Quilt Retreat report

A fabulous weekend away of sewing, supping, sitting, and not-much-sleeping has come and gone.  I feel refreshed and satisfied with what I accomplished. 

The To-Do list of potential projects was long (quite aspirational, as usual), but I knew I wouldn't get everything "done".  Here's what I did do:

** Made two 12-inch blocks for this year's challenge (Civil War fabrics)

Flying geese with stripes.

My own coffee-cup pattern, cute-i-fied with framing.

** Completed this month's Buck-a-block BOTM (I'll post more fully on that elsewhere).

** Finished the last three blocks for the 1930's reproduction quilt; I won 21 blocks in last year's challenge, but ended up needing 24 blocks to complete the design I had worked out.  One of the blocks I designed and patterned myself.  A paper-pieced design, rather complex in nature.  (And should I mention I have never done paper piecing before?  Yeah, I'm a crazy over-achiever like that.) 

After much color and placement consultation (the advantage of being at retreat is there is endless help making complicated design decisions), I was able to get the sashing done for the blocks.  I still have borders to add, and I'm leaning heavily toward a scrappy piano-key border, so that will take some time.  But I have something to show for my weekend away.  I think it is stunning--and I am very grateful for all the talented seamstresses who contributed the blocks that I won.

I learned some nifty things at retreat.  Hope to share them soon!  Stay tuned.