Hail, Mary!

I spent Thursday through Sunday at a quilt retreat.  We were a small group of six quilters, several of us meeting each other for the first time, but the group’s chemistry was perfect.

 

My efforts were focused on the Scrappy Meets Thrift Challenge blocks.  I think I completed 75 blocks.

 

Here is some of the work by other members:

 

One member of our group worked in wool applique.  For reference, this piece was about the size of the palm of my hand.

 

I love scrappy projects with small pieces and was delighted when this block went up on the design wall.

 

Figuring out how to make a custom border fit this project proved to be challenging.

 

Always a patriotic project, perfect for Memorial Day weekend.

 

This is a Kim McLean pattern two members of our group worked on.  This one was done in Kaffe fabrics.  The pattern calls for several more appliqued borders.

 

And, this was done in Civil War reproduction fabrics, because that’s what she has in her stash.

Why the name for this post? There was an extremely bad hail storm the first night.  The retreat organizer, Mary (not me), came in a brand-new car with less than 200 miles on it.  It was the only one that sustained real damage.  Her windshield will have to be replaced.  Thus, we named ourselves the Hail, Mary group and have scheduled another retreat for this time next year.

 

Late to the Party!

In mid-March, I decided to join in the Scrappy Meets Thrift Challenge sponsored by Taryn at Repro Quilt Lover.  For a number of reasons including participation in the Guild Quilt Show, a week-long trip to South Texas and other life events, I got a very late start.  Fortunately, Taryn has structured the sew-along in a very relaxed fashion and I have finally begun work in earnest.

I get a lot of good-natured teasing from my friends about how I love projects with very small pieces.  So, it should be no surprise that I’ve chosen to do the paper pieced version with 2-inch finished blocks.  The inspiration quilt had 900 pieced blocks.  I have enough reproduction fabric to make that size, but I’ll probably stop far short of that.

Here are the blocks I have pieced already.

Here is a close-up of one block.

Since I will be going on a quilt retreat later this week, I have been very busy cutting components for blocks.  It’s been a couple of years since I have been able to go to a retreat, and I am really looking forward to it.  We are expecting a small group of about seven quilters.

The gathering with the neighborhood quilters that was supposed to happen last Monday, was canceled at the last minute.  The hostess had to take a good friend to ER for heart issues.  That’s a good reason!

In other news, we have a new critter residing in our fenced back yard where our dogs have the freedom to run.  I’ve attempted to insert a video from our game cam to show why I…am…so...not…happy!

Changing Directions

The neighborhood quilting group will meet today and that means I had a deadline to get some handwork prepped.  I had been procrastinating on appliqueing the borders for my Kim McLean pattern, so a deadline was a good thing.

 

Two borders have been readied for applique.  Then, I found myself searching and searching and searching some more for my applique threads.  I finally located them in a very logical location, just not one I thought to check for the better part of an hour.  I think I need to do some clean up and organization in my sewing space!

 

This week we are expecting to see three consecutive days of 100+ degree weather.  If that happens, it will be a very early start to our summer temps.  Maybe the weather people are wrong.  We can only hope.

My Quilt Show Loot

As I mentioned last week.  I indulged in some retail therapy at the Guild’s recent quilt show.  One of our charter members, a prolific quilter, broke up housekeeping last year in order to move closer to family.  She donated a massive amount of quality fabrics, kits, books and notions to the Guild and various local charities.  This was in addition to what other members donated to the silent auction, boutique and Bits and Pieces sale.

My purchases included several $1 fat quarters and other sized fabric cuts. 

 

The tote bag was my most expensive purchase, but it saved me from having to construct another one.

 

Also, a magnetic pin and bobbin organizer plus more fabric marked down 50 percent the second day.  The blue fabric is a six-yard cut that will be usable as a backing, and the two potholders were ones I had donated.

 

And from Bits and Pieces, I spent a grand total of $2.50 for a notebook full of sheet protectors, patterns and reference materials plus three templates.  I’ll keep some of the notebook contents, and use the sheet protectors for filing some of my own archived patterns.

In other news…

 

My three-year-old miniature rose survived the winter and bloomed this spring!

 

When I checked on why the dogs were so excited one morning, I saw this floating by.

 

And, another 1,000-piece puzzle was finally completed.  This one included quilts!