Quilt Retreat Report (part 2 of 2)

Came across the Seattle Streets quilt concept/pattern on the Stashbusters Yahoo group and decided to use it to use up most of my Christmas themed scraps and fat quarters. I of course needed to do it 'my way' so while the original pattern is pretty efficient, I designed 3 different blocks with different construction requirements so mine took a bit longer, but I wanted more variety in my blocks and the fabric placement. I ended up making 20 12-inch blocks and had just enough scraps left over to do a border made of 4x6 inch blocks as well. I still need to lay out the block and use the black strips to join them all and the borders. With any luck I will have this quilt done by the next retreat.

I also started working on Scrap Therapy's Bloomin' Steps pattern. I bought the pattern at least a year or two ago, but finally got into my scrap bag and did some cutting (lots of 2-inch blocks) and brought them to the retreat to start sewing them. I managed to sew all the colored blocks for the center of the quilt to the background strips and made the half-square triangles in 3 of my selected 8 colors. I got a good head start on this project but it will likely take a bit more time to finish this quilt. Especially since I still have to press and cut all those 2-inch squares. I am thinking doing it in 15 minute increments over the next couple of weeks to keep the monotony and back strain to a minimum.
I did follow the no-buy challenge rules. I stuck to my list of needed borders, backgrounds, backings, and binding fabrics. But as my no-buy does not include books I did indulge a little bit and bought a few books.


Before I left for the retreat I also bought Bonnie Hunter's new book 'Scraps and Shirttails II.' While I already love many of her patterns on her web page, and enjoy making crumb blocks, I had to have this book because she has a pattern named "Holy Toledo."

So those are the quilting highligts of the retreat. As always it was great to see all the quilters we only get to see ocassionaly at the retreats or ocassional quilt shows. It sounds like the Wings Falls Quilt show and the Vermont Quilt Festival will be another chance to catch up with several quilting friends.