Back to Regularly Scheduled Programming...sigh...

After four delightful days and nights with quilting friends on retreat, I am gradually reentering the real world.  You know, the world of cooking my own meals, no desserts, and doctor’s scales…that world.  Nonetheless, I’m glad to be home with hubby and the dogs.  I made Friday a recovery and reentry day with a very long nap built into the afternoon schedule.

Our first Quilt Club retreat had 28 participants at the Compass Centre in Mt. Calm, Texas.  The center was designed for quilters by a quilter and is run by quilters, so you know it had to be good.  We had spacious, L shaped work stations that made it easy to spread out our work.  I took my 63 year old Singer 301 and she held her own among some mighty fine new machines!

We also had acres and acres of design wall space, but my little blocks were so small, I used very little of it. This paper pieced Sue Garman project is going to keep me busy a very long time!

Every day, sometimes twice a day, we were visited by the “quilt fairy” and everyone won a door prize.  The loot I brought home (some purchased, but mostly gifted) including my blocks and an emptied spool is below.  

Getting Ready for the Retreat

I have been a cutting fool this past week as I prepare to leave for a retreat later today!

…The trimmings…

…The sewing related stuff…and this doesn’t include my suitcase….Good thing my friend has a big car and there are only two of us…

I also managed to finish four more anti-ouch pouches for the month.  This brings my total for 2015 to 92.

Progress on Multiple Fronts

It’s been a quiet but fairly productive week on the quilting and sewing front. 

During Quilt-Cam yesterday, I worked on putting rows together for my Texas Tumbleweeds quilt.  The end of this project is finally in sight and I’m looking forward to emptying a much needed project box.

I also completed 10 anti-ouch pouches to turn in at Wednesday’s meeting.  If I haven’t miscounted, I’m at 88 for the year and closing in on my goal of 100. 

For the longest time I had fallen out of love with this project and it languished on my design wall.  I’ve started working on it again in the evenings while hubby and I watch television.  It feels good to see some progress there too.

I also finally made a decision about what project I will take on my retreat later this month.  It is Sue Garman’s new “Good Golly” pattern.  Sue is one of my favorite designers.  This will be a (very) long term project, but I think I can entirely complete it by shopping my stash. 

Several years ago a quilting friend gifted me these lovely Jenny Beyer fabrics.  I think most if not all the borders will come from this collection. 

The rest will be entirely scrappy and by the time the project is done, it will have lightened my stash by 23 ¾ yards.  It has 1,728 paper pieced half-square triangles and some of the sashings finish at ½ inch!  This one will be a real challenge.

So, for the rest of the week every spare moment will be at the cutting table.

Oh, if, like me, you wake up slowly in the mornings, this will certainly accelerate the process.  

I had just opened the door shortly after 6 a.m. to let the dogs out when I saw him.  One dog skirted him and one jumped over him, both totally useless.  Fortunately, with a little encouragement from a broom, he reluctantly slithered away.  The general consensus is that he was the "harmless" variety.  I'm going with that theory.

Pincushions

Ida, over at My Sister Made Me Do It..., is hosting a linky party where we can show off our favorite pincushions.  I’ve made a few as gifts over the years like this one, which I actually had requests to make for friends.

And this one made one night from a failed Jane Stickle block and gifted to a blog friend.

However, my favorite is one I purchased a lifetime ago, long before I retired, moved back to Texas and resumed quilting.  

It is a reproduction of a pincushion designed and used by the Shakers and is a souvenir of a trip we made to Kentucky to one of their former community settlements. The Shakers had a gift for making purely functional items beautiful.  Their history has always fascinated me.  I really enjoy this practical little cushion that I can clamp to the edge of my sewing machine table where it is stable and out of the way. 

Be sure and check out what others have to share at Ida's blog.

Changes...

Today marked a new chapter in the life of my Sewing with Friends Tuesday group.  In May, 2013, the quilt shop we had congregated in every Tuesday for years closed its doors.  Since we were unwilling to drift apart, we struck out on our own, renting a small retail space connected to a storage facility.  A few months later, a slightly larger space in the same complex opened and we moved across the parking lot to it.  Last week, we moved two miles down the highway to even bigger digs.  I don’t think any of us realized how much of a need the quilters in our area had for a non-commercial space where they could  spend time together sewing.

The space is very basic, but the ac works.

There are still a few items that the owners need to remove….

It was still a bit messy and chaotic today, so I just worked on basting some hexagons.