Another retreat

 I had the delightful opportunity to go on another quilting retreat.  This one is in rural Wisconsin southwest of Madison, our capitol. I love this one where you can see the sunset over the fields and farms. And the weather was warm, which I had not quite anticipated.  And the air conditioner was turned on when only in the 70s.  Oh well.

But the food, the comradery, the shared ideas, and the hours of quilting.  So great to get things moving on projects. We had trivia and campfire songs, and lots of fun together. And I forgot the good food, although my stomach was revolting at the time.

Anyway, here are some of their projects:

This was an exchange project. Many of the knick knacks are personal and titles on books , family photos, etc. Very cool! Love the arched center.

A found set of blocks from a free table 

Fat cat designs of a Southern Gentlemen from last fall.

Things I worked on:

Quilted my small flag quilt to send to Mom for her door. 

It was a free pattern from Buttermilk Basin without the applique, a UFO from the past.

The binding was handsewn once I got home.

Another flag banner which had been left as a top last year.

Also hand sewn binding at home.

This is Bonnie Hunter's Bitcoin pattern with large strips of color in between.  

It was a UFO from 2021:     link for the  bitcoin start

I ran out of the pieced parts and will had 2 more strips: 

one pieced and one solid making a twin quilt.

These blocks were comprised of the hourglass blocks leftover from another wall hanging. 

Blocks were made over a year ago.

I left the back of odd blocks at home. 

So it will end up longer. 

A little of this and a little of that

It has been a much more productive week. We quilters in Wisconsin had it cold and snow.  But that is a repeat of our usual conditions.  I think we have 2 feet of compacted accumulated snow. 

But I feel so badly for those in areas that were frozen and had the surprising arrival of snow and now the thaw. My son in Louisiana had ice and it impacted electricity and water for him for several days.  I know many other states are equally reeling from the rolling blackouts and travel conditions. 

But it is business as usual here. And I actually accomplished quite a bit. 

Here are my quarter square triangles early in the week.  I now have 60 completed along with a border set and fabrics all organized. 

Start with normal half square triangles. Draw line, sew quarter inch seams on both sides, cut and press.

Then turn one on top of the other  butting the seam together.  ( hence the pin in the center) .

And repeat: draw center line, sew on both sides, cut and press. 

All that is left is the trimming.  This is the method I have followed since I saw it in a Fons and Porter magazine many moons ago. 

I made 5 pairs at a time ending up with 10 quarter square blocks.

But I really was excited to get several small cleaning things done. My threads are organized and moved to a location further than my left side.  I cleaned my machine, changed the needle and even changed my cutting blade.  What a difference! 

I quilted my snowflakes in wool and have the binding on, but need to hand sew it today. Size is 26 inches square

Here is the back, a sparkly spotted fabric originally purchased for my son's graduation that we never had a party for. Lots left over 

And here is the front quilted. 

Lastly I started on the wool applique for a spring quilt.  I originally was going to do this for a stay at home round robin.  I am still going with that plan, just on my own time schedule. The background is pieced from a yellow and peach assortment of prints from a layer bar of Sugarcreek.