Sewing at Retreat

I was fortunate to spend last weekend at Wrightsville Beach in NC with some old and new quilting friends at my guild's retreat. The weather was absolutely amazing - sunshine and warm temperatures - which meant several walks each day along the beach. My room was on the 6th floor on a corner so I got to watch both the sunrise and the sunset from my balcony on Saturday.

I brought 8 projects along for the retreat. Project 1 was a remake of my Illusions quilt as I prepare to release a pattern early next year. On Friday afternoon, I managed to get almost all of the FPP done only to realize that I left two of the FPP papers back home in my printer. Everything got packed away and then I finished the quilt top yesterday.

Projects 2 and 3 were to make two more Fifth Avenue Bags - one for a friend and one for my daughter. I got all pieces cut out and interfaced and managed to finish the inset pockets. Sadly at this point, the tension on my machine went south. I tried all the things to get it working but ended up packing it away. (Finishing these bags will be my goal for November.)

My lovely friend Laura let me use her machine Saturday evening while she went off to a long dinner. I kept myself quite busy chain piecing HST (project #4). This is one of my scrap projects and I'm using a bunch of random leftover charm squares.

Project 5 was to make some postcards. I managed to make two which were gifted as a thank you to the retreat organizers as everyone signed. Sadly, no photo but I do have a photo of my work space, sans my sewing machine with my mini-wine chilling in ice.

Project 6 was to bind my charity donation quilt - it is hidden behind the wine 'bucket' in this photo. I need to grab some glamor shots of it soon. Project 7 was to make the shell for a turtle softie. I was able to do some of this work by hand so made progress even without my machine.

The one thing I did hope to work on but never did (project 8) was some improv square in a square blocks using my solid scraps. I carted them all along but left them in my car trunk. With a uncooperative machine, they stayed in the car trunk all weekend.

I'll be linking up with Anne Marie at One Monthly Goal.

Have a wonderful day! Patty