Quilting Retreat

 Last September my quilting group went on a retreat, unfortunately I was away and not able to attend.  Everyone reported having a wonderful time and getting a lot of work done. I saw some of the beautiful results and decided that when the next retreat was planned I wanted to go. Finally, last week I got my chance!

Twenty ladies from Sterling Stitchers arrived at the appointed site on Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. with the sole purpose to sew, talk quilting, eat a little and sleep a little for the next forty eight plus hours. I was excited, I had prepared a few projects to work on and was anxious to get started.

The retreat center was located on a lake shaded by many old oak trees. Our work room was large with many windows providing good lighting and a view of the beautiful scenery. Each person had a good amount of working space and we had cutting tables and ironing boards set up. 

After getting my sewing machine set up and workspace organized, I went to work. My main project was a 60"x 80" "braided" quilt top. I had carefully cut my fabric at home so that I could get right to work when I arrived. The pattern I chose came from a McCall's Quilting magazine from September/October 2012. The quilt shown in the magazine was made using batik prints in shades of red. I decided to use batiks in blues and greens. The process required piecing seven vertical braided strips, trimming them, adding sashing between each strip and a border all around.

I worked diligently and by late afternoon on the second day I had all seven strips pieced together:

These are three of the braided strips ready to trimmed, sashed and bordered to make my quilt top. I was pleased to have this much work done on the blue braids but was ready for a change, so I decided to work on a small doll quilt.

Our quilting group makes small doll size quilts for the children's hospital to give to patients. The hospital reports that the children like to cuddle with them and to put them on their wheelchairs, and take with them for tests etc. Like the blue braided quilt I had cut the pieces for this little quilt before I left home. I was able to piece the top together before I left the retreat on Thursday morning:

 

 

During the two and a half days we laughed together, worked together and encouraged one another. Some completed projects and started new ones. Some, like myself did not finish a project but made progress and enjoyed the process. 

 

I left the retreat happy with the work I had done and anxious to complete both projects. I truly enjoyed quilting with my friends and am looking forward to the next retreat set for this fall.