Retreat Report

Binding detail of baby quilt

I had an excellent time at retreat this year and was super productive (for me anyway). Here is what I got done:

• Finished quilting my rainbow string quilt.
• I made one flag quilt top. Decided this is a terrible project for retreat as I need to press every row as it goes on and the walk from the sewing machine to the iron every 2 minutes is annoying. When I make these in my sewing room I can just swivel my chair to press rows as I go along. 
• I am almost finished with my September Forward Progress project (it will get a post of its own later).
• Basted my NY Beauty Bird Quilt.
• I quilted and bound a baby quilt from a super-cute panel my friend Jan donated to the Guild's charity quilt project. I sewed the binding to the back of the quilt and then attached it to the front with a decorative stitch which is a technique I hadn't tried before. I was very pleased with how it came out. It was quick to do and should hold up very well to washing. I got kits for 2 more of these baby quilt cheater panels to complete this fall and will use this binding technique again on those.
• I helped Lisa with her Cross Winds Quilt. 

Finish Along - Q4

I am giving these projects one more quarter in the Finish-Along at The Littlest Thistle. I didn't get as much done as I had hoped in the previous 2 quarters, but I am chipping away at the list and substantial progress has been made on individual projects. 

In the words of Yoda, "there is no try, there is only do." I am going to finish these projects by December 31. 

Here is my finish list for 2014 Q4:

• Make yellow & gray skirt (pattern has been cut out and is ready to sew)
• Complete William's quilt (three sections are quilted, they need to be joined and then bound)
• Finish two purses (both are put together and just need handwork done to finish them up)
• Complete one flag quilt (It is basted and about half quilted)

Triangle Quilt Along: The Extravaganza

The Sassy Quilter has posted a triangle extravaganza with all the beautiful quilts that everyone completed for the Triangle Quilt Along. It is very cool how there are so many different looks based on the colors, the fabric consistency (love the ones with lots of black triangles mixed in!), and the edge finishes. I would definitely consider making a 60-degree-triangle quilt again.

Triangle Quilt Along - The Top

The Sassy Quilter is hosting a Triangle Quilt Along and this week the assignment is to join the rows.  I got all the rows sewn together and the edges trimmed to complete my top yesterday. 

Completed Quilt Top

This was the first time I had worked with 60-degree triangles and I learned several things:

• Starching the fabric definitely helps keep things square (I should have used more than I did)
• I should have paid attention to which way I was pressing the seams in the triangles. Some of them snuggled together beautifully when I put the rows together, others were lumpy and annoying.
• Fewer directional fabrics would be better -- I had several and keeping them all going the right direction limited my ability to switch things around once I had made sets of 4 triangles.
• You have to use a lot of pins to put the rows together accurately and the pinning part is very tedious.

This project was a stash buster for me, all the fabrics (and the thread) that I used were left over from other things. More photos of the whole process are on Flickr. April 25 is the triangle extravaganza when the quilts should be all done (we have a week off for quilting).

Triangle Quilt Along - Fabric

Fabrics for the Sassy Quilter Triangle Quilt Along

The Sassy Quilter is hosting a Triangle Quilt Along. I've never made a triangle quilt and I had enough fabric in my stash to make the quilt so I have signed up and this will be my April Activity. Technically it starts today (March 21) but it goes through April so I think it works.

There are 2 new skills involved for me here: sewing triangles (shouldn't be a problem, but I haven't done it before) and using Flickr (seems like a steeper learning curve.) I have a flickr account and have set up a link on the sidebar to my (soon-to-have-pics-in-it) photostream.

My husband loves green and when he saw an all green quilt at a show a few years ago he suggested I should make an all green quilt, so that is the plan for this project. Note that this does not mean the quilt is for him.