post retreat check in

Checking in after the weekend retreat. I did drive up on Saturday as I hoped to join my friend Joy and other friends. Because the Belles that had planned on going on winter weather threatened day, the window of opportunity for some of them being able to go had closed. I didn't let that stop me though and I had a great time running away from home for a few days time.

Betsy made the trip up Friday afternoon so she was sewing away on her challenge quilt top (she used Square in a Square) when I arrived. Joy's granddaughter Helen was working on a "Twisty Star" block she had started at another quilt retreat--I believe the pattern was from a Triangle on a Roll book and when I first arrived, had been quilting on a Ricky Timms "Convergence" quilt. Joy was working on a Grandmother's Flower Garden and her friend Debbie a wonderful, fly by the seat of your pants styled cat quilt in black and white fabric. She said she was NOT leaving till that top was complete--it was except for using more of the fabrics to make oversized nine patches for part of the borders.

One of members who had relocated back to Indiana had come down on Thursday night and I got to see her for a short time before her husband picked her up. They are on a two week trip to TX and NM and up through MO so the sewing retreat was Mary Frances' first stop and her husband visited with a friend in Anniston while she sewed.

I got the sashing and borders applied to the strippy I was sewing "in spirit" from leftover blocks and showed you on Friday. I think the light blue is a nice contrast with the colors in the odd blocks. Only one block blends in a bit but I can live with that, LOL. Bust some more stash this way---whatever is left is going to be used for the back though I know it but it will need something added to it. That is my job for the day--prep backs for 4 quilts. Below is the basket that is stuffed with the quilt kits that remain. 6 to go.

The other top is a "cheating" Railroad Crossing that I cut out this past week. The striped fabric is the piece I chose for the "Use It from your stash" challenge. (I'm using it on the back too but have to add some other stuff with it) This time the stripes go the direction I had intended them to go. Joy said she had some striped fabric that she could use in this manner so I left the EQ printout with my notes on how many and what size to cut the sashing, etc with her to use. I have started doing that with all my quilt kits---some picture or copy off the pages of the book and pack it with the kit. I've got one here that my mom and I cut out once and neither one of us can figure out what the heck was intended for that fabric---like I was to add more of something I had on hand??? I should just dig that one out and re-purpose it. But I digress.................

I took the last stitch in this top at 11:50 Sunday morning. Just in time to pack up my stuff and load the car as we were going to lunch at a town halfway back to Debbie's home in Georgia and on the alternate route home for me.

The closeup I took just to show you what the fabrics actually looked like. The quilt at a distance back probably just looks like something grayed rather than the nice bright primary colors. I just finished piecing what was left of the striped fabric along with bits of two others (one similiar to the cornerstones here) for the quilt back. I am subscribing to the theory that they will make more if I want to make another one similiar to this.

Good time visiting and a short stop at the quilt shop next door to the workshop set up---a yard of a nice mottled red that I had found there once before and wanted a bit more of and a beetle fabric on a nice gold-y yellow with red bugs. I thought they were lady bugs at first. I was looking on the Avlyn Fabric website to get a jpg for EQ , it is beetles. I gave Joy has a chunk of it for a bug jar quilt so plans to make. Pat had given me one she had started so no doubt, some of it will probably turn up there as well. Mainly I want to use it for a "Frosty and Friends" block from Ursula Reickes' book More Quilts for Baby that Cher had made with similiar fabric.

Frequent readers will remember my talking about Vanessa who owns the quilt shop as well as Nessa's tea room where we had a catered lunch when Cher, her sister and I visited with Joy. The restaurant area is upstairs while the area we had the retreat is directly below and the quilt shop, right next door. The area downstairs has the longarm quilt machine set up on one side and there is an embroidery/monograming area in the way back. Two neat things happened. One of the girls who works in the shop and does the bookkeeping/inventory came out to see how we were doing in the front. Mamie said they had an over run of shirts; if we wanted any of them, we could have them for a dollar each!! Oh boy--a couple t-shirts to slop around the house in for me and I found 3 nice golf type shirts for DJ and one long sleeved knit shirt with a collar that I thought he might like. I wish I had gotten more.

The other thing: Nessa had a large party coming in for supper that evening. She too had stopped in a couple of times in between meal prep--yeast rolls and things that could be done ahead and then reheated. Just as we were trying to figure out where we wanted to go for dinner, Nessa came in and said she had bought too much food and would we want to have a steak dinner? Oh boy--don't have to ask us twice. By that time there was just four of us. Debbie had some dietary issues and had to ask how the meal was prepared as certain condiments, etc were off limits for another week. So we had steak, garlic mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, green beans, homemade yeast rolls, a wonderful tossed salad and for dessert, brownie fudge sundaes. FOR FREE--she would not accept any payment for the meal. We collected some money as a "thank you" for letting us use the space. They had let us use the shop mats, rulers, cutters and even had scissors tied to each table and all the strip plugs and extension cords we needed. Makes it a lot easier to just plug in, set up the machine and get to work!

It was about 1:30 or so by the time we finished with our Sunday meal and I had about an hours drive back home. I wanted to stop and see Sarah and her daughter Jane at the hospital so didn't head home once I hit the turn off I should have taken to my house. From there I went to see Ginny's quilt showing at the Donoho School's Fargason Center Gallery. You can see the quilts HERE. The one that I am waiting to see is the football quilt that she is making for the same fundraiser that I made the t-shirt quilt for. She had two "Faces" quilts that I had not seen at a previous show, one of her recently deceased father-in-law and one of her daughter's teachers. The others that I had seen were fun to revisit.

I had originally cancelled the Belles meeting for tomorrow thinking that most of us would have gone to the retreat on Friday. LOL, its back on for whoever has not made other plans. Ginny has the toadie quilt BQ quilted and ready to pass on for binding and will take one (or more?) to put on her short arm set up to practice on. Fine with me!! Lois' husband has my "grandma pan" handle repaired and I've got some patterns printed off for the 16 patches she has been whipping up at home.............and so on. Theramae will take some of the ones I quilted home to finish the binding and drop off any that are ready for pictures.

Well, guess that is it for now. Best get back to those quilt backs and bust some more stash------