Retreat Wrap-Up - My Own Stuff First

I'm just home from a 4-day quilt retreat at Needles N Pines Retreat Center in Nelsonville, OH. We had 8 quilters happily and energetically zipping away on their projects. We got so much done! It has been challenging deciding how to share our various projects and accomplishments.

The easiest way for me is to start with myself, since I know that info best. It'll also give me time to be more thoughtful about grouping the other quilters and their work. 

I went with the plan to make my Wensleydale Quilt with the Tilda fabrics I'd prepared ahead of time. 

The paper piecing pattern requires 5 'rounds' of fabrics, and I followed a fantastically helpful YouTube tutorial by Quilted Chicken. Following her instructions kept my biggest fear at bay - wasting fabric. Tilda is not inexpensive, and my memories of paper piecing years ago involved a whole lot of waste. I don't mind that when I'm using scraps, but with brand-spanking-new FQ packs, I didn't want to waste anything.

All my pieces were laid out on my table in the order in which I would use them. I had my cheat-sheet of sub-cutting instructions nearby, too. I did a lot of fumbling around trying to establish a rhythm for making a block. My first couple of blocks took awhile to finish. It'd been many years since I last paper pieced, so I needed to relearn things. Here are blocks 1 and 2.

 

By the end of retreat (Monday morning thru Thursday morning), I had made 30 blocks - exactly half of what is needed for the quilt. 

I just love how nicely they stack with the foundation papers keeping them so straight and even. The stack above is only 8 or 10 blocks. You can imagine how sweet the stack of 30 looks. (I'll take that pic after I unpack everything.) *wink* 

When I had 28 blocks it seemed a good place to stop and hang them on the design wall. I can see that I will need to be more deliberate in placing these blocks; the bottom row of this particular layout has way too many dark-ish blocks. 

Looking at this layout of 28 blocks, I don't see a single one that doesn't please me. Tilda fabrics are so very versatile when mixing them all so randomly. I'd been collecting Tilda bit by bit for a couple of years with no particular plan for using it. I bought some from Annette at Sewing The Good Life, at quilt shows in both Circleville and Daytona. I also had a bit purchased also at the Circleville show from Mercantile on Main. When I realized that I'd need both more fabric and more color variations, I sent off an emergency order to The Quilter's Shoppe on Etsy. Shop owner Karen was exceedingly fast in delivering my order, and I had it in plenty of time to take with me to retreat. I am so glad I had the array of reds to add to my predominantly blue collection. 

Thirty blocks completed in 4 days is a lot. I know I will not make the next 30 as quickly. If I can average 5 per week, I suppose I would consider that a success. I just won't be able to have such extended time in the sewing room, but I will for sure try to remain focused on finishing these blocks.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne