Tasting Table Tuesday - Trip Report

I don't know about you, but it seems like I've been running full speed throughout the holidays, and things are just now starting to feel normal again.  I found the perfect cure for my annual PHS disorder (that's Post Holiday Stress).  It's called RETREAT - and it's WONDERFUL!

As I mentioned earlier, I had never been to a retreat before.  It always seemed like it was a lot of work to pack everything up and set up somewhere else to sew.  I didn't get it...  But now I understand.  I'm sure those of you who go to retreats know what I mean.  Yes - it's a lot of work to pack, but there's just something about spending four days with a group of great women who share common interests.  And I mean it when I say "great women".  Everyone got along beautifully and we thoroughly enjoyed each other's company.  Thanks for including me, ladies - I love each and every one of you!

Here's the whole gang, with each of us holding something we were working on.  Isn't Leisa's quilt in the background gorgeous?
We had oodles of great food (and are now in the process of sharing all our recipes), had lots of fun and interesting conversations, watched a great movie, and we sewed - and sewed - and sewed...  then sewed some more - with lots of laughter thrown in, of course!

 Here are two more beauties on the design walls, ready to be assembled - Megan's on the right and Ann's on the left.  Stunning!
And here are the projects that I worked on...

I still have to add gray borders around the sides of this quilt.  It was so much fun to have everyone's input while we played around with the color placement!  I'm really happy with our final decision.  I know the picture is a little fuzzy, but it looks better in person.  I used some Andover Frippery charm squares and paired them with dark gray.  I hope to do some special quilting in the gray whirlygigs in the center.

This one is also made from Andover Lucky Penny charm squares, paired with a medium gray this time.  All half-square triangles, arranged in a chevron pattern.  Not sure if I'll put a border on this one or not - I'll see how it looks after the blocks are all sewn together.

Next up is a little AAQI quilt.  My regular readers will remember that I made a personal commitment to make and donate a matching mini AAQI quilt each time I sold a quilt in my Etsy Shop.  I sold two quilts in November and I thought that Retreat would be the perfect place to work on these mini quilts.  This first one is made with Tula Pink's Neptune collection.

And here is a picture of the original quilt that was sold.

And this is the second mini-quilt, made with Bunny Hill's Puttin' On The Ritz fabrics, in gray and cream.  I like how the words "Baby" and "Dream" appear in some of the cream squares.  That was lucky, because I have absolutely none of this cream fabric left - only scraps of the gray - it was close!

And here is the quilt that inspired it.

Last up is yet MORE blocks made using Tula Pink's Neptune fabrics.  I've made two quilts, a huge patchwork duffle bag, several purses, the mini quilt above, and other little odds and ends with this fabric and I still have lots MORE!  I still love it though, so I'm sure I'll keep on using it.

So that's it for my trip report.  Now I have to unpack all my sewing stuff and settle back in to my Cotton Cellar to get some work done.  And I don't care how much work is involved - retreat was FANTASTIC!

Edited to add:  Thanks for all your recipe suggestions!  They all sounded great.  I finally settled on two recipes I found on Pinterest - an egg, sausage & cheese casserole, and a yummie fruit salad.

Cheers!

A Finished Quilt

It seems like it's been ages since I've finished anything, but it's been a crazy summer.  And it's September already!  But I finally spent some time at the sewing machine and finished this quilt.  I've called it "Sweet Dreams".

I'm so pleased with how this quilt turned out.  The soft palette of gray & cream is so soothing and perfect for a gender-neutral baby quilt.

I tried something new in the quilting process this time.  The design is from my new book by Charlotte Warr Andersen, called "One Line at a Time - 24 Geometric Machine-Quilting Designs Made Easy".  As much as I like free-motion quilting, there's just something about precise straight lines that I love.  I guess it's my engineering background, but I like precision.  Her instructions teach you how to mask off the design area with 1" wide painters tape that serves as your guidelines, but the design of my blocks gave me the exact guidelines I needed, only on a 2" scale, instead of 1".  So there was absolutely no marking, no templates - nothing - just stitch and go - so easy!  I have to admit, it took a little concentration to make sure I didn't make any wrong turns, but it wasn't hard.  And it's continuous - edge to edge - so no thread breaks either!  Now I'm ready to try some more of the designs in this book.  

I wanted to get a little more creative with my photos for my Etsy listing, with the hopes that a good photograph might create some more interest.  Being a baby quilt, I thought of skies, clouds, and of course - the new windmills that have been popping up in our area.  So on our Sunday afternoon drive today, I took my quilt and my camera along and stopped along the roadside for a little photo shoot.  Unfortunately, I wasn't happy with the photos of the quilt with the windmills in the background, but with the help of PicMonkey.com, I was able to work with some of the others.  If you'd like to see the five finalists I picked, they're on my Etsy listing here.

Tasting Table - Friday???

I'm late...  I was away last week and intended to post on Tuesday, as usual, but just realized I forgot all about it!  Anyway, there's something new on my Tasting Table that I'm really excited about.  Awhile back, I bought this gorgeous Jelly Roll of grey Puttin' on the Ritz fabric, just because I loved it.  Grey and Cream is such an elegant combination and I thought it would make a really amazing baby quilt.  I've been staring at it for ages, and finally decided to cut into it last week.  I chopped it all up into 4 1/2" long pieces, then arranged them in a really simple layout - so easy!!!  I saw a quilt laid out like this somewhere on the internet (sorry, don't remember where) so I got to work on EQ and drew it up.  The jelly roll is heavier in greys than creams, but I was able to make a 40" x 48" quilt and you can see how many "bricks" I still have left over for a future quilt.  The pale blue you see on the left is my backing fabric.  I found it at Enchanted Mountain Quilt Shop in Olean NY, and the cream & grey rings on it match the jelly roll fabrics perfectly.  Can't wait to see this one finished!  It will be listed in my Etsy shop when it's done.  Have a wonderful weekend!  Cheers!