been still thinking about Valentine's day because my next project turned out to be more of the same theme! I had printed out the mystery block from Paper Panache and gathered the fabrics a while ago, but didn't have a chance to get to it until retreat. This is what the pieces looked like from the front and how the block pieces fit together from the back.

And this is the finished block...a Valentine's rose.
The process of these mini paper pieced mysteries is truly one of my favorite quilting activities...not too time consuming but complex enough to be a challenge. Thanks to Linda who has been providing these delighful free mystery blocks for years ( I have made 7 of 50 her mystery blocks).