Monday, October 21, 2024

Another Successful Retreat

 Retreat weekend is over and 

it is  now time to unpack and review!


One item that got finished up at the very 

beginning of retreat,

is the flannel teddy bear.

This poor bear has been hanging 

around my sewing room for quite a few years.

I managed to cut out more pieces for his head,

so it  is all together and now it actually looks like a bear!



A little bit of finishing, stitching on some eyes,

clipping the extended seams all 

around to make him fuzz nicely,

and it should be ready for gifting.

Then I finished up the curved nine patch.


This UFO had been languishing in my 

sewing room for some time.

I was avoiding it since I didn't want to make additional blocks,

but I didn't know how to finish it up!

The center was stitched up at the last retreat,




and this weekend gave me a good chance to organize,

and randomize some postage stamp squares into a complete border.



The colour family postage stamp blocks

around the outside were quite large.

They were divided into smaller units to 

 decrease the impact of the colour blocks.

I had to add a few rows here and there

 to make the corners line up,

but I am quite pleased with the result!


This quilt doesn't have a designated home yet but I'm hopeful

whoever receives it will enjoy the bountiful colours

and curves of the nine patches.

Remember all those twosies 

left over from the Stash Buster Challenge?

I spent a very enjoyable evening stitching

them all up into another Irish chain quilt.



This could be the last one, but it is doubtful.

I really enjoyed stitching this up.

Another retreat attendee displayed

 a spectacular Irish chain quilt

completely from solids.

That may be the next quilt on the sewing table!

Last stop for the weekend,

was a bucket of Halloween Fabrics.

The pieces went together quite rapidly,

using the quick cut and piecing method I learned years ago.

The searchable name for this block is 

shaded four patch. The quick method makes it  fun to do.


On the last day of fun and games with my quilting friends,

I put together enough to see the pattern develop.



Look at the adorable Halloween characters

peeking out that appeared when I placed 

them together on the design wall.

Stay Safe and Sew On!

Linking up with:







27 comments:

  1. What is the quick cut method you mention with the halloween fabrics?

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    1. https://scrapdash.com/shaded-four-patch/ This link will show you both methods. The traditional first, where you sew triangles to your square or half square unit. The quick way is sewing a rectangle to a square ( make 2) then sewing the 2 units together and laying a larger piece over them. Then mark and sew on the diagonal. cut apart and you will have 2 complete shaded four patch units.

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  2. Congrats on a successful retreat. You got a lot done. I like your border solution for your curved 9 patch. I'm thinking of making 16 patches for next year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge. It would be nice to use more scraps!

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    Replies
    1. I got 2 bags of scraps at retreat!!! What ever should I do!!! Sew, sew, sew!

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  3. Great finishes - and beginnings! The postage stamp border works beautifully on the curved 9-patch quilt. And those shaded 4-patch blocks are going to be so cute.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, I am really having fun in the sewing room!

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  4. Wow! Such scrappy goodness! The border for your improved nine patch takes it from 'improved' to 'awesome.' And how satisfying to put those leftover four-patches to good use.

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    Replies
    1. It was a lot of fun to see the pile of twosies go down . Happy Stitching!

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  5. You made great progress at the retreat. The scrappy border for the curved 9 patch worked out so well.

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    Replies
    1. The border really diminished the leftover block pile too!

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  6. I've not been able to attend our local retreats for awhile. I sure miss the dedicated sewing time and getting lots done

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    Replies
    1. They are great for getting things done. I love the socializing too!

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  7. That little teddy bear is so cute! Wow you sure powered through some projects on retreat. Can't wait to see what's next. Thanks for sharing on my weekly show and tell, Wednesday Wait Loss.
    https://www.inquiringquilter.com/questions/2024/10/23/wednesday-wait-loss-403

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    Replies
    1. I did get things done!!! Now on to my long list of " stuff'! Happy Stitching!

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  8. Great and busy retreat, you did a lot! I love the scrappy border for the curved nine patch top, it looks joyful and pretty. Cute Halloween blocks! Thank you for sharing your lovely work in progress, and linking up.

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  9. Thank you for letting your members know where you hang out and sharing SSPS link,
    and for popping over and for participating and sharing at SSPS 333. See you again next week at #334

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  10. The postage stamp blocks do a marvelous job of working with an accenting the inner quilt. What a fun quilt to work on at a retreat.

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  11. What a wonderfully productive time you had at your retreat. Flannel Teddy is great, I've seen a few of these on the rag quilts Facebook group

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    Replies
    1. Now I just have to finish him up a bit and he will be a ready teddy!!

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  12. Wow, you did some fabulous stitching at the retreat. Teddy is sweet and I must say the UFO with the postage stamp border is gorgeous.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you !! It was fun to get those postage stamp squares into play!

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  13. Hi Deb, those are two really great finishes. I really love how those postage stamp blocks made the perfect border for your quilt. It looks wonderful! Thanks for linking up to Free Motion Mavericks.

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  14. That was a wonderfully productive retreat! I always love a scrappy Irish Chain quilt!

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