Quilting Retreat and Works in Progress

If you follow me on instagram or facebook, you may have noticed that I was talking about Quilts A LOT for 4 days over the weekend. Thats because I was gone to a quilting retreat 😀 Hosted at the lovely Sunset Retreat, just 20 minutes from home, I got to bust through some projects, make new friends and eat yummy food 🙂 I’ve been to Sunset Retreat before, but this time was even better 🙂

I thought I’d show you some of the projects I worked on and tell you all about my weekend!

The very first thing I did when I arrived, after saying Hello of course, was pick my room. There were enough rooms that the “singles” of the group could have their own space. 🙂 That made me happy! The rooms are lovely, the beds super comfy, and each room has its own theme with matching handmade quilts for the beds. If I could pluck that bathroom out and place it in my own house, I would in a heart beat! The shower was awesome!

 

I didn’t bother to unpack my personal things after I picked my room, I wanted to get my work space set up! The work area is awesome! A huge, bright room, with lots of space for everyone to set up the way they prefer. And since it wasn’t a sold out weekend, there was extra space to spread out and make a mess 😀 Of course I get started on my projects right away. But I didn’t stay up too late…

Because I really, really wanted to drink my coffee on the patio while the sun rose. And so I got up early, made my coffee, grabbed some fruit and a pastry, and watched the sunrise. Of course I didn’t just watch, I had to take some photos as well 🙂

 

I took these with my iphone… and I’m probably going to have them framed 🙂 The early morning light makes everything so perfectly beautiful. I took many, many more photos that morning!

I got one top completely finished.  Heather from Hang Tight Studio designed Garden Party exclusively for  Modern Yardage. I stumbled across it on instagram and had to get some for myself! I was inspired by Stitched in Color’s Vintage Tangerine Quilt, but I went bigger and chunkier 🙂 I knew I wanted to create something that really showed off the fabric. I think I accomplished that *GRIN* The other ladies at the retreat kept commenting on how much they loved the fabric… I knew I made a good choice! I went a little outside of my ocd comfort zone and purposefully avoided a cohesive pattern. Its random, and a little modern, and absolutely perfect the way it is!

 

About a year and a half ago I won a half yard set of Moda’s “Just Wing It” fabric. I started working on this quilt AGES ago… so long ago in fact, that when I blogged about it (Here and Here) it was on my old blog! Oy! This one is not quite finished though, I still have some fabric that I am going to make more blocks with… I just forgot to bring it with me! Opps! I’m hoping that it won’t take me another year and a half to finish this one!

I needed a bit of a break from working on the larger projects and went to town making some 6.5 inch stripey squares 🙂 There is 24 here… I need around another 100 before I’ll be ready to turn it into the scrappy string quilt of my dreams 🙂 I’ll just keep plodding away, making these squares over time… then maybe the next time I go to a quilting retreat I’ll be able to piece the top! Wouldn’t that be nice 😀

The last thing I worked on, and would have loved to had more time with is my vintage sheet quilt…

I’ve been drooling over vintage sheet quilts on pinterest for a while now. I started “collecting” sheets to use almost a year ago. After much hunting, I stumbled across a complete purple sheet (My vintage sheet Holy Grail) and knew it was time to start this quilt top! I was also fortunate to stumble across an esty seller that had a pack of 5 inch vintage sheet squares with a little purple tossed in and a couple of fat quarters for a little more variety. So far I absolutely LOVE the way its coming together, and kind of wish I had started with this project at the beginning of the weekend! I can’t imagine that I’ll be putting this project off for too long. I need a little sewing break, but in a few day I plan on getting back to work on this top! I want it to be big enough to go on our bed!

All in all it was a wonderful way to spend 4 days. I got TONS done, learned from some ladies who have been quilting for years, and made some new friends that I’m hoping to hang out with again soon!