...and Just What Did I Do at the Retreat?

My guild's 2011 retreat was held at the end of February. We got to spend time at Spring Mill State Park in Mitchell, IN.

I spend most of the time working on this table runner. I quilted on it for over a day, sewed the binding on, and hand stitched it to finish it up. It went on my dining room table as soon as I got home. I'm really happy with how it looks on my table.

I did A LOT of quilting on this piece. I REALLY needed to practice my machine quilting. Remember, I think most of you can click in the pictures to get a bigger/better picture.

 Here are a couple of close ups. I used a variegated thread.

It was nice to have a bit of "concentrated" time to work on this piece. I thoroughly enjoyed the retreat. There is nothing like getting away with friends who love the same thing you do.

I spent most of the first day copying a big design onto a foundation fabric. The design is quite large (37" X 67"), so I took advantage of the huge windows in the room. I taped my design onto the window, taped my foundation fabric over the design, and traced it using permanent Sharpie markers. The window worked like a giant light box. I'm still not sure how I'm going to add the color to it--maybe applique, some beading, textile paints, some of each--I'm just not sure. (If you have any ideas, be sure to leave a comment; I'd love to hear from you.)

Right now, I'm working on hand quilting the shibori background for my painted and beaded piece (http://quilterbeth.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-need-your-opinion.html). I chose the background in Picture 3; working on this piece will just have to wait.