Retreat Report #2

Retreat sewing. That's what y'all want to see, right? So let's get right into it! 

 

First up, we'll see what Sharon was stitching. She and I are doing the same pattern; it's by It's Sew Emma called Paris Flea Market Find. Sharon is using Etchings fabric by 3Sisters, augmented with some other 3Sisters lines from her stash.

 

Those sashing strips left a great pile of cut-away corners, so Sharon saved them for some eventual HSTs and a project yet to be determined. (I saved mine, too!)

 

Making the 25-patch blocks was lots of fun and so very satisfying as they came together quite speedily. 

 

Becky had two very different projects - one for machine piecing and one for hand work. Below is the book from which her applique pattern comes. It's hard to discern, but it's called Fresh Picked from Blackbird Designs.

Her other project is one that just boggles my mind in its intricacy. Circa 1880 Nine Patch by Pam Buda contains 6,268 pieces, many of which finish at 1/2 inch. Yowza.

Becky had completed this tubful of tiny uneven 9-patches, and her work at retreat involved attaching the setting triangles and forming the long strip of blocks.

 

 

 

The neat stack on Becky's table shows a significant portion of both her projects - the applique on tip and the strips of uneven 9-patches under them.

 

 Jan brought one project to this retreat, very unlike her normal mega-productivity at previous retreats. Her efforts were of the Herculean variety as she finished this overly-involved panel quilt.

 

Each panel required a rather extensive border; after gnashing her teeth on about 4 of these, she began taking short cuts which required fewer seams and fewer fussy bits. We all agreed that the simpler borders were actually better, as they did not deter from the cute panels.

 

Sheryll had two main focuses - these intricate blocks for a quilt she's had under construction for awhile was one of them. 

 

 

 

Her other focus was making HSTs using Primitive Gathering HST papers. I should have asked how many she ended up making, but gosh, that stack was looking mighty intimidating! I think that Jacob's Ladder (above) is also for a Primitive Gatherings project.

Susan (who you met yesterday with her brand new machine) had lots of variety in her week at retreat. First, she made this owl quilt.

 

Next, she worked on this Ohio University table runner. I love the way this looks, and since I have an OU grad in the family, I would very much consider making something like this for her.

 

From the OU project, Susan moved on to this Folk Art/Patriotic house quilt. It was looking mighty fine as we finished out the week.

Susan also shared a 3-yard quilt finish from last summer's retreat. Several of us have made quilts from one of the many 3-Yard Quilt books.

Terry was a busy girl, too, with several finishes to boast. She already had a good start on this Civil War Legacies quilt called Remembrances. It is impressive with all those famous faces highlighted in the center of each block.

She then moved on to this quilt, but I can't tell you anything about its name or pattern. I do know that we discovered an error after this photo was taken, and she did get it all fixed before we left retreat.

Next, Terry moved on to making an OSU quilt for her grand-nephew who attends there. She used a sheet for the center of the OSU blocks, and a variety of theme-related fabrics to build this out. It is quite the impressive flimsy after just a day's hard work.

Our final seamstress is Helen, who worked so hard to get her Alpine quilt cut out. The thinking was that she'd cut here at retreat, then Becky could take the ruler home to cut hers later. Helen got far enough along in the process that she made one block just to be sure that she was on the right track with this project. I think she might have been more than just a little intimidated with these angles. I'm sure she'll get it all squared away.

Another project Helen brought to work on was this kit from Maywood Studio. It is going to look so happy and cheerful, with hints of vintage 30s sprinkled throughout.

And yes, Helen had one more kit - this happy little neighborhood called Farmer's Daughter by Moda. She has quite a bit of this finished!

Here are some final shots of my version of Paris Flea Market Find - I'm using (primarily) Paris Flea Market fabrics along with some stash yardage.

That's it!! A 4-day retreat at Needles and Pines in Nelsonville, Ohio, is all we need to have a fun and productive week. We highly recommend this facility to quilters in the southern Ohio area.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne