Sew Away Preparation

 Yes,I'm getting ready for the 

first sew away of the season.

Most of you know it as Retreat 

but I think sew away is similar to  

sail away and sounds like fun!

I love boating (really large boats),

so it makes it even more exciting.

It's time to dig out the UFOs and

organize the projects for easy sewing at Retreat!

The first one I found was a rainbow scrap project 

made  of color family blocks of two rows of coins.

I have a top waiting on the rack, 

made out of three 4 1/2" columns.

I'm calling this one a twosy.

There are lots of blocks ready

So up they go on the design wall!

Here are the nice bright colors of the first five rows.

My favorite size of 84" by 84" requires 

7 rows down in 11 blocks across.

A simalar top was  on a blog a few weeks ago , 

but the credit remains elusive! 

 I will update the post 

when it surfaces. 

So this lovely is now all clipped into rows and

packed up for transport! 

I have a few more projects packed up so now I am:

sorting threads,

winding bobbins, 

prepping my featherweight sewing box, 

and oiling the featherweight!

Now it is just coordinating travel and loading the cars!

Stay Safe and Sew on!

Linking up with :

Sew & Tell

Monday Musing

Design Wall Monday

SrSPS

To Do Tuesday

Wednesday Wait Loss

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Patchwork & Quilts

Oh no, it's time for another Retreat!

 Yep. The time is upon me and I need to get 

ready to go to retreat. 

The sale is over so my time is now my own.

The first thing I'm going to 

take is Rainbow Scrap Quilt from the design wall.

It needs to be stitched

 together so it'll be an easy one to pack and to work on.

I have a small scrap quilt 

that some people call a waffle block.

 

I just need to figure out if I'm going 

to be adding lattice to it to make it a little bit larger

 or cut down a few bigger blocks to make them fit.

I do have an extra bag of scrap pieces 

already put together in strips 

so I might use that to make some more blocks.

Next I'll sort out and make 

more colored strings to put together for 

the next in this three-part series 

of rainbow scrap column quilts.

Just like a Marvel sequel,

 they are getting a little bit smaller 

with every one but it should have equal impact.

That will be good stitching for a retreat.

After that I also have the rainbow

 colored diamonds and two more steps 

two the mount scrapmore mystery to complete.

A random box yielded a potatoe chip type block 

that can be use as stop and goes or just be sewn up.

No way to tell when this was started!

Doing a fabric sale does take up a little bit of time 

but that's what Quilters do.

I think we all just have to sew faster!

Stay Safe and Sew on!

Linking up with: 

Wednesday Wait Loss

Put Your Foot Down

Handmade Monday

SSPS

Design Wall Monday

Needle & Thread Thursday

Sew & Tell

To Do Tuesday

I Quilted This

Design Wall Friday

Finished or Not Friday

TGIFF

Home Matters

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Patchwork & Quilts

Beauty Pageant

A Thousand Years

 Wow, I still have trouble waiting!  

It feels like forever when I am looking forward to an event. 

Well, another retreat is around the corner and we 

have an additional Grandson!  Yay us!

I've snagged two more projects for the 

retreat to do list. Both are itsy pieces. 

The first is a border for the "Square Dance"

center I have already  made.  

The center is a good size (79") so the border 

will be a row of 2 1/2" squares with 

a strip of white on either side. 

Last weekend's retreat produced 

a portion of joined squares for the border.

I used the stop and go method to get them sewn. 

One pair at the start and end of another block and 

some piecing done instead of cutting threads! 

Bonus all around! I'll work on more next retreat!

It should finish almost  84" square 

which is my go to size. 

The other project is another border. 

 This one is for a SAL from APAQ 2019. 

The center is 62 1/2"complete but  

a late night sewing produced a pieced border 

that is 14" too wide, sending the project into

driveway covering size!  

I will make an 8" or 10" border to finish the top at around 84".

Now I have a beautiful, "Border" quilt top to make from 

the too wide border strips! 

 

It will get a mottled-reads as solid-colored vertical sashing, 

to finish about 66" wide for a great twin sized quilt. 

Both of these projects will tag along to the next retreat. 

Looks like I'll have to find some more pins, 

or maybe do some quilting!!!

Finished or Not Friday

Retreat, Retreat!

 Five days and counting to the first retreat of the season.

This is new to me since this retreat is held in a hotel!

We've got a block of rooms, and one of the larger 

guilds in town  is hosting.  It should be a great time!

My pile of retreat projects is growing, and 

the featherweight is all oiled up,  but a 

few more are needed to keep me occupied!

So far I have 2 childrens quilts to stitch. 

Blue and pink strips will be trimmed 

and surround some colorful owl prints. 

The second project is a garlic knot top. 

Thirty nine blocks are complete and I 

need sixty four to complete a nice sized twin top.

A few more projects will round out the 

bunch. Diagonal string blocks are always 

a good filler project and  we're even 

 playing a game with them!

There are a group of Halloween fabrics

waiting to be sewn into shaded four patches

that would fun and very seasonal. 

I even found a banner to add in!

A mystery from last year is waiting for  

final assembly so that may come along 

to round out my list! 

All my bags are packed (almost)!

It should be a great weekend of fun!

Stay safe and Sew On!

 

Take Me With You!

Retreat season is nearly here,

and I thought it would be a good time to inventory

the little work drawer in my featherweight!

I can get almost all I need for a weekend away sewing

in the little drawer or the machine box.

There are lots of extras I take to retreats;

larger cutting boards, bigger rotary cutters,

long rulers, but I have sewn for a whole weekend

with just what I had in my featherweight box!

Here's a quick list. 

                                            Spare bobbins

Needle threader

snips

Sewer's ease

Chain piecing Cutter

Two small rulers

Emery board 

Machine brush

reading glasses

Bag of clips

Machine feet

Band-Aid

Screwdriver

Angled tweezers

Pencil

Pen

Pins

Straight tweezers

Small scissors

Chapstick

Spare needles

Magnifying glasses

Many of the projects I take are 

cut out at home so I don't have to 

worry about the activities are retreat 

distracting me from measurements!

The machine power foot goes into the 

main box instead of the drawer to make 

room for my supplies. 

The retreat pile is growing daily!

Happy retreating!

Stay safe and sew on !

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:

Design Wall Monday

Finished or Not Friday

Monday Musings

Beauty Pageant

Sew & Tell

Off the Wall Friday

Wait Loss Wednesday

TGIFF

Midweek Makers

Patchwork & Quilts

Put Your Foot Down

Oh Scrap!

Needle & Thread Thursday

Free Motion Mavericks

Sr. Salon Pit Stop

September Fun

 

A whole stack of quilts to be quilted! 

Lots of progress this week!

Woot Woot to me. 

I have been very busy  churning backs out and of course my 

area is bordering on a disaster but wow am I having fun!

A few more quilts basted and I even condensed my batting

scraps by cutting strips for a jelly roll rug. 

I will be using a box of 2 1/2 " strips I already have for the rug!!

Unless, of course I have a look and think they are too pretty 

to end up as a bath mat. I feel that might happen. 

Just looked and yes, I will save them for a pineapple quilt I have

 started. I do have a seasoned pile of fabric 

I can certainly use without too

much trouble so that will cut up tonight. 

I received a wonderful package yesterday with these inside.

No, not a glitch in the matrix but much anticipated bobbin

cases to repair my sewing machine.  It seems that I tend to pull

a bit when free motion quilting and damage the bobbin case 

causing the thread to ball up and seize the sewing mechanism 

 causing worrisome error messages. 

A quickie clean, a break for tea and a bit more patience and I can 

get back to work.  The local store was out of stock, (maybe more 

sewers have this problem), so a shop 2 hours away had some

and mailed them to me inexpensively and quickly.  Yay! 

I also I found a new-to-me website that lists 

topical blogs as they are published. 

So much fun!  You can add your own 

blog to increase numbers if that is your goal, 

(I was thinking about adding an amazon link so 

my kids can buy thru my site and we would get our own

commission?) or just make more connections ( that is my goal, 

I do love the support I get from the blogverse!!). 

It is called www.quilterblogs.com  and wow, so much fun!

Finishing up this post with a look at the current 

bedcover in our house.  It is the "Aliens Have Landed " 

from last year and it is certainly appropriate for 

the beautiful night skies and moon views we have 

been having recently. 

Stay safe and sew on !  

Linking up with :

Wait Loss Wednesday

Midweek Makers

Stitch Show & Sew