I brought 4 projects to work on. I was able to work on all of them and make significant progress.
First, on Friday, I buckled down and quilted the Colorblocks quilt. You will see some in progress posts after already knowing that I finished the quilt, but that is the breaks with my blog. 😉
Colleen did a better job of quilting Colorblocks 2, but I am not unhappy with my work.
As you can see, I have to take out the pins, trim, add binding and a sleeve. I also need to enter it into the Fair. I am really pleased I got to quilt it at the Retreat as it was a lot more pleasant to do an unpleasant job in the company of others.
After that chore was done, I was able to have fun with my three other projects. They are all Diagonal 9 Patch quilts like the one I made for my great nephew.
First, I started out by cutting some strips with the Accuquilt, then subcutting the strips into the sizes I needed. I did this and just sewed. I used 2.5 inch squares I had been cutting and saving from scraps.
After awhile I had a good start on all three. After I saw what I had for this version of the pattern, I did some match and began sewing the ‘A’ blocks with determination. After awhile I ended up with a lot of ‘A’ blocks, so I finished the ‘B’ blocks I needed and laid the quilt out.
I still had to fill in some of the blocks, but eventually I was able to make a square quilt (8 blocks x 8 blocks). I started putting it together on Sunday night and was able to finish in time to get some tickets before the final raffle drawing.
My second project, with the same pattern is for my nephew’s new baby. After I made a few blocks, I decided I needed to select darker squares, at least for the patches that are next to the background.
The background is a lot more painterly/ watercolor-y than it would be if I had used white or a light color background. I started off with about a yard and will keep making blocks until I run out.
I think it looks like a watercolor quilt from the 1990s (?).
The blue lines indicate the background. You can use the photo above for reference. I think the fabrics will blend a little, but I think the effect will be good.
Finally, the last quilt I started using this pattern is a much more controlled palette. This is for another great nephew. I made a quilt for his sister and thought I had better make one for him before I sent hers off. They are both teenagers and might not be as understanding as my older nieces and nephews.
I kind of felt like I should work on a bag, but I wanted to do a lot of piecing. These quilts fit the bill.
Making these blocks is somewhat addictive. I want to make more and more until I have enough to make them into quilts. I don’t want to stop!! It was great to have so much time to sew. Of course, it is never enough, but I was pleased I was able to take advantage of the opportunity for so much uninterrupted sewing time.
One thing I forgot to mention the other day was the fabulous thread catcher that Claire made each one of the retreat participants. She wanted to work through some of her stash so she made 20 of these!!! They are large and amazing.
We each got to pick the one we wanted. I know this one isn’t turquoise, but the turquoise one that was left was not to my taste.
Now I have two thread catchers. I’ll have to figure out how to use them both.