Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Patoka Valley Quilt Guild 2014 Winter Retreat

The guild retreat was last weekend at the Spring Mill State Park Inn. We always have such a good time. Of course, I pack more projects than I'd ever be able to get done. I always like to have a variety of projects, because I never know what I'll be in the mood to do. I did finish a couple of projects I needed to get finished for gifts. That was my primary goal for the weekend.

This is my quilt for Holland. She will be getting this sweet little flannel rag quilt for her 4th birthday.

This quilt is for Sebastian; he will be turning 11. As you can see, he has divided loyalties when it comes to favorite baseball teams. For this t-shirt quilt, I had to scavenge for Cardinals shirts. My daughter and my husband are Braves fans, so I collected some "old school" Braves shirts from them. I had to turn to Facebook for most of the Cardinals shirts--my friends came through for me. Thanks Kim and Greg!

For this quilt, I used a lightweight fusible interfacing on the t-shirts before I cut into them. I cut them each into 18 1/2" squares. I backed them with fleece and quilted an "X" in each block. I didn't use any batting in the blocks; the quilt is PLENTY heavy the way it is. I made half-blocks for the top and bottom of the quilt. I needed it to be a bit longer and thought this would be a good way to finish it off.

I also worked on some more blocks for my scrap quilt. I hate to say that I don't have nearly enough blocks finished--I don't even have HALF of them finished for the size I need! I'll be working on this one for quite some time.

There was a wide variety of projects at this retreat. I have a few to share with you.

First, for the overachiever of the group...Mary Lou finished these three quilt tops. They are all the same pattern, but she finished them in different colorways. She did get some other things done, but I didn't get pictures of everything.

Yellow version

Red version

Green version

Vicky finished a couple of tops and spent a lot of time on blocks for a foundation-pieced Pickle Dish quilt.

Gerri finished her foundation-pieced string star. Wow, there are a lot of different fabrics and tiny pieces in this one!

Jane finished these two projects. You can find this bib pattern at the Stubbornlycrafty.com blog.

A different Jane finished these two. This quilt is from a pattern called "Trees Up, Lights On" from Pieces from My Heart.

Rosemary was determined to get this Southwestern quilt top finished for her son.

Ann finished this I Spy quilt.

Gwen's quilt is finished except for the binding.

A quilt retreat is different things to different people. Some people work on projects of all kinds large and small. Some people spend most of their time socializing and helping other people. Some people only bring hand work to do. I find I can't work on anything that takes a lot of concentration, I can't do a lot of cutting, and I can't work on my art quilts--these are all things I need to do alone. I also don't like to work on anything very large because of the limited space at our quilt retreat (and I'm spoiled with all the space I have in my studio at home). I usually work on small projects that I already have cut out, and I work on blocks for larger quilts that I'll put together at home.

If you get the chance, go to a quilt retreat. It gives you some uninterrupted sewing time and the opportunity to get to know some of your fellow quilt guild members a bit better--and no matter what, a quilt retreat is a whole lot of fun!

 

2 comments:

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I can see that everyone had a good time. People got a lot accomplished too. I really like the tee shirt quilt. I have been thinking about one of those. hmmmmm Seeing this one completed makes me want to try.

Robin Walston said...

Good post. I missed Jane showing the Christmas tree quilt top. I really like that one.