Remember how I took 10 girls to Savannah on Fall Break and drove 15 hours home in one day? Well, the next day I went in for an awesome massage (treated myself to 90 minutes) and bonded with the kids for a bit, then packed up the car and headed another 3 hours north to make it to my quilt retreat. I'd originally planned not to attend, but due to a last minute cancellation of one of our group, I wound up with a spot. It was only due to that excellent massage that I was willing to get back into a car. Good news is that I had plenty of podcasts queued up to listen to and the ride went quite quickly.
I took a handful of projects with me (more than I could finish as usual), but my primary goal was getting a long-standing UFO done. I started this Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt in 2012 and did a good job of keeping up for the first few weeks, but then took a while to get the top together, then took a while (7 weeks) to quilt it, then decided that I didn't like the quilting and put it in time out for a while. The good news is that, after several years in time out, I didn't really remember the parts of the quilting that I didn't like originally! I set to work tying off all my thread stops, quilting in some straight lines in the border, and attaching the binding by machine. After almost a full day, I finally got this quilt done! I am really happy with it and so glad to have it off the UFO list.
After the big finish, I went on to some smaller projects. First up is stockings for soldiers. Our friend Betty brought the template and we made over 30 stockings as a group. I was very happy to bring some of my old Christmas fabric to donate to this cause and they were fun and easy to make.
The next projects was a group one - almost all of us bought kits to make these cute cork-bottomed zipper bags. We had a good time making them together - I think mine will turn into a Christmas gift. Behind the bag you can see the blocks from the new quilt that I worked on. I started these blocks at the May retreat and didn't pull them out at all between then and fall, so I got the blocks all finished and also started the sashing. I have two more sides of sashing to put on them, and then will put them all together. At the rate I am going, that may be next spring's retreat!
My last project is a kit I've had for a while - my mom gave it to me - not sure if she bought it and then decided she didn't want it or if it was a gift from her, but this felt pillow was fun to make and I look forward to putting it out with my other patriotic decorations from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Last up is a picture of our group - there were only 10 of us this time - we originally started with 4 nine years ago, and we've grown as big as 18. We missed some of our regulars, but our group had a good time together! It is always nice to have some dedicated time to sew, gab, and just have fun with your girlfriends and I am grateful for the chance to do it every year!
I took a handful of projects with me (more than I could finish as usual), but my primary goal was getting a long-standing UFO done. I started this Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt in 2012 and did a good job of keeping up for the first few weeks, but then took a while to get the top together, then took a while (7 weeks) to quilt it, then decided that I didn't like the quilting and put it in time out for a while. The good news is that, after several years in time out, I didn't really remember the parts of the quilting that I didn't like originally! I set to work tying off all my thread stops, quilting in some straight lines in the border, and attaching the binding by machine. After almost a full day, I finally got this quilt done! I am really happy with it and so glad to have it off the UFO list.
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| Easy Street Finished! 2012-2018 |
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| Easy Street Closeup |
My last project is a kit I've had for a while - my mom gave it to me - not sure if she bought it and then decided she didn't want it or if it was a gift from her, but this felt pillow was fun to make and I look forward to putting it out with my other patriotic decorations from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Last up is a picture of our group - there were only 10 of us this time - we originally started with 4 nine years ago, and we've grown as big as 18. We missed some of our regulars, but our group had a good time together! It is always nice to have some dedicated time to sew, gab, and just have fun with your girlfriends and I am grateful for the chance to do it every year!
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