I just got back from a quilting retreat, from Friday 2pm until Sunday 5pm... and let me tell you, other than eating and sleeping (and there wasn't much of that going on) all we did (43 of us) was SEW~!!!!! It was done through our guild (GHQG), and although I went solo (didn't know who else was going), I had a great roommate and met some great fun ladies! Oh, and did I SEW!!!
This quilt is one that a woman named Janet made with crumbs and 9-patches...with a wild print sashing. Looked great!
While others took time off occasionally to head to Walmart for fabric, supplies, etc (Not what I wanted to be wasting my time with), I kept my nose to my machine. The theme was a MHS (Material High School) reunion, where we even had a chance to dress up for the Sat prom (dinner). We all got MHS Homecoming 2007 t-shirts (Manchestger High is near where I live), a Financial totebag with lots of goodies in it, including scissors, unbrella, setting ruler, leather thimbles, and so much more. For the prom, some had some pretty crazy outfits!! It was the only time I didn't mind being away from the machine (I considered it an extension from dinner). The only thing I wished I had done, is send money with someone to get me lithium batteries for my camera, since it died early Sat morning. Drat!! I took these pictures after the event. I'm posting the link to
GHQG so you can see photos when someone posts them there. As of this posting there weren't there yet, but check back.
Although no one needed a 'hall pass' for the bathroom, we were asked to 'ring the teacher's bell on the desk" when we'd finished a project ( sometimes only to whatever stage you could get it done to at the retreat) and then show everyone what you got finished. There were some great quilts done there!! It got to the point where 'my friends' wouldn't let me ring the bell on Sunday, since I 'finished' 7 projects by Sat afternoon!! I brought various UFOs and a few projects from my PbPQ crew, so some really didn't have much to do, but I moved them a few steps further than they would have had just sitting in the drawer at home. I offered to teach a class (pillowcases) on Sat. and learned (in someone else's class) a really interesting trick with bindings that actually helps me iron those little suckers really fast (works the same for my trim on the cases). I'll post a photo tutorial regarding it in another post soon.
Finished: (kinda)... 1.
Smokey Mountain Stars (this link is for Bonnie Hunter's version, I still need to take a picture of mine, but I will. I only just had a third of the blocks put together ahead of time, so I finished the blocks there and made it into a top-- My version is not as 'smokey', but still plaids. I'm sure there is a great green plaid backing material at church, and I'll probably make a dark binding or roll the green backing around to the front.
2. I prepared a binding for a quilt "Diamonds in the Mud", that I've had in my UFO drawer for at least 3 yrs. Now I'll go find material for the backing.
3. I fixed a backing for a quilt that I knew the backing fabric was too narrow for, by cutting it diagonally and shifting it to widen. It goes with a quilt that was my first bargello (a test size)-- I liked it so I kept adding borders until it told me to stop. I think I'll make it into a tablecloth. ANYONE KNOW WHAT/WHETHER I NEED TO PUT BATTING IN OR NOT? I thought maybe I'll use a flannel sheet (good idea?).
4. Learned how to make a 'snap bag' from a placemat and a metal tape measure (that's what makes it go snap!), so I finished one! Cute.
5. I also brought a quilt that I loved how it got created, but I was so afraid how to quilt it by machine (I still have to figure how to quilt the border-- 'cuz I think it needs it). I bit the bullet and DID IT! Whew! Now just to figure if I have the soft green materials to bind it.
6. I brought the 'Liberated Log Cabin" (it was just to the block stage) and got it to a top. I realized afterwards that one block (bottom row) got turned... oops! Not sure if I'll turn it yet, but isn't this "Furrowed Rows"? Maybe I'll call this "Don't Drink with a Plow Horse" or "Furrowed Rows on the Rocks".
7. I finished the last border of Alexa's quilt ("Swimming Star"- 9yr old with leg cancer who just had surgery), and used the leftover fabrics to make Chinese coins to piece her backing. Then I cut up some of the Hanna Montana fabric from the back and made the binding, so it's ready to sandwich and quilt/tie/bind.
8. Decided to cut up some Oriental 5" charms for a quilt I saw at a quilting event (jotted the design on notepaper) and have that ready to make at some point.
9. and last but not least, I made four last RWB HS blocks (I had 20) for a quilt we are making for a returning soldier, put it together, then added the first of two borders. I plan to make a red scrappy binding.
Of course the only way I got so much accomplished is because I got up at 6:30am each morning, ate, then sewed....ate lunch, sewed... ate dinner, then sewed until 12:30am-1am both nights....then stayed until 4:45 pm on Sunday. Nothing like staying until the last shot's fired, huh? I also got 2nd place with a quilt challenge….Great weekend!
I thought this was cool with a label from the inside of the neck showing...(I saved everything from the plaid shirts).
... or I could clear the cutting table so I could cut my outer border for the Alexa's quilt (swimmer with leukemia). I found some purple Hannah Montana fabric for the back (although I'll need to add Chinese coins to extend it- that's ok). 
I did get to put the two inner borders on at Cricket's house last week, so I did get SOMETHING done. See? oh. I guess you don't see, since I didn't post any photos here. Here you go.... 
I even got the back finished.
