And I sewed, finally

Here is the latest installment of what has become my once-a-month blog.
But this time I SEWED! (Yes, I did shop too, but that is surprisingly less important.)
Thanks to all my wonderful Canadian friends for having me back to the Retreat at the lake. I especially loved meeting new friends. And the A/C was quite a change. And I loved that I sewed and sewed. And learned things, like staying up until 3 am does NOT make me more productive.

My stated goal for this retreat was "piece 3 baby quilt tops". I didn't achieve it- but I did piece the majority of 2 tops and I am quite happy about it.

The first shot is sideways (note the feet). It will have a free form tree in very dark brown appliqued over the geometric design. I may add a bit of the red to the tree- wispy branches perhaps? And probably the red as an inner piping border. Then probably a thin dark brown border with dark brown finish.
Number 2 is this sailboat quilt- you can see that I will be adding the dark blue/stars as an inner border. I get get to use Y seams too, because I had not planned to keep the outer parts of the nine-patches there. But once I saw it together, I decided they need to stay. Then a nice thick border of that Waves fabric! (Isn't it great stuff! I got it from the clearance rack at the delightful Fourth Corner Quilts in Bellingham.)
Number 3 baby quilt will be 5 turtles in batik. I have all the fabric. I have an actual pattern (shocking thought, I know) and I WILL sew in my studio regularly.
All three of these are for boys already born.

I did take more photos of retreat... but I think I will save them for a different post! Maybe one finished this month!
Many, many, many thanks to my friends at retreat for helping me with the design bits.

Recovering from Retreat

Ohhh- Home at Last!

Retreat is one of those vacations that you need a rest from after it is done. A bit of manual labor really. (So why isn't it better exercise??)

Retreat started last Friday, and it was such a blast! I am so glad to have met such wonderful friends who have welcomed me into their circle and invited me back to join them at such a gorgeous location.

We had a great time at Camp Luther, which is located on Lake Hatzic, east of Vancouver BC. Below is the view west, from the deck just off the workspace we all played in.

My space- not nearly as organized and tidy as "some". The 25 retreat-ors were set up on these great tables and we had a nice couple of pressing centers and a large cutting out/ laying out area for all to use.

Here is my bed- and I did get to sleep under my quilt top- I added the binding the first night of Retreat. As you can imagine, the 'beds' were super comfy, and there were two per room, plus a full bed. (The trick to getting any sleep on the bunk is to steal the mattress off the top bunk.) (And wearing earplugs.)(And to go to bed really, really tired.)

This is a quilt top which I finished while there- it started as a great little Mystery Quilt trio. But I couldn't leave well enough alone and combined and changed and combined a bit. It is shown here draped over my loom.

These are some mini quilts I started, and almost completed- they were 1 1/4 inch squares when cut from the scrap bin.

And... some Stash Enhancing. I couldn't resist. It was a Quilt weekend, right???

And I have already paid my deposit for next year!

I should start counting down the days...