Thursday, July 23, 2015

Retreat Recap Saturday

Get ready for another long post...  Before I get into Saturday's events, just want to mention that Friday we also had a mini show and tell at the retreat.  There were big quilts and small quilts, placemats, tote bags, and all kinds of goodies!  It was nice to see everyone's different work.  Here are a few pics:








Sandy and Sheri finished their projects way earlier than expected so a road trip was in order!  They set off for the quilt shop in Shelbyville Saturday morning and came back with identical kits to make Christmas quilts!  Both of them got a great start on the quilts and Sandy even finished the top Sunday when she got home!  It was so nice to have Sharon there to help with the directions on the kits, because they were quite intense.

We were all up pretty early on Saturday, some earlier than others..., and really got in the groove of sewing.  I was able to get the entire top done for the first Jimmy John quilt, including the borders!  Mary got her sister's rail fence top finished and Marla worked on a beautiful black and white quilt.  Sheri and Sandy worked on their Christmas quilt kits.

Lunch was even a pretty picture!  Sharon really outdid herself with the meals the entire weekend.  Here's what our lunch plates looked like:

Yeah, the pic is turned sideways, but you get the idea.  Chicken salad, canteloup, blueberries, grapes, crackers...  And cookies for dessert.  Yum!  Dinner Saturday was lasagna and all the fixin's.

By 9 p.m. I had the top finished, and really didn't want to start anything, so I pressed the blocks for two of the nursing home quilts.  I had brought them with in case I had time to press them, but told myself that was all I was doing with them because the retreat was MY time to do MY projects.  Those blocks won't take long to sew into tops, and then I will have 6 tops ready for this Christmas.  Will have to get them quilted and bound soon.

I also went ahead and pressed the strips for the second Jimmy John quilt but didn't do much else because of the time.  I didn't want to start making mistakes.

Saturday, while Sharon was sewing with us, she made one of the pillowcases that I described a few posts ago.  She showed us how to make them and Mary and I each made one Saturday evening.  It's funny, because I had seen this technique demonstrated on the internet but until I saw it in person, it just wasn't clicking.  I had that "aha!" moment.

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