Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Live from Bowser, BC

This blog post is brought to you live from beautiful Bowser, BC where four of us quilters are hunkered down for our second quilt retreat from a beautiful beachfront retreat.



We have a new member this year and are down three from the previous retreat two years ago. So that brings us to four. 


Pam - second timer


Mae - first timer



Linda - another second timer


Me - another second timer

I had a few of goals at this year's retreat:  1). I wanted to make my son a warm winter quilt for Christmas. I purchased three jelly rolls for this in sandy coloured earth tones to match his new room, 2) I have a set of 7 fat quarters that I wanted to use for a baby quilt in a quick and easy pattern, and 3) I wanted  to finish the blocks for my blooming nine patch quilt which I started a few weeks ago at a guild workshop.  I always bring way more than a weekend's worth of projects because I never know what I will be inspired to work on. 

Here's my blooming nine patch where I left off after  the guild workshop. I have a bunch of nine patches to construct.  Better get busy!!



So let's see what we can accomplish this weekend! 

Our dining room workspace. 


The view from my sewing table day 1.  Not too shabby. 


My son's Christmas quilt minus borders. 


Sewing the border on.  


All done now!  Ready for sandwiching and quilting. I will use Hobbs wool batting and flannel backing to achieve the warmth required.

Next up is the baby quilt project. .


All done and ready for quilting.  I used bricks and half bricks in a step layout with a simple white inner border and a coordinating outside border. We found the border fabric and an adorable grey flannel polka dot fabric at Sweet Pea Quilting in Parksville. The fat quarter pack came from Satin Moon Quilted Garden in Victoria.

Linda's jewel tones stepping stones quilt. Beautiful!  Gotta love those jelly rolls!


Mae's one block wonder. I took Mae's class a few years back for my own OBW. This one is going to be gorgeous. 


Linda busy at work on her borders. 


Now that my other two projects are done, I'm going to try and finish my nine patches for my blooming nine patch which will be king sized. 


We are now nearing the end of day 3 and here are a few more random pictures from our retreat time. 

Pam and I headed outside during the storm to get some fresh air, kick a few rocks in the beach and try and photograph my quilt tops. 


Kinda futile but memorable in its own way. 




Random beach art. 


The sea started out calm and the sky lovely as seen in my first picture out the window. Today the sea is more fierce and the sky stormy but we are happily inside sewing away with the smell of ham and veggie soup simmering away on the stove with the promise of comfort food for dinner. 

We head home tomorrow so let's see what we can accomplish for the remainder of our time here. 

Until next year, it's been a slice girls!!

Mavis