Monday Meanderings - 10 - 9 - 2023

It was an epic retreat week.  I had a ton of fun. It was wonderful seeing old friends and making new friends. But in terms of getting quilts done -- it wasn't great for me. More about that later.  Here's what I had on my to do list. 

10/2/23

✅Attend the Country Piecemakers retreat — lots of fun. 

Put Ombre Log Cabin top together— quilt was too big for space available.

Finish Flower Song blocks and put the top together — Made one block but didn’t get the other three blocks sewn nor put the quilt together. 

✅Make Happy blocks for Cynthia — I made them as one of my leader ender projects. 

✅Make Wiggle Time  top — Finished! But boy was it a challenge. Read about the challenge below.

✅Make Snoopy top  — Finished it -- but the last border was done at home Saturday. 

I can't say I enjoyed making this quilt, Wiggle Time. But it is all my own fault. Even though the directions clearly said don't use directional fabric until you understand how the pieces fit in the quilt, I used two directional fabrics. But my bigger mistake was using the wrong size of strip at the beginning and cutting the pieces apart before I realized my mistake. Directions called for the smaller strip of background fabric to be sewn to the strips of wiggle fabrics. Oops.  For some unknown reason I used the larger strips. And then I kept making mistakes sewing pieces together.  For every time I sewed pieces together correctly, I sewed at least one piece, if not more, incorrectly.  Yep, lots of seam ripping.  In the end, I did figure out how to make the blocks look like the pattern. Although my blocks are not sewn the way the pattern showed, I did get all the directional pieces in correctly and I finished the top.  

I plan to make another Wiggle Time but I will follow the original directions scrupulously.  I actually already have the fabric but I won't be starting it for a while. Wiggle Time is a pattern by Cynthia Brunz and can be purchased here.  Her directions were easy to follow if I had paid attention. Might I say I was being really spacey when I tried to make this quilt?  I'll let you know how it goes when I make my second Wiggle Time quilt. 

Remember the lost quilt package?  I got those pieces out and figured out a layout with help from Sharon.  I was able to get it almost finished. I had the yellow small border on before the end of the retreat.  On Saturday I was able to put the dark blue border on. Luckily there was little ripping out on this quilt.  

I can't tell you when I got the little Snoopy and Charlie Brown squares but I was happy to put them into a quilt.  This will be going to a NICU once it is quilted. 

Remember the secret project?  Sharon and I made a little "gifty" to give to each of the retreaters.  At one of her guild events she made a this little wallet. Super easy.  So we decided to make one for each retreater. Here are my 15 ready to be finished purses. (oops, that ironing board cover does not look all that good as a background for the photo.) The bigger side is folded over first and then smaller one is folded over. The edges are top stitched to hold it all together. I also top stitched the top edges of the folds to give them a little more body. 

So, the funniest thing is one of the retreat projects was making this very purse. The retreat planners had found the same pattern on the web and provided it and supplies for everyone to make.  Luckily, we gave ours out before the project was presented.  

There were three retreat projects. I chose not to make the wallet again. But I did make the other two. One was a block holder. I forgot to take a picture of it but I'll try to share a pic of mine next week.  The other project was making a paper pieced star block for a quilt. Here's mine. From what I could find on the Internet it is called Mills and Stars although I thought it was called Twinkle Stars. 

When I got home from retreat I was exhausted. (It didn't help that the retreat was a 4 hour drive from home.) Most times after a retreat I don't feel like doing any sewing or quilting. But Saturday morning I went to my studio and started unpacking and putting my supplies away. I pulled out the Snoopy quilt and added the last border so it is ready to be quilted once I figure out a backing.  

Then Sunday morning I pulled out a top from the to-be-quilted closet. After making the backing I was able to get the top quilted.  Here's the end result. I used Mermaid Fingers quilting design. 

It still needs to be bound but one more top will soon be a quilt. I've got quite a few tops with backings ready to be quilted. I'm hoping I can get several more done this month.  

My plans for the coming week are less involved but I'm hoping to move a couple of projects ahead. 

10/9/23

Sew the setting triangles on Ombre Log Cabin

Plan the Christmas present quilt 

Quilt a couple of small quilts (or at least one!) 

Work on Grands’ Christmas ornaments

That's it for today.  Check out the following sites to find lots of links to bloggers across the Internet. 

Oh Scrap

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musing 

Sew and Tell

To Do Tuesday

  

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie