Retreat Report

My American Sewing Guild retreat was three weeks ago: three days of sewing, with someone else doing the cooking, no housework and no dogs to walk. A bit overwhelming when trying to decide what to pack. At past retreats, I've been productive, but didn't feel at all creative. I also need to pace myself and not do the same motions for too long, so I either kept projects small or worked on them in segments.

There were a variety of projects:

Assembly of the purple baskets quilt. The pieced blocks were sewn to the setting blocks, but my printout of the border blocks template didn't include the finished size (and they are an odd size), so their trimming and assembly still needs to be done. This is the only project worked on and still unfinished since the retreat.

Slow, boring careful piecing on the two mystery quilts. I'm making two versions of the same quilt, and got through most of the piecing and ironing. The last pieces were done at home. Here they are waiting to be pressed and clipped apart - always remind me of flags at this stage.

A shoebox of fabrics for a charity quilt. At some point I had cut out squares to make a Disappearing 9-Patch quilt, but when assembling them at the retreat, I was short two pieces. 11 blocks were completed at the retreat, and the final block, top assembly and border added the following weekend.

Fabrics & pattern for little knot bags for knitting projects - two knot bags were finished, and one given away at the retreat.

A reversible shopping tote - one finished, with modifications including inside pockets cut from the fabric left between the handles, and boxed bottom corners.

The roosters wallhanging that has been a PIM (project in mind) for over a year. The piecing and appliqué were done at the retreat, and the quilting and binding the following weekend.

The two apron projects stayed in their bags, but I am pleased with what did get accomplished. I felt both productive and creative, and had fun too.