Retreat time!

When you hear the word 'retreat' you probably think of solitude, quiet, relaxation, and time away from the rat race.  When you pair that word with 'quilting' you get...noise from laughter and discussions with friends and the hum of machines, friendship instead of solitutde and focus on projects rather than relaxation...unless you find quilting relaxing...and WE DO!!

And I probably don't have to tell you how satisfying it is to come home with projects completed or at least mostly completed.

I just got back from here after 4 nights away with the girls in my satellite group.  I wanted to focus on getting UFOs done and I got these finished:

ROLL ROLL COTTON BOLL 

At long last, my Roll Roll Cotton Boll is completed and ready to quilt.  I'm so excited to have this one done.

After Roll Roll Cotton Boll, I worked on Tuscan Hillside.  I just needed to work on the appliqued vine and grape leaves.  I still have to stitch down the raw edge applique of the grape leaves but for now they are fixed down by Steam a Seam 2.

TUSCAN HILLSIDE

And lastly, Orca Bay!  I got the top done and I'm thrilled with it but I had some trouble with the borders.  I put on a white border like Bonnie Hunter's instructions said (no picture shown of that) but after measuring in the middle, it was about 3 inches short on each side.   Not a happy camper!  Anyway, this is where the quilt fairies come in (aka retreat friends).  After  agonizing over the border dilemma I've decided to take off the white border and add a wider black border and then square it off from there.  I've got almost all of the outer border units done although I ran out of units so I couldn't finish it, but here's a picture of the quilt without the borders.  I'll update with another blog post once all the borders are on.

ORCA BAY

I'm very happy with what I got done at my quilting retreat.  Now to get them quilted!!

Until next time,
Mavis

Some finishes...

I had a great week which included some finishes.  Among these were:

The Curly Birds of Bend

All quilted, labeled, bound, and done!  I started this in July of 2012 while in Sisters, Oregon.  The fabric captivated me in Bend, Oregon and that night in the hotel room, I started cutting and piecing this very easy quilt.  The pattern is called "Shenandoah" and is great for focus fabric that you can't bear to cut up.

And this one has gone to the longarm quilter, Teresa Ranson, to be finished as it's a king-sized quilt for my bed.  This was a Bonnie Hunter mystery a few years ago which was entitled "Carolina Christmas".  Well, Miss Bonnie lives in North Carolina and I live in Canada, so mine is called "Canadiana Christmas".  This quilt should be home in plenty of time to adorn my bed for the Christmas season.

I'll have another finish this week.  I'm just finishing off the binding and then I'll shoot some pictures to upload.

Until next time,

Mavis