What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Twice a year, our guild hosts a three day sleep-at-home retreat. We have an event venue where we can take our machines and things to work on, set up once on day one and leave it overnight while we go home for dinner and to sleep. Then we come back for two more days to sew and enjoy the company of friends. I didn’t have any piecing project that I wanted to do this time, but a friend suggested that I bring my little embroidery machine and do some holiday things. Sounded good, so I did that. I set ...

The second project I worked on at retreat was Moondance, a very old block of the month by Beth Ferrier.  I started piecing the setting blocks at retreat and finished sewing the row after I returned home.

Here are both the rows I have pieced.

There is another row with setting blocks and spacers that goes between these two rows.  The next time I pull this project out I will work on that row.

I am content working on this quilt as a palette cleanser between other projects.  Piecing the setting blocks can be a bit tedious.  Finishing this quilt ...

No fabric in this week.

I spent last weekend at retreat, sewing the days away.  I managed to finish a top for the Guild’s charity.  The pattern is Cloud Nine by Villa Rosa designs.

It went together fast considering I had nothing cut when I got there.  Some of the fabrics were mine, some came from the charity table, and my sister gave me the background fabric when she retired from teaching.

I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to quilt it or take it back to Guild for someone there to quilt.

I also worked on ...

No fabric in this week.

I finished the yoga pants for fabric out.  I tried taking a picture with me wearing them, but that is harder than you think.

I am at a quilting retreat with my Guild this weekend, hopefully sewing up a bunch of fabric that I can report next week.  I just need to stay out of the quilt shops and away from free/sale tables.

Fabric Added: 17.875

Fabric Used:  8.625 yards

Net Fabric Added:  9.25 yards

How did you do this week?

OH MY --- I was exhausted when I got home. I had a decent sleep the night before, but it was short. Can you believe I went to bed at 6:30 last night and got up at 4:30 AM—that is a rarity for me. I had five minutes of awake time and 1 hour and 13 minutes of deep sleep! Phew --- I feel great this morning, and that was probably my best sleep score ever. Those sleep scores only give you excellent if the sleep duration is long. 

But let's step back and see what happened in ...

 You guys are the best—so many good comments and suggestions. 

It was another amazing day of progress. And guess what? I have worked on almost all my projects - there are two bundles of scraps that I have not touched, and one quilt top! There are a few projects that didn't get finished, but they got advanced, and that is all that counts!

Here is the plaque from the BMO Museum in Montreal. What a hoot to see that. Thank you so much, Daphne, for spotting that and sending it to me, as I had no idea. I don ...

 For those not aware of the Magic Bags, they are bags of grain (not sure what kind) that you throw in the microwave to heat up - like a heating pad. However, Jill's comment is chilling!!! The smell was quite bad, and I can still smell it on my PJs because I held the bag to me for a bit. The smell is still very much in the bag, and I suspect that when I get home, I'll be shopping for another bag, because the moment it goes in the microwave, it will stink up the place. 

As for ...

I love how we are all so supportive of each other!! And how we are all the same. We lose things, we go through recoveries, we screw up! It's so comforting to know that I'm not alone!!! 

I'm at a new retreat house this morning, getting myself organized in a new space. I realized, as I was setting up my computer, that I had NOT brought the mouse or the mouse pad. Sigh......  As I was packing up, I thought to myself to throw that in, but I did not. It sits under a shelf upon which ...

Taking my computer out of sleep mode was a good thing. Before I knew it, the syncing had finished, and my folders in the Classic Version of Outlook now have email in them!!! I must get busy and start deleting and resorting what's in there. I don't want to have to go through that again. 

And the program is no longer frozen. It wouldn't allow me to do anything while the syncing process was happening, so that is one positive thing that happened!!!

I went to the post office to check on my missing parcel, and they ...

I hope you all get a chance to read the comments. There are some great ones, and I need to respond to them! 

One person keeps a torque wrench in their vehicle! Oh my, and the number of people who use EXCEL!!! I am very far behind the times! I'm not sure I would track some of the things people track, but hey—we each need to do what works for us!!!!

I learn so much from coming to a retreat - well, any interaction with people! They are so much smarter than I am! Yesterday, we were talking about ...

It was a wild night! I hate it when you go to bed tired but can't fall asleep. The last couple of nights, I've been tired and tried to read my book. I could barely read a couple of pages, and I was fast asleep. Last night? Not happening. So I read more and more pages of the book. Let's say this is one of those psychological thrillers that well --- do you want to know what happens? This one is called Watch out for her" by Samantha J. Bailey, and it was creepy from the opening sentence ...

Yep -- last trip of the year and it's a quilt retreat. What a great way to end the year! I love quilt retreats!! We are a small group, which I love. It's quiet, with lots of room, great company, and sewing all day long! Does it get any better than that?

It's going to be weird next year because this year we had 7 retreats, and next year there are only 2 (well, technically 3), and all of them only have room for FOUR people besides me. Yikes!!!! But I find that interest is waning a bit ...

I attended Quilt Retreat here in

Oregon last week...